Shane’s Music Challenge: UFO – 2004 – You Are Here

Shane | 20 March 2014 | Reply

Shane’s Music Challenge: UFO – 2004 – You Are Here
7.5/10

Staggeringly, You Are Here is UFO’s seventeenth studio album, and coming after the lacklustre Sharks (2002) and the departure of guitarist Michael Schenker and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, Vinnie Moore & Jason Bonham respectively bring some new fire to the often shaky old hands of singer Phil Mogg, bassist Pete Way and keyboardist Paul Raymond.

The biggest revelation here – apart from a great collection of songs beholden to neither trends nor charts – is Mogg’s voice. Rich as toffee and full of emotion, he sings his arse off through the riffy When Daylight Comes To Town, the weary groove of Black Cold Coffee, the cult classic The Spark That Is Us and the measured but memorable Mr Freeze.

With Schenker gone (and not for the first time), Moore was under pressure to perform, but that he did, drawing on his considerable experience to deliver a solid UFO-experience without ever being too flash or showy. In fact, he could have stamped his own identity over proceedings a little more without riding roughshod over the production.

Not UFO’s greatest album – that will forever be found amongst their classic 70’s output – but a latterday near-classic to these ears, and an oft-returned-to favourite.