I don’t see too many critics who rate Wonderful as the weakest Byron era Heep - most pick High and Mighty. However, I agree High and Mighty is not the worst. I put it ahead of Wonder World and Return to Fantasy. Actually I think Return to Fantasy is the weakest Byron era album - especially because I had SUCH high expectations when it came out. I’m a huge King Crimson fan - and when I heard John Wetton had joined Heel I was pumped up BIGTIME. When I put it on the turntable I was really disappointed. With the exception of 2 or 3 songs I think the album sort of sucks. Sort or reminds me of Deep Purple’s Stormbringer album - a couple of good tunes - but the rest is weak - just my humble opinion.

good review

My top: 1. Lights Out 2. No heavy petting 3. Obsessión 4. Phenomenon 5. Force it

Phenomenon is the best. In fact it's the best classic rock album ever imo

With extremely few exceptions, i too prefer studio versions.

My top 4: 1= Mechanix, 2= The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, 3= No Heavy Petting, 4= No Place to Run.

Misdemeanour and High Stakes ranked so low. Ouch. I really like those albums a fair bit better than most of the more recent ones especially High Stakes but each to his own. I think Making Contact is underrated. My worst is The Visitor, it’s boring. My number one is Force It

Since I requested it I better chip in on a ranking; I have a couple of bonus albums also since I included the Mogg/Way albums and Sign of 4, just to see how they measure up. 1. Lights Out: Perfect 70's prototypical hard-rock album; great album flow, two outstanding ballads including maybe the one that I consider to be the very best (UFO or otherwise) with Love to Love, and a nice production value. The most recent remastered deluxe edition also sounds great and is worth the double-dip. This UFO album represents the best chemistry between all band members. 2. Force It: Great sophomore (with Schenker there) album that again has a great mix of rockers, ballads, and thinking man's metal tracks. Love the raw but clean and heavy sound. Either concert showpieces or strong deep cuts are present on this one. 3. Wild, Willing and the Innocent: Most people would probably agree that this one is the best of the Paul Chapman albums; it's one of the most metal sounding UFO albums and also has a slight old western vibe about it, which adds a cool factor. Easy and seamless to listen to from beginning through the end. 4. Dancing with St. Peter: The first of the three (In these rankings, not by year released) non official UFO albums--this one more of a departure than the Mogg/Way releases--but regardless this album is just damn good, atmospheric, and really captures a personal and stripped-down side of Phil Mogg that conveyed well. It helps that he has world-class musicians backing him up and they are all dialed into the same vibe. This is the first thing that he did after Sharks and I think that it blows that still decent album away. I'm hoping that the new Mogg's Motel album has a similar collection of songs. 5. Walk on Water: What a perfect reunion album; all things considered I'm not sure how this one could have turned out any better. Another one that leans towards sounding a little more metal with razor sharp production values and punchy riffing, but still varied with the mix of styles and directional shifts within some of these tracks. Two nice new versions of classics tops things off. Schenker cutting loose on many of these songs. 6. Obsession: A lot of shorter length songs on this one, but still one well-written rocker after another, with a couple of interlude pieces thrown in for good measure. No fillers here but that's been the case for each of these albums so far. 7. A Conspiracy of Stars: My favorite of the Moore era albums, I think that this album represented the most well optimized material for the blues-metal direction that they were established with. Vinnie is also a little more aggressive with a few of the solos without ever going into full Mind's Eye shred mode. I enjoyed the contrasting vibe of the Paul Raymond penned track (The Real Deal) on this one also. 8. Phenomenon: Great breakout album with new prodigy Schenker that probably kept UFO from becoming a musical footnote and set them on a path with some forward momentum. Mix of the old and new with some space metal pieces still present but moving forward with more accessible rockers such as concert centerpiece Rock Bottom. Still a little bit of everything and always a stimulating listen. Dang this is hard; starting with placing seven things are at thin margins for a considerable group of releases 9. No Place to Run: Kind of overlooked but this is just a good, solid, unpretentious album; it's not as flashy as the Schenker releases and throws back in style back towards the mid-seventies albums. To me anyways it sounds like this album was written before Lights Out and Obsession but I like the organic and honest finding my way again kind of feel to it. Chapman all things and expectations considered did a really nice effort on this one. 10. The Visitor: This album is very well written (As one would expect from Vinnie Moore), maybe some slight sterility about it, but still some nice melodic moments and like Wild, Willing, and Innocent a bit of a dirty western feel, although not quite as pronounced. Forsaken is a classy quieter and mellow piece. 11. Chocolate Box: The better and more UFO like of the two Mogg/Way releases; Jeff Kollman was a strong fit for Mogg's style and they compliment each other well; probably made him an easy choice for the Sign of 4 release. 