UFO

30th March 2019

Inverness Ironworks

I first encountered UFO (the band, not the phenomena) during the late 1970s when I was, for a few years, a regular attendee at the Bathgate Dreadnought Hotel's friday night rock discos.  I note the place is still hosting gigs these days, and I really must drop along sometime soon.  The DJ back in the day was a work colleague of mine – Handsome John Fraser – and I would regularly ply him with music to play during his stints behind the turntables.

He was a particular fan of The Immigrant Song, and would frequently badger me for my copy of Led Zeppelin III, to play that particular track.  However, I think albums meddled a touch with his DJ mojo, for I can recall at least one occasion where he played the album track at 45rpm instead of 33rpm; John, and indeed half the dance floor, if memory serves, not noticing until the thing was half way through .  He was also once caught out by the song's abrupt ending, him coping by simple leaving the album on the turntable to play the following track Friends - to the bewilderment of those up for a lively jig.

It was not all one way traffic with good ole John, for I have in my now very small vinyl collection the very copy of the first record me and my (then to-be) first girlfriend danced to.  For I later blagged the thing off John – old romantic that I was.  It was Tom Robinson Band's, 2-4-6-8 Motorway, should anyone be remotely interested.

Anyway, JF must also have been a bit of a fan of UFO, as both Doctor Doctor and Only You Can Rock Me were each effective weapons in his armoury of ice breakers.  Go-to discs whenever the throng were a bit slow in getting up off their arses.


I rather liked UFO too, for whilst they were undoubtedly within the Heavy Rock bracket, there was a pleasing commercial edge to many of their songs, whilst (at the other end of the musical spectrum) something rather proggy going on too.  I present Love to Love as evidence of both ingredients  

But what really attracted me was the melodic quality of Phil Mogg's voice; he eschewing that balls-squeezed screaming the likes of Bon Scott, Paul Di'Anno and Rob Halford were inflicting upon us around this time.

The Lights Out album was a particular favourite of mine, there being to my teenaged ears anyway, a deal of sophistication going on in the songwriting missing from most of the band's genre contemporaries.  The title track really requires to be placed up there within the pantheon of classic 70s heavy rock tunes.  And the album's version of Alone Again Or, is the only cover of the Love masterpiece to have even approached the magic of the original, in my opinion.

UFO probably peaked with their fine 1979 live album Strangers in the Night, and I sort of lost interest in the band thereafter, as my own musical tastes changed with the advent of the 1980s.


But, as I have said before, any band who can boast a 50th Anniversary Tour really requires both admiration and attendance, I feel.

The current UFO line-up these days still contains three members (a major achievement, one could argue) from their heyday: drummer Andy Parker, keyboards/guitarist Paul Raymond, and the aforementioned Mogg.

Andy Parker.

Paul Raymond.

Phil Mogg.

Rob de Luca.

Vinnie Moore

UFO - Inverness - 2019

The show itself opened in an odd manner with the band coming on stage to a familiar rhythmic synthesiser beat, which had two chaps behind me arguing: “That's Faith Healer”, “Naw it's naw”.  But indeed, it was.  

The band opened with Mother Mary, one of eight tunes which had appeared on that Strangers in the Night live album.  And I am pleased to relate Mogg's 70 year old voice held up rather well – particularly when one considers the decibel levels with which he was compelled to compete.  Perhaps the old tonsils were fraying a touch around the edges by the time we reached the encores, but respect to The Man.

Set list

Mother Mary
We Belong to the Night
Run Boy Run
Venus
Lights Out
Baby Blue
Only You Can Rock Me
Burn Your House Down
Cherry
Love To Love
Makin' Moves
Too Hot to Handle
Rock Bottom

Encore
Doctor Doctor
Shoot Shoot

I missed much of the set by support Tara Lynch, but the appreciation shown by the Inverness crowd suggest her performance had gone down well.