Customer Reviews

Official Bootleg Box Set, 1975-1982

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Disc 1: Record Plant, NYC, Sept. 1, 1975
Disc 2: Roundhouse, London, UK, April 25, 1976
Disc 3: Roundhouse, London, UK, April 2, 1977
Disc 4: Cleveland, Ohio, October 16, 1978
Disc 5: Hammersmith Odeon, Feb 29, 1981
Disc 6: Hammersmith Odeon, Jan 28, 1982

Michael Schenker plays guitar on discs 1-4 and Paul Chapman plays on disc 5 & 6. Another reviewer states that Chapman is on disc 4, but he is confusing that with a 1977 Cleveland show in which Chapman substituted for temporarily departed Schenker. Schenker permanently left the band after the 1978 US tour.

Also, Disc 4 is not entirely previously unreleased. "Cherry" was part of the 1999 and 2008 expanded edition of "Strangers in the Night", although the 1999 version erroneously said it was from a 1978 Chicago show.

Covered on the first 4 discs are several of the tunes that weren't included on the stellar "Strangers in the Night". "On With The Action, "Highway Lady", "Can You Roll Her", as well as other classics "Shoot Shoot" and "Let It Roll, and of course "Rock Bottom". I highly recommend purchasing this set.

Like the other reviews , I too also have the live recordings from disc 1 & 2.,that have been previously released individually.However, what I am amazed by is the fact that this is actually licensed and released by E.M.I/Chrysalis and it is an official U F O release. It is definitely a gem for UFO fans such as myself, I also agree with other reviews on the price. Fortunatly for me I was able to get it from an Amazon dealer, 60% less than how much it is selling for. But it is well worth it if you a true die hard fan. I would like to see the Scorpions release something like this , and have it include shows as far back as the Uli Roth days , as well as hopfully any shows they did with Michael Schenker from the "Lovedrive" tour and the "Lonesome Crow" tour(if they ever had any recorded back then). I hope eventually UFO will release more stuff like this, maybe even some stuff When Schenker first joined,or even if thay have anything during the Bernie Marsden days.
So for any of you fans who don't have this yet, get it before it goes out of print, because who knows how much it will cost when it does.

Tremendous box set. A lot of this stuff was and is available elsewhere. I have most of it on bootlegs, but it is great to have a nice clean copy of these 6 great shows. One point to make concerning packaging, on the cd sleeves they list Schenker as guitar player for all 6 discs but this is not the case Paul Chapman played on discs 4-6 as any UFO fan knows. I got this at a great price also 45 bucks compared to 100 dollars at FYE.

Wow-loving all things UFO with Michael Shcenker this box set rocks,What Shocks me is how out of tune Michaels guitar on the the first two discs are-its usually the first 1-3 songs before my ears or he starts playing in Key? other than that if you are a fan of UFO this is not bad, dont pay over sixty dollars though-Amazon has it around $40,its only worth that much.

Big UFO fans already know some of this material.
"Component One" was released as "Big Apple Encounters."
"Component Two" was released as "On With The Action."
As for Components Three and Four, I WANT 'EM BADLY!! But $100.00 for the box and I only need half the contents...That just...sucks...
Let's hear it for the record companies.

as far as the component two show (which i already own), it is missing "all or nothing" which appeared on a later version of "live at the roundhouse". i have the earlier version without. this show lacks that song too! i want it all or nothing!

My name is Alexander T. Newport and I write reviews for connoisseurs of virtuosity.

This review is about the audio cd version of UFO Official Bootleg Box Set 1975 - 1982.

Disc 1 --- 01 September 1975, New York City ----Formerly released as Big Apple Encounters. I reviewed it elsewhere years ago and was quite brutal about my dissatisfaction with Schenker's playing. I will be kinder this time and say that Schenker plays his notes in a sort of hesitant and timid way and there's really no fluidity or fire in his overall performance. His sound is too clean; not enough distortion. His solos are jagged and often peppered with nearly-missed notes and nervous mistakes. The rest of the band sound in fine form. I don't like the way Danny Peyronel plays the piano and keyboards. His sound is thin and his attack lacks confidence. I expect him to be dismissed from the band within a year's time.

Disc 2 --- 25 April 1976, Roundhouse, London ---Formerly released as On With The Action. I reviewed it years ago and was not impressed. However, I wasn't yet convinced that Strangers In The Night was a total cut & paste job (and thus a magnificent studio album) and therefore compared all concert performances to those heard on SITN.

I don't do that anymore.

This show features Schenker playing in a more spirited and energetic manner compared to the show on Disc 1. In fact his playing is quite vibrant and alive. His sound has a hot sizzle and his playing gets better and better as the show progresses. By the time we get to track 8, This Kids, he's really cooking! He tears it up in Rock Bottom! Outta sight! Man, this is turning out to be a pretty good show after all! Hot damn! The rest of the band, as always, are in excellent form. They still have Peyronel in the line-up and he still plays the piano and keyboards in an amateurish way. He plays like he has only recently learned how to play. His level of playing really doesn't measure up to that of the others in the band. If he isn't dismissed from the band fairly soon, there will be trouble. I am 6 foot 10 inches tall and weigh 345 pounds---if I say he goes, then he goes!

