$ign of 4
'Dancing
With St. Peter'
Release Date: October 7th 2002
Cat No: TRK1014CD
Overload
Driven
Dancing With St Peter
Song Keeps A'Coming
Clap Hands
Beautiful Friend
Bad On Bad
Afterglow
Falling Down
Las Meadows Sanctum Divine
Seems To Me
First thing I must tell you is.... this band is NOT UFO,
nor does it pretend to be.
But don't even think that you might be tempted to ask
for your money back, cos you won't.
First
up - Overload. Great chorus. No-one spits out venom like Moggy
does. (Remember 'down in the gutter, nothing seems to matter
when you're history'?). Here you have 'I'm
a bitter twisted mother so keep outttta my space'. And
yet all the while this is going on, Jeff, Jimmy and Shane are
keeping the background tidy, which makes the lyrics feel even
more angry. Great teamwork!
Phil really does shove your face back against the wall with
his vicious spitty-out hatred. 'You're
gonna disappear without a trace, yehhh' (not sure if
the final version will have the little addition I got on my
advance copy....)
Driven
is one where I prefer the backing to the vocals. I don't usually
feel that about Phil's vocals, but on this one I do - can't
explain it but I found myself listening to the music behind
the verse. Gonna have to concentrate more on this one, I think.
The
title track, Dancing With St Peter is something really special.
There is some lovely gentle guitarwork on here, very subtle
and underplayed but every bit of music fits the song so well.
'You may pound your fists at the wall.
You may die for no cause at all. You may worship this medicine
man. Led to the slaughter - a sacrificial lamb.' Oh I
could type out every word in this song cos they are all so important.
And I'd type out every note of the music too, if I could, cos
it's so damn perfect. 'There's a sign
in the night sky - some Super Nova - hey yehhhh'. It
seems pretty obvious who this song is about, but even if I'm
wrong, the lyrics and tune are exactly right.
Song
Keeps A'Coming. Wasn't too sure at the start of this, but it
soon kicked in. The guitarwork keeps a'coming too. I think this
is the obligatory 'Moggy Train Song' in all but lyrics. Jeff
and Shane's Cosmosquad influence is very strong here, as it
is on all the tracks.
Clap
Hands is something really different. Still can't get my head
round this one, other than to say it's haunting and it's the
one which I wake up humming in the middle of the night. Very
haunting. I love it.
Now,
ohhhhhh .... My Beautiful Friend is (in my opinion - which is
always right) as good as any of the ballads Phil did with UFO.
I really can't imagine anyone other than Phil singing this.
'I love you now as I loved you then, till
the final scene... my beautiful friend'. And then that
guitarwork. Oh I am sooo looking forward to seeing these fellas
play live.
Bad
on Bad. Weird on Weird. 'I can smell the
gunfire like I hear my lover's phone' Blimey he really
does have a way with words doesn't he! This is another Cosmoquad-esque
choon - this whole album is so un-UFO that it's almost scary
that it works so well. Cos let's face it, Mogg/Way was UFO,
no matter what anybody says. But this definitely isn't.
Afterglow.
This track starts off very Cosmosquadically and then goes a
bit Chocolate Boxy ...and then .....'And
we're all gonna die, you know'. Mogg Phil-osophy rulez.
Falling
Down is my least favourite track. Perhaps it's just being clever
and is meant to give you a headache to fit the point of the
song. If so, it works. But that's not a criticism of the song,
it's maybe cos it's at the end of the jazz spectrum that I'm
not very comfortable with. People who understand tadpoles on
telegraph wires will probably love it. I found some of the Cosmosquad
stuff heavy-going at first cos I didn't understand the beat.
Las
Meadows. Great chorus - great little twists and turns in the
tune. I'd say this is maybe the most Covenant'y one on the album,
what with its Spanishness, but don't let that put you off!
Seems
To Me is another beautiful ballad - words and music in perfect
harmony. 'It's all or nothing from here
to nowhere'. Soft gurlie I am, it made me want to cry.
Once before, I wrote that one of the things about UFO is the
way the lyrics and the music always complement each other so
perfectly, like no other band's songs. This is true of all Phil's
songs, so I think that particular gift must belong to Phil.
And apart from the gift of that gravelly bluesy sexy Denim-advert
voice, that is one of the things that sets him apart from other
lyricists.
Double whammy-jammy.
We're so lucky to be in that elite club that have studied 'The
Collected Works Of Mr. Phillip John Mogg'.
***************************************************************************************************************************** Batttttty's
review of the SOUTHEND gig
Now
this review from Paul Pagett
Nothing
on the UFO horizon for ages and then we get Sharks and Sign Of
4 within weeks of each other. As they say, it's like waiting ages
for a bus and then 2 come at once. In this case however, the first
bus is just a standard double decker, full of kids and people
smelling of piss. OK it would get you to where you're going, and
it's just what you expect.
