Legendary English hard rock band UFO finally gets its fifth studio album, No Heavy Petting, remastered and expanded for reissue in 2023. The 2-CD deluxe digipak edition features the remastered album and five bonus tracks on disc 1, plus the 1976 Roundhouse live set on disc 2.
Stepping up from the rawer sound of Force It, the album was their first to feature a permanent keyboard player in the band and gave a nod to what was to come. The album includes a number of tracks that were to become staples of their live set for many years, including “Natural Thing” and “I’m A Loser”.
”No Heavy Petting” is part of the UFO Michael Schenker years. The band also added a keyboardist Danny Peyronel providing a more melodious background. Yes, this album clearly is a precursor to more glamorous things to come like ‘Lights Out’ or ‘Obsession’ a few years later. The album also sets cornerstones as to how Hard Rock and early Heavy Metal ought to sound.
You need to give Schenker a lot of credit here. The very precise riffs and solos on ”No Heavy Petting” are absolutely stellar, no doubt about it. Just listen to the one on ‘Can You Roll Her’. He even pulled songs not so strong like like ‘Reasons Love’ and ‘Highway Lady’ into the arena, simply because he adds these friggin’ solos that are just amazing.
And his influence shows in all of the tracks on ”No Heavy Petting”. This combined with the excellent, high soaring vocals of Phil Mogg gets you a combination that you just cannot ignore.
On this album there’s also the welcomed installment of keyboard player Danny Peyronel (formerly of the Heavy Metal Kids), whose talents made an immediate impact via the flourishes heard on album highlight ‘I’m a Loser,’the high-velocity, Deep Purple-inspired attack on ‘Can You Roll Her’, and the boogie-woogie-piano driven on the aforementioned ‘Highway Lady’, a song for which Peyronel received full songwriting credit.
On top, they wrote one of the most amazing hard rock ballads of their career called ‘Belladonna’. Holy – Metal – Cow! Yes, you guessed right, ‘Belladonna’ is probably one that is never gonna be topped. Subtle references between the beautiful woman excelling in intrigues of the murderous kind and the poisonous plant of the same Italian name. Soft melody, powerful lyrics, just great.
But, actually, powerful does not describe it. This one is hitting home, like too near to reality to be comfortable. The track was great back then, and still is the same today. A classic.
Beyond these, all that was left was a pair of relative filler tracks, the first being bassist Pete Way’s nearly comatose plod-fest, ‘On With the Action’ and the second a throwaway cover of Frankie Miller’s “A Fool in Love” that suggested everyone involved had an urgent appointment at the local pub.
But then you have the bonus tracks, all tracked at the same session and there’s a lot to enjoy.
With its now classic artwork, once again crafted by those masters of abstract album covers, Hipgnosis, ”No Heavy Petting” is just another terrific UFO album. This new remaster is fantastic.
HIGHLY Recommended
Tracklist:
CD 01:
01. Natural Thing (2023 Remaster) (3:59)
02. I'm A Loser (2023 Remaster) (3:51)
03. Can You Roll Her (2023 Remaster) (2:57)
04. Belladonna (2023 Remaster) (4:29)
05. Reasons Love (2023 Remaster) (3:15)
06. Highway Lady (2023 Remaster) (3:46)
07. On With The Action (2023 Remaster) (5:00)
08. A Fool In Love (2023 Remaster) (2:48)
09. Martian Landscape (2023 Remaster) (5:08)
10. All Or Nothing (2023 Remaster) (3:31)
11. French Kisses (2023 Remaster) (3:06)
12. Have You Seen Me Lately Joan? (2023 Remaster) (4:00)
13. Tonight Tonight (2023 Remaster) (3:17)
14. All The Strings (2023 Remaster) (6:02)
15. Have You Seen Me Lately Joan? (Acoustic Demo (2023 Remaster)) (3:03)
CD 02:
01. Can You Roll Her (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (3:11)
02. Doctor Doctor (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (5:24)
03. Oh My (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (4:17)
04. Out In The Street (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (5:31)
05. Highway Lady (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (5:01)
06. I'm A Loser (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (4:53)
07. Let It Roll (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (4:55)
08. This Kid's (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (4:35)
09. Shoot Shoot (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (3:46)
10. Rock Bottom (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (10:57)
11. C'mon Everybody (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (8:48)
12. Boogie For George (Live At The Roundhouse, London, 25 April 1976 (2023 Remaster)) (9:07)
UFO – No Heavy Petting (2CD Deluxe Edition) (2023 Remaster), MP3+FLAC
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