(Click
HERE for Battttttty's review and HERE
for other reviews)
But this first review is from Dr. Dave Wood.
I
think that it's fair to say that this is going to be an album you either
love or hate. My own personal opinion is that this is a very cool CD,
one that becomes a favourite straight away rather than having to grow
on you a bit first.
It's
not another Walk On Water, 1995's glorious comeback album, and in fact
is not another Covenant.... it's altogether something different. To give
you a feel for the sound it's more a heavy Chocolate Box (Mogg/Way) than
anything else,
and you get the distinct impression that the direction of the songs has
been very much steered by Phil Mogg, heavily influenced by his recent
collaborations with Jeff Kollman (Chocolate Box and the brilliant 'will
be released sometime' Stonetown).
That's
not to say that it's not a UFO album.. there's enough familiarity of style
to convince you of that. And the Maestro? Although sometimes catching
you off guard with some rather un-Schenkery guitar work ('Sea of Faith'
has a really catchy riff to it), you still get enough flashes of the old
brilliance to confound the critics (check out 'Deadman Walking') and the
occasional MSG (Unforgiven) sounding guitar work ('Serenity' and 'Perfect
View'). Given the recent rumours, lack of tour durability, and very public
selling of his treasured Flying V's you may expect his contribution to
this album to be a token effort to put money in the bank. However, as
has happened so often in the past put Mogg/Way/Schenker in a studio together
and the old chemistry fires up again as if it were still the 1970's.
Best
tracks would be purely a personal choice, but for me the opening track
'Outlaw Man', 'No Revolution Song' and 'Sea of Faith' are all great songs,
and apart from one track there aren't really any weak songs on there.
The
one down side of the album has to be the final track, 'Hawaii'. It's an
instrumental, but don't get too excited!
Overall,
a good solid album, 8.5/10.
Dave
Wood, July 2002.
What
he meant to say was .....
OK,
well, my first thoughts are.... that the main glory is to Phil. The lyrics,
the tone, the rough gravelly throaty bluesy growly meaty ballsy mbnmbnbmbnmmmmmmbiness,
it's typical Phil. He even sounds like he has a cucumber shoved down his
trousers on some of the tracks. He's a macho bronco stallion, oh yes indeed.
Here's some lyrics for ya ....
I'm a rocker, I'm a rocker I'm a rolling stone, I'm a rocker,
I'm a rocker, I'm one big bone. See what I mean? He has this
way of putting into words what all you ordinary blokes are just thinking.
And
.... You're talkin Elvis - well I saw him yesterday
- touched me on the shoulder and asked if he could play. Ahh,
that's nice, aint it.
And...
Moonshots, rockets, 1960s cool, Sonny Boy Williamson,
Pope John Paul, the Congo to Vietnam, Beatles to the Stones, there's nobody
left who's gonna shake those bones. 'No Revolution Song' is
less 'angry young man' and more 'Phil-osophical old man' kinda song. And
did I hear a cheesy talking bit in that song? .... 'I don't think so!'
There's
a lot of 'dead hero' kinda lyrics - a nice one about Steve McQueen and
James Dean, and no-one could sing the lyric There's
a hurrrrrrrrrrricane coming quite like Phil does.
I think he is using a few of the lines he played around with when he was
writing for Covenant. You remember all that 'cat-flaps and hairdryers'
stuff? Well, I think he's worked the lines that didn't fit into Love Is
Forever into this album instead.
You'll know which ones when you hear them.
As
for Mr. Schenker.... well, he does what he does, and he does it ok. There's
not a lot that's innovative or groundbreaking or experimental from him,
but what there is has enough flashes of errrr.....'chunky sounds?' to
make it worth the effort.
Sometimes 'breaking new ground' equals 'digging a grave', but he aint
doing either of those things. I think he sounds more like the MSG Schenker
than the UFO Schenker, but I haven't got a problem with that.
As for Hawaii.... don't sneeze or you'll miss it.
Schenker sounds alright actually, all things considered - miles better
than I expected, anyway.
I
don't hear much bass by the way. Or by the Way either, come to that. But
maybe I just need a new Dubbly or something.... Yeh, that'll be it.
