UFO The Misdemeanor Tour - Live at the Oxford Apollo 1985 Review by Gary Hill
This double disc set (one CD and one DVD) captures a show from 1985. I guess you figured that out, though, right? Personally, I don’t think this was a standout tour from UFO, but fans of the band will certainly find plenty to like here. The inclusion of both the audio disc and the DVD really makes it worthwhile, too. I think there are some highlights here, and it’s UFO so everything stands pretty tall.
This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2025 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2025.
Track by Track Review
Heaven’s Gate
This driving rocker has plenty of classic UFO sound built into it. It also has some killer guitar soloing.
The Chase
It seems to run straight into the next tune, a riff driven rocker that fits well in the UFO catalog. The instrumental section gets pretty intense and metallic.
This Time
This drives in very metallic. It turns more toward melodic rock for the entrance of the vocals. It still retains some of that metal edge throughout, but it’s definitely tempered by more of a pop rock sound.
Mean Streets
The opening section here includes some particularly meaty guitar work. The track works out from there with style. This is another that’s pretty much trademark UFO, but it feels meatier than the last one did.
Name Of Love
Another that isn’t a big change, this is just more meaty UFO hard rock.
The Only One
Starting with a mellower, keyboard oriented section, this track gets into more traditional UFO zones as it continues. It’s another that fits well in the catalog without really standing out.
Wreckless
This starts with an extensive guitar solo. Eventually that gives way to sort of a bluesy rocking motif that has plenty of UFO trademark sound built into it. The guitar work gets really intense later.
Night Run
A fairly standard UFO hard rocker, this is classy stuff, but not really standout.
Only You Can Rock Me
This trademark UFO tune gets a solid live telling here. They take it into something different mid-track that doesn’t work as well. It’s more sort of generic rock. Once it comes back into the meaty stuff, though, it really redeems itself.
Doctor Doctor Here we get another classic tune delivery. This works really well.
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