SAVE YOURSELF


I’m working back through the McAuley era of Michael Schenker’s career (I started with 1991's M.S.G.) and Save Yourself is another solid slice of melodic hard rock.

I prefer the M.S.G. album but there’s a still a few choice cuts here like the minor hit “Anytime”. It’s easily the album’s best song and is a fine example of what good things could come out of the pop metal genre in the late ’80s. I also like the other two singles this album spawned: “This Is My Heart” is another great commercial rocker and “Save Yourself” is a high energy number. ”Take Me Back” was a bonus track exclusive to the CD version of the album and it’s pretty darn good.

The trend with McAuley Schenker seems to be an effort to fit in with the glossy hard rock scene of the day, thus Michael Schenker seems content to lay low for the most part but the instrumental “There Has To Be Another Way” shows particular fire and reminds me of Schenker’s earlier works. Robin McAuley again delivers a good performance with his gravelly voice.

As I mentioned earlier, this album isn’t as good as M.S.G., there are a few songs here I consider filler like “Bad Boys” and “Get Down To Bizness”. Looking at the song titles, you would not be incorrect to assume they are fairly generic pop metal numbers.

Still, all told, this is a good album. It’s a shame this group only managed to squeak out a few minor hits, three studio albums and one live release. Robin and Michael made for a good pair.




 














Label: EMI Electrola Capitol/ CDP 792752 2
Produced by: Frank Filipetti
Engineered by: Frank Filipetti
Recorded at: One on One and Track Record Studios, Los Angeles
Mixed at: Right Track Recording, New York

Tracklisting:
Save Yourself (6:16)
Bad Boys (4:05)
Anytime (5:45)
Get Down To Bizness (4:23)
Shadow Of The Night (5:22)
What We Need (4:14)
I Am Your Radio (4:49)
There Has To Be Another Way (Instr.) (1:49)
This Is My Heart (5:00)
Destiny (4:35)
Take Me Back (4:50)



Musicians:
Robin McAuley/ vocals
Michael Schenker/ guitar
Rocky Newton/ bass
Bodo Schopf/ drums
Steve Mann/ Rhythm guitar, Acoustic guitar, keyboards

Highlights:
Save Yourself
Anytime
There Has To Be Another Way
This Is My Heart

Rating: