Customer Reviews

UFO - Strangers in the Night: Worlds Greatest Albums DVD

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

 

 

I read the other reviews here and took a chance on this DVD. I am very glad I did. I was 17 when I first got into UFO via their "Phenomenon" LP and have remained a loyal fan ever since. I bought this DVD with absolutely no interest in the review of the Strangers In The Night album, nor the opinions of the various commentators. No, I bought this to travel back in time. I was only 17 or 18 and had been a UFO fan for a little while, when I heard they were going to be on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. I stayed up the night they were scheduled to be on, with my handheld tape recorder at the ready. The show finally came on and I started taping away. I watched the show that night on my parents black and white television and it was the only time I ever saw that footage. For the next 30 years, the only evidence I had to prove that they'd really appeared on there was my horrible sounding cassette. So I bought this DVD from Caiman.com and it only took a couple of days before it was in my hands. My hands were shaking and my mind was reeling as I placed the DVD in my player. Would it play? Would it be the right gig? Would the songs really be complete? To make sure, I watched it from beginning to end. The reviewers do a decent job covering the long and complex history of UFO, referencing their discography with song clips and the occassional photo. So that part is ok, no problems. Now, to the bonus tracks! I watched, in order, in full color, the entire DKRC show I last saw when I was 17, 31 years ago. Amazing, simply amazing! Give Her The Gun, Space Child, Doctor Doctor, and Rock Bottom. The only footage I've seen from the Schenker-era four piece UFO. I have additional Schenker footage from '75 and '77,with Danny Peyronnel, then Paul Raymond, but had always assumed this DKRC was lost forever. Well, it's not! It alone is completely worth the price you pay for this DVD. As an added bonus, you get a look at the original line-up from the Beat Club 1971, performing an almost 7 minute Boogie For George. Splendid stuff, just splendid. The bonus footage concludes with a lip-sync version of Only You Can Rock Me, which is nice but not essential. If you are a long term fan, this is absolutely essential, no doubt. For a newer fan, it's still fairly essential, because it shows a wonderfully talented rock band doing what they do best, rocking a crowd. Wonderful stuff and I doubt you'll find many other archive releases with material this exciting. Just buy it!

If I had one complaint, it would be the choice of footage. I have two short television performances from 1975 and 1977, that would have covered the Strangers In The Night album material much better. I give the producers kudos for exhuming the long lost DKRC tapes, but it's too bad these other two Schenker-era shows couldn't have been added as well. Then I would have been in heaven!

The draw on the "Strangers In The Night" DVD is the Don Kirshner's Rock Concert footage. Other than that, it's a bunch of guys you've never heard of and UFO bassist Pete Way sitting around going "Yep, Strangers In The Night was a GREAT album." It WAS, and it still IS, but you don't need this DVD to tell you that. You also won't find the comparison between Mogg-Schenker and Van Halen-Roth to be "news"...all of this stuff is irrelevant to the music. Get "Too Hot To Handle" and enjoy its MUCH hotter live footage and participation from Schenker and Mogg.

Its only worth buying for the DKRC clips.The interviews were just boring rambling.

I don't think that it's overstating the case in the slightest to suggest that the BONUS footage in this release is AWESOME! What makes this release a MUST OWN are the four vintage tracks of UFO recorded in their prime for a segment which I presume was originally broadcast on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in the mid-70's.

- [Digression: Imagine SEEING footage of Eric Clapton performing his seminal version of Robert Johnson's Crossroads that was released on Cream's Wheels of Fire album and you'll have some idea of the stature of this UFO concert footage.] -

At long last we have a complete on DVD live concert performance of the undisputed UFO classic ROCK BOTTOM, not to mention DOCTOR DOCTOR & SPACE CHILD from their first album and the rare GIVE HER THE GUN which was only released as a single from the Phenomenon sessions.

Ignoring the first track, Boogie for George, except perhaps for a comparison with what the pre-Schenker UFO was like, tracks 2 through 5 are the meat & potatos. This is classic UFO material, when the group was comprised of Michael Schenker, Phil Mogg, Pete Way & Andy Parker in that brief period before the group's management started recommending additional sidemen in what turned out to be a succession of synthesizer/keyboard players in a move to shift UFO's harder blues rock sound, that emphasized Michael's guitar, into something more slickly commercial. [Note: Watch the apparently sync'd 6th track, Only You Can Rock Me, for an example of the expanded, keyboard saturated UFO.]

