More Album Information - Pt. II

"LIGHTS OUT - A different band with different music - and I had to adapt quickly! I wrote 'Just Another Suicide' just about at the same time I was decoration the interior of my house. When Phil called me and I played the song to him, he sounded impressed with it but he wasn't too impressed with the fact that I didn't put 100% of my attention into song writing. In return, he played me one of Michael's guitar solos and asked me to do something with it. I wrote the vocal melody for the verse, Phil had the melody and some lyrics for the chorus and we worked together on developing the lyrics. I added a piano intro and the song became 'Try Me'. The album was recorded at Air Studios, London."

"OBSESSION - Just as 'Lights Out' - produced by Ron Nevison at the helm and Mike Clink (of Guns'n'Roses fame) assisting. It was recorded in various locations around Los Angeles with the Record Plant Mobile and at the Record Plant Studios in Hollywood. This is probably my favourite U.F.O. album! As it was the case with Savoy Brown, this was created in between tours, song by song in the studio. 'Looking Out For Number One' is another one of my songs and it made a re-vamped appearance on my personal 50th-anniversary-in-music-album 'Rewind 50'."

"STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT - This was the album that cemented all the good work that went before and became a 'classic' album. I remember very little of the actual performances now. I can only put that down to the constant touring; it was very much 'business as usual' and we had no way of knowing how popular the recordings of those particular shows would become. We were also probably at the height of our 'decadence' by that stage, which may also explain some of the blank memories or memories that are not suitable for publishing... Sad to say, by the time the album was released, Michael had left the band."

"NO PLACE TO RUN - This was the first time I had recorded with Paul Chapman. It was a very memorable experience as it was recorded at Air Studios, Montserrat in the Caribbean with Beatles producer George Martin and Goeff Emerick engineering. Such a beautiful location by day but by night it turned nightmarish with every nocturnal creature known to man coming out to play - inclusive rats in the patio. Musically it was an OK album but I think George Martin didn't enjoy the experience very much. I think he was used to a more structured way of working with all parts being worked out prior to recording. That's not the way UFO works, even to this day."

"MISDEMEANOR - Recorded  at Manor Studios in Oxford, UK and Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. Apparently our excesses during recording at Manor beat even the legendary Black Sabbath and we won the price for the largest bar tab ever. It was the age of MIDI keyboards and big hair and I had them both in abundance. Jeff Beck hilariously referred to the Eighties in PRS's M Magazine as the era of the one finger keyboard guys (and he wasn't far wrong). I distinctly remember I played 8 different keyboards on the track 'Blue' (my favourite song from the album) but not all at the same time I hasten to add."

"WALK ON WATER - Almost a decade had passed before I was to record with the band again and 16 years since the 'classic' line-up had recorded together. It was all the old faces back and re-united including producer Ron Nevison. Unfortunately, I was a little bit detached from the recording of this album as my father had just passed away and I had to be in London for the funeral. It was a very stressful time for me. I never quite understood the logic of recording 'Doctor Doctor' and 'Lights Out' exactly the same as the originals, but there was still some strong song writing & great lyrics on the other songs."

"YOU ARE HERE - Recorded in 2003 at Area 51 Studios near Hannover, Germany with producer Tommy Newton. After a long lay-off period U.F.O. was finally in the position to record again. I got a call from Phil to ask whether I would be interested in getting back on board with Vinnie Moore as our new lead guitarist and Jason Bonham as our new drummer. It sounded like a fantastic combination. Some of the material on the album - e.g. 'When Daylight Comes To Town' and 'Baby Blue' - had been previously recorded by Vinnie as an instrumental solo project but Phil wrote some outstanding lyrics to the music. My contribution was 'Sympathy' - written as an angry song about people who stare at me!"

"SHOWTIME - was a CD/DVD package, including a live show recorded in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, studio sessions at Peppermint Park, Hannover and a selection of interviews. All mixed by Tommy Newton at Area 51 Studios. I really enjoyed recording with the string section at Peppermint Park. They were classically-trained musicians with their music stands and arrangements in proper notation and there was Pete, across the room from them, looking completely bedraggled reading his music from random pieces of paper scattered on the floor written in huge letters D/A/G etc. Total opposites but the result made interesting viewing!"

"THE MONKEY PUZZLE - Peppermint Park Studios and Area 51 Studios Hannover, Germany in 2006. This album welcomed back founding member Andy Parker on the drums after the departure of Jason Bonham to join Foreigner, I suggested the album title 'Heavenly Body' but it somehow ended up as a title for one of the songs. My favourite cut on this album is 'Kingston Town' and I would love to play that one live."

"THE VISITOR - was recorded in 2009 again at Area 51 Studios, Hannover. I was never quite sure who 'The Visitor' was referring to. We used a session bassist, Peter Pichl, as Pete Way was sadly no longer a member of the band for reasons I won't visit here. However, Peter wrote down all the music in notation (...must be a German thing...!?) I loved Vinnie's 'Saving Me' and my ballad 'Forsaken' which was a nod to the Rolling Stones."

"SEVEN DEADLY - 2012, our 4th album with producer Tommy Newton and yes, it was recorded in Hannover, Germany at Area 51 Studios. As much as I like Tommy as a person, he (as a guitarist) was not a very keyboard-friendly guy. So a lot of my work got buried in the mix or completely removed, which was starting to get a bit 'tiresome' from my perspective. I love Vinnie's songs 'Wonderland' and 'Burn Your House Down'. I have three cuts on this one, 'Fight Night' which became the opener, 'The Fear' and 'Bag-O-Blues' which was a hastily assembled piece added as a bonus track when one of the songs we had planned on including just wasn't coming together in the studio."

"A CONSPIRACY OF STARS - This was our first collaboration with producer Chris Tsangrides who had been referred to us by Spike from The Quireboys. Also it was the first time our bass player Rob DeLuca was actively involved in the song writing. I really like his song 'The Killing Kind'. My contribution to the album was 'The Real Deal' and 'King Of The Hill' a track that is only available on the limited edition."

"THE SALENTINO CUTS - Well, I really don't have much to say about this one! U.F.O. got an offer from Cleopatra Records to record their first covers album ever and took it on. Unfortunately my input had been reduced to a minimum so I formed the idea to make my own covers record which is named 'High Definition' and contains my versions of two songs that also had been covered on 'TSC'."