SCORPIONS (+ Uli jon roth + Michael Schenker )(+UFO Post-Schenker years)
Scorpions are a hard rock/heavy metal band from Hannover, Germany, best known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and their singles "Wind of Change", "No One Like You", "Still Loving You", and "Send Me an Angel". The band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide.
Contrary to common usage, the band's name is "Scorpions" and not "The Scorpions."
Formation and early history (1965-1973)
Rudolf Schenker, the band's rhythm guitarist, set out to find a band in 1965. At first, the band was school-kind with beat influences and Schenker himself on vocals. Things began to come together in 1969 when Schenker's younger brother Michael and vocalist Klaus Meine joined the band. In 1972 the group recorded and released their debut album Lonesome Crow with Lothar Heimberg on bass and Wolfgang Dziony on drums. During the Lonesome Crow tour, Scorpions opened for upcoming British band UFO. At the end of the tour the members of UFO offered guitarist Michael Schenker the lead guitar job; an offer which he soon accepted. Uli Roth was then called in temporarily to finish off the tour.
The departure of Michael Schenker led to the break up of the Scorpions. In 1973, guitarist Uli Roth, a friend of the Schenker brothers, was in a band called Dawn Road. He had been offered the role as lead guitarist in Scorpions after Michael Schenker's departure but turned the band down. Rudolf decided that he wanted to work with Roth but did not want to resurrect the last Scorpions lineup.
Rudolf Schenker attended some of Dawn Road's rehearsals and ultimately decided to join the band, which consisted of Roth, Francis Buchholz (bass),Achim Kirschning (keyboards) and Jurgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth persuaded Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join, which he did soon after. While there were more members of Dawn Road than Scorpions in the band, they decided to use the Scorpions name because they had released an album and were known in the German hard rock scene.
Rise to popularity (1974-1978)
In 1974 the new line-up of Scorpions released Fly to the Rainbow. The album proved to be more successful than Lonesome Crow and songs such as "Speedy's Coming" and the title track began to establish the band's sound. Achim Kirschning decided to leave after the recordings but subsequently guested on keyboards for the next two albums. Soon after, Jürgen Rosenthal had to leave as he was being drafted into the army, and was replaced by a Belgian drummer, Rudy Lenners. He later joined German progressive rock band called Eloy in 1976 and recorded three albums with them. It wasn't until the following year that the band hit their stride with the release of In Trance. In Trance marked the beginning of Scorpions' long collaboration with German producer Dieter Dierks. The album was a huge step forward for Scorpions and firmly established their hard rock formula, while at the same time garnering a substantial fan base, both at home and abroad. Cuts such as "Dark Lady", "Robot Man" and the title track are still considered classics by fans today.
In 1976, Scorpions released Virgin Killer. The album's cover, which featured a fully nude prepubescent girl, brought the band considerable criticism and was ultimately pulled or replaced in several countries. In spite of the controversy - lead singer Klaus Meine even expressed shock - the album garnered significant praise from critics and fans alike. The following year, Rudy Lenners resigned due to health reasons and was replaced by Herman Rarebell.
The follow-up to Virgin Killer, Taken by Force, was the first Scorpions record to be aggressively promoted in the United States. RCA Records, the band's label, made a determined effort to promote the album in stores and on the radio. The album's single, "Steamrock Fever", was added to some of RCA's radio promotional records. RCA also supervised the album cover design avoiding any controversy by including introduction-type photographs that included the names of each member under individual photos. Roth was not happy with the label's efforts and the commercial direction the band was taking. Although he performed on the band's Japan tour, he departed to form his own band, Electric Sun prior to the release of the resultant double live album Tokyo Tapes. Tokyo Tapes was released in the US and Europe six months after its Japanese release. By that time in mid 1978, after auditioning around 140 guitarists, Scorpions recruited new guitarist Matthias Jabs.
