Customer Reviews

Force It

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

UFO too often had trouble coming up with a complete album of great songs, but this is one where they hit the nail on the head. And it leaves you feeling like the nail. This is a wall-to-wall intense blast. Okay, there are a couple of ballads, and they're good ones. Michael Schenker's guitar playing veers from breathtakingly beautiful to insanely wild, and no other studio effort of theirs lets him cut loose so brilliantly. Members of Ten Years After handled the production and the keyboards, and they gave this disc exactly the sound it needed (another sore spot with too much of their work). The emotional lyrics throw wood on the fire, and the rhythm section knows when to be ferocious and when to lay back. The album closes with an achingly beautiful instrumental, which is necessary to cool you down after "Too Much of Nothing" has laid waste to you. Look at how many songs from this album went on "Strangers in the Night", and you'll see where their good tracks are at. This album needs to be given the respect it deserves as one of the very best hard rock albums ever- I mean, EVER, recorded.

In the mid 1970's UFO had a string of 4 brilliant studio albums... those being "Force It" (1975), "No Heavy Petting" (1976), "Lights Out" (1977) and "Obsession" (1978). Not to mention the incredible live album ("Strangers In The Night") released just after "Obsession" in the same year. Five first-rate albums in four years... amazing! All are now considered classic, some more so than others. I personally pick "Lights Out" as my favorite because it's solid all the way through and my all-time 2 favorite UFO songs come from the album ("Love To Love" and the ripping title track). "Force It" is a close 2nd place though... this album is just as solid. "Strangers In The Night" (live) featured 5 of its 15 tracks from "Force It" ("Shoot Shoot", "Mother Mary", "This Kids", "Let It Roll", and "Out In The Street"). The other two tracks from "Force It" that can not go without mention are "Too Much Of Nothing" (a great rocker), and the ballad "High Flyer" (with a great Schenker solo). Mogg, Schenker, and drummer Parker all continue to shine on "Force It". Great album from a very underrated band.

I'm not sure what's going on on the cover, but inside is some impressive rock and roll and that's what counts. Picking up where Phenomenon left off, Force It takes a big step forward toward the classic sounds of No Heavy Petting, Lights Out and Obsession with five instantly recognizable UFO classics, Let It Roll, Shoot Shoot, Out In The Street, Mother Mary and This Kids. A great album, well worth the import price, but you're on you own if you leave it where your parents can see it. I'd just as soon not think about it.

FORCE IT..is UFO's second album with Michael Schenker on guitar, and what a screaming hot album it is...Phil Moog's voice is sweet and it just gets better...Pete Way's bass is top drawer...Andy Parker holds it all together with his hard driving drum beats...and Michael Schenker shreds on guitar...Moog and Schenker together write some amazing material that showcases each members outstanding abilities,at Performing...every track on FORCE IT is superb,featuring blistering guitar riffs..OUTRAGEOUS GUITAR SLIDES...and Mr.Schenkers lightning fast fingers running thru riffs so fast that his flying V's probably smoke for two days after a concert...UFO never really got the respect they deserved each new album was proof that the best do get better...So anyone who loves Rock and Roll at it's FINEST needs this cd...IT CAN'T SMOKE IF IT ISN'T ON FIRE..&..UFO; FORCE IT.. POSITIVELY SMOKES..SO TURN DOWN YOUR BASS BOOMER,and TURN UP THE VOLUME..UFO-FORCE IT..

This is one explosive, incindiary cd. From the opening riff on "let it roll" to the last note on "between the walls". It made me a fan back when my brother turned me on to it in 1975. I still cannot believe how powerfull it sounds 25 years later. This cd will set off the air raid sirens if you crank it! Be sure to take down the little ladys porcelin collectibles before you hit the play button or there will be some explaining to do! This remastered import is a great addition to

your collection so pull the pin and duck!

UFO had reinvented themselves on their third studio album 'Phenomenon' but they were not quite a great band yet. What they needed to do was to utterly lay to waste their dopey space rock origins and dive bomb into the early metal years. On 'Force It', released in June 1975, the band created the first of their many stellar hard rock albums. With Michael Schenker fighting a language barrier that isolated him from his English bandmates you would think that album #2 would slip in quality but in fact 'Force It' leaves it in the dust. The songs are amazing and the classics are true classics, just as "Doctor, Doctor" and "Rock Bottom" are. The record kicks off with "Let It Roll", an absolute loud and obnoxious monster which begins with Michael's trademark sustained tone and launched into riffs galore!. "Shoot Shoot" is probably my alltime favorite UFO song, good boy meets bad woman and pays the price, the song is a masterful, commercial hard rock song! Even the ballads are outstanding including "Out in the Street" which includes another amazing lead break from Mr. Schenker plus a great emotional vocal from Phil Mogg. The lyrical quality of many of these songs is also a huge step above what the band had accomplished thus far. "Love Lost Love" is much is the same vein as "Shoot" with great guitar melody and chorus, "Mother Mary" (a riff monster in the tradition of Sabbath) and "This Kid's", the album closer and set favorite (like about half the songs here) are intense with their crunch and strut. Quiet times "High Flyer" and "Between the Walls" take nothing away from the sonic brilliance of this amazing record. Easily my favorite UFO disc and probably the most unsung great album in the history of seventies heavy metal. By the way, love how the remastered version put a t-shirt on the girl, my version has the faded picture where she is obviously nude. All in good taste and fun!

With the 1975 release of their 4th studio album, UFO finally hit their stride. To a great extent, it was also their high water mark. For the rest of their turbulent career, they would produce excellent albums, but none of them were as consistent or as focused as Force It. From the wailing sustain intro of Let It Roll to the album closer This Kid's, the band are firing on all cylinders. Heavier and much more aggressive than anything they'd ever recorded, it also shows the rapidly growing maturity of their writing skills. The key to the album is the sheer diversity of the material, which for the most part is hard rock, but covering the wide spectrum of that genre better than 99% of their peers. Force It is the one truly essential UFO album, although I would have to strongly recommend its predecessor, 1974's Phenomenon. It covers a much wider range of musical styles and is as close to Force It's equal as anything in their catalog. However, Force It edges it out for the top spot through sheer, balls out energy. After Force It, the rest of the Schenker era albums were very inconsistent, with top notch songs balanced out with equal numbers of average to filler quality material. For the beginning UFO fan, start with 1974's Phenomenon and buy them chronologically. If you just want one UFO album though, buy Force It. There are better known songs on 1977's Lights Out and 1978's Obsession, but those both suffer from some really weak songs. Force It is perfect from start to finish. Enjoy!

Force It and No Heavy Petting are at the top of my Desert island disc list. Ask any 70's hard rock afficiando who Michael Schencker is. You'll probably see their eyes light up a little. These are the two best hard rock albums of that era. Period. Get them both, they're well worth the import prices.

Force it from 1975 is the second classic UFO effort that started with Phenomenon a year earlier. The material is kind of straight hard rock with no frills, most notable in the opening Let it roll, Shoot shoot, and Love lost love. The intense Mother Mary shows UFOs ability to really be heavy, while High flyer clearly display the bands talent to write slow numbers with a lot of heart and soul. Force it is a very good album of the rather same quality as any of the albums released from the classic line up (featuring Michael Schenker), and I dare to say that you should invest in them all.

Force It is what pure rock is all about. Excellent blend of powerful guitars and vocal armonies. UFO delivered true rock gems and this is a definoite must for true hard rock fans. BUY IT!