Album review: MOGGS MOTEL – Moggs Motel
Steamhammer/SPV [Release date: 06.09.24]
When frontman Phil Mogg called a halt to UFO’s Last Orders European tour in 2022 on Doctor Doctor’s orders, I thought that was the end of the road. I was disappointed, not only because I was left clutching a ticket for the Prague show with no band to see, but also because Mogg was singing as well as ever.
I should have known better. A great survivor of the band’s hedonistic heydays (witness the sad departues of his former band mates Pete Way, Paul Raymond and Paul Chapman), Mogg has come back barely two years after his heart attack with a really strong album. Released in September, the more I’ve played it since then, the more I’ve loved it.
This is a classy, fresh album full of hard rock gems. But don’t run away with the idea this is UFO by another name. Moggs Motel is from the same gene pool, but it has taken a different evolutionary path (to mangle some scientific analogies). I read one review on release that described Phil Mogg as ‘the Frank Sinatra of rock, if you will’. I’m not sure what that says about music’s interbreeding population, but the sentiments are clear.
Alongside Mogg, the band comprises Tony Newton (bass & keyboards) from the band Voodoo Six and former UFO and Gary Moore band multi-instrumentalist Neil Carter (guitar, keyboards, vocals) who between them have written the material. Joe Lazarus (drums) and Tommy Gentry (guitar) complete the line up.
The initial impression is of a straight-forward, uncomplicated set of tunes. Lead track, ‘Apple Pie’ might confirm that view. It is one of the best on show, with bright, sharp guitar high in the mix and Mogg’s almost soulful delivery very much intact, powering a vibrant hard rock outing.
But there’s more going on here. ‘Sunny Side of Heaven’ ploughs a heavier furrow than most of UFO’s output and the stacked harmonies lift the track out of the ordinary; ‘Face of an Angel’ and ‘I Thought I Knew You’ are catchy, commercial tracks with a twist. Mogg’s wry lyrical look at life is ever-present: ‘I have a sentimental memory for the things we never said’.
The twin guitar on the chugging ‘Princess Bride’ gives way to a keyboard layers and the track again benefits from strong backing vocals with lovely synth/guitar passages. It segues into ‘Other People’s Lives’ with a toll of a bell and a heavy, atmospheric undertow that can’t help but suggest Iron Maiden, given that this was recorded in Steve Harris’s studio. These are some of the best moments on the album.
The guitar work on the full-bore ‘Tinker Tailor’ stands out and it’s noteworthy that Neil Carter has shared lead duties here (and elsewhere) with Tommy Gentry. He never got a look-in when alongside Chapman and Moore, et al. Carter’s keyboard prowess is also well to the fore and seems to grow in prominence as the album progresses in a deliberate (or otherwise) twist of the track rostering.
The quirky ‘Harry’s Place’ is a short cinematic b-flick piece and bleeds in to ‘Wrong House’ led initially by Tony Newton on bass, then sweeping synth strings and edgy guitar come forward, before more off-the-wall lyricism from the Moggster about his old German Shepherd dog: ‘She don’t sit up and beg, And she don’t do tricks, But she’ll chew off your arm, And she’ll rip off your leg.’
‘Shane’ is a glorious, rich creation driven by complementary keyboard and guitar riffs, with an easy vocal from Mogg, lighter in weight compared to tracks that precede it, but losing nothing in quality.
‘Storyville’ is a ballad not to be under-estimated and is the closest on this album to classic UFO material, bringing something of the moody feel of ‘Gone in the Night’ or ‘This Fire Burns Tonight’ from ‘No Place to Run’. A fine way to end the album.
This is a very good come-back from a one-of-a kind frontman. Lots here for UFO fans, but better to think of Mogg’s outings with $ign of Four or even the chunky-riffed Mogg/Way albums of the mid-90’s as waymarkers for this album. In truth it stands up as a powerful, layered and beguiling hard rock album by any standards. ****½
Review by Dave Atkinson
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