Another Live Experience

As I turned into 60 four weeks ago my working colleges surprised me with a gift I never expected. They know very well that I am some kind of music maniac and they agreed to take me out for a concert. When I was surprised that they did it, the more I was surprised what band they found. It was UFO, an English band formed in the late 60's and well known for their groundbreaking hard rock and heavy metal. It was a band I knew well in my younger days but I have to admit that I forgot them during the last decades. So I grabbed out the old records and listened once again  to their songs and I have to say that they work well, even it is not the music that I usually listen to. Michael Schenker, a former member of German hard rock band Scorpions made the difference on guitar. He was probably the best guitar player in this genre at these days. UFO started with cover songs beside their own songs and turned with their second record into psychedelic spheres (maybe more next Monday). In the early 70's they were very big in Japan and they released a superb live recording called UFO Landed In Tokyo. So last Monday four guys and everyone crossed the border 60 went to the gig and weren't surprised that we see young folks. UFO played what many people would like to hear but for they should have played more songs from their early days. Nevertheless they have still power and Phil Mogg's voice is still firm. After all the concert made fun and we all had a wonderful evening out.

UFO - C'mon Everybody
UFO - Who Do You Love
UFO - Boogie For George

The Foreign Correspondent - Stories About German Rock Music # 19

A few days ago George from the inspiring Jim McLean's rabbit has objected that I hadn't done too much heavy metal. It's true and therefor I decided to feature on this series today Germany's best selling hard rock / heavy metal band ever: Scorpions.

Since its inception in 1965 they have played in the meantime 3000-5000 Concerts worldwide. In Germany they are an institution for this kind of musical genre. I think they hit the nerve of the time with this kind of music. Based on heavy guitars from Michael and Rudolf Schenker and added with the voice of Klaus Meine they created their very own style. Lot's of bands tried to do it their way but didn't reached their level. In 1973 Michael Schenker left the Scorpions to join to the British hard rock band UFO that was also a very very good band and their story should be told once a day on this blog. Not only their powerful songs made them famous. They also made some good ballads and have coined the term power ballad. In their earlier times they were well known for their record covers. Some of them was banned because of too offensive images.

Even if you don't be close to this kind of music the Scorpions should be respected for what they did in the last 40 years.

Scorpions - No One Like You
Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane
Scorpions - Still Loving You
Scorpions - The Zoo