THE SECRETS OF THE STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
October 14, 1978. Chicago, International Amphitheater.
One would expect an amphitheater for a spectacle such as this. The links to ancient Greece are apparent, and that's where we begin. To understand ancient history, we always go through the Greeks. They are our link to the distant past, our collective history, and the story of UFO 'Strangers In The Night'.
Etymology is a great way to start. Let's start with Phil Mogg, vocalist, founding member, and the only person to have always been in UFO. There's never been a UFO without him, and you can't say that about any other band member.
Phil - Greek for friend
Philo - Greek for 'to love' ('Misty green and blue....')
Mogg - McGogheagan (Irish)
I did a lot of looking about on the web for the roots of 'Mogg', but other than it's possible Gaelic roots, the only other thing I found was that there are lots of Moggs in Surrey, and there happen to be quite a few U.F.O. sightings in Surrey. I've always thought that Mogg might be a Welsh surname. The Welsh, as well as the Cornish, the Scots, and the Irish are descended from Celts who were pushed out of England by the Angles and the Saxons. The Welsh are also the descendants of the Druids, who built Stonehenge, which is a fabulous Henge, and an astrological navigation device used by ancient astronauts. It is not located in Surrey, however.
Now let's take a look at mad genius guitar god, Michael Schenker.
Michael - Hebrew for 'who is like God' (ahem....). Michael is the only identified Archangel, the leader of heaven's armies.
Well, now we're getting somewhere. The divinity of Schenker. It is possible that Michael is related to Heinrich Schenker, influential music theorist of the early 1900's, who's Tonal Theory based on Triads is known as Schenkerian Analysis. Triads are groups of three, and three is a divine number in Christian faith. The magic of triads was certainly known to the Egyptians, notably Ramses II, renown worshipper of Osiris, the God of the Dead, a famous ancient astronaut.
Do you see? It's all so clear!
Michael's Flying V guitar, complete with yin/yang design, is a teeming nest of ancient symbolism. All guitars represent the phallus, but the Flying V is certainly the most obvious phallic symbol of the lot. The black vs. white motif is based on the common Asian yin/yang design. Black represents man, white represents woman. In the classic Korean symbol a small dot of the opposite value is located within the main body of each field. Michael achieves this same effect with his pick guard, which is an inverse of the main body of his guitar, thusly placing white within black and vice versa. What does this mean, the interlocking of values? Man and woman in harmony, which is the true state of divinity.
Links to our past fall through different ages, and thusly are informed by those times. As the western world moved into it's Christian era, it took on different names, and meanings.
Pete Way, bassist, has been a fan favorite because of his accessibility to the fans, and his 'human-ness'. It's no wonder:
Peter - Greek for stone (stoned?). Peter is The Rock.
Though Pete left the band for a spell in the mid to late eighties, in many ways he is the rock that UFO is founded on. An original member, he, along with Phil wrote many of the UFO classics. Pete also was a spandex pioneer in the 70's, sporting tight space age fabrics, his unitard was actually based on designs drawn up by ancient Egyptian space travelers. A jump/space suit if you will.
Andy Parker, drummer. Known to UFO fans as the quiet one, Andy is everyman, literally.
Andy - Andrew - Greek for 'of man'.
The rhythm section, therefore is Rock of Man. The symbolism is glaringly obvious.
Enter Paul Raymond, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist.
Paul - Latin for 'small or humble', associated with the Apostle and Saint, originally named Saul, who was christened 'Paul' after his conversion on the road to Damascus. A latecomer.
Indeed, Paul Raymond was the most recently 'converted', appearing in the UFO line-up in 1977, just a year prior to the events of October 14, 1978. Paul's diminutive stature has been well documented. His humbleness, leads us to the answers to the questions raised by 'Strangers in the Night'
In 1969 Mogg, Way, and Parker, along with guitarist Mick Bolton founded UFO, naming the band after a club in London which was ground zero for the late sixties psychedelic scene. Or so they said. From the beginning UFO was searching. Experiencing modest success, mostly in Germany, UFO recorded two studio records and a live album (UFO 1, Flying, UFO Live), but certain key pieces to the puzzle were missing. Mogg, Way, and Parker knew they were on to something, something big, bigger than us all; they continued searching.
In 1973 that search would bring them closer to the truth. Arriving in Germany to play some scheduled gigs, Mogg, Way and Parker found themselves without the services of Mick Bolton due to a hang up with his passport. On the bill with them that night was a German band by the name of the Scorpions, who's eighteen year old guitar wiz, Michael Schenker, was asked to fill in for the gig. A gig which turned into the rest of the scheduled German gigs, which led to Michael leaving his brother Rudy and the Scorpions to move to London and join UFO full-time.
