Customer Reviews

Anthology

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me start off by saying that I am not a Michael Schenker fan(yet). This is the first album of his(not including "Lovedrive" by the Scorpions) that I have bought. I have a two disc version. Disc one is UFO and Disc two is MSG. I'm still getting to know the cd, but I must say that I am quite impressed.

Disc one

1.Rock Bottom

2.Lipstick Traces

3.Shoot Shoot

4.High Flyer

5.Belladonna

6.On With The Action

7.Natural Thing

8.Try Me

9.Too Hot To Handle

10.Only You Can Rock Me

11.Love To Love

12.Doctor Doctor(Live)

13.Lights Out(Live)

14.Looking Out For Number One

Disc Two

1.Armed And Ready(Live)

2.Into The Arena(Live)

3.Cry For The Nations

4.Looking Out From Nowhere

5.Lost Horizons

6.Looking For Love

7.On And On

8.Assault Attack

9.Rock You To The Ground

10.Dancer

11.Captain Nemo

12.Time

13.Save Yourself

14.Destiny

For a good introduction to the music of Michael Schenker, get this cd set.

In preparation for seeing Michael Schenker Group in concert, I tracked down this 2 disc anthology of his work with UFO and his early MSG work. It is a great collection! The hits, "Doctor, Doctor," "Armed And Ready," and "Cry For The Nations" are there, and at 28 tracks total, this collection includes some deeper cuts as well.

There are some other anthologies out there, and of course to have a comprehensive collection of UFO and MSG, you would need to get the original CD's, but for anyone looking for a great set of heavy, guitar driven, rock songs featuring Germany's finest, you can't go wrong with this set!

In fact, from the track listings I have seen, I feel this is the best collection of these two bands anywhere.

This compilation is a hybrid between a UFO greatest hits and one from MSG (both of which feature the amazing lead playing of one Michael Schenker). The problem is that it leaves off 7 or 8 classic tunes from each band. You would be better of getting the incredible "Michael Schenker Story Live" album if you want a complete compilation of all his best loved songs performed by his best lineup (sorry Cozy). Or, if you want the original versions, get the "Essential UFO" and "Essential MSG" respectively.

To start with this is 4 stars, because it is not the best of Michael Schenker between 1974 and 1984. Many of the songs here are good and among his best, but there are songs omitted here that are required for this to be his best. I realize this is an anthology, but an artist with as many good works as Schenker has should have some truely great music on the entire disc.

There are songs here that are among his best and they include "Rock Bottom", "Too Hot to Handle", "Love to Love", "Doctor, Doctor"[LIVE], "Only You Can Rock Me", and "Armed & Ready". Michael Schenker has so many instrumentals that feature such finesse that I could list them for a paragraph, as well. The reasons I have given 4 stars are the songs not here like "Lost Horizons", "Victim of Illusions", "Lights Out", "Pack It Up & Go", "Cherry", "Electric Phase", and many more. It may have been nice to include a cut or two from Scorpions' LOVEDRIVE, too!

Whichever way you look at it, this is a fair anthology of a decade of Michael Schenker. It is just my opinion that it could have been much better. His guitar work is always imaginative and even this is a good sample of his ability to coax beautiful sounds from his instrument. This is probably a great place to start if you are new to MSG, UFO, or Michael Schenker, this release will have you looking for even more music from this enormously talented artist.