A couple of months ago, I got the remastered Chrysalis box set, containing all 10 of their studio albums from Phenomenon to Misdemeanor. Surprising that not one single album went gold in the States but Lights Out came the closest and was their highest charting album. So glad to be rediscovering this group. My Top 5, from 5 to 1: 5. Force It 4. Misdemeanor 3. Obsession 2. Lights Out 1. The Wild, The Willing, and The Innocent
Ranked as a seminal hard rock band, a forebearer for the genre itself, UFO still doesnt quite get the well earned credit and status they so richly deserve. Schenker riffs and tone are legendary, of course, but the rich, highly unique tone of Phil's vocals elevate the already stellar songcraft to stratospheric levels! Always bringing a finely tuned melodic sense to songs, while still kicking all kinds of ass, UFO are high voltage hard rock - with class! And yes, dont sleep on those middle years albums like Mechanix and Making Contact. Superb episode from the most prolific music man on YT - thanks Brendon!!
A UFO 'BIGFAN" from the 70's. I interviewed Mogg and Schenker in the late 70's and the Lights Out promotional tour gig was possibly my best of all time. Schenker was outstanding. Great list and your number one choice was spot on.
I have loved UFO for many years, my favourite album from them is Obsession, tracks like 'Only You can Rock Me', 'Lookin' out for No 1', 'Hot n' Ready' & the stellar 'Born to Lose' really elevate it to the top spot for me. Nice list, Brendon.
So many comments about particular songs...I rarely see the same adoration for the not so popular cuts, like on with the action highway lady (one of schenkers more notablet riffs) love lost love....the slide guitar work is so unusual and so fitting. Queen of the deep.... another breath taking near perfect composition. Their rendition of alone again or... electric phase..the list goes on. Surely other fans are aware of the less popular songs?
I enjoyed this, and subscribed, but two errors: Wild, Willing & Innocent is the one where Neil Carter is in the band but doesn't play on it - apart from the saxophone parts on Lonely Heart (quite a big hit in UK/Europe). By Mechanix, he was ensconced fully in the band, and co-wrote around half the album. And Paul Gray didn't play on Making Contact - Paul "Tonka" Chapman and Neil Carter shared bass-duties. Paul Gray did play on the second half of the tour, though. There are two '90s albums under the Mogg/Way name, so-called because the name UFO could only legally used if both Phil Mogg and Michael Schenker were in the band. They were UFO albums in all but name, though. Edge of the World ('97) and Chocolate Box ('99) are the titles. Both very good, and recommended. Guitarists were George Bellas and Jeff Kollman respectively.
My 3rd favorite band. Schenker era is killer and so is the Paul Chapman era. 1. Obsession 2. Force it 3. No place to run 4. No heavy pettin 5. Lights out 6. Phenomenon 7. The wild willing and the innocent 8. Mechanix 9. Making contact
Enjoyed listening to this Brendon! I've been listening to a lot of the UFO stuff lately and so I'm ranking the 13 albums that I have (don't have the first two - UFO and UFO 2, or any of the Vinnie Moore albums). I was actually having a difficulty coming up with tiers for these, but decided to go with what I have here. I think most of their albums are very close in quality though, even the Paul Chapman-era albums. I could see myself changing the way I like a lot of these albums in the future. I like to put albums in tiers: 1. Force It (1975) 2. No Heavy Petting (1976) 3. Light's Out (1977) ------------------------------------------ 4. Phenomenon (1974) 5. The Wild, Willing and the Innocent (1981) 6. Obsession (1978) 7. Mechanix (1982) 8. Making Contact (1983) 9. No Place to Run (1980) 10. Misdemeanor (1985) --------------------------------------------- 11. Covenant (2000) 12. Walk on Water (1998) 13. Sharks (2002)
I gotta agree with Lights Out being number one. Nice ranking Brendon. I can't argue with the order. I would just bury Misdemeanor at the bottom because I wss so annoyed with all the keyboards on it! Lol.
