Artist: UFO
Label: SPV Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3/5
This record doesn’t need many words, does it? UFO, legends, veterans,… for the second time this millennium without Michael Schenker and with Vinnie Moore on the new album.
UFO are still firmly in the saddle. If you like Phil Mogg’s signature vocals, you like UFO, and you’ve surely got “The Monkey Puzzle” at home already. The new songs are simply the band’s established standard: freshly forged main riff motifs, a spicy guitar solo in the instrumental middle section, and atmospheric, erogenous peaks in explosive choruses. Vinnie gave UFO a good rejuvenation with his arrival, and “The Monkey Puzzle” pays that back with its freshness! One interesting thing compared to the previous UFO album, “You Are Here” (2004), is that Vinnie breathed the spirit of Louisiana into “The Monkey Puzzle”! So you can pick up a few more southern rock elements across the new record. Whether Phil, Pete, Andy and Paul, as diehard Brits, even realized that or not doesn’t matter at all, because the novelty works great on the album, especially given that UFO have always loved leaning on elements of blues, which means the fresh “southern” breeze of the new record fits in perfectly! With “The Monkey Puzzle”, the blues elements are more pronounced in the band’s expression than ever. So Moore brought change, and as a member of UFO he’s not just a bare replacement for the great “riff meister” Michael Schenker.
Otherwise, no surprises: with returning drummer Andy Parker in the band, UFO sound solidly cohesive, like a good old crew of seasoned rock enthusiasts who live and breathe rock culture and faithfully follow their tradition. “The Monkey Puzzle” is yet another very nice classic UFO album, with which the boys confirm that Michael Schenker is ancient history for the band, and that a potent life energy still flows through the veins of these experienced rock foxes, keeping them on their feet, called rock’n’roll.
Let it roll!
Lineup
Phil Mogg – vocals
Vinnie Moore – guitar
Paul Raymond – rhythm guitar, keyboards
Pete Way – bass
Andy Parker – drums
Production
UFO & Tommy Newton
Tracklist
01. Hard Being Me (3:35)
02. Heavenly Body (3:52)
03. Some Other Guy (4:38)
04. Who’s Fooling Who? (3:57)
05. Black And Blue (5:29)
06. Drink Too Much (4:40)
07. World Cruise (3:29)
08. Down By The River (3:18)
09. Good Bye You (4:40)
10. Rolling Man (4:24)
11. Kingston Town (4:08)
Album length: 46.16