Commercial success (1979-1990)
Following the addition of Jabs, Scorpions left RCA for Mercury Records to record their next album. Just weeks after being evicted from UFO for his alcohol abuse, Michael Schenker also returned to the group for a short period during the recordings of the album, giving the band three guitarists (though Schenker's contributions to the final release was limited to only three songs). The result was Lovedrive, an album which some critics consider to be the pinnacle of their career[2]. Containing such fan favorites as "Loving You Sunday Morning", "Holiday" and the instrumental "Coast to Coast", the "Scorpions formula" of hard rock songs mixed in with melodic ballads was firmly cemented. The album's provocative artwork was named "Best album sleeve of 1979" by Playboy magazine but was ultimately changed for American release. Lovedrive peaked at #55 on the US charts proving that Scorpions were gathering an international following. After the completion and release of the album, the band decided to retain Michael in the band, thus forcing Matthias Jabs to leave. But after a few weeks of the tour, Michael, still coping with alcoholism, kept missing a few gigs (at one point collapsing on stage) and Matthias Jabs was brought back to fill in for him on those occasions when he couldn't perform. In April 1979, during their tour in France, Matthias Jabs was brought in permanently to replace Michael Schenker.
In 1980, the band released Animal Magnetism, again with a provocative cover showing a girl kneeling in front of a man's crotch. While Animal Magnetism contained classics such as "The Zoo" and "Make It Real", it was a critical disappointment when compared with Lovedrive. Soon after the album's release, Meine began experiencing throat problems. He required surgery on his vocal cords and there were doubts as to whether he would ever sing again.
While Meine made a full recovery, the band began working on their next album, Blackout. Don Dokken was brought in to provide guide and backing vocals so that Meine could let his vocal chords completely heal. [2] Meine eventually healed completely and was able to finish the album. Blackout was released in 1982 and quickly became the band's best selling to date, eventually going platinum. Meine's voice showed no signs of weakness and critical response to the album was good. Blackout spawned three hit singles: "Dynamite," "Blackout" and "No One Like You".
It was not until 1984 and the release of Love at First Sting that the band finally cemented their status as rock superstars. Propelled by the single "Rock You Like a Hurricane", Love at First Sting went up the charts and went double platinum a few months after its release. However, Scorpions did manage to stir up controversy once again with their provocative album cover. This time it was a boy kissing a girl and at the same time planting a tattoo on her naked thigh. Some shops refused to sell the album, mimicking a gag from the satire movie This Is Spinal Tap that came out the same year. MTV gave the album's videos "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Bad Boys Running Wild", "Big City Nights", and the power ballad "Still Loving You" significant airtime, greatly contributing to the album's success. The channel even supplied Scorpions with the nickname "The Ambassadors of Rock".
The band toured extensively behind Love at First Sting and decided to record and release their second live album, World Wide Live. Recorded over a year long period and released at the height of their popularity, the album was another success for the band, peaking at #17 on the charts.
After their extensive world tours, the band finally returned to the studio to record Savage Amusement. Released in 1988, four years after their previous studio album, Savage Amusement represented a more polished pop sound similar to the style Def Leppard had found success with. The album sold well, but was considered somewhat of a critical disappointment. British heavy rock magazine Kerrang! did award the album 5 K's out of 5 though.
On the Savage Amusement tour in '88, Scorpions became only the second Western group to play in the Soviet Union (the first being Uriah Heep in December 1987), with a performance in Leningrad. The following year the band returned to perform at the Moscow Music Peace Festival. As a result, Scorpions developed a strong Russian fan base and still return regularly to perform throughout the area.
Wishing to distance themselves from the Savage Amusement style, the band separated from their long-time producer and "Sixth Scorpion," Dieter Dierks, ultimately replacing him with Keith Olsen when they returned to the studio in 1990. Crazy World was released that same year and displayed a less polished sound. The album was a hit, propelled in large part by the massive success of the ballad "Wind of Change". The song muses on the socio-political changes that were occurring in Eastern Europe and in other parts of the world at the end of the Cold War. On July 21, 1990 they joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall in Berlin. Scorpions performed both versions of "In the Flesh" from The Wall.