Great video! I was a big fan of UFO since I first heard Lights Out many years ago. I always forget about the first two albums with Mick Bolton, but you are correct, those albums sounded like a different band. I would have put Aint Misbehaving and Misdemeanor at the bottom though. Like you, I like all of UFO's albums, but those two albums sounded too Americanized and commercial. I thought they were trying to hard to be like Journey and I also did not like the guitar playing on both of those albums. I was also surprised at your ranking of Making Contact. I thought that was the weakest of the albums with Paul Chapman. I would also put The Wild Willing and the Innocent and Mechanix above the first three with Schenker. My favorite album by them is actually Walk On Water, but 2 and 3 are your top two!
A while back I was going through a big 70’s rock phase and I heard that strangers in the night was one of the best 70’s albums of all time! I just love that album so much!!! I never get tired of it! I watched some ranking video’s so I decided to give some of the top studio albums a chance, but for me nothing comes close to strangers! Really enjoyed this ranking though!!!
Hi Brendon great review of all their albums UFO were the first group I saw live in 1980 amazing concert. To me Phil Mogg is one of the best Rock vocalist ever right up there with Paul Rogers , all the best from Rob in the England.
One of my favourite bands, 'Obsession' is my number 1. Kind of lost interest after Schenker left, tried a couple of albums though but didnt hit home. 'Walk On Water' is one of the greatest comeback albums ever recorded!
Great list Brendon … I’ve always liked the production on Obsession, but Lights Out is my favorite as well…. Try me and love to love are my favorites on lights out
Great band, Good list. Nice one. 👍. Also worth checking out are the two Mogg/Way albums. And the Mogg Sign of 4 album. (Expensive CD, this one, though). Anyone thinking of buying The Visitor album, try to find the digipak version; there's a bonus track of the excellent "Dancing with St. Peter" on there.
Good ranking and in many ways close to how I'd put them. Obsession is #1 for me and I'd rank Monkey Puzzle a little higher. One of the greatest bands of all time in my opinion.
Also, 2 things: Carter came late to WWI album not Mechanix and Danny Peyronnel was in Heavy Metal Kids before UFO. Just thought you shud know. Keep up the good work
Surprised High Stakes wasn’t ranked higher. At least mid tier. Definitely in front of most of the later ones, its really good. Way better than The Visitor imo just to name one. I like where you ranked Making Contact, it’s underrated. My number one is Force It
Mogg said UFO was done after the Making Contact tour, in 1983, too. Probably depends how well Mogg's Motel does. I just don't understand at all, why 'High Stakes' doesn't get a bit more love. Archer worked well there, there's some good songs and Misdemeanor is so much worse. Also the two Mogg/Way albums shud be included, they wuda been UFO if Michael didn't own name at the time
I enjoy all these albums quite a bit except for the last three. They are more or less "time capsules" to me and they're interesting in that respect but, I don't feel a need to revisit them like the rest of this catalog. I'm not a fan of George Martin's production on No Place To Run either. I do go back to it now and then to try to find some joy in it but, unless Giles bails him out with a 40th or 50th anniversary deluxe edition with a full remix, I fear I'll never see what a lot of others do in that one. A few of these are pretty much in a dead heat but, I did my best to rank em' as I hear em': 01) Lights Out 02) Force It 03) No Heavy Petting 04) Obsession 05) Phenomenon 06) Walk On Water 07) Covenant 08) Making Contact 09) The Wild, The Willing, & The Innocent 10) The Monkey Puzzle 11) The Visitor 12) Seven Deadly 13) You Are Here 14) Mechanix 15) Sharks 16) A Conspiracy of the Stars 17) High Stakes and Dangerous Men 18) Misdemeanor 19) Ain't Misbehavin' 20) No Place To Run 21) UFO 2 - Flying 22) UFO I 23) Salentino Cuts
Lights Out was #3 and Obsession was #6 or #7 on my list for decades but, the recently remastered Deluxe Editions really changed how I feel about them. Had they sounded like this when they were originally released, they might have been #1 and #2 all this time. I really have found new life in those albums since they got the "deluxe treatment".
