Having suffered a heart attack in 2022, curtailing UFO’s farewell tour, medics told Phil Mogg to retire. Thank goodness he ignored them, because this is the dog’s – Mogg’s – bollocks, reminiscent of a deeper, darker version of UFO as the now 76-year-old singer ponders his own mortality.
For evidence, check out the pulsating Sunny Side Of Heaven, the tale of a spectral bevvy with former bandmates Pete Way and Paul Chapman (both RIP): ‘I’ve been drinking with the devil’s angels/It’s where the dead roads come to meet.’
Or dig these masterful lyrics from Apple Pie: ‘I look in the mirror, a young man grown old/The lines in his face, rivulets of gold.’
Mogg’s band (featuring another UFO alumnus, Neil Carter) sounds tremendous. Plus there’s sublime vocal interplay with Zoe Devlin Love, notably on Tinker Tailor, possibly the only rock’n’roll song to ever namecheck a Kalashnikov rifle. Brilliant stuff.