12. You Are Here: The first of the Vinnie Moore albums and a good start overall; a clean but weighty sound to the guitars and kind of a fun sounding album, without it going into party album territory. Any fan of Vinnie Moore would know that he converted a few of his previous instrumental tracks as a base for some of these songs, which I was fine with; he also has since on various solo releases converted some of the other original vocal tracks back into new instrumentals, to the point where he only has a couple more from this album that do not have instrumental variations one way or another. 13. No Heavy Petting: I'm sure for some this would be much higher and I like this one a lot; really this album could be as high as number seven on any given day and mood but these albums are all so close in likability for me, so kudos to UFO for writing so much good material. I don't have as many favorite tracks from this album, yet I'm A Loser and On With the Action do stand out among them. 14. Covenant: This is a solid return again to the UFO/Schenker lineup and also going back to a more raw and dirty blues sounding direction. Schenker's playing here is not quite as meticulous as when he is in top form but there are still some fierce guitar runs going on, and the song Rise Again is a bit of a hidden gem in my opinion. 15. Seven Deadly: I find this album be amusing and I do enjoy it; Vinnie's solos are well developed throughout and Phil has kind of a care-free defiance in his delivery that I get a kick out of, and there is more of a raw and stripped-down thing going on here. Perhaps the guitar sound is a little too dry but not a major issue or anything. 16. Mechanix: Nothing really wrong with this one either; there is not like a signature hit material on offer or anything but steady songwriting throughout. They were having a lot of challenge breaking through to the upper tier of metal bands, especially in the USA where they seemed to be barely getting noticed. They just couldn't write a song that would get prioritized radio play and connect with the masses. 17. Edge of the World: Again steady songwriting and not much filler, and I'm actually a very big fan of George Bellas and his ridiculous talent and above and beyond musical ambition, and I have all of his solo albums. That being said while the results are satisfactory, what Bellas normally writes and strives for is not well aligned with UFO type songs. You can tell when a uniquely talented musician is writing material suitable for a specific thing but that thing isn't really what drives him to make music, or is anything like what he does on his own. So the songs work well enough, performances are more than adequate, but the chemistry is not really strong. 18. Monkey Puzzle: To me this is the most lackluster of the Moore albums, but not poor; I don't think that Vinnie is capable of writing outright weak songs but there is a commercial blues-metal sound that I don't care for as much as on other UFO albums. I can still rock out to this stuff just fine though, and the solos are as good as on the previous album, maybe even a little better. Phil's vocals are little overbearing on this one; like he is singing over a PA system, but still amusing. 19. Making Contact: The final Chapman album before the bands "retirement" is a bit softer and more mid-eighties hard-rock/pop sounding. It fits the solid but unspectacular definition pretty aptly I think, though the final studio track Push, It's Love is one of the few on a Schenker/Chapman/Moore album that I really can't get into at all. Same as Mechanix nothing really on here that could make a dent in radio play; a fairly good album but without much it factor. 20. Sharks: This album gets off to a pretty good start with the opening three tracks and from there steady but I don't love it either. It's a really heavy album actually but somehow still kind of a sleepy listen. Schenker's guitar work has its moments but could have been more in the zone I think; he seemed kind of lazy or maybe just preoccupied on this. It's slightly better than Be Aware of Scorpions though, so there's that. As for the rest, I've never really given High Stakes and Dangerous Men a dedicated listen, and I know that it's not really fair; maybe some day I'll give it a chance when I get around to it. I know that it is pretty good for what it is. The covers album I wouldn't rank as it is not their songs but I think that did a good job with it; performed it in a manner that respected the source material, chose an interesting mix of songs, and generally had a good time with the project. And the first two studio albums, Misdemeanor, and Aint Misbehavin; well I really don't count those four. They hadn't formed their true identity until Schenker got there, and the two mid-eighties albums were not intended to be labeled as UFO. Either way they would be all ranked beneath the top twenty listed. High Stakes and Dangerous Men would fare better if I gave it several listens I'm sure.

Any UFO album where Michael Schenker was a member were the best UFO albums. When Michael Schenker left the group they kind of went downhill

Obsession best Album by far. Then Strangers in the night

1... wild willing innocent....2 ..walk on water.....3..sharks...4...the visitor.. the rest take your pick

Michael Schenker been around a long time since early seventys it is hard to judge his albums he has so much talent . I was at a concert, era 76 in St louis where UFO was the headliner but Cheap Trick did such a fantastic performance it made them look like amatures .

