Michael Schenker Group - Live & Ready 1980-1984
Архив новостей | Русская версия
Michael Schenker Group Live & Ready: 1980 - 1984
Release Date: April 3, 2026 Label: Chrysalis
The Michael Schenker Group Live & Ready: 1980–1984 six disc box set chronicles the moment the Mad Axemen left the safe confines of UFO to put his own name in lights.
There are live albums, and then there are time machines powered by Marshall stacks. Live & Ready: 1980–1984, the new six-disc box from the Michael Schenker Group, belongs squarely in the latter camp, bottling the volatile early years of a guitarist who played like he was trying to summon all the gods of guitar from the fretboard.
At the center is the one and only Michael Schenker, aka the Blonde Bomber, the German-born virtuoso whose Flying V could slice steel and still sing. The shows included in this box capture him in his prime, post-UFO, with a huge chip on his shoulder and everything to prove all over again.
The collection brings together four full concerts that map the band’s early ascent. The 1980 stop at Manchester Apollo comes alive with debut-tour urgency, all sharp edges and unfiltered ambition. By the time MSG hits Nippon Budokan in 1981, the machine is fully operational, a precision strike of melody and muscle in front of a electric Tokyo crowd that already worships the man.
But the crown jewel may be 1983’s set at Hammersmith Odeon, presented here in full for the first time. The night carries extra voltage thanks to appearances from brother Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine of Scorpions, making the show into a family affair that becomes a controlled detonation. The final stop, 1984’s festival performance at Seibu Stadium, captures MSG teetering at the peak, showcasing a masterclass of hard rock guitar playing that had previously been locked away on Japanese laserdisc. Here, it finally gets a second life, at full volume.
Beyond the audio, you get a DVD featuring the full Hammersmith and Seibu shows, a front-row seat to Schenker’s attack. There’s also a booklet complete with liner notes by rock historian Martin Popoff and a new interview with Schenker that peels back the curtain, as much as the aloof enigma allows, on an era where he left the safety of an arena band to walk his own tightrope.
Tracklist
CD1: Manchester Apollo, Manchester – 30 September 1980
1. Armed & Ready
2. Cry For The Nations
3. Victim Of Illusion
4. Natural Thing
5. Feels Like A Good Thing
6. Into The Arena
7. Looking Out From Nowhere
8. Rock Bottom
9. Tales Of Mystery
10. Lost Horizons
11. Shoot Shoot
12. Doctor Doctor
13. Lights Out
CD2: Nippon Budokan, Tokyo – 12 August 1981
1. Introduction
2. Armed And Ready
3. Cry For The Nations
4. Attack Of The Mad Axeman
5. But I Want More
6. Victim Of Illusion
7. Into The Arena
CD3: Nippon Budokan, Tokyo – 12 August 1981 (continued)
1. On And On
2. Never Trust A Stranger
3. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
4. Tales Of Mystery
5. Cozy Powell Drum Solo
6. Courvoisier Concerto
7. Lost Horizons
8. Doctor Doctor
9. Are You Ready To Rock
CD4: Hammersmith Odeon, London – 22-23 October 1983
1. Captain Nemo
2. Rock My Nights Away
3. Ready To Rock
4. Cry For The Nations
5. Rock You To The Ground
6. Attack Of The Mad Axeman
7. Into The Arena
8. Courvoisier Concerto
9. Rock Will Never Die
10. Desert Song
11. I'm Gonna Make You Mine
12. Red Sky
13. Looking For Love
14. Armed And Ready
15. Little Devil
16. Doctor, Doctor
17. Thank You
CD5: Seibu Stadium, Tokyo – 12 August 1984
1. Captain Nemo
2. Rock My Nights Away
3. Cry For The Nations
4. On And On
5. Lipstick Traces
6. Bijou Pleasurette
7. Into The Arena
8. Courvoisier Concerto
9. Lost Horizons
10. I'm Gonna Make You Mine
11. Armed And Ready
12. Doctor, Doctor
DVD
1. Hammersmith Odeon, London, 22nd-23rd October 1983
2. Seibu Stadium, Tokyo, 12th August 1984
