Limited edition two disc set recorded live in Vienna Austria 1/28/98. Line-up includes Schenker, Mogg, Way, Raymond, & Parker. Zoom Club. 2003.
CD Reviews
Worth it only for a new live song version
electricphase | Mexico City | 12/28/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"UFO is one of the best and most prolific rock bands ever. However, with such a vast music repertoire, why is it that they keep on playing the same live playlist over and over?
To be honest, the only extraordinary thing about the entire four CD package herein presented is CD #3 (live in Cleveland, July 1977). Despite the really bad sound quality, the inclusion of a great live version of Lights Out's "Getting Ready" is worth the entire purchase. Every other song in all four CDs has been offered countless times through many official and un-official releases.
NOTE: The CD label mistakenly indicates that Michael Schenker plays in all discs. But in fact, Paul Chapman is actually the guitarist in Disc #3. It must have been during one of those Schenker's dissapearences where good ole Tonka had to step in to help (I'd thought Schenker started to dissapear during the Obsession tour, but this proves it happened even earlier!).
Chapman is a great guitarist in his own right, although very different from Schenker. I wish Michael shoulda been humble enough sometimes to play some of the Chapman-era UFO songs live, but I guess he's just too arrogant to accept it... and the rest of the band too weak to even suggest it.
Hopefully, with new guitarist Vinnie Moore we would be able to listen to those all great UFO-Schenker unheard live classics (Just Another Suicide, I Ain't No Baby, Highway Lady, Try Me, Long Lost Love, etc.), but also Paul Chapman's. I can't wait to get a hold on a live UFO CD that would also include songs like Lettin' Go, Lone Gone, The Wild The Willing and the Innocent, Young Blood, This Fire Burns Tonight, The Writer, Doing it all for You, Diesel in the Dust, et al. I would pay any price to buy such a CD. Unfortunately, no such songs were played during the You Are Here Tour playlist in the US (with the exception of "Pack It Up (And Go)" and "Profession of Violence" -very rarely)... thus I'm very disappointed."
UFO Classic's Live
cobrasm | 11/06/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A must for real UFO fans.Disc's #1&2 recorded on 1-28-98 in Vienna Austria are of superb sound quality. The boy's really hit their stride that night.The song's from Walk On Water,Self Made Man, and Venus really translate well on the live stage.The classic tracks such as Electric Phase,Natural Thing,and This Kids, really take me back to a time in my life which i will always treasure.Disc's #3&4 are of poor sound quality,but none the less it is classic UFO,and well worth the price"
Best live since 79.
James P. Witherell | Orlando! | 11/02/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Easily the best the band has sounded live since "Strangers in the Night". Problem is it could be a better recording. I'm not talking remixes just quality. At times it sounds like a soundboard recording. But.... Michaels playing is really good with some very weird but hot licks (maybe it was the French Impressionist mustach and black hair he was sporting)
Definately worth buying."
Strangers Revamped
Wild Colonial Boy | England | 04/02/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Reviewers seem to be confusing this 2-disc set from Vienna with the 4-disc box set. This copy of the Vienna concert is good value and essentially the best part of the 4-disc version (in effect another copy of the 'Werewolves of London' set). Two thirds of the stuff here is just "Strangers" revamped, notable additions being the "Walk on Water" tracks which are performed really well live. Even though the performance is fraught with mistakes the sound quality is good and encapsulates a lot more raw power than "Strangers".
This is a nice addition to any UFO collection but I still prefer "Strangers in the Night" for it's perfection or the "BBC Sessions/Live In Concert" from earlier in their career.
"
Blasting Off with a Sizzling Gig
Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 04/30/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Recorded in January 1998, the 16 tracks are from a Vienna, Austria, concert and showcases a band that can still sizzle in concert and breathe extraordinary life into older material that continues to get cranked out on "Classic Rock" FM radio formats.
Three tracks are from the 1995 studio album, Walk on Water (Venus, A Self-Made Man, Pushed to the Limit), with the "signature" numbers - Too Hot to Handle and Lights Out - on disc two.
Drummer Simon Wright joins members of the most famous line-up - Phil Mogg (v), Pete Way (b), Michael Schenker (g) and Paul Raymond (k) - on the 2003 release. Zoom Club Records does an outstanding job in re-releasing albums from rock artists and delivering unique "limited edition" pressings of bands who remain fan favorites after many years on the road and in the sudio....this solid recording falls in the latter category."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1