The second bus on the other hand is a different matter. It's got
air conditioning, a free bar, rocket boosters, and the top deck
is full of lap dancers. F*ck me, life don't get much better than
this.
I LOVE IT!!!! I LOVE the Sign of 4 album. If you aint already
got it then go right to Track
Records and order it online. It is FANTASTIC.
Don't get me wrong. I like Sharks. There are some great tracks
on it, but Dancing with St Peter blows it away with force.
I hope they add more tour dates, but if not then I'm off to Dodley
in November.
Cut me off at the knees and call me tripod. This is one hell of
an album. I LOVE IT.
A
new quartet with a vintage sound, led by UFO singer Phil Mogg
and his side-project companions, Shane Gaalaas (also ex-MSG) and
Jeff Kollman. And UFO fans won¹t be disappointed.
While there are a couple of minor diversions from the familiar
road, Los Meadows Sanctum Divine has
a funky Glenn Hughes feel, Seems To Me
is an acoustic slowy much of the 11-tracker is that brand of melodic
hard rock that made UFO¹s name in the 70s and beyond. Indeed,
it¹s difficult to pick out the winners, as any number of
cuts could have come from UFO's Walk On Water or recent Sharks
set. Overload exemplifies the mid-tempo
rocker with warm vocals, Song Keeps A Coming
gets more energetic, with a tougher riff and vocal bite,
Bad On Bad throws in some nice slide,
while the title track is almost countrified in its mellowness,
and After Glow is equally dreamy.
A typical mix of swagger and sweetness, then you'd be daft not
to give it a go.
Well I guess you’d expect a great album just by knowing that
Jeff Kollmann, Shane Gaalaas and Phil Mogg will be on it and yes
that’s exactly what this album is….GREAT! It combines
Phil’s “classical” UFO-voice with the awesome playing
of these great musicians. Shane just rocks and grooves his way
through the songs - that makes it’s nice to just listen to
the drums during the songs. If you like UFO you got to have this
CD!!! And if you like a cool - not too modern – rocking album
here it is. It's funny how there are a lot of similarities between
this cd and the Sharks cd - even though this album is much better.
First
of all, just like Sharks, it doesn't start with the best track.
Overload has quite a nice wahwah
rhythm guitar but I think the chorus can't fulfill the promise
that's made by the verse and riffs.
Driven is just pure UFO with a bit
of a modern twist. It's the first time where one can clearly see
what the problem with Michael Schenker's playing is. Although
he's a genius he hasn't grown that much (he always seems to be
proud not to listen to other people….) Jeff Kollmann does
a great Schenker impersonation but adds new life to it by including
some 80's (or Van Halen style) and 90's - playing. Definitely
one of the best tracks!!!
Dancing with St. Peter is a more
slow track that could have been recorded by Phil and UFO in the
70's. It profiles his awesome voice and singing. Jeff Kollmann
plays some nice guitar parts without too much. Great chorus, great
lyrics!
And now it' back to the rockin' mode, some cool riffing with a
wah sound that Schenker's not using….
Clap Hands starts very unusual and
has some effects on the voice which make the song pretty modern.
Definitely not UFO but a cool tune. The downtuned guitars add
another moder touch. It rocks, kind of psychadelic…
Beautiful Friend is the "beautiful"
song on the album. A nice tune which again highlights Phil's voice
and sense for melodies. Jeff adds some great acoustic guitar playing
over the percussion fundament of Shane.
Back to UFO….. Bad On Bad is
pure UFO, pretty groovy and again a vanhalenish verse by Jeff
and some nice slide guitarplaying.
After Glow again shows the diversity
of Jeff as a player and the mixture of influences on this album.
Phil's just awesome on this track!!
Another rocking track is Falling Down
with some nice lyrics (I need to be fed like a californian..)
and really groovin drums.
Las Meadows Sanctum Divine couples
some funky guitar playing with UFOesque verses and a great singalong
chorus.
Seems to Me is a slow song ending
an album that's so full of diversity and great players. If it
wasn't Phil singing you could think all the songs wouldn't fit
on the same CD. Phil's voice unites them to a strong album.
**********************************************
From
Glenn McMillan in Australia
Wow... this is a great album and I'm glad it's doing well... If
only Moggy and Way hadn't done that dodgy deal with Schenker then
Kollman could have been the permanent UFO guitarist... It doesn't
matter what the name of the bands are though - UFO fans will always
track down the guys and support them... Any fan of Phil Mogg's
great vocals should buy this cd asap. It's awesome.........
Now a 'review' from Jay Hollyman
Seems to me the songs keep a coming and they are driven by passion
so I clap hands once again and now I sit in the after glow and
think he was once a beautiful friend when bad on bad was in my
life and dancing with St Peter was on the cards and the only way
was falling down, Las Meadows sanctum divine overload.
This CD Rocks and it Weeps.. thanks Phil and the boys.
