Lettin' Go: UFO in the `80s & `90s

this a another great read by martin regarding UFO post michael schenker and covers almost everything that went on with the band from late 1978 through late 1999. paul chapman has said many times that he flew out to L.A to officially join ufo on october 31st 1978 that was his first day as an official member of ufo after schenker bailed on ufo for the third time between 1973 through 78, anyway this covers the strangers in the night tour from 1979 very well wich ended in JUNE 1979 in japan as i have had a copy of that official tour JAPAN programme for 35/36 years now. this book takes us through the recording of each studio album ufo would release between 1980 ( nptr) through making contact (1983) and some of the road stories go with it, my only complaint during the chapters for this period is martin went on a bit to much about msg & assault attack and what was going on with them in 1982 where i felt he could have had quite a bit more to say regarding the 1982 mechanix tour like how i always heard it was neils carters then wife who informed ufo & crew about the plane crash on the ozzy tour that killed randy in march 82, just little stuff like that, the making contact chapter is great!! lets just leave one thing at this, since i really enjoy most everything phil mogg and ufo have done since the ufo 1 lp in 1970 w/ mick bolton on guitar there was one word used here to describe the 1984 to 86 era that was known as misdemeanor FELONY!!!! and that is all i have to say about that!! for 35 years now i cant pick a better name for that record & tour, i thought the aint misbehavin mini lp in 1987 was better then that record. martin talks a lot about waysted during this chapter wich is great!!! the two best things waysted ever put out was VICES ( 1983) & the 4 track ep in (1984) for the uk & european iron maiden tour. anyway I LOVE THE 1992 HIGH STAKES AND DANGEROUS MEN RECORD and that gets covered very well here BUT no talk at all about the LIGHTS OUT IN TOKYO disc that was released in 1993 as a result of that great line ups 1992 japan tour!!! it was great to read what laurance archer had to say regarding that period. then we go from there into the WALK ON WATER REUNION and what kept TONKA out of that and in his own words he reflected why he did not take part and andy parker really did not take part for the same reason tonka didnt as andy mentions it here in the book and andy told me to my face very openly that he did not do the big us 1995 reunion becouse of michael. one part missed besides the german 1993 tour all 5 original members of the lights out through strangers members took place on was a JAPAN TOUR IN JUNE 1994 wich ANY PARKER DID!!! he is indeed in the tour programme for the dates and he told me it was after those run of japanese shows he decided not to go any further with ufo and go back to his regular job, that was not mentioned in this book. simon wright came in during the summer of 1995 to do the us tour and stayed the rest of that decade. also i wanted to note from 1980 to 1983 UFO NEVER TOURED JAPAN AGAIN with TONKA, the only japan tour ufo did w/ tonka was the one i mentioned in 1979, that does get said a lot i know BUT IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE my wife is from japan and was around in those days there and also if ufo had toured japan w/ TONKA there certainly would have been promo posters and an official MR UDO PROGRAMME ( mr udo was the big promoter at the time in japan), in fact UFO NEVER TOURED JAPAN W/ MICHAEL IN THE 70S, they where supposed to go to japan in 1977 for lights out but it was cancelled as many things michael sadly where ( i saw a japan music life ad my wife has from 1977 to promote the lights out lp there and the band sent a message saying SEE YOU ALL IN THE AUTUMN but my wife confirms that was cancelled, here is a list of the official ufo tours that took place 1972 ( MICK BOLTON) 1979 ( TONKA CHAPMAN) 1992 (LAURANCE ARCHER) 1994 ( CLASSIC 1977/78 LINE UP) 1998 ( CLASSIC LINE UP MINUS ANDY PARKER/ SIMON WRIGHT FILLING IN ONLY 2 FULL SHOWS PLAYED, 3RD SHOW MICHAEL WALKS OFF STAGE AFTER THE 9TH SONG ( i have it on bootleg cd) UFO NEVER RETURNED TO JAPAN AFTER THAT, MICHAEL GOES EVERY 2 YEARS BUT NOT PHIL MOGG AND ANY UFO LINE UP HE HAS..... anyway we round off the book with the mogg/way discs wich martin prefers CHOCOLATE BOX to the first one, I HONESTLY LOVE BOTH OF THOSE DISCS AND IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SEE THEM GET VINYL RELEASES, COME TO THINK OF IT SO SHOULD WALK ON WATER! ANYWAY yes IN MY OPINION THE MOGG/WAY discs ARE UFO records but phil could not use his own bands name at that time wich is well explained in the book here, also back to chapman i got the third unofficial lonestar cd 20 years ago when it was released on that great label ZOOMCLUB/SHADOWSMUSIC god i miss that label to this day, i was always hoping that they would be the label to give us ANY DEMOS PETE HAD DONE WITH EDDIE CLARK BEFORE HE SPLIT FROM FASTWAY... ok if you actually have read this much then you are as crazy about ufo and everything ufo as i am so here it goes MY FAVORITE CHAPMAN RECORD????? im very very sorry but I LOVE ALL 4 OF THEM i love mechanix and the sax neil brought in that was a great touch back in 82 & the making contact record in 83 was just so down right heavy with sloppy keyboards it was GREAT!!! cant think of a bad track on there, love THE WILD, WILLING & INNOCENT that is another record there is not a bad song on and nptr is fantastic so i think i just ratted myself out regarding wich my favorite ufo records from that chapman era are in order... i wish at some point TONKA had come back, i LOVE THE TWO LONESTAR albums from 76&77 as well, tonka sure has been missed by me for years, also the HIGH STAKES RECORD FROM 1992 is way up there on my list as well as WALK ON WATER & BOTH MOGG/WAY ALBUMS. as for this century?? i guess martin will have to write another book, like i said a book like this is for someone a bit older like myself that has been following ufo since at least 1979/80 another thing that was never brought up in this book are the various obscure line ups phil did w/ ufo from 1987 through 1989, he did a show for metal hammer for xmas 1987 or 88 but i forgot who that gutarist was ?? a lot of those two years are blank here as ONLY PHIL CAN SAY WHAT WAS GOING ON & TELL MARTIN. anyway sadly i agree with phil moggs statement as per 18 months ago regarding ending ufo, its been a long , long flight and brought lots of joy to rockers like myself for well over 40 YEARS NOW!!!!! but all great things come to an end...................ps RIP TO MR RAYMOND AS I ALSO LIKED HIS WORK WITH PLASTIC PENNY, CHICKEN SHACK & SAVOY BROWN i met him a few times as well and he was always very nice like PHIL, ANDY PETE & THE REST!!!

