2024 Hard Rock Journal Vol. 3 - Complete

The Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack. 1982 Chrysalis (LP). From the Colorado Springs Record Show (Nov). I've enjoyed a nice reunion with MSG. Their debut is now locked deep into the collection, based on a strong nostalgic pull. The second album I was familiar with due to an old tape recording, and I enjoyed revisiting that as well. I did decide to part with it eventually only because it was largely a rewrite of the debut. Anything after that, though, will be new to me. And to Schenker's credit he did mix it up a bit on Assault Attack. Bringing hard rock veteran vocalist Graham Bonnet gave the sound a new tenor. The keyboards are in the background, but it's mostly organ which is curious. The production is solid, giving it a real oomph that hard rock as a genre calls for. The question remains - is it unique enough for collection space? No.

Uriah Heep - Abominog. 1982 Mercury (LP). Thrift shop find (Oct). The album prior to Head First and similar sounding. Many apologists out there proclaiming Abominog was a return to form. Not really. It does still have some of that trusty and dusty organ, but also plenty of period synths and a strong try for MTV airplay. Good for its era, but not at the next level like Saga (as but one example) were at this stage. More tracks like A1 and B4 would have helped its legacy.

*Badger - One Live Badger. 1973 ATCO (LP). Collection revisit (Sep). The biggest challenge this album faces is that of expectation. Tony Kaye of Yes + Roger Dean gatefold cover will do that. But it's not a prog album, rather a good jamming hard rocker. Kaye's organ and mellotron contrast nicely against Brian Parrish's lead guitar. Even Peter Banks took a lot of Yes with him to Flash, but no such luck with Kaye. With five of the six tracks totaling between exactly seven and eight minutes, this allows the group to flesh out their jams without exhausting them. Not exactly a unique sound for the era, yet had this been an obscure UK or German band, the album would sell for hundreds today. The hidden star here is Parrish (real last name Morris), who had bounced around the Swingin' London scene throughout the 60s and early 70s. Badger would appear to have been his big break but it wasn't meant to be. He tried for solo stardom in the mid 70s and then basically disappeared for about 20 years. I'm sure there's a story there. 

Def Leppard - Adrenalize. 1992 Mercury (MC). Back to my buddy's garage sale here in town who had all the tapes for a buck (Sep). Admittedly I was a bit of an apologist for Pyromania, preferring nostalgia over quality. Adrenalize is two albums on from that and oh boy, is this bad. We're talking crawling around on the floor hoping to find a few pennies to ultimately buy a bottle of cheap whiskey. They want the middle 80s back so bad. That time was in the rearview mirror and so was this kind of tired pop music guised as hard rock. Pathetic.

* - Keeping for the collection

The Michael Schenker Group. 1980 England

Like countless other albums of recent reportage, Michael Schenker's debut is an LP I bought real time but didn't survive my evolution into all things progressive rock. But in 1980 I played it endlessly, and in hearing it for the first time in probably 30 years, I can hear that this album has a strong relistenability factor. 'Armed and Ready' is a great hard rock opener and the whole first side is clearly thought out with not a dud among them. 'Cry for the Nations' is a powerful track. Side 2 starts off with an excellent instrumental, the one track that almost had me keeping this so long ago. The next two tracks are the only breakdowns until the killer closer 'Lost Horizons'. If you listen closely you can hear some of Schenker's Scorpions heritage coming through, though UFO is more obvious, naturally. While Schenker himself is of course German, he was fully entrenched into England by this time. The album itself is almost a studio project with only vocalist Gary Barden fully onboard. The remainder of the band were session guys roaming the hard rock streets playing in bands like Rainbow, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, etc... +2 nostalgic listen here. I never did hear anything else by MSG, and I suspect they became more formulaic as the 80s dragged on, but I'm certainly game to check them out anyway.

Ownership: LP: 1980 Chrysalis. Single sleeve with lyric inner. Been on the hunt for this title since I started back in the crates 4 years ago. I've found it alright - 100% of the time beat to hell - and 8 bucks at that. No thanks. So imagine my surprise when I found this in a local store's dollar bin (2023). The cover is NM and certainly better than the copy I likely donated in the 90s. And the best condition I've ever seen of it in the wilds (and nicer than the Discogs stock copy as shown here - no promo stamp either). The vinyl is, alas, VG. For a record like this, not so bad since the music overpowers any faults, but I'll continue to look for an upgrade. A trashed cover and NM vinyl will work out just fine now...

1980; 5/18/23 (new entry)