- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Lights Out is considered by many rock critics to be UFO’s best album and expands their hard-rock sound to include piano and orchestral sections.
UFO – Lights Out (1977): UFO is a British hard rock band that was founded in 1968 by Phil Mogg (lead vocals), Mick Bolton (guitar), Pete Way (bass), and Andy Parker (drums). Originally called Hocus Pocus, the band changed its name in 1969 in honor of a legendary London underground nightclub called UFO Club (pronounced “you foe” or “oo foe”) that operated from December 1966 to August 1967. Early psychedelic rock bands Pink Floyd and Soft Machine were both at UFO Club on their opening night on December 23, 1966; others who appeared there include Yoko Ono, Arthur Brown, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum (while “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was the #1 single). UFO acquired a stronger guitar-driven sound when 18-year-old German guitarist Michael Schenker joined the band for their fourth album Phenomenon (1974).
Michael Schenker was a member of the innovative German hard rock band Scorpions for several years before he joined UFO; his older brother Rudolf Schenker was a founding member of Scorpions in 1965. Scorpions was fairly prominent in MTV’s early days and also performed at the concert event The Wall – Live in Berlin, a July 1990 performance of the 1980 Pink Floyd album The Wall at the site of the Berlin Wall that came down eight months previously. With the addition of Michael Schenker and his dynamic guitar solos, UFO gained in popularity and attracted a wider audience that included America. Lights Out is UFO’s seventh album, after Paul Raymond (keyboards and rhythm guitar) joined the band. Lights Out is considered by many rock critics to be UFO’s best album and expands their hard-rock sound to include piano and orchestral sections; the album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, UFO’s best performance on the U.S. record charts. Lights Out features songs like “Too Hot to Handle”, “Lights Out”, “Try Me”, “Electric Phrase”, the 7-minute “Love to Love”, and a fine cover of the Love song “Alone Again Or”. UFO toured widely in both Europe and the U.S. and was the opening act for arena bands like Rush and AC/DC, while also headlining in smaller venues. The follow-up album Obsession (1978) was the final studio album for UFO with Michael Schenker in the line-up. During the Obsession tour, UFO recorded material for their live album Strangers in the Night (1979) that reached #7 on the U.K. albums chart in February 1979.