UFO - Flying - One Hour Space Rock (1971) REPOST

Vocalist Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way, and drummer Andy Parker formed the British space metal outfit UFO in 1969. Originally known as Hocus Pocus, the group, which took the name UFO in honor of a London club, debuted in 1971 with UFO 1. Both the album and its follow-up, the same year's Flying, found great success in Japan, France, and Germany, but went barely noticed in the band's native country; as a result, their third effort, 1972's Live, was released only in Japan.



Review

by Richard Foss

The first two albums by UFO featured an odd mix of crisp, focussed songs alternating with meandering electric guitar-led soundscapes. Flying starts off with perhaps their best of the former category, "Silver Bird." This story of a primitive islander seeing an airplane for the first time begins with a pleasant little acoustic guitar melody and builds into a soaring full-band musical expression of the wonder of flight. The next cut, all 19 minutes of it, conjures up the vaster expanses of space. To complain that "Star Storm" rambles is to miss the point; sometimes Michael Bolton's guitar is used as a pure sound effect rather than to convey any kind of rhythm or melody, and if you're patient, then listening can be an enjoyable, even absorbing, experience. The relatively tight instrumental "Prince Kajuku" and the harder rocking "Coming of Prince Kajuku" follow, and are interesting as almost the only songs of this period to remain in the band's live repertoire for years afterward. The album is capped with the title track, 26 and a half minutes of strange guitar wizardry. "Flying" was the soundtrack to many an acid trip when it first appeared, and to some people it is UFO's crowning achievement. It's fairly obvious that if Bolton had stayed at the helm then UFO would have never had the pop fame that they later achieved, but it can be interesting to try to imagine what kind of music they might have made as they grew even more accomplished.


1.Silver Bird 6:54
2.Star Storm 18:54
3.Prince Kajuku 3:56
4.The Coming of Prince Kajuku 3:43
5.Flying 26:30

All tracks written by Pete Way, Phil Mogg, Andy Parker & MICK BOLTON

1971 Beacon records 1999 Repertoire records [REP 4743-WG]

note personnel; If you like good old space-rock, this is for you....
If you like the metal-pop-rock of today's Ufo, better go you way...
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==>UFO - Flying - One Hour Space Rock (1971)[REP4743-WG]<==