Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A critic will tell you the sky is green if it means you are talking about their observation and not that which they have poured over or having been forced to endure at the behest of the company they work for. There was always a saying at some of the more established magazine and periodicals of the time that x was doing well, it was time to give them a kicking; and perhaps that was the feeling on the initial release by UFO for their seventh album, as critics bemoaned and took a savage swipe at one of Metal and Rock’s great exponents of the art.

Obsession by name, and perhaps by nature, the final album at the time with Michael Schenker at the helm of the guitar, was absolutely more than just a punch line for the critic, it was, and remains a classic of the period, and as the band renew and reacquaint the modern listener with a sound that inspired a plethora and embarrassment of riches of others, so the 2024 remaster of the album, part of a series to which the group have benefited from in terms of being rightly lauded in the current age for their dynamic and pulse, takes the discourse of the drama of the music even further.

To be enthralled by the talent of Phil Mogg, Michael Schenker, Paul Raymond, Pete Way, and Andy Parker even as the strain was telling on the writing, is to understand that Obsession wasn’t the dying embers of a band who had paved the way for others to follow, it was just the end of a chapter before renewal, a regeneration in the wings and one that ultimately led to the unparalleled success in waiting for Michael Schenker. Splits may be uncomfortable; separations may be awkward for the fan who may be torn by faithfulness or lack of funds to follow both efforts.

In the passion unveiled in the remaster the album is joined by a scintillating live recording from the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, and which features certain sections of the album with classics such as Doctor Doctor, Rock Bottom, Lights Out, and Too Hot To Handle, and it is in this melding of spirit, of a foreknowledge of change that the Obsession album picks its battles with eager challenge, and as the opener Only You Can Rock Me, Lookin’ Out For No 1, One More For Rodeo, and Arbory Hill dial up the atmosphere that in reflection is about endings and new opportunities, so we must heed the idea that a critic only ever wants to hear their own voice, they never want to understand or delve into the secrets beneath.

A timely addition to the remastering of UFO’s sizeable back catalogue, a complexity of arrangement in the background of what was about to be torn asunder.

Ian D. Hall