Search - Msg :: Essential Msg

A great selection of MSG tunes

patc71s | Stratford, CT USA | 08/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1992 Chrysalis released a series of Essential CDs from some of their long time artists such as Robin Trower, UFO, & the Michael Schenker Group, among others. They really did a great job with all 3 of these artists, although it's tough to pick 15 or so essential songs from such great artists. Here are the track listings: Armed & Ready, Cry for the Nations, Bijou Pleasurette, Into the Arena, Attack of the Mad Axeman, On & On, Never Trust a Stranger, Assault Attack, Rock You to the Ground, Samurai, Desert Song, Captain Nemo, Rock Will Never Die, Still Love That Little Devil, & Don't Take It Out on Me. Among the tracks deserving of the title epic would be Cry for the Nations, On & On, and the best track of 'em all on here, Desert Song. Desert Song is truly an incredible song that you wish would never end. The songs are presented in chronological order too, so the first 4 songs are off Michael Schenker Group, tracks 5 thru 7 off MSG, tracks 8 thru 11 off Assault Attack, tracks 12 thru 14 off Built to Destroy and track 15 previously unreleased.

Tracks 8 thru 11 feature Graham Bonnett (formerly of Rainbow, and after this album was later in Alcatrazz and still later Impellitieri, and likely in other groups as well) on vocals. Of course there's some instrumental tracks on here. One of these tracks, Captain Nemo, used to get a lot of airplay on my local college metal station.

This is a great place to start if you want to get a great sampling of this band. I would also recommend the twofer albums by BGO (BGO also does this for other Chrysalis acts such as UFO and Robin Trower) that are out there. One combines the first 2 Schenker discs and another combines Assault Attack with strangely a live album instead of Built to Destroy. Strange because the live album was released after Built to Destroy and it would have made more sense to combine the 2 studio albums together. For some reason the Built to Destroy CD I have lists the song Rock Will Never Die as instead Walk the Stage."