It was at this point that Schenker, alongside drummer Cozy Powell and the band manager, felt that the band needed a different singer. Gary Barden had been the frontman, but it was his live performances that caused concern, with his voice not considered strong enough for the live setting. Cozy had put forward David Coverdale as the perfect man, though he was currently fronting his own band Whitesnake. Schenker himself however wanted to recruit Graham Bonnet, whose most recent gig had been on the brilliant Rainbow album “Down to Earth”. Schenker eventually won out, and Bonnet was brought in for the new album. Unfortunately, Cozy and former UFO member Paul Raymond then left the band at this point, with both being replaced by session musicians.
Also coming on board for the album was legendary producer Martin Birch, who came into this album straight off having finished producing the little known band Iron Maiden’s new album, an obscure album called “The Number of the Beast”. With a new powerful voice and co-writer out front, and one of the great producers in charge of the dials, the Michael Schenker Group went forth to produce an album that would stretch what they had produced before, and hope to make a deep impression on all who would listen to it.
There is no doubt that, from the very beginning this is a much heavier album than what the band had produced before. And several things contribute to that. The first immediate one is Bonnet’s vocals. The imposing and strong presence from the start of the opening track “Assault Attack” are the kickstart to the album, and at the time must have been a real eye opener for the fans. This is exacerbated by the heavier tone in the song from what had come from most of the preceding two albums. And then we have Schenker’s guitar, which becomes the focal piece as it should be in this band. Later down the track it seemed to fade into the background as the band chased a more commercial sound, but here on “Assault Attack”, where the band was looking to bring a much harder and heavier presence to their music, Schenker’s guitar becomes as prominent as it should be. With these three focuses combining on this album, it draws together exactly as it should.
The first side of the album brings together a varying array of this revamped style of the MSG music. “Assault Attack” is essentially as the title suggests, an assault and attack both vocally and with the shredding guitar. “Rock You to the Ground” dials back the tempo to a more blues-based riff that is still ramped up by Schenker throughout, and Bonnet gives a great performance on hard core vocals. “Dancer” is a lighter tune, in fact has more in common with Bonnet’s future band Alcatrazz, before we delve into “Samurai”.
The second side opens up with what for me is still one of the best songs ever written. The brilliant “Desert Song” tops this album and most others with the MSG insignia on it. It is one of the most amazingly moody tracks ever written, building from the sublime to that first brilliant Schenker guitar riff, into the verse and bridge, and Bonnet’s vocals just supreme throughout. It is probably the highlight of Bonnet’s career, along with “Eyes of the World” from his Rainbow days. This is the star attraction of the album, one of legendary status. “Broken Promises” is followed by the song that feels like it should have been the single released from the album, “Searching for a Reason”, as it has the right lyrical content without compromising the heart of the album, and again showcases the best parts of the band in the process. While you can understand why “Dancer” was the single released from the album, I’ve always felt this would have been a better option. The album then closes with the Schenker instrumental “Ulcer”, something he excels at throughout his career in producing.
My introduction to this album was in fact back in the cassette sharing days – surprise surprise. My metal music dealer had recorded Dio’s “Holy Diver” for me, but with space remaining on the C60 tape, he put down three tracks from the “Assault Attack” album – the title track, “Desert Song” and “Samurai”. And – as much as “Holy Diver” is still one of the greatest ten albums ever released – those three songs blew my mind. And, as you will have guessed by now, it was “Desert Song” that just stuck out like a sore thumb. The switch to getting a copy of the whole album followed, and it was another album that was played to death over the following couple of years. There is a certain day that sticks in my mind, sometime when I had started Uni back in 1988. And in those mid-year days I was less than enthused about the tasks at hand nor attending the campus at all. The result was, during a five hour break I had between lectures, driving my car to Wollongong Harbour up near the lighthouse, buying $2 worth of chips, and playing this album and the following album, “Built to Destroy”, over and over, at a very loud volume, for three hours or so, looking out at the water and eating my chips, and wondering just where I was going in life. And that afternoon often comes back to me, not only through what I was feeling at the time, but how much this album made me feel so much about where I was at during that time. And it still does to today, reminds me of how much this album in particular at that time was a constant in my life.
Sadly, it was the only album Bonnet produced with the band. At the first gig they played to promote “Assault Attack”, a drunken Bonnet decided to expose himself to the crowd on stage, and was pretty much immediately fired, with Gary Barden returning to the fold in his place. And that remains a real shame, because given how terrific this album is with his writing and vocals, just wat would a follow up have produced?
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