Guitar maestro Michael Schenker has released another track from his upcoming album My Years With UFO. Following the release of Mother Mary in June (featuring Slash on guitar and former Skid Row man Erik Grönwall on vocals) and Rock Bottom in July (with Helloween frontman Kai Hansen), Schenker's latest release is a version of Only You Can Rock Me, originally from on UFO's 1978 album Obsession.
Only You Can Rock Me features a vocal from Europe frontman Joey Tempest, while Deep Purple's Roger Glover is on bass guitar. Also appearing on the recording are keyboardist Derek Sherinian and drummer Brian Tichy. Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose also recorded a vocal for the song, but wasn't happy with the results and ended up focussing on Love To Love, from 1977's Lights Out.
"The record company had the idea of Roger Glover and I couldn't believe it," Schenker tells Classic Rock. "He produced the first MSG album and obviously Deep Purple were one of my major bands when I was 15 years old. I guess I had never really spent any time with his bass playing, but he played so beautifully on Only You Can Rock Me, so melodic. I didn't know he was that kind of a bass player to be able to do something like this."
My Years In UFO is scheduled for release on September 20 via earMusic, and finds Schenker employing the services of several other guest musicians including Europe's John Norum, Dee Snider, Michael Voss, Joel Hoekstra, Joe Lynn Turner, Carmine Appice, Adrian Vandenberg and Stephen Pearcy. Full tracklist below.
The album was produced by Schenker alongside regular collaborator Michael Voss. It's the first album in an as-yet-unspecified trilogy, with additional albums to follow in 2025 and 2026.
Michael Schenker: My Years In UFO tracklist
Natural Thing (Dee Snider and Joel Hoekstra)
Only You Can Rock Me (Joey Tempest and Roger Glover)
Doctor, Doctor (Joe Lynn Turner and Carmine Appice)
Mother Mary (Slash and Erik Grönwall)
This Kids (Biff Byford)
Love To Love (Axl Rose)
Lights Out (Jeff Scott Soto and John Norum)
Rock Bottom (Kai Hansen)
Too Hot to Handle (Joe Lynn Turner, Adrian Vandenberg and Carmine Appice)
Let It Roll (Michael Voss)
Shoot, Shoot (Stephen Pearcy)