Later days (1991-present)
After the release of Crazy World Francis Buchholz, the band's long-serving bassist, left the group. Replacing him was Ralph Rieckermann who handled bass duties until 2002. There were also rumours that Scorpions were upset by the heavy taxes they paid from royalties of Crazy World. As a result, they fired their manager, feeling that they might have been cheated.
In 1993 Scorpions released Face the Heat. For the recording process, Scorpions brought in producer Bruce Fairbairn. The album's sound was more metallic than melodic and divided the band's fan base somewhat. Many "headbangers" responded positively to the album while many long time fans were put off. Neither the hard-rock single "Alien Nation" nor the ballad "Under The Same Sun" came close to matching the success of "Wind of Change". Face the Heat was a moderate success.
In 1995, a new live album, Live Bites, was produced. The disc documented live performances from their Savage Amusement Tour in 1988, all the way through the Face the Heat Tour in 1994. While the album had a much cleaner sound in comparison to their best-selling live album, World Wide Live, it was not as successful.
Prior to recording their 13th studio album, 1996's Pure Instinct, drummer Herman Rarebell left the band to set up a recording company. Curt Cress took charge of the drumsticks for the album before James Kottak took over permanently. Many feel Pure Instinct is a response to the complaints levied against Face the Heat. The album had many ballads. Still, the album's singles "Wild Child" and the soothing ballad "You and I" both enjoyed moderate success.
1999 saw the release of Eye II Eye and a significant change in the band's style, mixing in elements of pop and techno. While the album was slickly produced, fans were unsure what to make of the band, responding negatively to almost everything from pop-soul backup singers to the electronic drums present on several songs. The video to the album's first European single, "To Be No. 1", featured a Monica Lewinsky lookalike which did little to improve its popularity.
The following year Scorpions had a fairly successful collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic that resulted in a 10-song album named Moment of Glory. The album went a long way towards rebuilding the band's reputation after the harsh criticism of Eye II Eye. Still, critics accused them of following on the coattails of Metallica's similar collaboration (S&M) with the San Francisco Symphony which had been released the previous year. However, the orchestra had first approached Scorpions with the idea back in 1995.
Scorpions in 2007In 2001, Scorpions released Acoustica, a live unplugged album featuring acoustic reworkings of the band's biggest hits, plus new tracks. While appreciated by fans, the lack of a new studio album was frustrating to some, and Acoustica did little to return the band to the spotlight.
In 2004, the band released Unbreakable, an album that was hailed by critics as a long awaited return to form. The album was the heaviest the band had released since Face the Heat, and fans responded well to tracks such as "New Generation", "Love 'em or Leave 'em" and "Deep and Dark". Whether a result of poor promotion by the band's label or the long time between studio releases, Unbreakable received little airplay and did not chart. Scorpions toured extensively behind the album, and played as special guests with Judas Priest during the 2005 British tour.
In early 2006, Scorpions released the DVD 1 Night in Vienna that included 14 live tracks and a complete rockumentary. In LA, the band spent about 4 months in the studio with producers James Michael and Desmond Child working on their new concept album titled Humanity - Hour 1, which was released in the second half of May 2007. A "Humanity World Tour" has already started. Tour dates are available on the band's official site the-scorpions.com.
On May 14 2007, Scorpions released Humanity - Hour 1 in Europe. Humanity - Hour 1 became available in the U.S. on August 28, 2007 on New Door Records, entering the Billboard charts at number #63.
