10. Michael Schenker Group Michael Schenker Group 1980 (Chrysalis)
Hard Rock
Can you heal the scars on me?
Overview
With his famous Gibson Flying V futuristic guitar and his rock star antics to match, Michael Schenker aka Mad Michael was one of the most iconic and best guitar shredders of the 1970s and he had come to worldwide attention as guitarist of the mighty UFO several years earlier. But since his departure from UFO, it had been something of a rocky road for the awesomely talented if somewhat unstable German guitarist, as his brief return to his former band the Scorpions had shown. On his return to the Scorpions he had played on the classic
Lovedrive album (see review) but this had been a short lived affair, largely due to his inability to perform on stage because of both fatigue and alcohol problems. He had also auditioned for the plum roles as guitarist in the Rolling Stones and then in Aerosmith to replace Joe Perry, who had walked out on the band in 1979 but on both occasions it was no dice. He had famously walked out in the Aerosmith audition after producer Gary Lyons had made several jokes about Nazis. Luckily though his misfortune to miss out on positions in these bands, would be to the greater benefit of the metal community as a whole, as Michael Schenker would put together one of the first and certainly one of the best guitar-orientated metal outfits to be led by a guitarist (many years earlier the multi-genre Jeff Beck had started the trend for guitarists and then it was later perfected by Ritchie Blackmore with Rainbow) Further future examples of this would soon see the likes of Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and even a young Randy Rhoads who despite working under Ozzy Osbourne all being lauded as such. Despite being called the Michael Schenker Group, the whole project would unsurprisingly be a vehicle for Michael Schenker himself and it was only vocalist Gary Barden that would officially be the only other band member. Vocalist Gary Barden was something of a surprise choice to front Michael Schenker’s new project, because he was largely of unknown quantity within hard rock and heavy metal circles, but had managed to impress Michael Schenker with a demo. He was certainly an interesting choice as vocalists went as well, as he lacked the five star vocal ability of both Phil Mogg and Klaus Meine, two of the best in the business and Michael Schenker had worked with both of them. But what Gary Barden did have, was a gruffer vocal range than the previous two vocalists and this added a certain amount of hard rock appeal to the vocal stance of the album. Gary Barden like Dio with Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow, would co-write nearly all the album’s material with Michael Schenker, showing his importance initially in the Michael Schenker Group. Michael Schenker’s reputation as a musician would enable him to gather some of the best session men in the business to augment his band, in jazz bassist Mo Foster, keyboardist Don Airey who had recently played on Rainbow’s
Difficult to Cure and one of my favourite drummers in Simon Phillips who had done a superb job a few years earlier on Judas Priest’s
Sin After Sin and familiarity would also be the key word when it came to the album producer and that was Roger Glover.
Verdict
In the 1970s self-worship was very much a way of life for some of the biggest rock stars in the world, which was hardly surprising as they stirred a God-like reverence in most rock fans, but this reverence wasn’t just reserved for the lead vocalists of the world’s most famous rock bands, because in some cases guitar legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore to name just a few were held in equal esteem. In fact Ritchie Blackmore was probably the perfect example of a guitarist extraodinaire, who was capable of dictating every aspect within his own band, right down to the hiring and firing of its band members. The more turbulent Michael Schenker would certainly continue this trend within his own band and he certainly fitted the bill when it came to guitar divas having everything revolve around them. This can be exemplified on album tracks such as the second track “Cry for the Nations” which finally gives over to Schenker completely, his guitar then animates the slow and plodding “Victim of Illusion” then there is the neat neo-classical “Bijou Pleasurette” which was unsurprisingly written by Schenker himself and also there is his stunning b-side opener the instrumental “Into the Arena” and finally the showpiece album closer "Lost Horizons" which sees Schenker at his very best. Amongst the melodramatics of Michael Schenker's guitar though, is understated vocalist Gary Barden and his gruff approach which are best heard on the storming album opener “Armed and Ready” one of the best known tracks from the album and he then gives us greater clarity much later on in the album, where he just sounds so good on the later album pair “Looking Out From Nowhere” and “Tales of Mystery” and then finally on the album’s showpiece track “Lost Horizons”. As an album the b-side is where this album’s truly at and it’s where it gains all its plaudits in my opinion, as the tracks tend to be more focused and demonstrate less unpredictable tinkering by Michael Schenker. This is largely because the songs are more focused around vocalist Gary Barden (as they should be) which is in contrast to the a-side of the album, which was guilty of being more of a vehicle for Michael Schenker’s guitar work and his overall tinkerings. It’s on the first side of the album where the album does lose points and where its more offbeat moments can be found, such as the strange desire to include a calypso beat on the opening of “Cry for the Nations” which once past that brief intro is actually a very good song. This debut album has flashes of neo-classical material that neatly fills the gap in-between what Ritchie Blackmore had done with Rainbow and what would soon happen in the early part of the 1980s concerning neo-classical metal as a whole. This album and the following
MSG are usually regarded as Michael Schenker’s best work, before he started being one of those guitar divas that hired and fired on a whim.
Gary Barden- Vocals
Michael Schenker- Guitar
Mo Foster- Bass
Don Airey- Keyboards
Simon Phillips- Drums
Production- Roger Glover