For the entire time Michael was in UFO he was the outsider, the German, separated by the barrier of language, and the fact that Michael was just plain different. He was special, a blond guitar genius, who's prowess set UFO apart from the rest, and himself apart from his band. Besides, Mike is just a bit looney, really. It comes with the territory.
Over the next four years UFO released a string of classic albums. 1974's Phenomenon showed immediately that UFO was headed somewhere, and that somewhere was up. How high was anybody's guess, but the album art for Phenomenon should have informed those who still believed that UFO was named after a rock club. The cover features a typical suburban scene, a modest middle class dwelling, maybe in Surrey. Above the house, clear as day, hovers a space craft.
1975 saw Force It. Leo Lyons, of Ten Years After fame, who produced the first three Schenker/UFO albums would prove to be a major force behind finding the lone missing link, the link with destiny, and the stars. Leo introduced keyboards into the UFO sound. Initially on Phenomenon, and Force It, he employed Ten Years After keyboardist Muddy Pudding to help UFO develop the dynamics he knew they needed if they were going to fulfill their promise of destiny. By 1976 they knew they needed a full-time keyboard player, and asked Heavy Metal Kid Danny Peyronell to join the band. With No Heavy Petting everything was in place, but it wasn't right. Though Peyronell co-wrote some of NHP's best songs, despite his considerable talent, he didn't fit the suit. The chemistry wasn't right. When searching for the correct cosmic alignment to unleash the powerful forces of the Great Mother, one can't settle for what seems right, you need what is right, and what was right was Paul Raymond.
Nobody knows where Paul Raymond came from. He just materialized in the place of Peyronell on 1977's Lights Out. Paul is a small man with a large cranium, and big black eyes. Without a doubt, the results are conclusive, the proper formula was in place. The search was not over by any means, however.
The team was assembled, but nobody knew what the event was yet. The mission was set before them, they needed only continue, destiny would find them, as long as they kept searching. The tour for Lights Out nearly derailed the whole saga. Schenker, tired, misunderstood, drunk, and crazy, left the band mid-tour somewhere in America. Mogg, Way, Parker, and now Raymond, we're not going to lose momentum. Texas native Paul Chapman was brought into the band to replace Schenker for the tour. Chapman had briefly played with UFO in 1974 in a twin guitar line-up. They played a show at the Rainbow which has been recorded and it's too good. One guitar god too many. UFO coasted through the tour in Chapman's capable hands, but when the tour was done, UFO finally located Schenker, and lured him back. There was too much at stake, too much undone, and Schenker knew it. They were close now, it could be felt.
Obsession is the cumulative result of just that, an obsession. Everything they had learned, all that they were, they put into that album, and the result is nothing short of perfection. With the perfect album under their belts, they hit the road again, back to America, the promised land, God's Country. Fortunately Schenker stuck it out, and before quitting the band again after the tour, they managed to preside over a miracle - the events of October 14, 1978.
Every transmitter needs a receptor. The Helipolis Obelisk built by Ramses II is a transmitter, and it's receptor was the International Amphitheater in Chicago Illionois. Lying dormant all the ages, waiting, ever waiting, the magic of the ancients was brought to life that night. All that was needed was the chemistry, the right equation, the correct combination of human experience - a ritual. The priests who presided over that ritual that night were a band from North London with a German guitarist named, appropriately, UFO.
The result is a map, a key to the stars, to the answers to all the ancient mysteries - Strangers in the Night. The record is a codex, a puzzle who's solution lies within itself. It is apparently so, because of what we do know about the album.
After the tour, Schenker was out the door faster than you can say 'eine Paulaner bitte'. There would be none of the standard 'touching up' of the live tapes scheduled to be released as a double live album. There was nothing holding the rest of the band back from doing a few overdubs had they chosen, but they didn't do much. It's very interesting, and ultimately revealing to look into what wasn't fixed, for that is the clue they have left for us. Therein lies the solution to the codex.
Most of the clues relate to Paul Raymond. Raymond's success with UFO lies with his role as keyboardist, and guitarist, often switching back and forth between the two mid-song. It is those transitions that serve as markers - "Hey, look here!", they say to us. And what do we find? For instance, one of the more noticeable instances occurs during Light's Out, when moving from the chorus back to the verse. The verse is chugging rhythm in F major. If you apply Schenkerian Analysis, using a triad based in F major, you will come up with three notes, when you find the corresponding value of those notes in kilohertz, you have three numerical values, which give the astrological coordinates for the very planet where Osiris is waiting for us to join him.
I swear.
October 14, 1978. Chicago, International Amphitheater.