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lead vocals,
Klaus Meine (1970-1981, 1981-present)
Rudolf Schenker (1965-1970)
lead guitars
Matthias Jabs (1978-1979, 1979-present)
Ulrich Roth (1973-1978)
Michael Schenker (1970-1973,1979)
rhythm guitars
Rudolf Schenker (1965-present)
bass
Pawel Maciwoda (2003-present)
Ralph Rieckermann (1993-2003)
Francis Buchholz (1973-1994)
Lothar Heimberg (1965-1973)
drums
James Kottak (1996-present)
Herman Rarebell (1977-1995)
Rudy Lenners (1975-1977)
Jürgen Rosenthal (1973-1975)
Wolfgang Dziony (1965-1973)
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Albums
Lonesome Crow (1972)
Fly to the Rainbow (1974)
In Trance (1975)
Virgin Killer (1976)
Taken by Force (1977)
Tokyo Tapes (1978, live)
Lovedrive (1979)
Animal Magnetism (1980)
Blackout (1982)
Love at First Sting (1984)
World Wide Live (1985, live)
Savage Amusement (1988)
Crazy World (1990)
Face the Heat (1993)
Live Bites (1995, live)
Pure Instinct (1996)
Eye II Eye (1999)
Moment of Glory (with the Berlin Philarmoniker, 2000)
Acoustica (acoustic, 2001)
Unbreakable (2004)
Humanity: Hour I (2007)
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ULI JON ROTH
http://www.ulijonroth.com/sky/main.htm
In the early 1970s, Roth formed a band called Dawn Road. In 1973 he temporarily joined Scorpions, replacing guitarist Michael Schenker (brother of Scorpions guitarist Rudolf) who had left to join UFO. Michael had a reputation as a highly skilled technical player; Scorpions disbanded after he left the group. The "new" Scorpions were, in effect, a merger between the four members of Dawn Road, (Uli Jon Roth, Achim Kirschning, Francis Buchholz, Jürgen Rosenthal) and the two remaining Scorpions members, Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine. During his tenure as lead guitarist and a main songwriter for the Scorpions, the band released five very influential records, including the live album Tokyo Tapes, which sold nearly one million copies and went gold in several countries. (Actually, Herman Rarebell, Francis Buchholz, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, and Ulrich Roth released Toyko Tapes)
Some later Scorpions releases with Roth began to exhibit a stylistic split in songwriting. Roth-composed songs were influenced by the style of Jimi Hendrix, but songs involving Rudolph Schenker as composer leaned towards straight hard rock and pop hard rock. This split reflected Roth's growing dissatisfaction with his role in the band. He began investigating spiritually oriented subjects in his private life, like his influence Jimi Hendrix did towards the latter half of his career. Roth left the Scorpions in 1978.
Roth formed his own band named Electric Sun which released three albums. The first, Earthquake (1979), was dedicated to the spirit of Jimi Hendrix and featured cover art by artist Monika Danneman, Jimi Hendrix's former girlfriend who had been with him when he died in 1970, and who became Roth's partner afterwards. A second album released two years later, Fire Wind (1981), was dedicated to Anwar el-Sadat (the assassinated President of Egypt who had tried to make peace in the Middle East), featured a song called "Enola Gay" which was about the atomic bombing of Japan, and cover art by Monika Danneman.
Interviews with some original Scorpions members after the release of these albums demonstrated how far the two parties had grown apart. Matthias Jabs, the guitarist who replaced Roth, told the press that he thought Roth was "lost" musically. This may have referred to the commercial success Roth had stepped away from that the Scorpions were still experiencing. Roth's records were released on the much smaller German Metronome Musik label. Roth's move into deeper spiritual and political subjects was opposite that of the Scorpion's foray into more "good-time" subjects accompanied by MTV-style videos showing the band at parties and in 1980's era settings. The two band's public images were starkly different: the Scorpions favored skin tight leotard style clothing typical of the 80's while Roth leaned more towards a Hendrix-influenced style of dress.
In the 1980's, Roth commissioned construction of custom guitars with additional frets . He called them Sky guitars and used them on his last Electric Sun album Beyond the Astral Skies (which was dedicated to Martin Luther-King and to Roth's fans), released in 1985. Since then, Roth entered a new phase of creative work, composing a.o. four symphonies and two concertos, and sometimes performing with symphony orchestras throughout Europe.
The untimely death of Roth's girlfriend and spiritual partner Monika Danneman April 5 1996 was reported a suicide; she had just lost a legal battle with a former Hendrix girlfriend and was due to be described in a book about the last days of Hendrix in a negative light. However, Roth publicly stated his opinion that her passing had been the result of foul play; Roth dedicated later works to the memory of Ms. Danneman.
