Schenker's done 47 studio albums by my count. All of them are good, many are brilliant. Michael's guest appearances expand the discography considerably; with live recordings and bootlegs, I think the number of 'albums' is over 300.
So glad you made this video! I love Schenker’s playing but I never paid any attention to the MSG family records. About time to fix that! Thanks for the awesome show, as usual. SoT is amazing!
I think we have a party pooper whose sole purpose in life is waiting till I post a video and immediately giving me a thumbs down, no matter what the topic is....funny that some people have nothing better to do.
Not worth giving these people the time of day. I'm sure most if not all will agree with me when I say we appreciate the time and effort you put in to making these videos. Informative and always entertaining.
I might be wrong but I think a thumbs up OR thumbs down helps "promote" the video/channel via TH-cam either way. So he/she who is giving you a thumbs down might be doing you a favor!
Pete!! I for one love everything you do... I've been wanting to throw compliments your way for some time now... I recently discovered your channel. Love it!! You are like a long lost brother having mentioned so so many bands that I love, including so many not-so-well known acts like Gentle Giant, Max Webster, and so many other prog and metal bands. Deep Purple is also my favorite band! I love that you love Uriah Heep, Yes, Santana, UFO, and of course Michael Schenker! I am also a fan of many genres of Extreme Metal, especially old and new Thrash, so I'm thrilled to see you talk about that too. A couple things I would love to see you tackle... have you ever done The Sensational Alex Harvey Band? Have you ever done UK? Have you ever done The Babys? and I think you did one show on some Jazz Fusion greats but did you ever do individual episodes on Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, Al DiMeola, etc? Would love to see you tackle some great funk bands like Parliament, Funkadelic, O'Jays, Stevie Wonder, Ohio Players, etc. I live in Upstate NY between Albany and Saratoga... you look so familiar I think I may have seen or even met you at shows over the years. Would love to have the opportunity to chat or meet some time. Do you ever do fan chats or anything of the sort? Keep up the great work! Ignore the Nay-sayers and keep on keeping on! Keith Fotheringham, Ballston Spa, NY.
I forgot to mention so I have to add to my last comment. Would love to see you do some American folk rock... Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers... and British Folk Rock like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Albion Band, etc. Maybe British acoustic folk like Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, The Watersons, Nic Jones, Davy Graham... or even Celtic Folk like Altan, Planxty, Tannahill Weavers, Silly Wizard, Bothy Band, The Chieftains, Battlefield Band, Clannad, etc... I could go on forever.
This guy is so underrated. Saw him in a club back in 2012 in Allentown. Couldn’t have been more than 50 people there. It was a shame that people missed such a great show. I was right up against the stage with my wife and my brother. He put on a super show even with such a disappointing crowd. A true professional. He makes guitar look so easy (like so many of the greats do). I have the same top three. Just a slightly different order. 👍
We’re about the same age, so much like you, I grew up listening to Schenker and he quickly became one of my favorite guitarists. Those first four albums will always be special to me.
Absolutely love me some Michael Schenker - I’m right there with you with your top 3, just a little different order... I switch MSG and Assault Attack 1 and 3, at least today... but like you, absolutely MSG was part of my teenage soundtrack growing up. Love your channel, great stuff as always.
Schenker is an artist I usually jump in and out of for a single song or two in his vast discography. Love these rankings, because I don't have to do the digging for gold myself. Thanks!
This video gave me shivers! It was really a "feast of recognition". I am from 1967 and at the beginning of the 80s I was completely into the guitar heroes. The feeling you descibed matches with my feelings at that time. The first MSG album I ever bought was "One Night At Budokan". It blew me away at that time. The rest is history. I am a collector of progressive rock and hard rock and Schenker is one of those 80's heroes which I always have followed. His sound is one of a kind and recognizable, his style is fabulous, his phasing is perfect. But above all his melodic way of playing everytime touches me. Michael Schenker is a great, great, guitarist.
01. Assault Attack 02. MSG '81 03. Save Yourself 04. The Michael Schenker Group 05. Built To Destroy 06. Immortal 07. Perfect Timing 08. MSG '92 09. The Last Supper 10. Revelation I still have to check out Temple of Rock and some of his other stuff that's passed me by.
If the Guitar solo in "Save Yourself" doesn't set your guitar Soul on fire with it's technical wizardry, passion and Michael's trademark, screaming high notes, you may need to check your pulse ;)
@Kevin Kelly Yes, it REALLY is. As Pete said, this may be considered Michael's "Commercial Period", but Michael's playing still has plenty of fire and most of the songs are well-written too. Not to mention, in my humble opinion, Robin was Michael's best singer, ever.
I absolutely LOVE Michael Schenker ( and so did the late, amazing, Randy Rhoads! ) I have seen him many times in Clubs in the Bay Area, and EVERY Show was just 1000% inspiring!!
I saw Michael open for Priest ( or was it Maiden?) after the release of MSG. Absolutely stunning! His first 3 solo albums are just timeless classic hard rock gems!
Favourite Micheal Schenker albums would be 1 MSG (the 2nd album) 2 Michael Schenker Group (debut) 3 Assault Attack 4 Written In The Sand. 5 Save Yourself
Michael Schenker is along with Gary Moore, my favourite guitar player and "Assault attack" is his masterpiece. A perfect album, great songs, no filler and for me the best MSG line-up Michael Schenker, Ted McKenna, Chris Glenn and maybe the best vocal performance from the great Mr.Graham Bonnet. "Assault attack", "Down to earth" and "No parole from rock'n'roll" wouldn't be such great albums without his incredible voice.
@Kevin Kelly It took a while for me to get used to his voice too. A little "cleaner" than I normally like. AA and Rainbow's Down to Earth changed my mind and I dig it now. Unique in the genre.
@@independenceltd. Agree! Really unique! When you listen to "Only one woman" from his first band The Marbles, 1968, (great ballad!!) you can hardly imagine he would end up singin' hard rock/heavy metal.
