Here is the companion CD to the excellent 1981 DVD Rockpalast-Hardrock Legends Vol. 2 featuring the Michael Schenker Group. Recorded in Germany on the group's introductory tour, the line-up featured, alongside guitar legend Schenker, the equally legendary drummer Cozy Powell, former UFO keyboard player/guitarist Paul Raymond, ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band bassist Chris Glen, and lead singer Gary Barden.
The set list is made up of songs from the debut Michael Schenker Group album, as well as a few UFO classics from Michael's time with the group. Though it's not the same as witnessing this powerful performance on the DVD, this is still a very good sounding recording that shows a hungry hard rock/metal band on the rise. Tunes such as "Armed and Ready", "Cry For the Nations", "Victim of Illusions", and "Feels Like a Good Thing" are all heavier than on the studio album, complete with Powell's hard hitting drum work and Schenker's crunchy riffs & blinding solos leading the charge. Throw in stellar renditions of UFO staples "Rock Bottom" (featuring a wild Schenker solo), "Doctor Doctor", "Natural Thing", and "Lights Out", and you have a super-charged enjoyable set from a band that should have been huge but a 'revolving door' of personell seemed to hold them back from superstardom.
If you are a Schenker fan, you need to have this in your collection, along with the companion DVD.
Track Listing
1. Armed And Ready
2. Cry For The Nations
3. Victim Of llusions
4. Natural Thing
5. Feels Like A Good Thing
6. Into The Arena
7. Rock Bottom
8. Lookin' Out From Nowhere
9. Lost Horizons
10. Doctor Doctor
11. Light Out