Roth appeared in concert at Castle Donington in 2001 with original Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker, and critics noted the healthy appearance of Roth and his mastery of his material, but described Schenker as past his prime. These reviews ended comments of Roth being "lost" musically by his former Scorpions bandmates, now that Roth had developed into a polished and successful artist while the commercial pop success of his former band had faded.
Discography
With Scorpions
Fly to the Rainbow (1974) - Guitar, vocals
In Trance (1975) - Guitar, vocals
Virgin Killer (1976) - Guitar, vocals
Taken by Force (1977) - Guitar, vocals
Tokyo Tapes (live recording, 1978) - Guitar, vocals
***
With Electric Sun
Earthquake (1979) - Guitar, vocals
Fire Wind (1981) - Guitar, vocals
Beyond the Astral Skies (1985) - Lead/harmony vocals, guitar, keyboard, bass
***
Solo and classical works (released)
1991 - Aquila Suite - 12 Arpeggio Concert Etudes for Solo Piano
1996 - Sky of Avalon - Prologue to the Symphonic Legends (with Sky Orchestra)
2000 - Transcendental Sky Guitar Vol. I & II
2003 - Metamorphosis of Vivaldi's Four Seasons (with Sky Orchestra)
***
Solo and classical works (unreleased)
1987 - Sky Concerto
1992 - Europa ex Favilla (symphony)
1994 - Hiroshima de Profundis (symphony)
1996/97/98 - Requiem for an Angel (dedicated to the memory of Monika Dannemann)
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MICHAEL SCHENKER
http://www.michaelschenkerhimself.com/
Born in Sarstedt (also known as Barstedt), Germany, Schenker has had a long career that has seen him rise to become one of the most influential and respected rock guitarists working today. He started playing in his early teens when his brother Rudolf brought home a Flying V guitar, which captured Michael's imagination. Schenker debuted with Scorpions on their debut album Lonesome Crow at age 16 and was lauded at the time for his mature technique.
UFO
Beginning
Vocalist Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton (born Michael Bolton, May 1950, in London), bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker (born Andrew Maynard Parker, 21 March 1952, in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire) formed the band in August, 1969. Originally taking the name 'Hocus Pocus', the group changed their name to UFO in honour of the London club where they were spotted by Noel Moore, who signed them to his Beacon Records label. Their eponymously titled first album debuted in 1970 and was a typical example of blues and boogie based hard rock. The album included a heavy version of Eddie Cochran's classic, "C'mon Everybody". Both UFO 1 and its follow-up, Flying, were very successful in Japan (especially the single "C'mon Everybody" which became a huge hit there) and Germany (the song "Boogie For George", also from the first album, reached #30 in German singles charts and "Prince Kajuku" from UFO 2 - Flying reached #26 there), but generated poor interest in Britain and America. Consequently, their third effort, UFO Lands In Tokyo (also known as UFO Live and UFO Landed In Japan), was only released in Japan.
Part of UFO's early heavy metal work was strongly influenced by space rock (their second album, including a 26-minute long title track and a 19-minute long opus "Star Storm", even was subtitled "One Hour Space Rock") that was modestly popular at the time, but the band soon realised the style was somewhat limited. In January, 1972 Mick Bolton left the group, and UFO set out to find a guitarist capable of providing the band with a more standard rock sound.