Always loved the unforgiven with Kelly keeling. Heavy riffs and quite moody in places, but after a couple of spins I was hooked, also msg in the midst of beauty with Gary. Another personal favourite. Good list though, so many to choose from
Glad to see a ranking of Michael Schenker, my list: 1. Debut Michael Schenker Group 2. Assault attack 3. Spirit on a mission 4. Bridge the gap 5. Ressurection 6. Immortal 7. MSG '81 8. Written in the sand 9. Universal 10. Revelation
Very privileged to see him as a teenager in 1981 at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Reading Rock Festival 1982 and Bristol Colston Hall in the same year. My favourite band at the time and nearly 40 years later the same set of childhood friends, all in our mid Fifties, reminisced by seeing him at the Forum in Kentish Town in 2018. Good to share life's journey with you Michael and thanks for some great memories. Best album? The first one, and then One Night at Budokan. Best moment? Gary Barden returning to the line up at Reading unexpectedly, "Surprise, Surprise" - remember it like it was yesterday...
Great list, if you have never heard MS 2000: Dreams and Expressions it is really worth a listen. It is what Assult Attack would have been if it we're just instrumentals
Yer top 3 are no-brainers, but I think Unforgiven needs to be in there and what about the instrumental albums? Did u include those in the criteria? Schenker is my all-time fav guitarist!
Well said, Pete. The moment I saw you were doing a video on this I immediately said “number 1 is Assault Attack”... You said it too, apparently. For me, it’s probably the best hard rock album of all time. Survivor “Vital Signs” is up there, too, but it’s not really hard rock.
I kind of like The Unforgiven with Kelly Keeling from Baton Rouge, but other than that there really was a lot of staleness mid-period... Luckily Michael also did some cool reunion albums with UFO so it kind of evens itself out. Schenker is among the top 10 best of all time for sure... Incredible chops, distinct style, highly influential and one of the most ludicrously huge discographies to back up this statement... I scoff everytime I see these "top guitarist" lists and most of the time he's not even in them.
Anybody who plays guitar holds Schenker in the highest regard. His vibrato and blues scale technique is almost untouchable by any other player. Like you’re choices the solo debut would be my number one.
WTF is up with the slow blues song Rock you To the Ground ? Blue Suited Soldiers With Their COKE!!!! Sniffing Hounds , Come out of your nightmares to run you to the ground . Are we Raunch n Roll ? Too much human debris on the sidewalks of the world . The MSG fellows must have been high on airplane glue and STP when they created that off the wall song. Just weird as weird gets
Like so many in this post, Schenker is probably my favorite guitar player (it's a toss up between Schenker and Uli Jon Roth). "Assault Attack" is #1(with "A Pepper Attack" coming in 2nd ...thanks,...I'll be here all week). On a serious note, in fact, I'd agree with your first three picks, Pete, in the same order that you ranked them. Here are my top ten Michael Schenker recordings (with him as the primary artist): 1. Assault Attack 2. Self Titled debut 3. MSG (1981) 4. Save Yourself 5. Tales of Rock 'n' Roll (I think this album is WAY underrated...a trial run of the Michael Schenker Fest years earlier + the powerful vocals of Jari Tiura) 6. The Unforgiven - great vocals from Kelly Keeling + memorable songs 7. Perfect Timing 8. Built to Destroy - would be higher on the list IF the production was better 9. Resurrection (FEST) 10. Revelation (FEST) Thanks for this show, Pete. You Rock!
Mine are 1. Debut 2. MSG 3. Assault Attack 4. Written In The Sand 5. The Unforgiven 6. Built To Destroy 7. Save Yourself 8. Bridge The Gap 9. Resurrection 10. Dreams & Expressions
As usual...spot on with ur ranking...love MSG...I love the way you rank rock and prog albums...its like 95% of the time exactly the way I'd rank them outta my cd collection 😂✌🎶🎸💿
I saw MSG play in 1981 and 1982. Just like you (we are the same age), Michael was, and still is, one of my top guitar heroes. Posters on the wall as a teenager, the works :). My brother went to a record signing for Assault Attack, Graham Bonnet was absolutely off his face. He must have been having real difficulties at that time.
That must be the gig where Graham Bonnet unzipped his pants(literally) Michael was said to be VERY Angry with him after that & Graham was said to be very drunk... How was it? Did the accident happen at the start of the gig?
Lucha Libertaria from memory it happened maybe 15-20 minutes into the gig,after a short break it carried on instrumental,I think it only lasted about 1 hour in total.
@@paulgreenan4395 Graham Bonnet talked about this accident in a recent interview & he said that after it happened, he got into his car and drove straight to London and the other guys were furious with him. I guess that gig has now become a part of 'Rock n roll mythos'
I didn't get to see him in UFO until the "reunion" for "Walk On Water" in about 1997 (I first saw UFO live on the "No Place To Run" tour and many times since), but I did get to see him on the tours for the first two MSG albums and, of course, they were amazing. I am glad it's not just me though, I do think the Barden/Bonnet/McCauley years were the best, even though I have pretty much every album that Schenker has done since - once it got into the 90's, every album seemed to have one or two good tracks on it (one of them usually being the opening track) but then everything else feels a bit "average". I think my favourite two albums with Schenker on have to be UFO ones - "Obsession" and "Walk on Water". I love the fact that those two albums are almost 20 years apart but feel like consecutive albums.
Hi Pete - was trying to send a message to you at the website, got the following error: ERROR: HTTP Referrer Check Failed! Invalid Message Source. - not sure why that came up. Anyway, if there's a way to reach out let me know. Cheers!
