1061. UFO / Obsession. 1978. 2.5/5

UFO the band had been busy over the middle years of the 1970’s decade, putting out several albums and building a respectable following throughout the world. On previous albums they had managed to mix some brilliant songs that still resonate when played with some material that feels a bit lacklustre and of a lesser quality than the absolute top shelf stuff. Much the same can be said of Obsession which capped off the period with an ambivalence that could be said to be harsh on one hand but fair on the other.

I’ve always felt that there was only one heavy hitter song on this album, and it happens to be the lead track, “Only You Can Rock Me”. It remains the one song that stands out from the crowd on this release, and is still instantly recognisable whenever it is played today. The fact that it signals a lowering of the boom once it is over is what is troubling about this album.
As for the rest of the songs, I think they can be categorised pretty swiftly into two groups, the good and the average. It turns out that the majority of the good songs have Michael Schenker as a co-writer, whereas the majority of the average songs do not. Into the former group of good songs you can list tracks such as “Pack It Up (and Go)”, “Hot and Ready” and “Cherry”. Each of these has a better tempo, a slice of Schenker shredding on guitar and great Phil Mogg vocals. These songs follow my idea of the better UFO songs more closely than those in the average group, songs like the three end tracks on Side A of the album in “Arbory Hill”, “Ain’t No Baby” and “Lookin’ Out For No. 1”. “Arbory Hill” is a Schenker short guitar instrumental that serves no real purpose on the album and doesn’t lift anything. “Ain’t No Baby” and “Lookin’ Out For No. 1” fall too much on the side of soft rock ballad. I never cease to be disappointed when I listen to this album and hear these two songs again. “One More for the Rodeo” is probably one of the better tracks again, but I’m not sure if this is only because it is sandwiched between “You Don’t Fool Me” and “Born to Lose”, which even for AOR songs are stretching the friendship just a little too far.

This album was the final one that Michael Schenker played on for UFO for almost fifteen years and it was going out with a whimper rather than a bang. While the band is competent here, the music just feels as though it is going through a recycling process and that they were beginning to strain out the hard rock side of the songs and fall into the comfortable AOR radio sound instead. That being the case, I am happy to leave that right here.

Rating: “Who’s taking time out, who’ll take a shot now”. 2.5/5