Another year, another
UFO best-of compilation. For seemingly decades, every single bloody year sees at least one (and if we're "lucky" sometimes several) new comp from the hard rocking U.K. band, and the 2002 entry was titled Masters of Rock. Now don't get me wrong, the actual music on the release contains some of the '70s best (and woefully underrated)
hard rock tracks, it's just, well, is it really necessary to continually abuse the
UFO catalog like this? Anyway, if you're a newcomer to the group, this 16-track set is not one of the better ones. While it does wisely focus primarily on their golden "
Michael Schenker era" of the '70s -- when
UFO was a lean, mean rockin' machine -- there are a few tracks mysteriously absent, including one of their best known compositions "Lights Out." But besides this crucial omission, there is a plethora of classic headbanging anthems, including "Rock Bottom," "Doctor Doctor," "Too Hot to Handle," "Love to Love," and "Only You Can Rock Me," as well as lesser known album cuts as "Cherry" and "Natural Thing." The back end of Masters of Rock turns out to be padded with latter-day
UFO, which just doesn't stack up to their earlier triumphs, including best-forgotten, highly
pop glossed tracks like "Night Run." Certainly not the best
UFO comp out there, and certainly not a very necessary release. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