Best notification early in the morning, being a huge Schenker junky I was waiting for this video for so long! Thanks man, you rock 🤘🤘Ciao from Italy, according to your surname you've got serious Italian roots, right? 🇮🇹👍😉
@@seaoftranquilityprog awesome! I said that cause it's a pretty common surname in several regions of Italy, we have a very famous TV football commentator with that surname 👍 anyway thanks for your job man, I really appreciate your videos and the passion you always put in them! 🤘🤘
One Night at Bodokan was my first MSG album, so I just can’t see past those first two studio albums. Bought both on vinyl again recently and surprised myself by preferring the second over the first. Number three for me would be Built to Destroy - production is weak as piss, but I bought it in a German record shop as a teenager, using my pigeon school German, so it holds a place close to my heart. Assault Attack I was never a fan of, and would say I preferred the McAuley albums over it, but maybe I need to go and revisit it. Schenker’s catalogue is certainly not an easy one to rank, so hats off to you for trying!! Saw Schenker play the Cathouse in Glasgow and Chris Glen was stood next to us watching the show, that was pretty cool. Next time I saw Chris, he was onstage at the Liquid Room in Edinburgh with a reformed MSG doing a warm-up gig ahead of a Japanese tour. Barden was back on vocals and they played most of the Budokan set - 2008 I think
MSG (The Band) 1- Assault Attack 2- Debut 3- MSG'81 4- In The Midst Of Beauty 5- Built To Destroy 6- Written In The Sand 7-Tales Of Rock n Roll 8- The Unforgiven Michael Schenker (Solo) 1- A Decade Of The Mad Axeman 2- Temple Of Rock 3- Spirit On A Mission 4- Bridge The Gap McAuley Schenker Group: 1- Save Yourself 2- McAuley Schenker Group 3- Perfect Timing (Not interested in his acoustic stuff so I didn't include them)
MSG, the first concert I ever went to with Barden, McKenna and Glen. The Built to Destroy tour. I was 16, the t shirt still fitted me in my twenties, with Earslpintenzeeloudenboom printed on the back. 1. Michael Schenker Group 2. MSG 3. Assault Attack 4. Built to Destroy I like Temple of Rock and the recent vocalist reunion, but haven't paid enough attention to list stand out albums
Show on pause, I'm picking 1981's MSG with "On and On" as top pick. Yes, the mix is muddy, but I banged this cassette to dust in my Camaro. A great record great memories. Runner up: Mcauley Schenker, Perfect Timing, with the classic "Love is Not a Game" Unbelievable melodic lead break.
McAuley era was definitely my fav era. I do have all the earlier stuff too but that era stuck out for me. The songs were just so hooky you couldn't help but dig em.
M.S. body of work is impressive .Thanks for even tackle such a body of work. He truly is one of the GREAT ONE'S. I pretty much agree with your list .M.S. acoustic album thank you I do love .I remember seeing him at the LIMELIGHT good show but that is were I got the CD and was not disappointed. Have not slept so I am OUT. Thanks dude.
I agree with this list. "Rock you to the ground" took me a couple of decades to really, really appreciate, but now I think there aren't a lot of better rock songs out there.
I have always like him, but the only solo stuff that I have is the self-titled 1980 LP and Perfect Timing. Both are really good, but very different, too. This should be a fun video! Thanks, Pete! Edit: I forgot about that album from 1992. I used to have that cassette and really liked it! I dig the McAuley era.
Michael Schenker is one of my favorite guitarists. I know I'm in the minority but I loved the stuff with Robin McCauley on vocals better than the earlier stuff. Save yourself is a hard rock gem most people don't give it the credit for being. Pete, I know you hate it when people do this but these bands need album shows you Brian, Steve & Eliot: Metal Church In Flames Trivium Nuclear Assault
The Unforgiven is one of my top 5 definitely. MSG and Assault Attack my top 2. Be Aware of Scorpions, Written in the Sand, Tales of Rock n Roll are all solid. Thats the thing with Schenker even the "mediocre" is still great!
I saw MSG right after he released his first solo album with Gary Barden on vocals. It was at Madison Square Garden or Brendan Byrne Arena, with Molly Hatchet and Rush, I believe. Maybe Def Leppard in support of their first album too? Or was it opening for KISS? Man, i'm getting old and my mind doesn't work well anymore. I've seen hundreds of shows over the decades, and I think senility is setting in. Maybe Pete can fill me in because I am sure he was there too!
1. MSG (2nd album) 2. Debut album 3. One Night at Budakon 4. Rock will Never Die *huge drop from 4 to 5 5. Built To Destroy 6. Assault Attack 7. Perfect Timing
I am not doing a ranking of all the albums but some recommendations and thoughts. I haven't heard them all but quite a few. Adventures of the Imagination (from 2000) is an all instrumental album with some lengthy tunes and a few short ones. So melodic and Micheal Schenker just lets it rip without losing anything. I adore this album... I love it. A true hidden gem. I can agree with Pete that Michael Schenker did so many albums with varied result between the mid 90's and the year 2010 but this is a real killer. Schenker released four acoustic albums called "Thank You" and I really like these. Very beautiful and catchy compositions. As a collector of Michael Schenker I am getting a bit "full" (don't really feel the need for everything) but any Thank You album is welcome in my collection. The album "Bridge the Gap" is a really good one. It has two-three really bad tunes but the rest is modern and way better. Michael Schenker Groups Written in the Sand (from 1996) is with Leif Sundin (Swedish singer who also worked with John Norum). A good mix between Schenkers earlier work and AOR. Might be a bit too much of the same thing but a really solid album. At first I thought Robin McAuley sounded very dated and 80's. But the material a part from some very standard 80's stuff is much better than it's reputation. Today with Michael Schenker Fest I think he might be the one with the strongest voice as well (compared to Bonnet, Barden and White). .. Hope you have a great rest of your day!
He became my favorite guitar player when I saw UFO on Don Kirshner`s rock cocert in 1975. I was 18. Got No Heavy Petting. Anyway, the 2nd solo album MSG is the best IMO. He also did atleast 3 really good insturmental albums . Didnt get in to the acoustic albums too much. One other I dont think you mentioned....a collaboration with Bob Kulick I think? Who just died, was it heavy hitters? It had lots of guests on it, edgar winter and Paul Dianno, doing that Nazareth song, with aqrguably the best Rock guitar solo ever.
Schenker has certainly played with a lot of different musicians over the years. Interesting how many musicians played with both Schenker and Blackmore. You may want to do a show ranking the Schenker live albums.
My favorite 10, order can change, but these never change 1)UFO Force It 2)MSG Assault Attack 3)Scorpions Lonesome Crow 4)MSG S/T (1st) 5)MSG MSG (2nd) 6)MSG Built To Destroy (original European mix) 7)Scorpions Love Drive 8)UFO No Heavy Pettimg 9)UFO Phenomenon 10)MSG Unforgiven
He has some good songs but with so so singers in the 90's check out song "Reflection Of Your Heart" I forgot the album name but he mixes progressive rock with rock. I miss the young MS today he just seems to play he hasn't come up with anything catchy in a while but I'm glad he's still rocking. Thanks for doing one on MSG.