International success
After brief trial runs with ex-Steve Took's Shagrat guitarist, Larry Wallis (February - October, 1972; in 1975 he became a founding member of Motörhead) and future Cozy Powell's Hammer and Whitesnake member, Bernie Marsden - he toured with UFO in Europe and recorded demo, "Give Her The Gun") - the band recruited Michael Schenker from Scorpions in June, 1973. On a new label, Chrysalis Records, and with new producer, Leo Lyons, UFO recorded Phenomenon in 1974, which debuted the band's harder-edged guitar sound. Schenker was only 19 at the time, but was already a well-respected guitarist. Phenomenon was not an instant classic, but contained many fan favorites such as "Doctor Doctor" (later a minor hit single as a live track) and "Rock Bottom" (which was extended live to provide a showcase for Schenker). By the time of the Phenomenon tour, ex-Skid Row guitarist Paul Chapman (born Paul William Chapman, 9 May 1954, in Cardiff, Glamorganshire, South Wales) joined the group, but he left in January, 1975 to form Lone Star.
The band later released Force It (July, 1975) and No Heavy Petting (May, 1976) and toured extensively, which brought UFO increased visibility with American audiences and made them huge stars in England.
After the band experimented with keyboards during the recording sessions of Force It (Chick Churchill from Ten Years After played them), a keysman Danny Peyronel (previously in Heavy Metal Kids) joined the line-up in August, 1975, but the next summer he left to form The Blue Max. In July, 1976 the band recruited keyboardist and second guitarist Paul Raymond (born Paul Martin Raymond, 16 November 1945, in St Albans, Hertfordshire) (ex-Plastic Penny) from Savoy Brown to make 1977's Lights Out. Lights Out was the pinnacle of UFO's studio career and is considered a genuine 1970s rock classic, containing songs such as "Too Hot To Handle", "Lights Out", "Alone Again Or" and the 7-minute opus "Love To Love". With Lights Out, the band received substantial critical acclaim.
Strangers in the Night album coverWith their new-found success, the band went back into the studio to record Obsession in 1978. Whilst not as successful as its predecessor, Obsession still contained several popular tracks, such as; "Cherry" and "Only You Can Rock Me".
Later that year, the band went on tour and recorded the live album, Strangers In The Night. Strangers was a critical and commercial success and stands as one of the most influential live rock albums of the 1970s (along with Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous, Kiss's Alive! and Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive).
Schenker's departure
Tensions had begun to grow between Mogg and Schenker in the late 1970s and before the release of Strangers In The Night (January, 1979), Schenker left the band. He made a brief return to the Scorpions before going on to form the Michael Schenker Group.
AFTER UFO
Schenker re-joined the Scorpions in late 1978, when they were recording the album Lovedrive, thus resulting in his contribution of lead guitar on 3 songs ("Another Piece Of Meat","Coast To Coast" and "Lovedrive"). In 1979, Schenker toured with the band in support for the album but 3 months later, after numerous occasions he could not perform on stage (due to fatigue and alcohol problems), he finally left the band and was permanently replaced by Matthias Jabs (who originally joined the Scorpions before Schenker's return, and recorded the rest of the lead guitars apart from the three pieces which Michael played.)
Schenker was offered jobs with Aerosmith (detailed in their biography Walk This Way) and Ozzy Osbourne. Osbourne said in a 1982 Hit Parader interview that he did contact Schenker following the death of Randy Rhoads:
It so happens I did contact Michael Schenker, but he wanted a king's ransom before he'd do anything...I don't need that annoyance.
MSG
Schenker decided he wanted to play his own music and not be a hired hand for another band. In 1979, he founded the Michael Schenker Group.
The history of MSG is strewn with personality conflicts and incidents between band members. In 1982, original vocalist Gary Barden, who sang on the first two studio albums The Michael Schenker Group and M.S.G. II as well as the band's third release (the live album One Night at Budokan) was fired in favor of Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Alcatrazz).
Bonnet lasted one album (Assault Attack) and was fired from the band because he often lost his voice during shows, although the actual firing happened after dropping his pants in a warm-up gig in Sheffield before the Reading Festival. Barden was called by at the last minute and did the show with only a few hours rehearsal and opening the appearance with the words: "surprise surprise". Although many fans proclaimed Assault Attack as being MSGs best recording, Barden was enticed back to the band for Reading (documented on the BBC Radio One Live in Concert) and stayed with M.S.G. for the recording of a new studio album (Built to Destroy) and the band's second live album (Rock Will Never Die).
