Walking On Water In 2023

UFO released Walk On Water in 1995 by which time the age of vinyl was almost over. Now though, vinyl is back, and this classic album has been re-released on both vinyl and CD. Ordering details can be found on this page, but first a little background.

Walk On Water was first released in Japan with 11 tracks including Message For Japan, then in the rest of the world with only 10 tracks. A re-release includes 3 tracks by UFO spin-offs, but from the information provided, this new release includes only 10 tracks, all but 2 of them written by Phil Mogg and Michael Schenker, who was then in his second stint with the band. Mogg is of course the only lead vocalist the band has ever had. He is still recovering from a heart attack so their projected final tour may not go ahead.

The first eight tracks were written for the album and with the exception of Knock Knock which Phil wrote with the late Pete Way were all Mogg/Schenker compositions. The other odd one out is the classic Lights Out, alluded to here as Lights Out 95 for some reason; this was a group composition. Lights Out and Doctor Doctor are older songs, the best versions being from the classic double album Strangers In The Night, which was recorded live in 1978 Stateside and released the following year.

Postage for various countries will of course vary but the prices look very reasonable from here. 

Mogg has always been reluctant to discuss the inspiration for his songs, so the reader will have to use his imagination – was Venus written about a toxic woman, and who was the self-made man? Amusingly, in January 1980 he told Sounds: “I wrote Lights Out as an anti-authoritarian song but Paul Raymond thought it was about the miners’ strike.”

Sadly, Paul Raymond died in 2019, but his website is still being maintained and will be with us for many years to come. Hopefully so will Phil, whatever he and his doctors decide about the future of UFO.