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MICHAEL SCHENKER ROCK BOTTOM LIVE @ AVALON
NIGHTCLUB SANTA CLARA CA 06-23-2007
The name Michael Schenker immediately brings
to mind the image of a man bent over a Gibson
Flying V, playing the most melodic sounding
guitar work ever to be created. It was this
winning melodic signature sound that made
Michael Schenker a cult guitar hero. He is
one of the few guitarists who can execute
those amazing classical runs with such speed
and unbelievable agility. He literally
squeezes out the highest, most soulful notes
possible, and is enchanting to listen to.
There are few guitarists who can reach out
and touch your soul with their playing, and
Michael is one in this elite group, who is
capable of doing just that. His playing is a
direct connection to his heart and soul, and
it shows in his music.
He first appeared in 1970 at the age of 15 on
his brother Rudolf's band Scorpions, as lead
guitarist. They released one album called
"Lonesome Crow" and Michael left the band to
join up with UFO in 1973. At the age of 18,
Michael had already developed his trademark
style, and was already amazing people all
over the world with his fantastic talent.
That first UFO album with Schenker on board,
propelled the band into popularity.
"Phenomenon" was fueled by his smoking guitar
riffs and even at that young age, he was
already writing songs that became classics.
Rock Bottom and Doctor Doctor were both on
that first album. The next two UFO efforts
continued to showcase Michael's flashy,
melodic licks while maintaining that sharp
metal know-how. 1975's "Force It" and 1976's
"No Heavy Petting" were simply awesome. They
included such wonderful songs as Shoot Shoot,
Let It Roll, and a song you have to love, the
rowdy Natural Thing. UFO began to gain even
more attention for their touring. They were
killer live, with Michael's fierce axework
that was scaling new heights, singer Phil
Mogg's unique vocals, and the thundering
rhythm section of bassist Pete Way and
drummer Andy Parker. No one saw what was
coming next in the UFO legacy. An album that
outshined all others, "Lights Out". Producer
extraordinaire, Ron Nevison was called in for
this one, and it showed. The drum and bass
tracks were pumped up to headbanging levels,
and the guitar was crystal clear. The one
stand out on this classic, besides the title
track, is the ballad Love to Love, which is
one of my favorites. Love to Love is a 7:36
emotional epic. The guitar supplied by the
Flying V master, of course, is so beautiful,
its difficult to describe, but if you are
lucky enough to have heard this gorgeous
song, you would know what I mean. The lyrics
have become classic as well, especially the
line "misty green and blue, love to love to
love you."
Just before the band was going to begin their
tour in support of the new album, Schenker
went AWOL, there were reports that he had
disappeared because of road burn out and
excessive drinking, but the truth was was
that he went to spend a few days with his
girlfriend, who was getting irritated because
he was gone all the time. The band had
already hired another guitarist before he
could return, but when Schenker showed up,
they quickly kicked out the new guy. The next
year, 1978, saw the release of another UFO
album, "Obsession", which included some of
the most cohesive writing to date, including
the power ballad Lookin Out For Number 1 and
the pop metal flavored Only You Can Rock Me
which was one of the first pop metal songs
ever created, and was what most of the 80s
metal music was patterned after. On the
ensuing US tour, one of the all time greatest
live performance albums was recorded,
"Strangers In The Night", and was UFO's
finest hour. The performances were stellar,
and Michael's pristine, playing set loftly
new standards for rock guitar musicianship.
The playing on this live album earned Michael
recognition as one of the finest rock
guitarists alive. He grew restless, however,
after this. The band wanted to move into a
direction that collided with his own vision,
so in 1978 he left UFO to work on a few
tracks with his brother Rudolf for the
Scorpion's album "Lovedrive." He even toured
with the Scorpions at the time, and the tour
was superb, with a triple axe attack. After
the brief stay with the Scorpions, it was
once again time to move on, and Michael
decided to put together his own group, called
the Michael Schenker Group or better known as
MSG.
He made a great choice for a singer, Gary
Barden. Gary's unusual vocals were loosely in
the same category as Mogg's, only a lot
better. His vocal style fit perfectly with
Michael's melodic guitar. In 1980 they
released their first album, a self titled
one, that finally put his guitar right in the
spotlight. There was no question about who
was the main songwriter in the band, because
most of the songs were written to wrap around
the guitar tracks. The lead break to the
opening track Armed and Ready showcases this,
where he drops in speedy runs, wild string
bends, and the winning melodicism that made
him a hit in UFO. Cry For the Nations was
another great track, a mysterious doomy kind
of song, that is just wonderful, and has one
of the most explosive beginnings of any song
in history. Other lesser known key tracks
from the album are Tales of Mystery, another
broken hearted ballad, with acoustic guitar
that sounds like water lapping upon an ocean
shore, and Feels Like A Good Thing, a pure
feel good rocker. Schenker never sounded so
good before, and it could only get better,
and it did.