The DKRC segment is from a performance on a large brightly lit stage recorded in front of a packed auditorium in 1974 or early '75. The videotaped footage may appear slightly faded because of the bright lighting and perhaps a bit soft, but it's not bad at all considering the age of the source material and the lighting provides an excellent impression of the size of the hall and audience reaction to UFO's high-octane live performance.

Thankfully Kirshner's professional camera crew REALLY knew what they were doing: lots of footage of Schenker solos and amusing stage competitiveness between Schenker and bassist Pete Way, and Mogg's voice is dead-on throughout. I can't recall ever having seen a better shot stage performance!

Sound wise it's quite good, but don't expect the last word in digital high-fidelity recording from a video tape broadcast over 30 years ago. OTOH, I've only checked out the 2 channel Dolby; I'm not currently set up for surround, so no comparisons have been made with 5.1 Dolby or DTS settings.

Classic Rock Direct Critical Review DVDs have been hit & miss, but that doesn't mean that CRD releases should be dismissed out of hand; this is one of those rare exceptions where the supplemental material is FAR more worthwhile than the featured material. In fact, the documentary is pretty much a waste, but the BONUS footage is another animal entirely, well worth adding to every collection of great rock performances. Treat your ears and eyes to UFO in their prime!

I read all the reviews on this DVD, but went ahead and bought it anyway. Other than the live footage and the "Only you can rock me" promo video, what a waste of some hard earned cash. I know that UFO was never that big and probally needed the cash on this one, but come on. You know you are in trouble when on the back of the DVD it says that this is unauthorized. Warning sign right there. Other than 2 people they interviewed, I had no idea who these other people were. Nick Tauber (producer of Marillion's Fuguzi) and Malcome Dome is a magazine writer ot the only names I knew. Dont waste you money. But you have to wonder, if Pete Way was on this DVD, how is it unauthorized?

As a long time Schenker fan and at one time personal friend of Michael back in the late 80's, I can honestly say this was a vanity piece put together by Pete Way for $$$. That's why only HE is interviewed from the band. No one else knew this was being put together. I will clarify one thing for all the reviews who wanted to the entire concert shown in pieces on "Too Hot to Handle". That concert does not exist in its entirety. Only clips remain and most are shown in "Too Hot..." Michael employed me to research archives worldwide back in 1988 to find out if the entire concert existed. I scoured records of over 80 video and film archives in 5 countries searching for a copy of the entire show. In fact some of the footage I unearthed made it's way onto the "Too Hot..." documentary. I am the one who actually found the full promo for "Only You Can Rock Me" seen in this DVD. It was found in the film archives of WDR-TV in Germany. No one knew it existed anymore because it was mislabeled in WDR-TV. There is more concert footage from 1975 that exists of the classic lineup - runs about 40min in total. Color 16mm film footage. I am one of the few who have it. Something I unearthed for the band in a Japanese film archive in 1989.

This DVD was put together basically without the bands consent although they do get their royalty checks from it. It is worth getting a great copy of the DKRC footage - since it is one of the best filmed shows from the band with Michael. Luckily DKRC Productions has kept all of their footage over the years and taken good care of it. I believe they are preparing some DKRC shows to either go to DVD or for syndication on cable. Seems Dick Cavett re-releasing his Rock n Roll shows sparked an idea in them.

If you buy this DVD for one reason (well two) its for the DKRC footage and to put some well needed cash in Michael's pocket. After what he's been through personally and financially in the last few years - he needs it. Go Michael!

The DKRC footage is rare and in very good quality. For a UFO fan its a must have for this and this ALONE! The rest of this DVD is a complete waste of time. They barely even talk about the album in question - Strangers in the Night!!!!!!! These critical reviews are really uninteresting unless they feature insight from the band and/or lots of unseen footage and most of these releases have neither. The always engaging bassist Pete Way makes a few appearances. Fittingly, he appears rather inebriated. I would need to be as drunk as him to sit through this! The rest of the comments are from musicians I have not heard of (except the humorously bitter and bald bassist from Gillan - what's he doing on here anyway?!!). Its just a pointless release except for the superb DKRC footage. By the way, I've heard they're planning to include Pete Way's commentary on the new "Gillan critical review of Whitesnake DVD"!!!!!!!