Then buy this book, read this book and be prepared to be entertained. As a fan of UFO from 1977 until current day - I didn't buy this book, or Pete Way's book or the UFO in the 80's or 90's book until Mr. Chapman and Mr Way passed away. I should have bought it years ago when it was titled Shoot out the Lights. Ufo was my favorite band until Iron Maiden surpasssed them in the 80's but now that I have fully gotten back into UFO, and Waysted (never knew they recorded records after 1985) and Schenkner/Way, and Mogg/Way, etc I have been reading this book, UFO in the 80s/90s and Pete Ways book non stop. Very funny, entertaining and yes sad. But a fan of UFO or hard rock will not be disappointed. 100%

This era of UFO doesn’t get the credit it deserves and it’s nice to shed moreLight into this time. With all its craziness going on in the band the music and lyrical writing is some of the best in Phil Mogg’s career in regards to the first three albums with Chapman.

Not installed yet so but i saw they r good quality so the

As an avid UFO fan, I have all the albums, cd's, and in the early year cases, cassettes too! I also have Martin's original book, Shoot Out The Lights.For me, up until the brilliant "classic line up" release of Walk On Water in 1995, when Schenker re-joined, the 80's and 90's were wilderness years for UFO. I much preferred Tonkas playing with both Lone Star and Waysted than UFO. There are some classic songs scattered about like Long Gone etc, but for me, Herr Schenk could not be bested.This album by album, track by track interspersed with interviews is for the outright fans (like me) who religiously lap up anything by the group. I do not think it would attract new fans, or even be interesting reading for non-afficionados.Martin is a writer of note, and has a huge canon of similar tomes covering numerous bands, detailing and dissecting their output. Interesting reading for fans of the bands covered, but you will be disappointed if you are looking for warts and all dirty washing etc exposes.

A must for any fan of the band, and particularly poignant following the recent passing of Paul Chapman, whose era with the band is probably my favourite on a purely musical level.This book is well structured in terms of its album-per-chapter format. It contains some great insights into the background behind the songs and the recording process while also touching on the somewhat notorious lifestyle of the band. I particularly liked the references to how many songs had developed from Lone Star days and the interviews with the members were all interesting, particularly those of Neil Carter.However, the book is terribly badly edited and there is hardly any attention to grammar, which makes it slightly tough going. It's mainly the aforementioned interviews that exacerbate this problem because they've been published verbatim, with seemingly no attempt to edit them to help make them readable. On many occasions, I had to re-read certain passages in order to try and make sense of the point being made. In this regard, this book doesn't hold a candle to other rock books in this genre, such as Motley Crue's 'the dirt' or KK Downing's 'heavy duty', both of which are so easy to read thanks to their professional copy editing and final presentation.Despite this shortcoming, we UFO fans need these books in the absence of alternatives and on that basis, I can only recommend it!

Essential reading for any UFO fan. If you aren't a UFO fan this isn't for you. If you are, you probably already have a copy of the previous slimmer volume - Shoot Out The Lights. All music books by Mr Popoff are well written and authoritative with interviews with the actual people who were there making the music. :)

My husband likes ufo has a lot of cds and likes reading bout the background etc

Mr Popoff never lets you down....great book on one of the best bands around..usually order direct from him however so much more expensive ...hence Amazon.....i have most of his books and his knowledge and advice have helped me improve my collection and love for the bands