Thanks for the reminder....I kind of forgot about the Chris Logan albums. There are a few strong songs on those two albums for sure ("Be Aware of Scorpions" and "Arachnophobiac" albums). The song "Fatal Strike" from "Arachnophobiac" is a hidden gem as is "My Time's Up" from "Be Aware...").
Michael Schenker est mon guitariste préféré.Les 4 premiers albums de MSG sont extraordinaires mais mon album préferé est Assault Attack grace a Graham Bonnet qui est un chanteur absolument phénoménal.Vraiment dommage qu'il n'a fait qu'un album avec Michael.
I really enjoy his instrumental(acoustic) albums;that being said....with vocal tracks added -ASSAULT ATTACK w/Graham Bonnett is stellar!!! Personally,due to his soulful range;I still identify heavily with all the albums Robin McAuley appeared on. A hidden gem....though not "guitar forward", due to the engineering, UNFORGIVEN. Schenker is & will be a top 10 guitar player in rock music....all time!
1. Save Yourself 2. Perfect Timing 3. M.S.G. '92 4. MSG '81 5. The Michael Schenker Group 6. Assault Attack 7. Built to Destroy 8. The Unforgiven 9. Resurrection 10. Temple of Rock
This is my ranking (I included Michael Schenker Group, McAuley Schenker Group, Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock and Michael Schenker Fest) 18. Be Aware Of Scorpions 17. Tales Of Rock And Roll 16. Arachnophobiac 15. Spirit On A Mission 14. In The Midst Of Beauty 13. Bridge The Gap 12. The Unforgiven 11. Temple Of Rock 10. Revelation 9. Written In The Sand 8. Resurrection 7. MSG II 6. Built To Destroy 5. The Michael Schenker Group 4. Assault Attack 3. MSG I 2. Perfect Timing 1. Save Yourself
MICHAEL SCHENKER .... AMAZING ... here are my top 10 favorite ... 1- Michael Schenker Group (1st Album) 2- MSG (2nd Album) 3- Built To Destroy 4- Perfect Timing (as McAuley Schenker) 5- Save Yourself (as McAuley Schenker) 6- In The Midst Of Beauty 7- Spirit On A Mission (as Temple Of Rock) 8- Bridge The Gap (as Temple Of Rock) 9- Ressurection (as Michael Schenker Fest) 10- The Unfogiven ENJOY
theres just somthing special to me with gary bardens. vocals. i always preferred his songs over the other vox. and Unforgiven NEEDS some attention! really solid Lp and just heats up aa few tracks in. the Tower is an epic tune. Kelly Keeling fit in perfect as a singer. great voice.
Love the guy, better catalog than the Scorpions IMHO. My favourite albums 1) Assault Attack 2) Debut 3)MSG 4)MSG (Mcauley, Pilson, Kottak) (Nightmare such a big hit in Europe), 5) Built to Destroy . And Doogie White such a good singer, he auditioned for Maiden as well.
I never get tired of Michael and Uli. Just the most fiery, melodic players ever.
WISH that I could've seen them and Leslie West on their tour before he passed away - funds just WEREN'T there to swing it :(
Favorite guitarist, period. He's like pepper, he makes everything better.
Salt
Pepper doesn't work on watermelon
My all time favorite.MS
You spelled bacon wrong
@@chivesarchives Bacon? LOL Salt good on that too
Schenker's done 47 studio albums by my count. All of them are good, many are brilliant. Michael's guest appearances expand the discography considerably; with live recordings and bootlegs, I think the number of 'albums' is over 300.
So glad you made this video! I love Schenker’s playing but I never paid any attention to the MSG family records. About time to fix that! Thanks for the awesome show, as usual. SoT is amazing!
Thanks1 so much material, I have not listened to the newer stuff, will do. I love the stuff with McKenna on drums he is great.
I think we have a party pooper whose sole purpose in life is waiting till I post a video and immediately giving me a thumbs down, no matter what the topic is....funny that some people have nothing better to do.
That happens everywhere, some people are just fucking misrrable
Not worth giving these people the time of day. I'm sure most if not all will agree with me when I say we appreciate the time and effort you put in to making these videos. Informative and always entertaining.
I might be wrong but I think a thumbs up OR thumbs down helps "promote" the video/channel via TH-cam either way. So he/she who is giving you a thumbs down might be doing you a favor!
Pete!! I for one love everything you do... I've been wanting to throw compliments your way for some time now... I recently discovered your channel. Love it!! You are like a long lost brother having mentioned so so many bands that I love, including so many not-so-well known acts like Gentle Giant, Max Webster, and so many other prog and metal bands. Deep Purple is also my favorite band! I love that you love Uriah Heep, Yes, Santana, UFO, and of course Michael Schenker! I am also a fan of many genres of Extreme Metal, especially old and new Thrash, so I'm thrilled to see you talk about that too. A couple things I would love to see you tackle... have you ever done The Sensational Alex Harvey Band? Have you ever done UK? Have you ever done The Babys? and I think you did one show on some Jazz Fusion greats but did you ever do individual episodes on Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, Al DiMeola, etc? Would love to see you tackle some great funk bands like Parliament, Funkadelic, O'Jays, Stevie Wonder, Ohio Players, etc. I live in Upstate NY between Albany and Saratoga... you look so familiar I think I may have seen or even met you at shows over the years. Would love to have the opportunity to chat or meet some time. Do you ever do fan chats or anything of the sort? Keep up the great work! Ignore the Nay-sayers and keep on keeping on! Keith Fotheringham, Ballston Spa, NY.
I forgot to mention so I have to add to my last comment. Would love to see you do some American folk rock... Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers... and British Folk Rock like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Albion Band, etc. Maybe British acoustic folk like Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, The Watersons, Nic Jones, Davy Graham... or even Celtic Folk like Altan, Planxty, Tannahill Weavers, Silly Wizard, Bothy Band, The Chieftains, Battlefield Band, Clannad, etc... I could go on forever.