@@BrendonSnyder Ha. Yeah, I figured something was up as it seemed too convenient, but I didn’t search to see if it had been released. Thanks for letting me know! 😁
I'm actually just getting into UFO, this will definitely help. Nice episode
A couple of months ago, I got the remastered Chrysalis box set, containing all 10 of their studio albums from Phenomenon to Misdemeanor. Surprising that not one single album went gold in the States but Lights Out came the closest and was their highest charting album. So glad to be rediscovering this group.
My Top 5, from 5 to 1:
5. Force It
4. Misdemeanor
3. Obsession
2. Lights Out
1. The Wild, The Willing, and The Innocent
Ranked as a seminal hard rock band, a forebearer for the genre itself, UFO still doesnt quite get the well earned credit and status they so richly deserve. Schenker riffs and tone are legendary, of course, but the rich, highly unique tone of Phil's vocals elevate the already stellar songcraft to stratospheric levels! Always bringing a finely tuned melodic sense to songs, while still kicking all kinds of ass, UFO are high voltage hard rock - with class! And yes, dont sleep on those middle years albums like Mechanix and Making Contact. Superb episode from the most prolific music man on YT - thanks Brendon!!
A UFO 'BIGFAN" from the 70's. I interviewed Mogg and Schenker in the late 70's and the Lights Out promotional tour gig was possibly my best of all time. Schenker was outstanding. Great list and your number one choice was spot on.
I have loved UFO for many years, my favourite album from them is Obsession, tracks like 'Only You can Rock Me', 'Lookin' out for No 1', 'Hot n' Ready' & the stellar 'Born to Lose' really elevate it to the top spot for me. Nice list, Brendon.
Awesome video, UFO definitely an underrated band. I have been going through those top 5 albums to digest them. My favourite is phenomenon.
Love some UFO! Thanks for the ranking!
Glad to see Walk on Water up there so high, a true "come back" album and one of the best, IMO.
So many comments about particular songs...I rarely see the same adoration for the not so popular cuts, like on with the action highway lady (one of schenkers more notablet riffs) love lost love....the slide guitar work is so unusual and so fitting. Queen of the deep.... another breath taking near perfect composition. Their rendition of alone again or... electric phase..the list goes on. Surely other fans are aware of the less popular songs?
I enjoyed this, and subscribed, but two errors: Wild, Willing & Innocent is the one where Neil Carter is in the band but doesn't play on it - apart from the saxophone parts on Lonely Heart (quite a big hit in UK/Europe). By Mechanix, he was ensconced fully in the band, and co-wrote around half the album. And Paul Gray didn't play on Making Contact - Paul "Tonka" Chapman and Neil Carter shared bass-duties. Paul Gray did play on the second half of the tour, though.
There are two '90s albums under the Mogg/Way name, so-called because the name UFO could only legally used if both Phil Mogg and Michael Schenker were in the band. They were UFO albums in all but name, though. Edge of the World ('97) and Chocolate Box ('99) are the titles. Both very good, and recommended. Guitarists were George Bellas and Jeff Kollman respectively.
Great ranking video. Love the way you mention each line up too.
Great choices Brendon!
My 3rd favorite band. Schenker era is killer and so is the Paul Chapman era.
1. Obsession
2. Force it
3. No place to run
4. No heavy pettin
5. Lights out
6. Phenomenon
7. The wild willing and the innocent
8. Mechanix
9. Making contact
Minha banda preferida, tenho todos os albuns..Vieram tocar em São Paulo e claro, eu estava lá ao vivo com eles
Enjoyed listening to this Brendon! I've been listening to a lot of the UFO stuff lately and so I'm ranking the 13 albums that I have (don't have the first two - UFO and UFO 2, or any of the Vinnie Moore albums). I was actually having a difficulty coming up with tiers for these, but decided to go with what I have here. I think most of their albums are very close in quality though, even the Paul Chapman-era albums. I could see myself changing the way I like a lot of these albums in the future. I like to put albums in tiers:
1. Force It (1975)
2. No Heavy Petting (1976)
3. Light's Out (1977)
------------------------------------------
4. Phenomenon (1974)
5. The Wild, Willing and the Innocent (1981)
6. Obsession (1978)
7. Mechanix (1982)
8. Making Contact (1983)
9. No Place to Run (1980)
10. Misdemeanor (1985)
---------------------------------------------
11. Covenant (2000)
12. Walk on Water (1998)
13. Sharks (2002)
I gotta agree with Lights Out being number one. Nice ranking Brendon. I can't argue with the order. I would just bury Misdemeanor at the bottom because I wss so annoyed with all the keyboards on it! Lol.
