UFO, with and without Michael Schenker. Your thoughts.

[Miles Archer]

OK, so there was Paul Raymond, starting with "No Place To Run" in 1980 and ending with "Making Contact" in 1983. A few songs on these albums were worthy of making their way onto a "Best Of" compilation but nothing to match the 1974-1978 shock & awe of "Phenomenon," "Force It," "No Heavy Petting," "Lights Out," and especially "Strangers In The Night" (considered by many to be one of the single greatest live rock albums of all time). A BETTER choice than the studio albums to explore Raymond's contributions is "Headstone Live"...enjoyable from start to finish.

Then there was the "What the HELL was Phil Mogg THINKING" album "Ain't Misbehavin'" from 1988, basically a Mogg solo album (Phil Mogg – vocals, Tommy McClendon (aka Atomik Tommy M) – guitar, Paul Gray – bass, Jim Simpson – drums). If you LOVE Van Halen's "Jump," this is the album for you, because it is nothing more than Mogg and his cohorts ripping off the sound of that one song for the album's 7 tracks (the entire album is only 26 minutes long).

A bit of fresh air followed in 1992 as Mogg reunited with bassist Pete Way and added Laurence Archer - guitar, Clive Edwards - drums, and Ozzy / Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey A couple of solid songs on here like "Running Up The Highway," "Borderline," and "Back Door Man." This lineup also released one pretty solid live album, "Lights Out In Tokyo."

Schenker was back for "Walk on Water," "Covenant," and "Sharks"...all pretty damned solid albums (1995-2002).

Then Schenker left again, and with former poster child from the post-Eddie Van Halen "shredder" days Vinnie Moore, they have released 5 studio albums and 1 live album between 2004 and 2015 (the newest, "A Conspiracy Of Stars," just came out in February).

SO...your thoughts on the band and if they matter without Schenker?

[Populist_Prole]

1. Never heard non MS UFO yet

His guitar sound shapes the sound of the band as I know it.

[Miles Archer]

2. It's a different band without him

You're right, he absolutely shapes the sound on his albums. The remainder without him are decent hard rock albums (other than the exceptions I noted, IMHO).