3 stars for 3 songs

Many believe that UFO without Michael Schenker is no good. That's not all true, but when it comes to "Misdemeanor" from 1985 you can sure say that something important is missing. Keyboards dominate the album and it all feels more like a pop album than the hard rocking effort we all have grown to appreciate from Mogg & Co. Maybe the material could have gained something if the guitars were given more room, but the sad truth is that most of the songs are nothing special at all - sometimes UFO sounds like a bad Magnum like in "The only ones"; at other times like a decent Magnum ("Name of love"). Although this album over all is a rather weak effort, there are a couple of tracks that are good indeed and with a proper arrangement I think "Mean streets", "Heaven's gate" and "Wreckless" all have the potential to reach the sky.

Actually, I really enjoyed this one

I'm aware of the beef that long-time UFO fans had over this album, feeling that it was too '80's, too Whitesnake, too keyboardy, or whatever. I have no problems with it - and maybe that's just because I'm not the kind of guy to revise my tastes just because after "Nevermind" the 80's suddenly became unhip.

"Misdemeanour" was one catchy slab of pop metal, hook after hook after hook - and except for Tommy's lead tone (which I found a bit bright) it was all exciting, fun stuff and still is. I won't bore you with the track-by-track breakdown, but man - "Name Of Love" is one smokin' track, and "Night Run" is one of the most maddeningly sing-along choruses ever.

Really - how can anyone bash this LP when we have "Making Contact" out there?

-djh

How LOW can you GO? (This scale needs a ZERO!)

Wow. I'm stunned by how much I dislike this mid-80's offering by the once mighty UFO. It's more like Phil Mogg doing karaoke to some rejected Starship backing tracks. Sissy sounding eighties keyboards wash over everything and the guitar is treated like an afterthought. (It's like listening to your grandmother's interpretations of UFO on her Wurlitzer with all of the different keys that were supposed to approximate other instruments.) Hard to believe that this band survived the disco era only to be sucked in by the hair band era. The picture of the band on the inside cover should tell you all you need to know. (Phil Mogg with big teased hair? He looks like Eric Carmen on the Raspberries "Starting Over" album.) Geez, how did any of us survive the '80's?