This guy is so underrated. Saw him in a club back in 2012 in Allentown. Couldn’t have been more than 50 people there. It was a shame that people missed such a great show. I was right up against the stage with my wife and my brother. He put on a super show even with such a disappointing crowd. A true professional. He makes guitar look so easy (like so many of the greats do).
I have the same top three. Just a slightly different order. 👍
Was at that show. Crocodile rock loved everything especially save yourself, love drive was off the rails the of course rock bottom
@ Yes, it was Croc Rock! That was a hell of a show with a fire setlist. 🤘
Your work is stellar, and I rarely miss a show. Keep up the good work buddy.
Assault Attack blew me away when I first heard it and it still sounds fresh today.
We’re about the same age, so much like you, I grew up listening to Schenker and he quickly became one of my favorite guitarists. Those first four albums will always be special to me.
Love this guy, in my top five favorite guitarists. Great show.
Assault Attack - thank you, Pete!!
Totally agree Assault Attack is number 1. The first three are all excellent!
Same Top 4 as PETE. / I might lean towards the 1981 album as my favorite. Slightly. ON AND ON/ to me / unreal song. 💯👍 tremendous episode
I liked the first "Thank you" cd he put out in early 90s. All acoustic.
does someone has a glue, if there exist Live release with Graham Bonnet and Michael Schenker from the 80ties? thank you for answering
Absolutely love me some Michael Schenker - I’m right there with you with your top 3, just a little different order... I switch MSG and Assault Attack 1 and 3, at least today... but like you, absolutely MSG was part of my teenage soundtrack growing up. Love your channel, great stuff as always.
my same exact top 4!
Schenker is an artist I usually jump in and out of for a single song or two in his vast discography. Love these rankings, because I don't have to do the digging for gold myself. Thanks!
This video gave me shivers! It was really a
"feast of recognition". I am from 1967 and at the beginning of the 80s I was completely into the guitar heroes. The feeling you descibed matches with my feelings at that time. The first MSG album I ever bought was "One Night At Budokan". It blew me away at that time. The rest is history. I am a collector of progressive rock and hard rock and Schenker is one of those 80's heroes which I always have followed.
His sound is one of a kind and recognizable, his style is fabulous, his phasing is perfect. But above all his melodic way of playing everytime touches me.
Michael Schenker is a great, great, guitarist.
01. Assault Attack
02. MSG '81
03. Save Yourself
04. The Michael Schenker Group
05. Built To Destroy
06. Immortal
07. Perfect Timing
08. MSG '92
09. The Last Supper
10. Revelation
I still have to check out Temple of Rock and some of his other stuff that's passed me by.
If the Guitar solo in "Save Yourself" doesn't set your guitar Soul on fire with it's technical wizardry, passion and Michael's trademark, screaming high notes, you may need to check your pulse ;)
@Kevin Kelly Yes, it REALLY is. As Pete said, this may be considered Michael's "Commercial Period", but Michael's playing still has plenty of fire and most of the songs are well-written too. Not to mention, in my humble opinion, Robin was Michael's best singer, ever.
one of my favorite guitar players. Had the pleasure of seeing him twice. Creator of some killer riffs
Hi Pete. I had no idea that Michael was so prolific! Major wake up call for me. Thank you.
I saw Michael (for the first time) on the Schenker fest tour in 2017. What a fantastic gig. I need to hear more of the man’s back catalogue.
I absolutely LOVE Michael Schenker ( and so did the late, amazing, Randy Rhoads! ) I have seen him many times in Clubs in the Bay Area, and EVERY Show was just 1000% inspiring!!
Great Guitar player; saw him once with Scorpions, 3 times with UFO ; another example of too many demons- love those first 2 MSG albums.
I saw Michael open for Priest ( or was it Maiden?) after the release of MSG. Absolutely stunning! His first 3 solo albums are just timeless classic hard rock gems!
Michael Schenker rules !
Favourite Micheal Schenker albums would be
1 MSG (the 2nd album)
2 Michael Schenker Group (debut)
3 Assault Attack
4 Written In The Sand.
5 Save Yourself
Thank you. I dont need to do a list. Youve done it for me.
Same here pretty much
Unforgiven and Be Aware of Scorpions are also great!
Thank you for ranking the studio albums of Michael Schenker.🎤🎸🎵🥁
Michael Schenker is along with Gary Moore, my favourite guitar player and "Assault attack" is his masterpiece. A perfect album, great songs, no filler and for me the best MSG line-up Michael Schenker, Ted McKenna, Chris Glenn and maybe the best vocal performance from the great Mr.Graham Bonnet.
"Assault attack", "Down to earth" and "No parole from rock'n'roll" wouldn't be such great albums without his incredible voice.
Totally agree, lets give a shout out to Impellitteri - Stand In Line as well!...
No, it’s not good...it’s great
It's one thing to not like his voice, I get that, but AA is filled with killer songs. You don't think so, that's ok...just sayin
@Kevin Kelly It took a while for me to get used to his voice too. A little "cleaner" than I normally like. AA and Rainbow's Down to Earth changed my mind and I dig it now. Unique in the genre.
@@independenceltd. Agree! Really unique! When you listen to "Only one woman" from his first band The Marbles, 1968, (great ballad!!) you can hardly imagine he would end up singin' hard rock/heavy metal.
Always loved the unforgiven with Kelly keeling. Heavy riffs and quite moody in places, but after a couple of spins I was hooked, also msg in the midst of beauty with Gary. Another personal favourite. Good list though, so many to choose from
Glad to see a ranking of Michael Schenker, my list:
1. Debut Michael Schenker Group
2. Assault attack
3. Spirit on a mission
4. Bridge the gap
5. Ressurection
6. Immortal
7. MSG '81
8. Written in the sand
9. Universal
10. Revelation
My #1 guitarist.
1. MSG (2nd Album, 1981)
2. Perfect Timing
3. Self-titled debut
4. MSG (1992)
5. Adventures of the Imagination
no Assault Attack?