Next came another self titled album, to avoid
confusion with the self titled album thing,
the first one was called The Michael Schenker
Group and the second one was called MSG. MSG
was released in 1981, and Ron Nevison was
once again producing another album that
Michael played on. The result was an album
that was not quite as heavy as what Michael
had hoped for, but it was the best album he
ever recorded. From start to finish, this one
is mesmerizing. Kicking off with another
party rocker, Ready To Rock, and then flowing
into the ironic Attack of the Mad Axe Man,
which was another tour-de-force from Schenker
and the trademark Flying V. After that, the
album slows down a bit (not the guitar
though!!!) for 6 songs that are the essence
of MSG, pure melody. The guitar is
fascinating, and Barden's vocals are
perfectly suited to singing these types of
songs. On and On is the first one of them,
and it moves into my favorite MSG song of all
time Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, this one has to
be heard to be believed. As usual, it
includes superb axework, and the vocals are
just extraordinairy. Barden really pushed the
range to the limit, and it shows. This song
is very relaxing to listen to, in fact, all 6
of the last cuts on this one are. Schenker's
lyric writing gets a workout too, writing
such lines as "please stop bringing me all of
your reasons, false pretenses only make me
feel sad" and that might not sound so great
here, but if you heard Barden sing that, you
would know how well that it fits into the
song. Barden left shortly after this album
was released, and Michael recruited Graham
Bonnet to howl on the next one. Any heaviness
Michael thought MSG lacked, was made up in
"Assault Attack", a killer album. The
highlights from it are Desert Song, Rock You
To The Ground, and the title track. Bonnet's
caterwaul, and the six-stringed sorcerer's
strafing guitar breaks made a formidable
team, and ignited the ferocious sounding
album, that gets going and never loses speed.
Graham managed to blow another good gig (he
had already kicked up a fuss in Rainbow and
left), and left during yet ANOTHER European
festival. Michael didn't know what else to do
but call Barden in last minute, and they were
such a huge hit, that the axeman asked Gary
to stay in the band. He accepted the offer,
and it was back to the studio to do another
MSG album that was sure to be a classic, and
it was. "Built to Destroy" was the result, a
really great all around album. It included
the classic Rock Will Never Die a ballad,
that captures your attention with the first
note and the opening line "dream on, dream
on, your time has come...." MSG was truly
back together the way it should be, the joy
of that was shortlived however.
Michael began to tire of the over partying
ways of his other band members, and decided
that he should take his music in another
direction. He decide to take a three year
break, and when he returned to the music
scene, it was a completely different world
than what it was when he had left. He formed
a new band, the McAuley Schenker Group, which
also came to be known as MSG, with vocalist
Robin McAuley. They released three albums
between the years of 1987 and 1992, including
Save Yourself, and another self titled album
called MSG (which most fans of the axeman
call MSG2). It was MSG2 released in 1991,
which was the best of the bunch. This band
had a much more commercial sound, which was
really good, but the vocals fall just a
little short of the greatness of Barden, and
the guitar is not as killer as it had been in
the Michael Schenker Group. MSG2's highlights
include the soulful ballad When I'm Gone,
where McAuley really sounded like he had a
broken heart, We Believe In Love a mid-tempo
rocker, and Neverending Nightmare, a ballad
that is so good, that it is worth the price
of the album just to hear it. It is basically
Robin's vocals and Schenker's spanish
flavored guitarwork. The lyrics are
especially beautiful, one of my favorite
parts is the very beginning "nightmare lying
here in the dark, scared like my dreams made
their mark, I wonder, dreamer always alone,
lost in a part of myself I can't find
anymore." It has been said many times, that
the only true poetry that has been written in
the past 100 years, are the lyrics of metal
songs, and I believe that is true.
Schenker joined up with Contraband, a metal
supergroup featuring Tracy Guns and Share
Pederson of Vixen, for one album shortly
before the release of MSG2. After MSG2, a
reunion everyone dreamed about but never
thought would happen, came to light. UFO
reunited, with Schenker on guitar in 1994.
They released a Japan only disc called "Walk
On Water" and launched an awesome tour that
awed everyone. It proved that the UFO magic
had never left. Schenker abandoned them
shortly after to reform MSG again, the
Michael Schenker Group. He returned with a
classic sounding album, what would have been
a followup to "Built to Destroy." This one
was called "Written In Sand" and featured a
new singer, and a completely new band lineup,
formed from the remains of Yngwie Malmsteen's
1995 Magnum Opus band, Barry Sparks and Shane
Galaas (a magnificent drummer, who really
pounds the skins with talent). The result was
fabulous, and MSG and Michael Schenker fans
all over the world rejoiced, while the guitar
hoard thought it was ridiculous. After all,
guitarists are not supposed to be THAT good
anymore. The guitar world has gotten to the
point where they believe that if you shave
your head and turn up the fuzz and distortion
and play offtune, that you should be
worshipped as a great guitarist, and all of
the true guitar players have been angry at
the people in control of the media for years
about this. So the latest MSG didn't go over
like it should have, no one cared, because
the fans were enchanted with the mad axeman
all over again, and that was what counted.
Michael is currently in the studio working on
another MSG album with a supposed release
date of this year. He has scaled the height
of fretboard heroics for 27 years now,
playing with the trademark "heavy melody"
sound. The battlecry of guitar fans for a
long time now has been "Long Live the V!" and
it will continue to be for many more years.
Michael is the quintessence of our modern day
guitar hero. Just think of him as rock n'
roll's own electric diva.
Tags : ROCK METAL SCORPIONS |