Great video! I was a big fan of UFO since I first heard Lights Out many years ago. I always forget about the first two albums with Mick Bolton, but you are correct, those albums sounded like a different band. I would have put Aint Misbehaving and Misdemeanor at the bottom though. Like you, I like all of UFO's albums, but those two albums sounded too Americanized and commercial. I thought they were trying to hard to be like Journey and I also did not like the guitar playing on both of those albums. I was also surprised at your ranking of Making Contact. I thought that was the weakest of the albums with Paul Chapman. I would also put The Wild Willing and the Innocent and Mechanix above the first three with Schenker. My favorite album by them is actually Walk On Water, but 2 and 3 are your top two!
A while back I was going through a big 70’s rock phase and I heard that strangers in the night was one of the best 70’s albums of all time! I just love that album so much!!! I never get tired of it! I watched some ranking video’s so I decided to give some of the top studio albums a chance, but for me nothing comes close to strangers! Really enjoyed this ranking though!!!
Hi Brendon great review of all their albums UFO were the first group I saw live in 1980 amazing concert. To me Phil Mogg is one of the best Rock vocalist ever right up there with Paul Rogers , all the best from Rob in the England.
One of my favourite bands, 'Obsession' is my number 1. Kind of lost interest after Schenker left, tried a couple of albums though but didnt hit home. 'Walk On Water' is one of the greatest comeback albums ever recorded!
Nice review makes me want to pull out and listen to my UFO collection. Ordered my Waysted box set after I discovered that I didn't have the 1st 2 cds.
Great list Brendon … I’ve always liked the production on Obsession, but Lights Out is my favorite as well…. Try me and love to love are my favorites on lights out
I love this band. My favorite albums is from 80 s and 90s
I had no idea about that Mad Season cover!! 😮
Great vid! I don’t have any UFO in my collection so I definitely need to get on it.
If you like live albums, start with their classic live album Strangers In The Night.
This is awesome! If you can do this, let's do an LA guns album ranking. I'm pretty sure they've had as much lineup changes actually. No maybe more LOL
One of my last concerts in 2019 at house of blues
Good to see Making Contact so high, love that album and saw them on that tour.
Hi , ,Brendon and alls ,ufo is one of My favorites bands of archive of the 70s
Great list👍
Great band, Good list. Nice one. 👍.
Also worth checking out are the two Mogg/Way albums. And the Mogg Sign of 4 album. (Expensive CD, this one, though).
Anyone thinking of buying The Visitor album, try to find the digipak version; there's a bonus track of the excellent "Dancing with St. Peter" on there.
Dancing With St. Peter is also on the Sign Of 4 album.
Always liked them especially Strangers in the Night one of the best live albums made. Obsession is my favorite studio album with No Heavy Pettin.
Good ranking and in many ways close to how I'd put them. Obsession is #1 for me and I'd rank Monkey Puzzle a little higher. One of the greatest bands of all time in my opinion.
I just picked up the deluxe editions of Force it and Light's out fantastic albums
Force it - my favorite record
Mother Mary - the best song
Cheers!
Wild the willing and the Innocent est mon album préféré. Ainsi que Makin contact et Misdeminor.
Very melodic albums
Also, 2 things: Carter came late to WWI album not Mechanix and Danny Peyronnel was in Heavy Metal Kids before UFO. Just thought you shud know. Keep up the good work
Fabulous band. Too difficult to rank as I love all eras and guitarists…the Vinnie Moore era ha been stellar.
THE WRITER on Mechanix is my fav UFO song!