I used to own a cassette of "Stangers In the Night" way back in the 70's. What an amazing concert in terms of vocals & riffs. This compilation is a critical review by a bunch of guys I've never even heard about - What a let down. I had hoped that this would contain the entire footage of the concert. Its Audio & video are terrible. Please checkout other concerts of UFO which are available, I'm sure they would be better.

Dont waste your money, I wish I would of read the reviews, only a couple of minutes of music and the rest was a couple of wannabes talking about crap that I dont care about.. WHERE IS THE MUSIC ????

Strangers in the night, The Ultimate Critical Review, With Pete Way
Copyright 2005 Art House Classics Ltd

I am slouching here on the sofa between my good pals Charles Bukowski and Hunter S. Thompson. We are each getting loaded in our own individual ways and are about to watch this dvd about UFO's concert album Strangers In The Night.

Thompson has the remote control and wants to see the Bonus Tracks first. Me and Bukowski would prefer to see the critical review first. Thompson, out of his head on speed, has the gall to spit at Bukowski and tells him to shut up. Bukowski drains his bottle of beer and bounces it off of Thompson's face. Thompson blinks and then deflates into unconsciousness, dropping the remote control. I pick it up and click on the critical review.

Bukowski opens a new bottle of beer and I load the lamp with a nugget of Sour Diesel. We watch some homeless-looking dude named "Krusher" and a bunch of other dudes we've never heard of before (except Pete Way) deliver 23 minutes of a sort of history of UFO leading up to Strangers In The Night, and then another 26 minutes or so of dull, often misinformed, blibbitty-babble jibber-jabber concerning Strangers In The Night until FINALLY they talk about whether or not it contains overdubs.

Some of the critics say "No". Bukowski says one of them looks like Eric Stoltz. We laugh about that. This Eric Stoltz-looking dude says Michael Schenker was disappointed he had not been able to lay down any overdubs for SITN. We laugh about that, too. Bukowski says, "Everyone knows Schenker didn't give a good goddamn about what happened with SITN or UFO after he quit. All he has ever said about Strangers In The Night was that he thought there were 'better takes' they could've chosen for the album and that he wasn't around to lay down any overdubs." I nod my head in agreement and take a hit off the lamp.

Pete Way says, "We did patch some of it up. Not very much." And then he goes onto say, "...obviously there's gonna be some overdubs".

Bukowski asks me, "Is a 'patch' the same as an overdub?"
I shrug my shoulders and begin to blow out my hit and erupt into a massive coughing fit.

And then Pete Way says the majority of SITN was taken from two nights in Chicago and some from Louisville.
Bukowski and I look at each other. I hit the pause button and lean to the coffee table and turn on the cd player. Inside is Disc 4 from UFO's Bootleg Box Set. It was recorded 16 October 1978 in Cleveland. I cue up Rock Bottom. I then get off the sofa and go to the Bose cd player next to the telly and cue up Rock Bottom from Strangers In The Night.

After about ten minutes of futzing around trying to start both tracks at the exact same time, we succeed and sit back to listen. Whilst not all of the Cleveland version matches Strangers In The Night, there's many parts that are note for note and nuance for nuance that are exactly the same.

Both of us have been longtime collectors of Schenker-era UFO concert bootlegs. We have never found any Schenker performances---officially or unofficially released---to be as flawless and precise as those on Strangers In The Night. It sets a bar that Schenker could never have topped or reached.

Schenker did not lay down any overdubs for Strangers In The Night. He quit the band before it was time to do that.

We reckon all the tracks on Strangers In The Night have been cleaned up. The solos have been prettified, "fixed", and "sweetened". They have literally been arranged & composed through the precursor to digital cut & paste: Tape splicing. Cutting and splicing together audio tape.

We learned a few years ago that apparently it was standard practise in the 1970s to present these overdubbed, cut & paste "concert" albums as true representations of live performances. It has been purported that the album Frampton Comes Alive! is one of them. Just you try to find any raw concert recording of Frampton playing those solos as bitchin' as he does on Comes Alive! You won't.

Eddie Edwards of The Garden Tapes proved that Led Zeppelin's concert album The Song Remains the Same was a cut & paste job. Those songs are composites of performances recorded over 3 nights in July 1973 at Madison Square Garden. All the best bits of the three versions of a song spliced together to sound like a super-duper spot-on performance.