Disc 3 --- 02 April 1977, Roundhouse, London ---What a jolly great show! From the start Schenker is fired up. He is in excellent form. Molten liquid sound. Furious, magnificent solos. Wah-wah spikes & curls. He's in tune. He's in key. He and the rest of the band are in the Zone. They are playing to international standards. Beyond professional; they are giving it their absolute best. (And come to think of it: Wasn't this show professionally filmed? Yes, I'm pretty sure it was.) I notice they have replaced Peyronel with Paul Raymond and I am very satisfied with his job on the keys and rhythm guitar. His sound is full and confident. Another boost is the fact that his rhythm guitar playing allows Schenker more freedom for fills and extensions. This is an excellent show. A highwater mark for sure, for sure!

Disc 4 --- 16 October 1978, Cleveland, Ohio ---I bought this boxset specifically for this disc and I am sooo glad I did. The band are in super-kick-ass shape. Very high energy all the way through. No lags or sags. Just balls to the walls, full throttle. Firing on all 12 cylinders. Schenker is in superb form. This is the very best raw, unmolested, unsweetened by engineers or editors, Schenker-era UFO concert I have ever heard. It is now the template that all other UFO shows will be held up against. And there should be plenty more shows to come. What about Louisville? Chicago? And all the rest of the shows from 1978, 1977, and 1976?

And then we come to Track 13, Rock Bottom: It clearly contains most of the actual bits & pieces that ended up as source material for the Rock Bottom on Strangers In The Night. I am fairly confident in suggesting the version on SITN is composed from more than one recorded performance. It is a composite cut & paste job---and that was pretty much standard practise back in the 1970s for concert albums (unbeknownst to the consumer). Typically the record company would record 3 shows in a row, all with the same setlists, and then create via editing these so-called "Live" concert albums. This explains why we Schenker-ite maniacs have never been able to find any UFO concerts where Schenker plays as flawlessly & precisely as he does on Strangers In The Night. We can't find them because they don't exist. He never played them! They are the mindblowingly brilliant creations of some nameless genius audio editor/engineer....or, did Ron Nevison and Mike Clink create them? No one ever asks them. No one ever questions the band about it. Schenker has only ever said in interviews that he quit the band before they went into the studio to lay down overdubs for SITN. That's fine. No overdubs on his part. But that doesn't preclude it from being a cut & paste job.

The ultimate drag about cut & paste concert albums is that you go to the shows expecting the guitarist and the band to measure up to those fictional, "sweetened", artificially created standards, without knowing that's exactly what they are. You go to the show and are gutted to see a performance that is remarkably weak and flacid in comparison to what's on the officially released "Live" albums.

Anyhow, back to Track 13, Rock Bottom ----Definitely the track used for SITN. Play them side by side and you will hear where the clean-ups have been made for SITN. You will hear what has been removed and what has been created through clever tape-splicing. From the start until the epic solo part, same as SITN. And then on SITN some other solo is spliced in from some other concert. And then most of the ending part of our show here closes out the SITN version. I finally have confirmation regarding my intuitive suspicions that Strangers In The Night was and is a cut & paste creation (just like The Song Remains the Same and Frampton Comes Alive!). That said, it is the very best of its kind. It has given me countless hours of enjoyment for nearly 30 years and I am sure it will continue to do so.

Never-the-less, a truly beautiful version of Rock Bottom here on 16 October 1978. The best untouched performance I've heard so far--- and only 30 effen years after it was recorded! I was right in following my instinct that whatever the price for this boxset, this disc of 16 October 1978 would alone be worth it. I could gush on & on but will stop. You know the score. The band honestly and totally kicks ass from start to finish. They could've used this entire concert for SITN without any editing and the world would have been very impressed with UFO. They did not need their concert doctored up and fancified. They were polished, gleaming, world-class performers.

Disc 5 --- 20th February 1981, Hammersmith, London ---No Schenker anymore. It is Paul Chapman on lead guitar. He and the band sound excellent. They perform the Chapman-era songs in a topnotch way. I sincerely enjoy and appreciate Chapman's unique sound and style when it comes to the songs he wrote or co-wrote. But his solos in the Schenker songs really couldn't sound more annoying if Pee Wee Herman were attempting to whistle them with a mouth full of cookies. God bless Mr Chapman to the ends of the earth. I truly enjoy his work on No Place To Run and The Wild, The Willing, and The Innocent, but I feel if you're gonna play Schenker songs then it is sacrilegious to not attempt one's very best to recreate Schenker's solos note-for-note (as you would for Beethoven & Mozart) and Chapman clearly can't be bothered. His weird, psychedelic interpretations always leave me reeling in confusion. I inevitably drop to my knees and begin retching and heaving for hours upon hours......

Disc 6 --- 28th January 1982, Hammersmith, London ---Paul Chapman on lead guitar. Great show for the Chapman-era. The band is highly energetic and in sync. Myself, I prefer Schenker-era shows. Life's too short to mess with less than the best.

Overall, this boxset is definitely a must-have for Schenker-ite maniacs.

The last two rare disc are worth 35.00 , and the other four are just as nice .
dont wait and loose out , just get it. oh my....

mp/bgin

I just purchased the download because I love UFO and everything they've done...and it was half the cost of the dead tree and plastic version. Better live up to my expectations.