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**UFO - Lights Out**
★★★★☆

In the pantheon of hard rock's unsung heroes, few bands have wielded the power to melt faces quite like UFO, and nowhere is this more evident than on their scorching 1977 masterpiece, "Lights Out." This is the sound of a band hitting their absolute peak – a perfect storm of British blues-rock swagger, German precision, and American lead guitar wizardry that would influence everyone from Iron Maiden to Def Leppard.

By the mid-seventies, UFO had already carved out their niche as one of Europe's premier hard rock exports, but it was the addition of Michigan-born guitar prodigy Michael Schenker that transformed them from competent rockers into genuine contenders. Schenker, who'd jumped ship from his brother Rudolf's band Scorpions, brought with him a melodic sensibility and technical prowess that perfectly complemented Phil Mogg's bluesy wail and the thunderous rhythm section of bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker. Producer Ron Nevison, fresh off his work with Led Zeppelin and The Who, captured the band at their most focused and ferocious.

"Lights Out" opens with the title track's ominous keyboard drone before exploding into a riff that sounds like it was forged in the fires of rock and roll hell itself. Mogg's vocals drip with menace as he delivers lines about urban decay and spiritual darkness, while Schenker's guitar work alternates between crushing power chords and soaring melodic runs that seem to pierce straight through your chest cavity. It's a mission statement that announces UFO's intentions from the first note: this isn't going to be pretty, but it's going to be essential.

The album's crown jewel is undoubtedly "Rock Bottom," an eight-and-a-half-minute epic that stands as one of hard rock's greatest achievements. Built around a deceptively simple riff that gradually builds into a towering monument of sound, the song showcases everything that made this lineup special. Mogg's vocals tell the story of a relationship's bitter end with genuine pathos, while Schenker delivers what many consider to be one of the greatest guitar solos in rock history – a masterclass in dynamics, melody, and raw emotion that builds from whispered blues licks to screaming bends that seem to capture every ounce of human anguish ever felt.

"Just Another Suicide" maintains the album's dark themes while ramping up the energy, featuring some of Way's most inventive bass work and a chorus that burrows into your brain and refuses to leave. Meanwhile, "Electric Phase" showcases the band's more experimental side, with layers of guitar effects creating an almost psychedelic atmosphere that predates much of what would later be called progressive metal.

The album's production deserves special mention – Nevison managed to capture the raw power of UFO's live sound while adding just enough polish to make every instrument cut through the mix like a razor blade. The drums sound massive without being overwhelming, Way's bass provides a rock-solid foundation that never gets lost in the chaos, and Schenker's guitar tone is simply perfect – warm enough for the bluesy passages but with enough bite to strip paint during the heavier moments.

While "Lights Out" didn't achieve the commercial success it deserved upon release, its influence on the hard rock and heavy metal scenes cannot be overstated. Bands like Iron Maiden have cited UFO as a primary influence, and you can hear echoes of Schenker's melodic approach in everyone from Randy Rhoads to Slash. The album has steadily grown in stature over the decades, with many critics now recognizing it as one of the essential hard rock albums of the seventies.

Unfortunately, this would prove to be the peak of UFO's creative partnership with Schenker, who would leave the band just two years later to pursue various solo projects and brief reunions with Scorpions. While UFO continued recording and touring for decades afterward, they never quite recaptured the magic of this particular lineup.

Today, "Lights Out" stands as a testament to what can happen when the right musicians find each other at exactly the right moment. It's an album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as "Led Zeppelin IV" and "Machine Head" – a perfect storm of songwriting, performance, and production that created something truly timeless. For anyone seeking to understand the DNA of modern hard rock and metal, "Lights Out" isn't just