158. Michael Schenker Group / Built To Destroy. 1983. 3.5/5

Michael Schenker’s road to rock domination, or at least trying to find the path to that road, never seemed to come easily, although a lot of that trouble has been lain at the guitar god’s feet himself. Three albums into his self-titled Michael Schenker Group career, the eponymous “The Michael Schenker Group”, the also eponymous “M.S.G”, and “Assault Attack”, over which time the band had created some terrific work and excellent songs, as well as building a solid live reputation, and Schenker was looking to duplicate his success in the UK and Japan in the United States. The only problem was that it seemed impossible to stop the revolving door of members from entering the band and then disappearing just as fast. Lead vocalist from the first two albums, Gary Barden, had been replaced by Graham Bonnett for the previous album, “Assault Attack”, an album well received by critics and fans alike. Unfortunately, during the band’s first gig to promote that album, Bonnett drunkenly exposed himself on stage, and was immediately fired, with Gary Barden drafted back in to complete the tour dates. This led to Barden once again being made the band’s lead vocalist for their follow up album. Also brought in on this album was keyboardist Andy Nye who was an accomplished song writer, and so this five piece, alongside long-term partners Chris Glen on bass guitar and Ted McKenna on drums moved forward to record the follow up album, “Built to Destroy”. Just how it would progress in a world where heavy metal was becoming more aggressive and progressive was a question that Schenker himself had to have been asking himself at the time.

One of the more interesting aspects of this album is that there are two songs on here that Michael Schenker himself does not receive a credit for, which is a first for the Michael Schenker Group. It was a sign that perhaps the band was progressing to a point where everyone could be involved in the writing of the material, and there be a real band rather than be seen as the solo project of the self-titled guitarist. Those two songs, composed by Andy Nye and Gary Barden, are actually two of the best tracks on the album as well, which may or may not have been a bone of contention at the time. The first is the opening track “Rock My Nights Away”, considered by most fans as one of the group most iconic songs. It is keyboard dominant as you might expect, but when Schenker’s guitar does come to the front of the mix it during his solo and the riffing at the end, that’s where it really kicks it up a notch. It is a terrific song, one of my favourite MSG tracks because of its tempo and intensity and fun feeling. A beauty. The other Nye/Barden track is the penultimate song of side two “Time Waits for No One” is again dominated by Nye’s keyboard, and actually sounds like a UK new wave song, with the jauntiness of the keyboard and Barden’s happily singing over the top. Even when Schenker’s guitar does appear, it is in a very unthreatening way. Whereas the opening track has that power of the guitar coming into the song to help it along, here on “Time Waits for No One” we are actually waiting for that burst of guitar strings wailing into the mix, but it never occurs. It suffers massively as a result.
Two songs here are credited to Barden and Schenker along with Ted McKenna. “I’m Gonna Make You Mine” also includes Nye again, which has his keyboard prominent but here doubled over with Schenker’s guitar. Barden sings tough, and it is a good follow up to the opening track. It is true that it is very much tied to this era by the heavy use of the synth alongside the guitar, but Barden’s great vocals alongside Schenker riffing it up make it a terrific song. The other is “Red Sky”, this time alongside Chris Glen, a much more guitar-oriented track as a result with Schenker’s guitar and Glen’s bass being the driving force of the song. And while the keys and synths on this album are important to its sound, it’s the stringed instruments that make it better.
Four of the five remaining songs are co-written by Schenker and Barden alone, and they are of a varied output. “The Dogs of War” and "Systems Failing” continue the great vibes of the first side of the album, the songs played at the right tempo, and with Schenker’s guitar providing a nice counterpoint to the tunes. “Still Love That Little Devil” opens up side two of the album in the same style. The fourth of these collaborations is the closing track, which had a different title for each edition of the album that was released. On the original album it is titled “Walk the Stage”, but it is generally better known as “Rock Will Never Die”, which it was more or less changed to for the US edition and most versions since then.
The final song here is Schenker’s instrumental awesomeness of “Captain Nemo”, which closes out side one of the album. It is another terrific song, highlighted by Schenker’s wonderful guitar work, and showcasing his immense skill with the instrument that on some songs doesn’t get that front-and-centre distinction that it deserves. All of this combines into yet another MSG album that has all the bibs and bobs, but perhaps on some level doesn’t quite get them all in the right order to make it a smashing result.

In my first year at uni I used to save all of my sheckles so I could go down to the local purveyor of second hand records, Illawarra Books and Records, and buy as many albums from new artists that I didn’t have as I could with the few dollars I had put away, and one of those artists was the Michael Schenker Group. By the time I found them, they had ceased to be for the time being, with the next eponymous band the McCauley Schenker Group having been formed. But these first four studio albus and two live albums were gold to me.
This album was on cassette in my car for a long time, with “Assault Attack” on the other side, and it was played over and over on trips to and from uni. I lived a lot of that first year not really knowing what I wanted to do with myself, often falling into a confused state, and this album was one of many that got me out of that funk. The song “Rock My Nights Away” became a sort of an anthem for me, singing out loud “Cos when I’m sad and lonely, from day to day, I’m just gonna rock my nights away!” - which I invariably did.
Listening to the album now, I do have mixed reactions. When I first put it back on for this project, I found that the immediately familiar songs still struck a chord, but others left me wondering what I used to hear in them. Over the course of several listens, that began to change, and I once again found that love for the album that I know I had all those years ago. It isn’t a perfect album, and suited the 80’s for its time, but it still has great moments throughout. I do wonder how those who had never heard the album might think of it if they first listened to it today. I’m sure they would be less enthralled with it than I am. Overall, it is like all of those early MSG albums – some great tracks, some better than average tracks.

Following the tour to promote this album, Schenker pulled the plug, ostensibly from the difficulty in gaining the success he wanted and the troubled relationship between the band members. He would go on to team up with Robin McAuley and return with the McAuley Schenker Group, that is a different proposition altogether, in order to find that commercial success that had thus far eluded him.