The Edge [1997] Lord of the Flies [1963] 127 Hours [2010]

Sorry, could not watch the complete vid. Your accent is too difficult to follow.

This will be a marathon ranking but I'll only add in depth comments to the albums that are more under the radar and are lesser known commodities. 1. Virgin Killer: Great flow from song to song and this early lineup with Uli at its peak. 2. In Trance: More accessible than the first two albums and this is where the core Scorpions album format begins. Longing for Fire is probably my favorite Scorpions deep cut. 3. Lovedrive: Great album, no further comment 4. Blackout: Great album, no further comment 5. Fly to the Rainbow: Lots of cool musical elements going on here that I doubt that they could replicate again in present times. 6. Love at First Sting: Very good album, no further comment 7. Rock Believer: A very nice and effective revisiting of modern songs that resonate with the late seventies through late eighties eras. Another one like this would be appreciated if they have one more studio album in them. 8. Pure Instinct: Most would rank this one lower, but at the height of the grunge and metal core era I greatly appreciated a clean, melodic, and well composed album like this coming out; strong ballads and a classy production polish. 9. Crazy World: Nice hard edge to a lot of the songs on this album but still retaining a lot of Scorpions swagger; aggressive guitar solos from Matthias. 10. Animal Magnetism: Those who listen to Scorpions for their rockers would probably have this one higher; and really nothing wrong with this album other than a weakish ballad by their standards. Many songs are more heavy and deliberately paced. 11. Taken By Force: Another one that many would rank higher and while some great tracks are present you can also tell that the band is not as cohesive and some slight slippage with the album consistency. 12. Savage Amusement: This album may have done better if they released it a couple of years earlier than they got it out. Very catchy and melodic but the initial release had a softer production and was missing some impactful punch. I have a remastered version that beefs the sound up which is an improvement. Ballads are kind of pedestrian and formulaic here. I wish that they would have finished and included the instrumental that was considered for this album. 13. Humanity Hour One: A very solid loose concept album and a shift in musical direction that worked well for them, without being too experimental, and quite emotive also. Too bad they couldn't get Uli and Michael to each contribute to a song as was proposed. Uli on the title track and Michael on Game of Life (A good song which really needed a solo) would have been sweet. 14. Sting in the Tail: A would have been final studio album at the time and a solid if unspectacular way to go out. A mix and recapturing of mid-eighties styled rockers and ballads, but just a lesser version of them for the most part. 15. Lonesome Crow: This album is hard to place in the rankings; it's noteworthy as the beginning and with prodigy Micheal on guitar as a teenager. The songs here are enjoyable enough to listen to within a greater mix and very unique within Scorpions discography but nothing that I go out of my way for to put on. 16. Face the Heat: It's heavy and crunchy and I know that I enjoy it when Scorpions music treads into that direction; pretty good solos too but overall perhaps the melodies are not as memorable; the ballads are towards the lower end of the Scorpions spectrum, but not poor. After the first couple of excellent songs to open the album there is a bit of a been there, done that effect going on; still good to rock out to. 17. Unbreakable: So this album was intended to be a rediscovering of their identity following the previous album, and you can tell that the effort was made, but there are really no top shelf level songs on offer here. Mostly decent to good fare on the rockers, weaker and somewhat stale ballads, and guitar solos that are merely fine for what they are. 18. Return to Forever: This album is very spotty and kind of all over the place; the three ballads are surprisingly the strong point and there is a nice rocker here and there, but a handful of the rockers are underwhelming or in one case just plain skip-worthy. It kind of feels like they are on autopilot, and some of the pieces are a bit generic. 19. Eye to Eye: Not that this album doesn't have some redeeming qualities as there are a couple of musical growth endeavors that work out fairly well, but as a whole it is undone by some very poor and in some cases embarrassing pieces that shouldn't have been put on a studio album. There are also a couple of songs where the potential is there but they needed further refinement and modifications. It's a better album if you just take the best eight songs and listen to it that way.

Great stuff as always Ed. 👍

For me, there are three frontmam. On top of my list 1. Brian Connolly is my all-time favourite. 2. Robin Zander from Cheap Trick, the man with a thousand voices. 3. Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Polits All three great voices and great frontmam. Brian, by far, best voice. Great video.