The
overall feel is a lot more Chocolate Boxy than Walk on Watery, and when
you hear the Stonetowne album (which I can't remember if I'm allowed to
tell you I've got or not), you'll know what I mean. This is like Mogg/Kollman
with Schenker instead of Jeff.
On
a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is Aint Misbehaving and 10 is Strangers, I'd
give it a 7.6 - or maybe an 8.2 through headphones and with spandex knickers
on. You have to understand that Force It, No Heavy Petting, Lights Out
and Obsession are all equal 10s though.
Batttttty
And
now a review from John Smith (no - really!)
As
requested by our Luminous Prostate here is my Sharks review,
based on the promo copy I paid a silly amount of money for.
But not $20,000 plus!
1.
Outlaw Man
Opening song, and my favourite. Schenker on slide guitar,
giving the song a real swagger. If songs can swagger that
is. Phil sounds excellent, and there is a real band feel to
this one.
“ I’m a rocker, I’m a rocker I’m one big
bone”. Really, there’s no need to brag.
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2.
Quicksilver Rider
A good solid rock song. Doesn’t stick in my brain as much as
some of the others.
3.
Serenity
UFO do an epic song, Kashmir style. Stately, mature rock song. Phil
in fantastic voice. My second favourite
4.
Deadman Walking
Very ‘light’ opening riff, followed by a classic Schenker
power chordy stuff. He obviously enjoyed playing with himself on
this one…and it sounds damn good.
Lyrical theme somewhat at odds with the jaunty nature of the tune.
But I like it. So there.
5.
Shadow Dancer
No relation to ‘Dancer’ by MSG, you’ll be glad to
hear…This starts of a little bit like “Darker Days”
riff wise, but has a lighter, upbeat, poppier feel as you get into
the song. Good tune, good solos. It really reminds of another band,
but I haven’t placed it yet…
6.
No Revolution Song (“Someone’s gonna have to pay”
on the SPV site)
If UFO were the band in ‘The Titty Twister’ bar in ‘From
Dusk Til Dawn’, then this is the song they would play. A most
splendid song and my second favourite on the album.
7.
Sea Of Faith
This one rounds out my personal top four - probably coz again the
Schenker/Mogg combination sounds good. Again excellent interplay
of quieter parts with the rockier bits - classic UFO style.
8.
Fighting Man
This is a bit rock by numbers - but OK. Not as memorable as some
of the other tracks.
9.
Perfect View
At last a faster song - all the rest a bit similar. Good, but doesn’t
grab me as much as the others…
It’s OK but hasn’t wormed it’s way into my brain
yet.
10.
Crossing Over
This really does remind me of Mogg/Way (and Kollman) for some reason.
Also, it hasn’t really grown on me yet, probably because I
keep skipping the CD forward to the thing of beauty that is…
11.
Hawaii (instrumental)
Schenker goes ‘Country’? A bit of a waste of 45 seconds.
Give me ‘Into the Arena’, or ‘Between the Walls’
anytime.
Summary:
Overall - better than Covenant, but not quite up to WoW. But this
is probably down to the production to be honest. Overall the songs
are straightforward, but strong.
Best bits - the songs sound like a band is performing them rather
than a collection of egos. I’ll let you work out which ego
seems to have had the wick turned down a bit for this one…and
Phil’s voice sounds very good indeed.
Not so good bits - not that many blistering solos, and not much
use of keyboards - one of the things I used to like about the ‘good
old days’ of UFO.
Also the songs all seem a bit similar in terms of pacing - I can’t
remember the last time UFO did something like ‘Lights Out’
in terms of full-on rocking.
Overall? A solid 7.5 to 8 out of 10.
Chances of UFO touring to support Sharks? One in a thousand.
This next review is from our man in Sweden...
Magnus Beronius.
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Hrmmm - well.. don't know if I do the SHARKS a fair review,
cos I've only listened [in earphones] on the album ONCE! So
let's call this a "reflective"...The Atom-Smashing
Hardrockers from Pluto have returned...
and they are here to do a number on you Baby! UFO has risen
again from the depths to scorch the earth with their custom
blend of hard rock foot stompin' raaawwk and rollllll... more
heavily bearded than ever before! But it's fair to say that
it is a stable and solid album - with Mogg on top, doin' the
numbers.... Dunbar and Way provide a solid rhythm section
and as for Schenker... well - you could say a solid and firm
guitar work, with some cool 'riffs'. But - in my opinion -
he gets tangled, too tricky when he's supposed to come to
the blistering solos.... There are plenty of 'chances' to
break out in some new "proposed-memorable-moments".
