McAULEY SCHENKER GROUP - BAD BOYS [CD]

After making his debut at a mere 17 years on Scorpions’ first LP ‘Lonesome Crow’ in 1972, guitar maestro and mad axe-man Michael Schenker spent five years as lead guitarist with the inimitable UFO, before forming The Michael Schenker Group (MSG for short) with singer Gary Barden in 1979. With four studio albums and two live records under his belt between 1980 and 1984, Michael returned in 1987 with the ‘Perfect Timing’ album, fronted by former Grand Prix and Far Corporation singer Robin McAuley, and a change of name to the McAuley Schenker Group - but still conveniently shortened to MSG. The new look MSG released a total of four albums between 1987 and 1992, starting with the melodic ‘Perfect Timing’ (1987), followed by ‘Save Yourself’ (1989), ‘M.S.G.’ (1992) and finally with ‘Unplugged Live' (1992). ‘Perfect Timing’ features three singles; ‘Love Is Not A Game’, ‘Follow The Night’ and the US Hot 100 Hit ‘Gimme Your Love’, and is certainly the most melodic and AOR-friendly of this batch of albums. ‘Save Yourself’ followed in 1989. 1991’s ‘M.S.G.’ was certainly a harder, grittier affair than the previous McAuley Schenker releases, and includes the single, ‘Never Ending Nightmare’. The much harder, guitar-driven sound was possibly a reaction to grunge that was very much in vogue at the time, whereas ‘Perfect Timing’ was a good reflection of the more commercial, glam sounds and hair-metal that was the height of fashion in the mid-late 1980s. Thanks in part to MTV’s popular Unplugged series of TV broadcasts, albums and videos, going acoustic was certainly very much de rigueur in the early 1990s, which leads us to the fourth and last album in this collection; 1992’s ‘Unplugged Live'. As well as key McAuley Schenker songs, recorded live in Los Angeles in 1992, the album features three UFO classics; ‘Natural Thing’, ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Lights Out’. Perfect Timing features the bonus tracks ‘Gimme’ Your Love’ (Edit) and ‘Follow The Night’ (Edit). ‘Save Yourself’ is now expanded with ‘There Has To Be Another Way’ (Instrumental), ‘Save Yourself’ (Single Edit), ‘This Is My Heart’ (Edit), ‘Anytime’ (Single Edit), ‘Anytime’ (Radio Edit), ‘Bad Boys’ (Acoustic Version). ‘M.S.G.’ now features ‘When I'm Gone’ (Single Edit), ‘Nightmare’ (Single Edit), ‘When I'm Gone’ (Acoustic Version), ‘When I'm Gone’ (Alternative CHR Version) and ‘Nightmare’ (AOR Version). Unplugged Live is completed by a take of UFO’s ‘Only You Can Rock Me’, ‘Anytime’ (Acoustic Version), ‘What Happens To Me’ (Acoustic Version), ‘We Believe In Love’ (Acoustic Version) and ‘Never Ending Nightmare’ (Acoustic CHR Version) taken from the unplugged in the studio Japanese only mini-album ‘Nightmare: The Acoustic MSG’.