Uriah Heep is a good band but not a Great Band. They are the kind of bands that open for other artist. It's a pitty because they had some good albums.

Night Ranger is the best. Cant really beat dawn patrol or midnight madness but i think the last couple albums have been fantastic.

Thanks for the review. I was able to see Saxon again in Cincinnati last month with the truly impressive Uriah Heep. Saxon is one of my all-time top metal acts. I wish you and your channel well.

As soon as you said Forever Free in very last place I was quite surprised. I love that album, one of my very favourites, it’s underrated. The perfect bridge between the commercial and heavy stuff but each to their own. Wheels Of Steel number 1 for me same as you.

Great stuff, as always! Love it and right there with you Ed! 🤘🤪🤘

SWEET is Best

Good topic, and a real tough group of albums to rank; some could be so close that it could just depend on your mood for the day or week. I'll just rank them from 1 to 7: 1. Pull - I just don't think that they will top this album, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong; one of the very best hard-rock albums released in the 90's. At least three of these songs likely make my top ten Winger list. Just an undeniable heavy and fierce sound, with great musicianship. More serious than the first two albums, but still retains a mild commercial polish that engages. 2. Karma - Great mix of modern Winger tunes on this one that show varied range; a couple of really good ballads and on Witness perhaps Reb Beach's finest Winger guitar solo. Nice edgy overall sound. The blues track provides a good surprise and is placed well near but not at the end of the album. 3. Seven - Really great song quality throughout the album; meticulous songwriting with a lot of thought put into the song structures. This would probably be number 2 if only there were more or longer guitar solos sprinkled in a few places, but I understand and accept playing to serve the song also. Still I would have liked more guitar moments like on It All Comes Back Around, one of the best Winger album closers. 4. Winger - Nice, upbeat, and really fun rocking debut album with hints of the progressive side blended in; a couple of huge power ballads. The well above par talent was on full display right from the beginning. These first four albums are all very strong musical outputs. These last three it gets really tough to separate them. 5. In the Heart of the Young - Too commercial for some, but not the entirety of the album and there are a lot of different musical concepts floating around and being experimented with. There is some growth coming out of the first album even if I rank that one higher. Maybe a couple of hokey moments are present but it doesn't really bother me and I write those rare instances as a guilty pleasure. 6. IV - Coming off of the long layoff and with a different musical landscape this one has a darker tone than the others, but still comes through with infectious musical moments over the course of the album, just less of them. Maybe the most contemplative and also some very thick, weighty guitar riffage going on, and more complex song progressions. I still can't really get into the song Generica, but I do like the instrumental outro portion of the song. 7. Better Days Coming - Well something had to be last; to put it in perspective this album would rank much better on an album ranking list of many similar bands of this genre. The one, two, three punch of the first three tracks is a great opening surge and Tin Soldier is a quick progressive gem. Ever Wonder is a solid one but not among their top tier ballads. Be Who You Are Now is not a bad track at all, but it just seems like more of a Kip Winger solo album piece. So Long China is a song that I want to like more than I do, and is missing a little something ( missing a guitar solo also). Final track is good in the Winger finisher mold, but not as strong as the finisher tracks on the previous or follow-up album. While the other albums are molded in a more focused direction, this one is more like a hodgepodge of ideas.

i like highlander 2 ....it has a great score too.

Even though it went gold I still think Big Life is underrated and it’s maybe my very favourite. It’s such a feel good album. Either that or Dawn Patrol. I know Tonight is fantastic in my opinion. Sounds like a hit to me. Bottom is Feeding Off The Mojo. It isn’t bad but something is just missing. ATBO isn’t much better. Definitely the weakest of the later ones

This is a good album. I really like Roses on White Lace. The cover is not great though.

I did exactly the same with Omen 2 on VHS recorded off the TV with the lift scene! Maybe it's a generational thing? 😂 Uncanny.

Look at me …..look here

I'm gratified to hear you speak of buying CDs. Everyone has gone wild for vinyl these days, but I cannot see the attraction. I thought we did away with this old technology. Turns out I am depressingly "old school" to still have a CD collection.

