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Assault Attack

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Allmusic [1]
Martin Popoff[2]

Assault Attack is the third studio album from The Michael Schenker Group, and the only album to feature former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet. The album was recorded in France at the Château d'Hérouville and was produced by Martin Birch.

Overview

After returning to the UK from Japan in August 1981, having recorded the live album One Night at Budokan, Schenker and his band played a short tour of the UK. After the tour Cozy Powell and Peter Mensch (Michael Schenker Group's manager) wanted a better singer for the band and suggested David Coverdale, but Schenker himself wanted Graham Bonnet. After some disagreements, which ultimately led to the termination of the cooperation between Mensch and MSG,[citation needed] Bonnet joined the MSG in February 1982. Meanwhile, Cozy Powell and Paul Raymond left the band for their own reasons and were replaced by drummer Ted McKenna and session keyboardist Tommy Eyre. After four months the band went to France to commence the album that would became Assault Attack. As a producer they choose Martin Birch who arrived fresh from Iron Maiden's album The Number of the Beast. The sessions took part at a French castle, Château d'Hérouville.

This was the last time until the Tales of Rock'n'Roll album that Schenker and Bonnet cooperated. The BBC broadcast of the Reading Festival concert was released in 1993 as BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert.

Attracting mixed reviews on release, it is now looked on more favourably, and Schenker himself is considered by many to be in top form.[citation needed] More recent CD reissues contains the bonus track "Girl from Uptown," the b-side of "Dancer", the album's sole single. The title track was featured in the video game Brütal Legend.

Reception

In 2005, Assault Attack was ranked number 481 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[3]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Assault Attack" (Michael Schenker, Graham Bonnet, Chris Glen, Ted McKenna) - 4:16
  2. "Rock You to the Ground" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:48
  3. "Dancer" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 4:41
  4. "Samurai" (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen) - 5:16

Side two

  1. "Desert Song" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:51
  2. "Broken Promises" (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen) - 6:21
  3. "Searching for a Reason" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 3:46
  4. "Ulcer" (Schenker) - 3:53

Bonus track on the 2009 CD reissue

  1. "Girl from Uptown" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:21

Personnel

Band members
Additional musicians
Production
  • Martin Birch - producer, engineer
  • Benedict Tobias Fenner, Patrick Droguet - engineers

Charts

Year Chart Peak position Sales Weeks on Chart
1982 UK 19[4] - 5
1982 Japan 9 44,000 8
1982 US 151[5] - -
1982 Sweden 34[6] - 1

References

  1. ^ Hinds, Andy. "Michael Schenker Assault Attack review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  3. ^ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 14. ISBN 3-89880-517-4. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  4. ^ "Assault Attack Chart Stats". Chart Stats.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  5. ^ "Assault Attack Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  6. ^ "Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack (Album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 2011-07-18.