Lights Out (2024 Remaster)

Lights Out came out in May 1977 and became UFO's biggest album up to then, reaching No. 23 in the United States. Chrysalis presents it as the record that settled Michael Schenker's reputation as the most exciting guitarist in heavy rock. The personnel around him had changed: Paul Raymond had replaced Danny Peyronel, and Ron Nevison, noticed for his work with Led Zeppelin, took over production from Leo Lyons, who had made the three albums before it. Phil Mogg has said he wrote the title song as an anti-authoritarian song, and Iron Maiden's Steve Harris names the closing "Love to Love" among the eight songs that changed his life, its Strangers in the Night live version in particular. This deluxe edition, released by Chrysalis on 2 February 2024, has the album remastered afresh by engineer Andy Pearce from the original tape transfers. The first of its two CDs follows the eight album tracks with three bonuses found only on the CD set: an edit of "Too Hot to Handle", an acoustic rough studio version of "Alone Again Or" and the seven-inch version of "Try Me". The three-LP set issued alongside it leaves those three out. Michael Hann wrote new liner notes, threaded with fresh interviews with original members of the band. The second disc is the opening night of the Lights Out tour, the Roundhouse in London on 2 April 1977, in a new mix by Richard Whittaker. It starts with "Lights Out" and sets the new songs, "Gettin' Ready", "Love to Love", "Try Me" and "Too Hot to Handle", among older ones such as "On with the Action" from No Heavy Petting, "Doctor Doctor", "Out in the Street" and "Rock Bottom", before "C'mon Everybody" closes the thirteen-song set. Across the two discs the edition holds twenty-four tracks and runs just short of two hours.