After Barden's second departure, Schenker reorganized the band around himself and new vocalist Robin McAuley as the McAuley Schenker Group and steered the group to a more commercial hard rock sound. After three albums with the lineup, Schenker and McAuley parted company.
Schenker rejoined UFO for their reunion album Walk on Water. A short tour, punctuated by a fight between Schenker and vocalist Phil Mogg, ended the reunion.
Schenker then resurrected the Michael Schenker Group with all new members and recorded three more albums, The Unforgiven, Written in Sand and Arachnophobiac. The group toured yearly around the United States and Europe.
He later rejoined UFO for two further releases, Covenant and Sharks.
Schenker fell on hard times in the early 2000s after his divorce in which he lost rights to his own music, his Mercedes, and his prized Flying V guitars, which was detailed in an April 2004 interview with Guitar World magazine. He picked himself up and got back to the business of making and performing music, recording the album Arachnophobiac and supporting it with two years of touring.
2005 brought the 25th anniversary of the Michael Schenker Group. Schenker put together a new album of songs called Tales Of Rock'n'Roll to celebrate the anniversary and enlisted singers from each iteration of the band to sing on the album.
After nearly-disastrous North American and European tours in 2007, which saw cancelled shows and less-than-stellar performances, Michael regained his composure and hit the road in the UK as Michael Schenker & Friends in 2008. Shows in this tour have received rave reviews and show Michael once again at his best. Early 2008, Michael worked with Gary Barden, Don Airey, Simon Phillips and Neil Murray on a new MSG's album In the Midst of Beauty, which was released in May 2008.
Michael announced that the touring band for the 2008 MSG tour will feature former MSG members, vocalist Gary Barden, Chris Glen on bass and Wayne Findley on guitar & keyboards and Chris Slade (The Firm, AC/DC) on drums. Unfortunately the 2009 US part of the tour was postponed due to a delay in visa processing and the final line-up included Michael Schenker, Gary Barden, Wayne Findley plus Pete Holmes on drums and Rev Jones on bass.
Discography
with Scorpions
* Lonesome Crow (1972)
* Lovedrive (1979)
with UFO
* Phenomenon (1974)
* Force It (1975)
* No Heavy Petting (1976)
* Lights Out (1977)
* Obsession (1978)
* Strangers in the Night (1979)
* The Best Of (1992)
* Walk on Water (1995)
* Covenant (2000)
* Sharks (2002)
with Michael Schenker Group/McAuley Schenker Group
* The Michael Schenker Group (1980)
* M.S.G. (1981)
* One Night at Budokan (1981)
* Assault Attack (1982)
* Built To Destroy (1983)
* Rock Will Never Die (1984)
* Perfect Timing (McAuley Schenker Group) (1987)
* Save Yourself (McAuley Schenker Group) (1989)
* M.S.G. (McAuley Schenker Group) (1992)
* Nightmare : The Acoustic M.S.G. (McAuley Schenker Group) (1992)
* The Essential Michael Schenker Group (Best Of 1992)
* M.S.G. Unplugged (McAuley Schenker Group) (1993)
* Written in the Sand (1996)
* The Michael Schenker Story Live (1997)
* The Unforgiven (1999)
* The Unforgiven World Tour (2000)
* Be Aware of Scorpions (2002)
* Arachnophobiac (2003)
* Heavy Hitters (2005)
* Tales of Rock'n'Roll (2006)
* In the Midst of Beauty (2008)
Solo
* Thank You (1993)
* Thank You 2 (1998)
* Thank You With Orchestra (1999)
* Adventures of the Imagination (2000)
* The Odd Trio (2000)
* Thank You 3 (2001)
* Dreams And Expressions (2001)
* Forever And More: The Best Of Michael Schenker (2003)
* Thank You 4 (2003)
* Doctor, Doctor: The Kulick Sessions (2008)
* Greatest Riffs (2009, US-only compilation)
Other Schenker projects
* Contraband (1991)
* The Plot (2003)
* Under Construction (2003)
* Schenker-Pattison Summit - The Endless Jam (2004)
* Siggi Schwarz & The Electricguitar Legends (2004)
* Schenker-Pattison Summit - The Endless Jam Continues (2005)
* Siggi Schwarz & The Rock Legends (2005)
* Siggi Schwarz and Michael Schenker - Live Together (2006)
* Schenker Barden Acoustic Project - Gipsy Lady (2009)