Very privileged to see him as a teenager in 1981 at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Reading Rock Festival 1982 and Bristol Colston Hall in the same year. My favourite band at the time and nearly 40 years later the same set of childhood friends, all in our mid Fifties, reminisced by seeing him at the Forum in Kentish Town in 2018. Good to share life's journey with you Michael and thanks for some great memories. Best album? The first one, and then One Night at Budokan. Best moment? Gary Barden returning to the line up at Reading unexpectedly, "Surprise, Surprise" - remember it like it was yesterday...
Great list, if you have never heard MS 2000: Dreams and Expressions it is really worth a listen. It is what Assult Attack would have been if it we're just instrumentals
Yer top 3 are no-brainers, but I think Unforgiven needs to be in there and what about the instrumental albums? Did u include those in the criteria? Schenker is my all-time fav guitarist!
I love Michael Schenker!!!!
1. Assault Attack
2. Debut
3. MSG
All 3 albums well written, but AA wins simply down to a fabulous powerful production and a top class singer.
Well said, Pete. The moment I saw you were doing a video on this I immediately said “number 1 is Assault Attack”... You said it too, apparently. For me, it’s probably the best hard rock album of all time. Survivor “Vital Signs” is up there, too, but it’s not really hard rock.
I really like Michael's Thank You series of acoustic tunes. On the MSG side, Save Yourself is great.
I kind of like The Unforgiven with Kelly Keeling from Baton Rouge, but other than that there really was a lot of staleness mid-period... Luckily Michael also did some cool reunion albums with UFO so it kind of evens itself out. Schenker is among the top 10 best of all time for sure... Incredible chops, distinct style, highly influential and one of the most ludicrously huge discographies to back up this statement... I scoff everytime I see these "top guitarist" lists and most of the time he's not even in them.
Nice rankin pete, love ya
My top 3 : MSG (1981), The Michael Schenker Group (1980), Save yourself (1989).
any chance of ranking the albums of focus
Yep
They definitely deserve the award for "best yodeling" in a rock/prog tune!
Great, looking forward to the Focus review.
Anybody who plays guitar holds Schenker in the highest regard. His vibrato and blues scale technique is almost untouchable by any other player. Like you’re choices the solo debut would be my number one.
Assault Attack.... both Schenker & Bonnet's crowning performances!
I totally agree. Neither have sounded better than they do on Assault Attack. Can't beat Martin Birch's immaculate production either!
WTF is up with the slow blues song Rock you To the Ground ? Blue Suited Soldiers With Their COKE!!!! Sniffing Hounds , Come out of your nightmares to run you to the ground . Are we Raunch n Roll ? Too much human debris on the sidewalks of the world . The MSG fellows must have been high on airplane glue and STP when they created that off the wall song. Just weird as weird gets
@@godetonter4764 I'm pretty certain that the lyric is "blue suited soldiers with their coke (as in cocaine) sniffing hounds"
@@jeffsharpless1949 hey Einstein I originally wrote coke , as I continued on the phone chose the word come
@@jeffsharpless1949 it was a glitch nitpicking keyboard warrior .
Pete , am i promoted in something like fan of your page or i read incorrectly ?
Like so many in this post, Schenker is probably my favorite guitar player (it's a toss up between Schenker and Uli Jon Roth).
"Assault Attack" is #1(with "A Pepper Attack" coming in 2nd ...thanks,...I'll be here all week). On a serious note, in fact, I'd agree with your first three picks, Pete, in the same order that you ranked them.
Here are my top ten Michael Schenker recordings (with him as the primary artist):
1. Assault Attack
2. Self Titled debut
3. MSG (1981)
4. Save Yourself
5. Tales of Rock 'n' Roll (I think this album is WAY underrated...a trial run of the Michael Schenker Fest years earlier + the powerful vocals of Jari Tiura)
6. The Unforgiven - great vocals from Kelly Keeling + memorable songs
7. Perfect Timing
8. Built to Destroy - would be higher on the list IF the production was better
9. Resurrection (FEST)
10. Revelation (FEST)
Thanks for this show, Pete. You Rock!
Mine are
1. Debut
2. MSG
3. Assault Attack
4. Written In The Sand
5. The Unforgiven
6. Built To Destroy
7. Save Yourself
8. Bridge The Gap
9. Resurrection
10. Dreams & Expressions
As usual...spot on with ur ranking...love MSG...I love the way you rank rock and prog albums...its like 95% of the time exactly the way I'd rank them outta my cd collection 😂✌🎶🎸💿
I saw MSG play in 1981 and 1982. Just like you (we are the same age), Michael was, and still is, one of my top guitar heroes. Posters on the wall as a teenager, the works :). My brother went to a record signing for Assault Attack, Graham Bonnet was absolutely off his face. He must have been having real difficulties at that time.
The infamous Bonnet gig was Sheffield Poly(I was there) a warm-up for the Reading festival when Gary Barden subbed in.
That must be the gig where Graham Bonnet unzipped his pants(literally) Michael was said to be VERY Angry with him after that & Graham was said to be very drunk... How was it? Did the accident happen at the start of the gig?
Lucha Libertaria from memory it happened maybe 15-20 minutes into the gig,after a short break it carried on instrumental,I think it only lasted about 1 hour in total.
@@paulgreenan4395 Graham Bonnet talked about this accident in a recent interview & he said that after it happened, he got into his car and drove straight to London and the other guys were furious with him. I guess that gig has now become a part of 'Rock n roll mythos'
I didn't get to see him in UFO until the "reunion" for "Walk On Water" in about 1997 (I first saw UFO live on the "No Place To Run" tour and many times since), but I did get to see him on the tours for the first two MSG albums and, of course, they were amazing. I am glad it's not just me though, I do think the Barden/Bonnet/McCauley years were the best, even though I have pretty much every album that Schenker has done since - once it got into the 90's, every album seemed to have one or two good tracks on it (one of them usually being the opening track) but then everything else feels a bit "average".
I think my favourite two albums with Schenker on have to be UFO ones - "Obsession" and "Walk on Water". I love the fact that those two albums are almost 20 years apart but feel like consecutive albums.
1st and 2nd albums then Assault Attack are all brilliant.Several others are good with great tracks on.Always sublime guitar
Hi Pete - was trying to send a message to you at the website, got the following error: ERROR: HTTP Referrer Check Failed!