A man with an idea. All what you said I would agree, only with Jugulator and Defenders we are apart. If I would include Unleashed in the East it would be my No. 1. My list is: ROCKA ROLLA - 16- 7,5/10 SAD WINGS OF DESTINY - 2 - 10/10 SIN AFTER SIN - 7 - 9/10 STAINED CLASS - 1 - 10/10 KILLING MACHINE - 4 - 9,5/10 BRITISH STEEL - 6 - 9/10 POINT OF ENTRY - 15 - 7,5/10 SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE - 10 - 8,5/10 DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH - 5 - 9/10 TURBO - 18 - 6,510 RAM IN DOWN - 11 - 8/10 PAINKILLER - 3 - 10/10 JUGULATOR - 12 - 8/10 DEMOLITION - 19 - 5,5/10 ANGEL OF RETRUBITION - 14 - 8/10 NOSTRADAMUS - 13 - 8/10 REEDEMER OF SOULS - 17 - 7/10 FIREPOWER - 8 - 8,5/10 Invicible Shield - 9 - 8,5/10

😔 P R O M O S M

Great singer. One of the best

I liked Look at yourself the best

I enjoy all the Sweet albums

Saxon and Priest were epic live in the early eighties but I just wish they would retire gracefully! 😜

Great review, saw the show at Wembley last night and pretty much agree with all your views. Heep probably could have played a bit longer but i'm guessing with a 3 band bill it's sensible to factor in a few minutes leeway in case of problems with change overs and as you point out all 3 bands had a "production" of sorts rather than simply a backline and drums. Agree totally with you about Robs costume changes, it's been the same the last couple of times i've seen them and as an audience member it just leads to brief lulls in the performance and therefore i feel the show doesn't flow as well as it can, interestingly scott spoke briefly before painkiller, i wonder if maybe he should say a few more words during the show, at the end if the day Rob is Rob, he's a bit of a diva in his own way and i like the rest of the metal community love him for what he is, but i'd be just as happy if he came out in leather trousers and a jacket for the whole show!

Was in Dublin last Friday night and .......same there, Saxon stole the show although Priest did switch it up a bit and played Turbo Lover and Invincible Shield so, I'd give em a solid 8.5 out of 10 and Saxon a definite 9.5 out of 10, Uriah Heap must have got their sound sorted by the time they hit Dublin and sounded excellent and I'd give em 8 out of 10...cheers

UN's THE, ISLAM's ISLAM'SC1 👽 UNO WORLD'SC1 👽 UNICEF'sci World 🌍 UNO ❤️ Isa Son 👽 I'M, Peshawar's City's Sikander

UN's THE,... SAINT".. SA Son 👽 Isa Son 👽 MAREEKH ء world 🌍 Very Good. HOLLYWOOD'S LOVE YOU's Jesus Son 👽 Sa 💞💜💜💜💜💜 Jupiter'jesus God Son 🌹... The, Saint's

This album is keeping in line with the first two, and perhaps even rocks out a little more than the first two did. George's solos here are probably the best so far out of the three releases, and Girish does well to emulate the vibe that Robert provided on the first two albums, which is something that I was mildly concerned about. On songs like Shattered Glass Heart you would be hard-pressed to know if it were Girish or Robert singing. I like his vocal performance here quite a bit more than what he did on the Hosktra 13 album from last year. It's a typical Frontiers super group release, very consistent but often no truly top shelf songs, which is the case here. Still I'd give this an 8/10 based on quality alone; stylistically it reminds me of a hybrid of early Lynch Mob and Cinderella with the dirty sounding core guitar riffing and vocal delivery.

Uriah heep by far the best since they have an hammond organ that gives them a much more evolute sound

F.k the gang of thieves that use a holy name of Uriah Heep.

Halfords overdubs and vocal echoes effects were unbearable

Should have been standing instead of the blocks. Three terrific bands. Drinks and merchandise extortionate. Really don't like arena gigs but i couldn't miss this and really enjoyed it. Can't wait to see Heep and Saxon back in smaller venues. Sadly, Priest will always be in arenas.

Cant wait I'm at Birmingham on Tuesday a real bucket list seeing all three never seen em before wish I had but glad I have a chance now 😁😁😁

I was at the show and am going to Birmingham and Wembley. Very balanced review. Gotta say that Saxon were exellent and I can understand your score of 9. Thought Priest played really well and Rob's voice was strong, though probably still warming up. Like you, I wish that he would interact more, because he's really good at this. Likewise the costume changes just tended to kill the momentum. But overall a great show from all three bands.

What is the Manchester swerve all about? Im not goin puddin country.

Great review , I’m going to Dublin tonight to see Saxon - I don’t know much about the other 2 bands but looking forward to it cheers

Seeing them at the BIC on the 17th, haven't seen Judas Priest since Killing Machine, British Steel tours, Southampton Gaumont! Great review, cannot wait now 🤘