Album review : UFO – Misdemeanour Live At The Oxford Apollo 1985 (CD+DVD)

August 8th, 2025 by brianmc

Cherry Red [Release date : 22.08.25]

The early eighties were a turbulent time for UFO. Judging by the band’s poorly received Making Contact album in 1982, it looked like they were a spent force.

Members left, most notably, Pete Way and Michael Schenker, and subsequently, the good ole’ rock’n’roll revolving door was slamming off its hinges, leaving Phil Mogg no choice (other than quit) but to recruit a completely new band flying under the UFO banner.

Step up Paul Gray, ex The Damned, and Jim Simpson, ex Magnum – on bass and drums. Paul Raymond returned on keyboards and “Atomic Tommy M” (Tommy McClendon) joined the band as guitarist. All in all a good fit.

The dominant keyboard sound on the studio version of Misdemeanours was a time stamp that could never be erased.

And so McClendon and Mogg took control of the Live At The Oxford Apollo gig, blazing through a guitar and vocals driven set.

Sound checks aside, much of the set’s opener is taken up with the band finding their feet. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ takes a minute or two for McClendon to get just the right level and volume, and for Mogg to gain reliable traction on the upper slopes.

Then it’s a blast from start to finish.

The polish has been stripped away completely. Even ‘This Time’ and ‘The Only Ones’, the songs with more of an AOR flavouring, are dressed in squaling, squealing axework, led by a muscular Mogg vocal.

We should pick out ‘The Chase’, driven by Simpson’s heavy percussive thump, and ‘Mean Streets’ mix of grain and grit.
Both are dynamic departures from the band’s more structured approach, embracing a raw, unfiltered format on the Apollo stage.

The inevitable inclusion of UFO classics, ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ and ‘Doctor Doctor’ is always noisily welcomed by the band’s fans. The Apollo gig was no different. ***1/2

Review by Brian McGowan

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