613. McAuley Schenker Group / Perfect Timing. 1987. 3.5/5

Michael Schenker had had a fairly turbulent decade throughout the 1980’s, one that had come following his decision to quit UFO after a successful five album stint, and form his own Michael Schenker Group. Four albums had followed, along with two live albums, all with different and revamped line-ups as players discovered the difficulty in dealing long term with Schenker’s volatile personality. The content of each of those four albums by the Michael Schenker Group seemed to change along the way as well. The band and material had morphed from guitar-based hard rock songs on the first album to something akin to more radio-friendly based songs on the “Built to Destroy” album. In fact, the US mixed version of that album certainly slanted the songs that way compared to the UK mixed version (which to me is a much better version).
With the members of that version of the band moving on, along with twice spurned lead vocalist Gary Barden, Schenker went out searching for another partner in crime. In the process he met Robin McAuley, an Irish vocalist who had been in bands such as Grand Prix and Far Corporation. Such was the strong bonding between the two in the initial stages of their writing partnership, they even decided to form a new group that was now called the McAuley Schenker Group, that retained the same initials and therefore band motif of MSG. With the partnership now bonded in name as well, other band members needed to be recruited. It was an eclectic bunch, all hard working musicians in lesser known bands through the early 1980’s, drawn together at the prospect of being involved in a new band that had commercial success as its aim. And being led by the wonderful vocals of Robin McAuley, and driven by the legendary guitar of Michael Schenker, what could possibly go wrong?

From the outset this is a different album from what has come before it in the Schenker discography. Do you want more keyboards infused into the songs? You got it. Do you want a downplaying of the guitar in the songs? You’ve got that too. What? Hang on. Michael Schenker is a guitar god. Why on earth would you downplay the guitar here? Well, it’s the 1980’s mate. And if you want commercial success in the 1980’s, you have to make sure that the songs have verses and choruses, that they have singalong lyrics, that those lyrics are mainly based around the subject of boy meets girl or love itself, that the keyboards are more dominant because that’s the sound they want on radio, and that if you have to have guitar in the songs make sure it blends with all of that around it.
Now, are things THAT desperate on this album? No, but the style here is definitely a change, and that needs to be stated from the outset. Offsetting this is the excellence of Rocky Newton’s bass guitar riffs and lines on this album, because that bottom end is excellent, and along with Bodo Schopf’s drums provide an integral part of making this album as good as it is. And it becomes more important given the songs here are generally at a fast walk rather than a sprint or a stroll. The bass and drums keep that pace nicely, and the bass rambling up and down in the songs is a dominating facet.
And yes, for the most part, Schenker’s guitar is left holding time with the keyboards and rhythm guitars of Mitch Perry. There’s no Guitar Hero stuff going on for the most part of this album, Schenker’s standout parts are kept strictly in check. They aren’t struck out completely. He has great moments in songs such as “No Time for Losers” and “Get Out” and “Rock Til You’re Crazy”, and he is prevalent within the framework of all the songs. But it’s not dominant like it was in the past.
Does any of this detract from the album? No. Come in and listen to this album like it was a Ratt album or a LA Guns album or other hair metal bands of that era, and it will still well on top of that pile. Because that’s the style they have gone for here, the hair/glam metal that was popular at the time and charting, which is what the band wanted. And Robin’s vocals across the album are sensational, and worthy of recognition. He sings a hard rock anthem as well as he sings a rock power ballad, such as “Follow the Night” and “Time” are the two best examples on this album. And while the album itself only managed to reach 95 on the charts on the US, it provided Schenker and McAuley their first charting single in the US, with “Gimme Your Love” riding high on MTV airplay by making #40 on the US charts. So in their eyes, the album achieved what they were looking for.

This album was released four days after my 18th birthday, but I didn’t hear it until a couple of months later, when my well known heavy metal dealer procured me a copy on cassette. I actually heard it first at his house, not long before Xmas that year, and loved it from the outset. And through those months that stretched between the end of my final year exams and the beginning of university in the early months of the following year, this album became one of my main listening experiences. Early on, I didn’t really notice the difference in musical output from the band. It just slipped right in and was enjoyable from the start. And as I believe I have mentioned earlier, the style of the album is much more hair or glam metal than what Schenker had done before, which I enjoy anyway so it didn’t deter my love of it. I always notice the lack of real ripping guitar solos compared to what I had been used to from Schenker in the past, and yeah the songs when you look back on them now are a bit cheesy. But for me it is still a great listen, and I still love it. If you wanted me to sit down and critique it as a review then I would have to raise some points as per the above. But I don’t have to do this, all I have to do is present it to you, the listener of this podcast, offer you the cuts I have chosen, give you a bit of the history of the album and a bit of my own history with the album. It is tied to the time by its genre and certainly by the hairstyles on the front cover. But for me, none of that matters in this instance. This is a great start for the McAuley Schenker Group, one that didn’t last for long but gave us some great songs during its short existence.