Lead singer Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker formed the band in 1968 and having signed to Beacon Records they had released their debut album “UFO 1” in 1970, and was quickly followed by their second album, “UFO 2: Flying”. While neither album had reached the charts, and indeed at this time UFO attracted little interest in Britain and America, a single had attracted some sales in Germany, reaching #30 on their singles charts. The majority of their early work on both of these albums was strongly influenced by space rock - indeed, their second album featuring a 26-minute title track and a 19-minute-long track "Star Storm" and was subtitled One Hour Space Rock. Following that second album that was modestly popular at the time, the band soon realised the style was somewhat limited. Mick Bolton left the group in January 1972, and UFO set out to find a guitarist who could provide the band with a more standard rock sound.
After flirtations with future Motorhead guitarist Larry Wallis and future Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden, who played as a temporary touring guitarist for the band when they toured Europe, the band recruited Michael Schenker from the Scorpions in June 1973. Scorpions had opened up for UFO on that European tour, and they were so impressed with the young guitar maestro, who was only 18 years of age but already a well-respected guitarist, that they asked him to join. Having consulted his brother Rudolph, who gave his blessing, the deal was done. The injection of Schenker both on guitar and as a songwriter, meant that UFO were ready to make the jump from 60 based space rock band to fully fledged hard rock icons, and the first step to that process was the writing and recording of their first album together, titled “Phenomenon”.
Breaking away from their space rock style, UFO produce an album here that mixes a style that is of the mainstream hard rock of the era along with the extended instrumental passages that were common on the first two albums. The opening salvo of “Too Young to Know” has a sound that incorporates a sound similar to contemporary bands such as Bad Company and Free, as well as the Rolling Stones. Phil Mogg’s smooth vocals are the immediate focal point of the song, while Michael Schenker’s easy listening guitar also makes its presence felt through the majority of the song. The rhythm of Andy Parker’s drums and Pete Way’s bass guitar keep the momentum throughout the song. “Crystal Light” generally sticks to the same style of song that the band had produced on their first two albums, without it stretching beyond almost four minutes that this song goes for. There is an almost-Eagles-like feel to this song, in the quiet tones of the song rather than any of the country rock themes that band had around this time.
The star attraction of the album, and the first sign of the band’s growing direction, comes next with “Doctor Doctor”. From the subdued guitar beginning, into the Schenker riff supported by Parker’s hard drums, and then into the main riff of the song, this is the song where your ears immediately prick up and think ‘wow... that’s different!’ And it is as brilliant today as it was 50 years ago. This is where the harder edge of the band began to appear, and the popularity and success of this song is what drove what came beyond this album. Great melody, heavier sound, and Schenker’s guitaring, including amazing solo. The genesis of what UFO became is the basis of this track.
“Space Child” follows a similar type of path to “Crystal Light”, a quiet introspective song dominated by Mogg’s soaring vocals in the first half of the song and then Schenker’s restrained guitar solo in the middle of the track. This is followed by the other dominant hard rock track of the album, “Rock Bottom”, where again it is Schenker and his guitar that steals the show. It takes centre stage from the very beginning of the song, driven by Andy Parker’s drums through the opening section of the song alongside Mogg’s vocals. Once we reach the middle of the song it is Schenker’s freeform guitar solo that takes command, enhanced by the quite brilliant bass line from Pete Way in conjunction. It is a superb few minutes of music, showcasing both Schenker’s talents and again exacerbating the direction the band was to go on the back of songs such as this. Schenker would always extend the solo section when the song was played live, which again is always a treat. Alongside “Doctor Doctor” this is one of the band’s greatest songs.
Side two sits back in the middle range of the rock/hard rock genre. It opens with “Oh My”, a solid rock track, and moves into “Time on My Hands”, a song I feel mirrors the Eagles feel of “Crystal Light”, inoffensive but not with the power of the major songs here. “Built for Comfort” is a cover of the Willie Dixon blues song, and seems like a slight mismatch to the other material here. “Lipstick Traces” is motivated by the previous track, and instrumental concentrating on the quiet technical side of Michael Schenker’s guitar skills. It a likeable song, though again feels slightly out of place. The album then concludes with “Queen of the Deep”, a creeper that builds from a slow start to a bigger finish, again in the main through Mogg and his terrific vocal line and the Schenker/Parker/Way solid rhythm, with Michael’s solo again concertina-ed with Pete Way’s bass line and Andy Parker’s collared drumming.
When I first started listening to the UFO studio albums, it was a tough experience. I had first discovered the band on a Michael Schenker Anthology two album collection I had bought from my go-to second hand record store, Illawarra Books and Records, in 1988, and then from the same store the amazing live album “Strangers in the Night”, which was the first episode of this season of the podcast, back in January. That album acted as a best-of album for me for the band, and so I started to delve back into the studio albums that preceded that live album. The problem being, given how good all of those songs sounded live, it was difficult to go back and listen to studio versions of the same songs that didn't have the same energy and tempo.
This meant that once I first got “Phenomenon”, I found the songs and music to be much slower and less intense than I was expecting. Given that by the end of the 70’s decade the band had built itself up to being a furious hard rock band verging at times into NWOBHM style heavy metal, some of the songs on this album ailed to mesh with me at the time, and while I didn’t hate it, it wasn’t in the genre of music that I was very much into at that time.
In more recent years when I’ve gone to the album, it has been far more entertaining. Because I’m older? Because I’m more tolerant? Probably bits of both. But I think the main thing I did was realise that I love this band, so surely if I listen to this album and ACTUALLY listen to it, then I will enjoy it. And that is what occurred. Taking the time to listening to the album and not trying to make it something it isn’t. Because it’s not a 1980’s heavy metal album, it’s an album that is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it was a band that was still discovering exactly what they wanted to be, especially with a brand new guitarist joining the ranks for this album.
I’ve had this on my playlist rotation for the past three weeks, and on top of that I have spent the past two days listening only to this album, back-to-back, over and over again. So in this three week period that’s approximately 30 times I have listened to this album from start to finish. And each time I grow more entranced with it again. Even now after all these years, I have picked up pieces that I haven’t really noticed before, and others that have grown in stature for me. That brilliant bass line from Pete Way underneath Schenker’s guitar solo in “Rock Bottom”, Phil Mogg’s vocal melody in “Oh My”, the wonderful mood of “Queen of the Deep”. All of those things are just a part of the mystique and beauty of “Phenomenon” as an album.
This was the first of a five album stretch that the band did through the 1970’s that is the golden era of UFO. All of it is terrific. This song is the leading light to where they were headed over those years.
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