Great band 🤘
Surprised High Stakes wasn’t ranked higher. At least mid tier. Definitely in front of most of the later ones, its really good. Way better than The Visitor imo just to name one. I like where you ranked Making Contact, it’s underrated. My number one is Force It
I'm listening to it right now. Really good album. 👍
@@mod7930 👍🏻
I thought I was alone thinking The Writeris a great UFO song
Definitely my top song as well..
Mogg said UFO was done after the Making Contact tour, in 1983, too. Probably depends how well Mogg's Motel does.
I just don't understand at all, why 'High Stakes' doesn't get a bit more love. Archer worked well there, there's some good songs and Misdemeanor is so much worse.
Also the two Mogg/Way albums shud be included, they wuda been UFO if Michael didn't own name at the time
The live version of Im a Loser is one of the greatest guitar solos of all time
I enjoy all these albums quite a bit except for the last three. They are more or less "time capsules" to me and they're interesting in that respect but, I don't feel a need to revisit them like the rest of this catalog. I'm not a fan of George Martin's production on No Place To Run either. I do go back to it now and then to try to find some joy in it but, unless Giles bails him out with a 40th or 50th anniversary deluxe edition with a full remix, I fear I'll never see what a lot of others do in that one. A few of these are pretty much in a dead heat but, I did my best to rank em' as I hear em':
01) Lights Out
02) Force It
03) No Heavy Petting
04) Obsession
05) Phenomenon
06) Walk On Water
07) Covenant
08) Making Contact
09) The Wild, The Willing, & The Innocent
10) The Monkey Puzzle
11) The Visitor
12) Seven Deadly
13) You Are Here
14) Mechanix
15) Sharks
16) A Conspiracy of the Stars
17) High Stakes and Dangerous Men
18) Misdemeanor
19) Ain't Misbehavin'
20) No Place To Run
21) UFO 2 - Flying
22) UFO I
23) Salentino Cuts
Lights Out was #3 and Obsession was #6 or #7 on my list for decades but, the recently remastered Deluxe Editions really changed how I feel about them. Had they sounded like this when they were originally released, they might have been #1 and #2 all this time. I really have found new life in those albums since they got the "deluxe treatment".
There's No Denying... You know Immediately its UFO with Phil Moog
Mechanics being my Favorite Album
During the 70 s they werey favorite band along with Thin Lizzy Rainbow Judas priest
Going to see the tribute band on Wednesday
Cool! 👍
Unless my eyes are deceiving me and this really isn’t new, Spotify shows a new single released today! Called “Hard Being Me”.
This is a song from 2006 off of the Monkey Puzzle album. It’s not new. The band has reissued the album so Spotify might think it’s new but it’s not.
@@BrendonSnyder Ha. Yeah, I figured something was up as it seemed too convenient, but I didn’t search to see if it had been released. Thanks for letting me know! 😁
Have you heard the new Single by Phil Mogg/ Moggs Motel- Apple Pie? i think the song is 🔥
Paul Gray doesn’t play bass on Making Contact
My top UFO albums is all the ones "Tonka" plays on. Prefer him over Schenker.
Tonka man here too.
For some reason, I thought that I would hear some music.
🤘🎸
walk on water is simon wright
No it’s not, it’s Andy Parker…look it up 🤦♂️
The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent their best album without M.S.
You did a good job at the top of your list but I think their early space psych albums are by no means the worst of their discography.
What UFO albums would you put into the last 2 spots then?
"Misdemeanor" is by far their worst, a pop-rock nonsense...
The last real ufo album was the one with self made man on it
You mixed up the facts between Mechanix and The Wild the willing and the innocent
The first 3 albums are always dismissed, and for my money are their best; after Force It they were trying to hard to “make it”……
UFO has only three Albums. UFO1, UFO2 and UFO Live
🤦♂️
Danny Peyronel did not play guitar.
UFO................................ Rules
Misdemeanor is their worst album. It sounds like an action z movie soundtrack. It's God awful.
I love it 👍
Strangers in the nights the best live album masterpiece