One would expect an amphitheater for a spectacle such as this. The links to ancient Greece are apparent, and that's where we begin. To understand ancient history, we always go through the Greeks. They are our link to the distant past, our collective history, and the story of UFO 'Strangers In The Night'.
Etymology is a great way to start. Let's start with Phil Mogg, vocalist, founding member, and the only person to have always been in UFO. There's never been a UFO without him, and you can't say that about any other band member.
Phil - Greek for friend
Philo - Greek for 'to love' ('Misty green and blue....')
Mogg - McGogheagan (Irish)
I did a lot of looking about on the web for the roots of 'Mogg', but other than it's possible Gaelic roots, the only other thing I found was that there are lots of Moggs in Surrey, and there happen to be quite a few U.F.O. sightings in Surrey. I've always thought that Mogg might be a Welsh surname. The Welsh, as well as the Cornish, the Scots, and the Irish are descended from Celts who were pushed out of England by the Angles and the Saxons. The Welsh are also the descendants of the Druids, who built Stonehenge, which is a fabulous Henge, and an astrological navigation device used by ancient astronauts. It is not located in Surrey, however.
Now let's take a look at mad genius guitar god, Michael Schenker.
Michael - Hebrew for 'who is like God' (ahem....). Michael is the only identified Archangel, the leader of heaven's armies.
Well, now we're getting somewhere. The divinity of Schenker. It is possible that Michael is related to Heinrich Schenker, influential music theorist of the early 1900's, who's Tonal Theory based on Triads is known as Schenkerian Analysis. Triads are groups of three, and three is a divine number in Christian faith. The magic of triads was certainly known to the Egyptians, notably Ramses II, renown worshipper of Osiris, the God of the Dead, a famous ancient astronaut.
Do you see? It's all so clear!
Michael's Flying V guitar, complete with yin/yang design, is a teeming nest of ancient symbolism. All guitars represent the phallus, but the Flying V is certainly the most obvious phallic symbol of the lot. The black vs. white motif is based on the common Asian yin/yang design. Black represents man, white represents woman. In the classic Korean symbol a small dot of the opposite value is located within the main body of each field. Michael achieves this same effect with his pick guard, which is an inverse of the main body of his guitar, thusly placing white within black and vice versa. What does this mean, the interlocking of values? Man and woman in harmony, which is the true state of divinity.
Links to our past fall through different ages, and thusly are informed by those times. As the western world moved into it's Christian era, it took on different names, and meanings.
Pete Way, bassist, has been a fan favorite because of his accessibility to the fans, and his 'human-ness'. It's no wonder:
Peter - Greek for stone (stoned?). Peter is The Rock.
Though Pete left the band for a spell in the mid to late eighties, in many ways he is the rock that UFO is founded on. An original member, he, along with Phil wrote many of the UFO classics. Pete also was a spandex pioneer in the 70's, sporting tight space age fabrics, his unitard was actually based on designs drawn up by ancient Egyptian space travelers. A jump/space suit if you will.
Andy Parker, drummer. Known to UFO fans as the quiet one, Andy is everyman, literally.
Andy - Andrew - Greek for 'of man'.
The rhythm section, therefore is Rock of Man. The symbolism is glaringly obvious.
Enter Paul Raymond, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist.
Paul - Latin for 'small or humble', associated with the Apostle and Saint, originally named Saul, who was christened 'Paul' after his conversion on the road to Damascus. A latecomer.
Indeed, Paul Raymond was the most recently 'converted', appearing in the UFO line-up in 1977, just a year prior to the events of October 14, 1978. Paul's diminutive stature has been well documented. His humbleness, leads us to the answers to the questions raised by 'Strangers in the Night'
In 1969 Mogg, Way, and Parker, along with guitarist Mick Bolton founded UFO, naming the band after a club in London which was ground zero for the late sixties psychedelic scene. Or so they said. From the beginning UFO was searching. Experiencing modest success, mostly in Germany, UFO recorded two studio records and a live album (UFO 1, Flying, UFO Live), but certain key pieces to the puzzle were missing. Mogg, Way, and Parker knew they were on to something, something big, bigger than us all; they continued searching.
In 1973 that search would bring them closer to the truth. Arriving in Germany to play some scheduled gigs, Mogg, Way and Parker found themselves without the services of Mick Bolton due to a hang up with his passport. On the bill with them that night was a German band by the name of the Scorpions, who's eighteen year old guitar wiz, Michael Schenker, was asked to fill in for the gig. A gig which turned into the rest of the scheduled German gigs, which led to Michael leaving his brother Rudy and the Scorpions to move to London and join UFO full-time.