Invalid Message Source. - not sure why that came up. Anyway, if there's a way to reach out let me know. Cheers!
Best notification early in the morning, being a huge Schenker junky I was waiting for this video for so long! Thanks man, you rock 🤘🤘Ciao from Italy, according to your surname you've got serious Italian roots, right? 🇮🇹👍😉
I'm half Spanish and half Italian...in this case, Pardo is Spanish (Galicia roots)
@@seaoftranquilityprog awesome! I said that cause it's a pretty common surname in several regions of Italy, we have a very famous TV football commentator with that surname 👍 anyway thanks for your job man, I really appreciate your videos and the passion you always put in them! 🤘🤘
One Night at Bodokan was my first MSG album, so I just can’t see past those first two studio albums. Bought both on vinyl again recently and surprised myself by preferring the second over the first. Number three for me would be Built to Destroy - production is weak as piss, but I bought it in a German record shop as a teenager, using my pigeon school German, so it holds a place close to my heart. Assault Attack I was never a fan of, and would say I preferred the McAuley albums over it, but maybe I need to go and revisit it. Schenker’s catalogue is certainly not an easy one to rank, so hats off to you for trying!!
Saw Schenker play the Cathouse in Glasgow and Chris Glen was stood next to us watching the show, that was pretty cool. Next time I saw Chris, he was onstage at the Liquid Room in Edinburgh with a reformed MSG doing a warm-up gig ahead of a Japanese tour. Barden was back on vocals and they played most of the Budokan set - 2008 I think
MSG (The Band)
1- Assault Attack
2- Debut
3- MSG'81
4- In The Midst Of Beauty
5- Built To Destroy
6- Written In The Sand
7-Tales Of Rock n Roll
8- The Unforgiven
Michael Schenker (Solo)
1- A Decade Of The Mad Axeman
2- Temple Of Rock
3- Spirit On A Mission
4- Bridge The Gap
McAuley Schenker Group:
1- Save Yourself
2- McAuley Schenker Group
3- Perfect Timing
(Not interested in his acoustic stuff so I didn't include them)
MSG, the first concert I ever went to with Barden, McKenna and Glen. The Built to Destroy tour. I was 16, the t shirt still fitted me in my twenties, with Earslpintenzeeloudenboom printed on the back.
1. Michael Schenker Group
2. MSG
3. Assault Attack
4. Built to Destroy
I like Temple of Rock and the recent vocalist reunion, but haven't paid enough attention to list stand out albums
Show on pause, I'm picking 1981's MSG with "On and On" as top pick. Yes, the mix is muddy, but I banged this cassette to dust in my Camaro. A great record great memories. Runner up: Mcauley Schenker, Perfect Timing, with the classic "Love is Not a Game" Unbelievable melodic lead break.
McAuley era was definitely my fav era. I do have all the earlier stuff too but that era stuck out for me. The songs were just so hooky you couldn't help but dig em.
M.S. body of work is impressive .Thanks for even tackle such a body of work. He truly is one of the GREAT ONE'S. I pretty much agree with your list .M.S. acoustic album thank you I do love .I remember seeing him at the LIMELIGHT good show but that is were I got the CD and was not disappointed. Have not slept so I am OUT. Thanks dude.
I agree with this list. "Rock you to the ground" took me a couple of decades to really, really appreciate, but now I think there aren't a lot of better rock songs out there.
Amen. The outro solo on "Rock You to the Ground" is so fluid + Graham's voice oozes emotion on the song.
I have always like him, but the only solo stuff that I have is the self-titled 1980 LP and Perfect Timing. Both are really good, but very different, too. This should be a fun video!
Thanks, Pete!
Edit: I forgot about that album from 1992. I used to have that cassette and really liked it! I dig the McAuley era.
Michael Schenker is one of my favorite guitarists. I know I'm in the minority but I loved the stuff with Robin McCauley on vocals better than the earlier stuff. Save yourself is a hard rock gem most people don't give it the credit for being.
Pete, I know you hate it when people do this but these bands need album shows you Brian, Steve & Eliot:
Metal Church
In Flames
Trivium
Nuclear Assault
I really love the first Thank You acoustic album.
Great list. Love Robin McAuley a lot. Glad he's back with Black Swan with Jeff Pilson and Reb Beach.
The mad axeman,one of the best 70s guitarist!
And 80's...and 90's
The Unforgiven is one of my top 5 definitely. MSG and Assault Attack my top 2. Be Aware of Scorpions, Written in the Sand, Tales of Rock n Roll are all solid. Thats the thing with Schenker even the "mediocre" is still great!
Absolutely agree! All of his late 90s early 2k stuff is amazing, very interesting albums with top class musicians!
3.Assault attack
2.Perfect timing
1.Built to destroy
The double budokan live vinyl is one of the best live albums of all time.
Hi Pete - just an idea: how about your favourite Top Ten solo rock albums by drummers? Just to add to your workload... :)
I saw MSG right after he released his first solo album with Gary Barden on vocals. It was at Madison Square Garden or Brendan Byrne Arena, with Molly Hatchet and Rush, I believe. Maybe Def Leppard in support of their first album too? Or was it opening for KISS? Man, i'm getting old and my mind doesn't work well anymore. I've seen hundreds of shows over the decades, and I think senility is setting in. Maybe Pete can fill me in because I am sure he was there too!
In my top ten list
You have good taste! The McAuley Schenker stuff is underrated. Robin McAuley is a *fantastic* singer.
Pete, are you a fan of The Cult?? I've never seen you do a video about them. You should do a Top Ten or Ranking the Albums on them.
I liked them a bit back in the day, but haven't followed them in 20 years or more.
1. MSG (2nd album)
2. Debut album
3. One Night at Budakon
4. Rock will Never Die
*huge drop from 4 to 5
5. Built To Destroy
6. Assault Attack
7. Perfect Timing
2008's In The Midst of Beauty with a returning Gary Barden top 3 for me. A hidden gem!
I am not doing a ranking of all the albums but some recommendations and thoughts. I haven't heard them all but quite a few.
