In a recent chat on the ‘Appetite For Distortion’ podcast, Michael Schenker talked about his upcoming album ‘My Years In UFO’ that celebrates the 50th anniversary of his time with UFO.
Special names such as Slash and Axl Rose will take place in the album. Rose decided to join in when he heard that his bandmate was going to be a part of the album.
“When he came in, he said, ‘Michael I just told Axl that I was going to do this and that I’m on my way to do this,'” Schenker explained. “He said, ‘I wanna sing a song too.’ And I said to Slash, ‘That would be fantastic. Ask Axl which song he would like to do.’ And so actually Axl ended up singing ‘Too Hot To Handle,’ ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ and ‘Love To Love.'”
The rocker revealed that the Guns N’ Roses singer wasn’t satisfied with his performance and explained why: “But I think they also were on tour at the time. Axl was not actually happy with his performance on ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ and ‘Too Hot To Handle.’ I guess it was too many songs because they were in the middle of a tour. He preferred to just focus on ‘Love To Love.'”
“He is a perfectionist, I have noticed,” he added. “So we waited until he was ready and then finally he went, ‘Okay, ‘Love To Love,’ I approve, you can release it,’ and that was it.”
According to the Facebook page Slash Addict, Axl Rose recorded his part in June last year in London while Guns N’ Roses were on their European tour. Slash’s guitar parts were added in Düsseldorf that same month. It’s not clear if Rose’s contribution to ‘Love To Love’ is a new vocal or a take on Paul Raymond’s original piano part, or maybe both.
The album has a cover inspired by UFO’s live album ‘Strangers in the Night.’ It includes fresh recordings of UFO tracks from Schenker’s time with the band.
The album also features Joe Lynn Turner from Rainbow, Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra, Europe’s Joey Tempest and John Norum, Carmine Appice, Jeff Scott Soto, Helloween’s Kai Hansen, and former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg.