You see, when a show is professionally recorded, each microphone usually leads to one recorded track all on it own. So when they recorded Schenker, that one track only featured his guitar. Same for Phil Mogg's vocals. Same for Pete Way's bass, and so on. At the end of it you have all these individual tracks with which to quite literally create hybrid songs and performances. For instance, record Rock Bottom in Cleveland, Louisville, and Chicago and you can make 1 super version out of segments from all three performances.That version could potentially have drum parts, bass parts, vocals, keys, and guitar from all 3 shows spliced together to appear as a single performance from a so-called magical night.

And really, as an art form, it's a respectable thing to do. We don't dismiss the value of the achievement. It's an amazingly fun thing to do---but don't effen lie about it! Don't pretend it hasn't happened or play down what has happened. We could do an audio interview with anyone about the subject of murder or rape and then edit it so finely as to make it sound like they are confessing to murder or rape---we could manufacture a lie and pass it off as the truth, is that honourable? Is that an act of integrity? Well then, how is it cool to "clean up" concert performances and make the lead guitarist sound like he plays these super flawless solos and not tell anyone that they have been "cleaned up" or even quite literally composed and pieced together via tape splicing? How cool is it for the fan to then go to the concerts and be let down because the band did not or could not perform to the fictionally super high level presented on their officially released concert album?

Bukowski and I reckon that Strangers In The Night is a cut & paste job with overdubs by everyone except Michael Schenker.

Having listened to it thousands of times over 30 years we can say with confidence that there is not one solo by Paul Chapman. Not one. Not on Mother Mary. Not on This Kids. Someone (not on this dvd) said that those two tracks were recorded in November 1978 after Schenker quit the band. Can't be true. Schenker left---with great angry momentum---at the end of October 1978 and did not return. Now, whether or not---with Schenker---the band recorded those two tracks in a studio sometime/anytime BEFORE Schenker quit, is open to question. But it's definitely Schenker on lead guitar.

We wonder why the producers of this dvd did not interview Ron Nevison or Mike Clink? Ron was producer and Mike was engineer. They both appear to be alive and still working. Why not a video link interview? Why not a phone interview? Why not an interview by email? You could've had Krusher read it aloud...

We wonder if anyone has EVER interviewed Mr Nevison or Mr Clink about Strangers In The Night?

The "ultimate critical review" can only happen after you have interviewed the producer and engineer. They should have access to studio notes and logs, or personal diaries. They should be asked the following basic and essential questions:

Were ANY concerts recorded specifically for Strangers In The Night?
If so, what are the dates, cities, and venues?

Were any songs on Strangers In The Night from shows other than those specifically recorded for it?

As Mother Mary and This Kids do not seem to have been part of the 1978 Obsession Tour setlist, where did these tracks come from?

Were any songs performed and recorded solely in the studio and then garnished with crowd noises to make them sound like concert performances?

Are the Schenker solos on Strangers In The Night the result of "clean ups", "sweetening", and tape splicing?
If so, can you tell us how you did it?
Can you identify which solos came from which shows?
Can you identify which solos were pieced together?
Can you identify which solos were untouched?

A true critical review would have each track from Strangers In The Night broken down at a mixing desk into its individual components like Steely Dan did with their dvd, The Making of Aja. You would have each Schenker solo isolated for pure absorption & analysis, no distractions.

A true review would have comparisons between Strangers In The Night and audience bootleg recordings from October 1978. You would have side by side comparisons of each song.

Hunter S. Thompson regains consciousness and pulls out a shiny silver .38 revolver and points it at me. He says, "Gimmee the remote control, Mr Newport." I give it to him and he clicks on the Bonus Tracks. We watch Boogie For George for a couple of minutes. It's a mime appearance on the Beat Club tv show in 1971. Bernie Marsden is on lead guitar. The three of us agree he's a fine guitarist. Then Hunter speeds up the play by 2X...and surprisingly the whole song sounds even better.

Next up are the songs from Don Kirschner's Rock Concert 1975. After the first two songs Bukowski drains his beer and throws the bottle hard at the telly, but neither the bottle or the telly breaks. Hunter crouches into a take-aim position and fires 4 rounds at the telly, blowing it to pieces. I say to them, "What?! Why?! Was it because Schenker wasn't using enough distortion? His sound was too clean and flat?" And in unison they both say, "You're goddamn right."

All in all, this dvd fails to live up to its title.

The ultimate critical review will require assistance from Ron Nevison, Mike Clink, and probably someone in charge of all UFO related archival information & recordings at Chrysalis Records.

Where there's a will, there's a way.