Videography
* Michael Schenker Group - Rock Will Never Die (1984)
* Michael Schenker Group - Live in Tokyo 1997 (1997)
* Michael Schenker Group - World Wide Live 2004 (2004)
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UFO Post-Schenker years
After Schenker's exit, UFO rehired Paul "Tonka" Chapman on guitar and released their next LP, No Place To Run in January, 1980, produced by the former Beatles producer, George Martin. No Place to Run failed to match up to the success of its predecessors. Paul Raymond left the band at the end of the No Place To Run tour and was replaced by John Sloman from Uriah Heep for a couple of months and then by former Wild Horses guitarist and keyboardist Neil Carter, who helped fill the void in the songwriting left by Schenker's departure. Carter debuted in UFO on stage at Reading Festival August 23, 1980 when the band played as headline act. At the beginning of following year UFO released self-produced The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent, which had a lighter pop rock sound, which was popular at the time. The album achieved mild success in the UK.
In February, 1982 the band released Mechanix. It contained the popular song, "Back Into My Life", which was a minor hit in the USA. Later that year, founding member, Pete Way left the band to form Fastway and then his own Waysted. He was replaced by ex-Damned & Eddie and the Hot Rods bassist, Paul Gray. UFO released Making Contact in 1983, but the album was a critical and commercial failure. Thus, that May, UFO decided to disband.
This proved to be a short hiatus as, two years later, Mogg assembled a new UFO line-up and released Misdemeanor. This was followed by the 1988 EP Ain't Misbehavin'. Despite the renewed activity of the band, neither release was financially successful and they disbanded again.
The reunion(s)
In 1992, Mogg and Way decided to put a new UFO line-up together and released High Stakes & Dangerous Men. Whilst only released on a small independent label, High Stakes was enough to generate serious interest in a full-blown reunion. The following year, the late 1970s UFO line-up – Mogg, Schenker, Way, Raymond and Parker – reunited, and the resultant album Walk on Water, was released in 1995. This line-up went on a world tour (barring Parker's replacement by AC/DC's Simon Wright on drums). However, tensions arose again, and Schenker left the band in the middle of the tour. Therefore, the other members went their separate ways again.
Phil Mogg and Pete Way continued working together, however, and released two albums under the Mogg/Way name in the late 1990s, one of which was Chocolate Box.
In 2000, Schenker rejoined UFO again and the band released the double CD, Covenant which contained a disc of new material and a disc of live classics. This album saw Aynsley Dunbar join on drums. Despite constant rumours regarding Schenker's status in the band, he returned once again in 2002 to record, Sharks. Shortly after Sharks was released, Schenker left the band yet again. Mogg, Raymond and Way decided to replace Schenker with Vinnie Moore.
In 2004 the band released You Are Here with Jason Bonham on drums and guitar maestro Vinnie Moore.
As a follow up for the tour, UFO record their live set and release a double-DVD recording titled Showtime (2005) along with a double live CD on SPV in November 2005, mixing a number of re-recoded studio songs, some of which can be viewed on YouTube.
In November 2005, Andy Parker returned to the band to play in the Piorno Rock Festival in Granada, Spain.
UFO's nineteenth studio album, titled The Monkey Puzzle, was released in Europe on September 25, 2006 and on the following day in the United States [1].
Andy Parker recently returned in early 2007 after recovering from proper medical surgery on his leg. He and the rest of the band gave thanks to all who helped; most importantly, Jason Bonham (Andy's replacement).
In January 2008 they re-released three albums (Phenomenon, No Heavy Petting and Force it) which include bonus tracks and live versions of select songs
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