06. Michael Schenker Group MSG 1981 (Chrysalis)
Hard Rock
Trying hard not to fake it, when night closes in.
Overview
No the name MSG doesn’t mean ‘Metal Gear Solid’ as in the video game series, but it does mean the name of the second album from the lengthy sounding Michael Schenker Group. The Michael Schenker Group who having struck gold the previous year with their eponymous debut, now looked to follow up proceedings in much the same style on their sophomore set. The core duo of vocalist Gary Barden and of course Michael Schenker had changed the rest of the band’s rhythm section and brought in such noteworthy musicians as bassist Chris Glen ex-The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and John Martyn. Keyboardist Paul Raymond who of course was well known to Michael Schenker from their time together in UFO and of course on drums the illustrious Cozy Powell who had worked with most of the people that mattered and was one of the best in the business. Roger Glover on production would be replaced by American producer Ron Nevison who was well known for his big production values and was very much in the mould of ‘Matt’ Lange when it came to production excellence and like a lot of top quality producers from this time, he had worked his way up from being a sound engineer where he had worked on albums by bands such as Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and the Who. In fact with Ron Nevison the recording of
MSG well and truly went overboard as far as budget constraints and time were concerned, but the end result is an album that is usually regarded as being the best by Michael Schenker fans especially if you like things polished, despite the band’s own reservations about the album. The album would crack the Billboard Top 100 Chart and the opening track “Ready to Rock” would be the album’s single. Most of the album would be penned by the Michael Schenker and Gary Barden partnership, but there are also some sensible additions by the other band members jointly as well and Paul Raymond with the ballad “Never Trust a Stranger” gets a solo writing credit. Unlike the debut album which just featured Michael Schenker in a chair, this album cover demonstrates that the album is a group effort, as all the members of the band are on the album cover. Finally I’ve often tried not to be too biased when selecting these albums, but I have to say the Michael Schenker as a guitarist has always been a strong favourite of mine as his guitar skills have always grabbed me where it mattered and
MSG serves as a perfect example of that ability. There is also a 2009 reissue of the album which features an additional seven tracks, but most of these are actually UFO recordings rather than more tracks by the Michael Schenker Group. Also in 1981 the band would release the sprawling double live album
One Night at Budokan which combines the best of the band's first two albums.
Verdict
MSG as an album or some cases referred to as
MSG 2, was a more polished variant of its predecessor album that came out the previous year (see review) which is no surprise given the fact that Ron Nevison is the producer here. The album is a tight piece of work by accomplished musicians and Michael Schenker displays that he is very much the master of the Gibson Flying V in all its glory! There’s nothing overly original about
MSG in terms of its songs, but what we do get is a tight and competent recording designed for those that like their hard rock with a commercial tinge and this approach is perfectly summed up on the album opener the heavily arena focused “Ready to Rock” and the album closer “Secondary Motion” two songs with strong commercial tinges. The album though does have a few tricks up its sleeve, like the clever vocal approach of Gary Barden on the clichéd titled “Attack of the Mad Axeman” and to be fair the song overall comes across as a very accomplished effort both vocally and musically anyway. Across the album the keyboards of Paul Raymond are used to great atmospherical effect and really highlight a song like “But I Want More” which also happens to be the longest track on the album where it clocks in at just under 7 minutes. The killer track on the album is surely the keyboard led “On and On” where Gary Barden does a job that not even the majestical Dio could outdo (well maybe he could given the vocal lapses of Gary Barden now and again) The weakest track might be the Paul Raymond penned ballad “Never Trust a Stranger” as this is the type of song that really should’ve stayed in the UFO repertoire. Another possible weak link is the group penned “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” where strangely enough the voice of Gary Barden seems to break down and comes across as quite reedy. This is a drawback as the song is good and is designed for a voice with a stronger presence to carry it all off. I’ve seen certain fingers pointed at “Looking for Love” where Gary Barden is cited as being weak link, but I don’t think Gary Barden’s voice is a problem on that song at all. Stangely enough a number of fan reviews that despite seeing this as the band’s best overall album, actually put vocalist Gary Barden as the weak link on the album, which is somewhat surprising given the appeal that his gruff voice can provide on this and the debut album, but I guess fans would soon be spoilt when Graham Bonnet appeared the following year on the band’s third album, hindsight can often be a hindrance at times.
Gary Barden- Vocals
Michael Schenker- Guitar
Chris Glen- Bass
Paul Raymond- Keyboards
Cozy Powell- Drums
Production- Ron Nevison