Adventures of the Imagination (from 2000) is an all instrumental album with some lengthy tunes and a few short ones. So melodic and Micheal Schenker just lets it rip without losing anything. I adore this album... I love it. A true hidden gem. I can agree with Pete that Michael Schenker did so many albums with varied result between the mid 90's and the year 2010 but this is a real killer.
Schenker released four acoustic albums called "Thank You" and I really like these. Very beautiful and catchy compositions. As a collector of Michael Schenker I am getting a bit "full" (don't really feel the need for everything) but any Thank You album is welcome in my collection.
The album "Bridge the Gap" is a really good one. It has two-three really bad tunes but the rest is modern and way better.
Michael Schenker Groups Written in the Sand (from 1996) is with Leif Sundin (Swedish singer who also worked with John Norum). A good mix between Schenkers earlier work and AOR. Might be a bit too much of the same thing but a really solid album.
At first I thought Robin McAuley sounded very dated and 80's. But the material a part from some very standard 80's stuff is much better than it's reputation. Today with Michael Schenker Fest I think he might be the one with the strongest voice as well (compared to Bonnet, Barden and White).
.. Hope you have a great rest of your day!
He became my favorite guitar player when I saw UFO on Don Kirshner`s rock cocert in 1975. I was 18. Got No Heavy Petting. Anyway, the 2nd solo album MSG is the best IMO. He also did atleast 3 really good insturmental albums . Didnt get in to the acoustic albums too much. One other I dont think you mentioned....a collaboration with Bob Kulick I think? Who just died, was it heavy hitters? It had lots of guests on it, edgar winter and Paul Dianno, doing that Nazareth song, with aqrguably the best Rock guitar solo ever.
Hello Jim
"aqrguably the best Rock guitar solo ever"
on which song?
Adventures Of The Imagination is an exceptional Schenker instrumental album from 2000
So is "The Odd Trio"
@@SPak-rt2gb Yea he played all instruments on that which people didn't know at first. Shorter tracks though which is why I prefer Adventures
Some of his instrumental albums are quality as well.
Schenker has certainly played with a lot of different musicians over the years. Interesting how many musicians played with both Schenker and Blackmore.
You may want to do a show ranking the Schenker live albums.
My favorite 10, order can change, but these never change
1)UFO Force It
2)MSG Assault Attack
3)Scorpions Lonesome Crow
4)MSG S/T (1st)
5)MSG MSG (2nd)
6)MSG Built To Destroy (original European mix)
7)Scorpions Love Drive
8)UFO No Heavy Pettimg
9)UFO Phenomenon
10)MSG Unforgiven
I fully agree with your No 1.
No 2 and 3 I would change.
Schenker is still brilliant ✌
Assault Attack ✌
He has some good songs but with so so singers in the 90's check out song "Reflection Of Your Heart" I forgot the album name but he mixes progressive rock with rock. I miss the young MS today he just seems to play he hasn't come up with anything catchy in a while but I'm glad he's still rocking. Thanks for doing one on MSG.
Thanks for the reminder....I kind of forgot about the Chris Logan albums. There are a few strong songs on those two albums for sure ("Be Aware of Scorpions" and "Arachnophobiac" albums). The song "Fatal Strike" from "Arachnophobiac" is a hidden gem as is "My Time's Up" from "Be Aware...").
1.) Assault Attack
2.) The Michael Schenker Group
3.) MSG (1981)
4.) Built To Destroy
5.) Resurrection
Tales of rock and roll is one of my favorite.
Michael Schenker est mon guitariste préféré.Les 4 premiers albums de MSG sont extraordinaires mais mon album préferé est Assault Attack grace a Graham Bonnet qui est un chanteur absolument phénoménal.Vraiment dommage qu'il n'a fait qu'un album avec Michael.
1. Perfect Timing
2. Michael Schenker Group
3. MSG
4. Assault Attack
5. Thank you (1993)
I really enjoy his instrumental(acoustic) albums;that being said....with vocal tracks added -ASSAULT ATTACK w/Graham Bonnett is stellar!!! Personally,due to his soulful range;I still identify heavily with all the albums Robin McAuley appeared on. A hidden gem....though not "guitar forward", due to the engineering, UNFORGIVEN. Schenker is & will be a top 10 guitar player in rock music....all time!
1. Save Yourself
2. Perfect Timing
3. M.S.G. '92
4. MSG '81
5. The Michael Schenker Group
6. Assault Attack
7. Built to Destroy
8. The Unforgiven
9. Resurrection
10. Temple of Rock
This is my ranking (I included Michael Schenker Group, McAuley Schenker Group, Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock and Michael Schenker Fest)
18. Be Aware Of Scorpions
17. Tales Of Rock And Roll
16. Arachnophobiac
15. Spirit On A Mission
14. In The Midst Of Beauty
13. Bridge The Gap
12. The Unforgiven
11. Temple Of Rock
10. Revelation
9. Written In The Sand
8. Resurrection
7. MSG II
6. Built To Destroy
5. The Michael Schenker Group
4. Assault Attack
3. MSG I
2. Perfect Timing
1. Save Yourself
MICHAEL SCHENKER .... AMAZING ...
here are my top 10 favorite ...
1- Michael Schenker Group (1st Album)
2- MSG (2nd Album)
3- Built To Destroy
4- Perfect Timing (as McAuley Schenker)
5- Save Yourself (as McAuley Schenker)
6- In The Midst Of Beauty
7- Spirit On A Mission (as Temple Of Rock)
8- Bridge The Gap (as Temple Of Rock)
9- Ressurection (as Michael Schenker Fest)
10- The Unfogiven
ENJOY
Ranking the albums- Montrose sometime?
theres just somthing special to me with gary bardens. vocals. i always preferred his songs over the other vox. and Unforgiven NEEDS some attention! really solid Lp and just heats up aa few tracks in. the Tower is an epic tune. Kelly Keeling fit in perfect as a singer. great voice.
Hi Peat 👋.. Can u do a show on Fastway top 10
Love the guy, better catalog than the Scorpions IMHO. My favourite albums 1) Assault Attack 2) Debut 3)MSG 4)MSG (Mcauley, Pilson, Kottak) (Nightmare such a big hit in Europe), 5) Built to Destroy . And Doogie White such a good singer, he auditioned for Maiden as well.