"Sea Of Faith" is a good example of that, which
is a very good song with great/strong typical Mogg verse/chorus
style with Mr Axe on his back providing a nice 'Schenkery-guitar'
sound... But - you'll find small parts here and there... Some
quick reflections:
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1
"Outlaw Man" another UFO classic - I'm a rocker
I'm rocker.... I'm a one big bone! Solid and hard axe work
- Mogg all over the place 
The guitar work after the solo is better than theeeee solo!
2 "Quicksilver Rider" stable verse/refrain that
raises up the hole track, nice solo....3 "Serenity"
- every UFO album neeeeds a big bombastic epic powerful and
melancholy song like no one else can do better than UFO!!
This is Schenker/Mogg in their best moments together... however
the solo could have reached a higher level - BUT that AXE
behind Mogg's voice during the refrain is... makes me wanna
cry... hahah!! 4 "Deadman Walking" has the ground
guitar riff from 'You Really Got Me' - a very nice and airy
song... 5 "Shadow Dancer" starts up like 'Darker
Days'... carry on in a solid and stable rock beat, good riff,
when the ending solo reach the 'highest' [read: best] point
it's starting to fa..... ou... so very typical nowadays for
UFO? 6 "Someone's Gonna Have To Pay" - well it is
written by Mogg/Way.. 'cool and cool' with a nicey & bluesy
laid back style, a small attempt to a new 'Rock Bottom' perhaps...?
This one will for sure be played on a live show!!
8 "Fighting Man" nobody else could say/sing; 'just
a fighting man' like Phil Mogg... Solid axe work, good solo.
9 "Perfect View" the start reminds of some other
Schenker stuff...? The solo is the closest 'attempt' of getting
near 'Reasons Love'... 10 "Crossing Over" has a
big and 'beautiful' chorus, Schenkery solo a la instrumental
stuff he's done earlier - the ending solo could have been
the absolute perfect match/ending for this rockin' record!!...
Well so far.. it's to early to pick-out the 'favs' but SERENITY
will for sure be one, Deadman Walking, Sea Of Faith are also
in the range to get there... BUT it sounds UFO!!! With all
their 'Schenker/Mogg/Way-trademarks'...
"Moonshots, rockets nineteen sixties cool Sonny Boy Williamson,
Pope John Paul The Congo to Vietnam The Beatles to The Stones
Is nobody left who's gonna shake those bones...." There's
only one MAN who can sing that phrase, so relaxed, cool and
heavy - without shit in his pants....! "Partied with
Nero and Rome burned and fell" I'm out - Lights Out from
Stockholm.....
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Now...
Dominic Wills (Amazon review)
Sharks comes two decades after UFO's last meaningful hit,
at a time when you'd think UFO would call it a day and raise
a glass to the late '70s, when Lights Out and Obsession were
huge and Strangers in the Night was being heralded as a landmark
live album. But rock & roll junkies to a man, they simply
cannot let it lie. And thank goodness for that, because Sharks
is far from the pub-metal indulgence one might expect. Reuniting
stalwarts Phil Mogg and Pete Way with old cohort Michael Schenker,
as well as drum wizard Aynsley Dunbar, the album is witty,
unruly, and possessed of a renegade spirit sorely lacking
in most nu-metallers (a point raised by Mogg during "Someone's
Gonna Have to Pay"). "Fighting Man" is a hard-stomping
blues-rock, "Dead Man Walking" recalls Van Halen's
take on "You Really Got Me," while "Outlaw
Man" is a history-minded self-justification, complete
with Schenker pyrotechnics and hilariously brazen lyrics ("I'm
a rocker / I'm one big bone"). Best of all, though, is
"Serenity." With its verses like an Old Testament
rant and a beautiful chorus, it ranks with UFO's best work.
- Dominic Wills
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