For the entire time Michael was in UFO he was the outsider, the German, separated by the barrier of language, and the fact that Michael was just plain different. He was special, a blond guitar genius, who's prowess set UFO apart from the rest, and himself apart from his band. Besides, Mike is just a bit looney, really. It comes with the territory.
Over the next four years UFO released a string of classic albums. 1974's Phenomenon showed immediately that UFO was headed somewhere, and that somewhere was up. How high was anybody's guess, but the album art for Phenomenon should have informed those who still believed that UFO was named after a rock club. The cover features a typical suburban scene, a modest middle class dwelling, maybe in Surrey. Above the house, clear as day, hovers a space craft.
1975 saw Force It. Leo Lyons, of Ten Years After fame, who produced the first three Schenker/UFO albums would prove to be a major force behind finding the lone missing link, the link with destiny, and the stars. Leo introduced keyboards into the UFO sound. Initially on Phenomenon, and Force It, he employed Ten Years After keyboardist Muddy Pudding to help UFO develop the dynamics he knew they needed if they were going to fulfill their promise of destiny. By 1976 they knew they needed a full-time keyboard player, and asked Heavy Metal Kid Danny Peyronell to join the band. With No Heavy Petting everything was in place, but it wasn't right. Though Peyronell co-wrote some of NHP's best songs, despite his considerable talent, he didn't fit the suit. The chemistry wasn't right. When searching for the correct cosmic alignment to unleash the powerful forces of the Great Mother, one can't settle for what seems right, you need what is right, and what was right was Paul Raymond.
Nobody knows where Paul Raymond came from. He just materialized in the place of Peyronell on 1977's Lights Out. Paul is a small man with a large cranium, and big black eyes. Without a doubt, the results are conclusive, the proper formula was in place. The search was not over by any means, however.
The team was assembled, but nobody knew what the event was yet. The mission was set before them, they needed only continue, destiny would find them, as long as they kept searching. The tour for Lights Out nearly derailed the whole saga. Schenker, tired, misunderstood, drunk, and crazy, left the band mid-tour somewhere in America. Mogg, Way, Parker, and now Raymond, we're not going to lose momentum. Texas native Paul Chapman was brought into the band to replace Schenker for the tour. Chapman had briefly played with UFO in 1974 in a twin guitar line-up. They played a show at the Rainbow which has been recorded and it's too good. One guitar god too many. UFO coasted through the tour in Chapman's capable hands, but when the tour was done, UFO finally located Schenker, and lured him back. There was too much at stake, too much undone, and Schenker knew it. They were close now, it could be felt.
Obsession is the cumulative result of just that, an obsession. Everything they had learned, all that they were, they put into that album, and the result is nothing short of perfection. With the perfect album under their belts, they hit the road again, back to America, the promised land, God's Country. Fortunately Schenker stuck it out, and before quitting the band again after the tour, they managed to preside over a miracle - the events of October 14, 1978.
Every transmitter needs a receptor. The Helipolis Obelisk built by Ramses II is a transmitter, and it's receptor was the International Amphitheater in Chicago Illionois. Lying dormant all the ages, waiting, ever waiting, the magic of the ancients was brought to life that night. All that was needed was the chemistry, the right equation, the correct combination of human experience - a ritual. The priests who presided over that ritual that night were a band from North London with a German guitarist named, appropriately, UFO.
The result is a map, a key to the stars, to the answers to all the ancient mysteries - Strangers in the Night. The record is a codex, a puzzle who's solution lies within itself. It is apparently so, because of what we do know about the album.
After the tour, Schenker was out the door faster than you can say 'eine Paulaner bitte'. There would be none of the standard 'touching up' of the live tapes scheduled to be released as a double live album. There was nothing holding the rest of the band back from doing a few overdubs had they chosen, but they didn't do much. It's very interesting, and ultimately revealing to look into what wasn't fixed, for that is the clue they have left for us. Therein lies the solution to the codex.
Most of the clues relate to Paul Raymond. Raymond's success with UFO lies with his role as keyboardist, and guitarist, often switching back and forth between the two mid-song. It is those transitions that serve as markers - "Hey, look here!", they say to us. And what do we find? For instance, one of the more noticeable instances occurs during Light's Out, when moving from the chorus back to the verse. The verse is chugging rhythm in F major. If you apply Schenkerian Analysis, using a triad based in F major, you will come up with three notes, when you find the corresponding value of those notes in kilohertz, you have three numerical values, which give the astrological coordinates for the very planet where Osiris is waiting for us to join him.
I swear.
1 Comments:
Wondered whether this was still in existence as I forgot the link and glad it is. It's the best 'Strangers' review out there on the web. Not the usual tired old shit.
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