The period after Schenker's departure was one of transition. Paul Chapman was brought back to the fold. His style is not dissimilar to Schenker's, playing with as much sense of melody as the German axeman. For the opus No Place to Run (1980), the legendary Beatles producer George Martin was brought in to do his thing. The songs are pretty good and catchy, though with a bit more of an obvious pop flavor (listen to "Youngblood") compared to the Schenker era, but the production was not quite heavy. Martin controlled the production process in such a way that the classic UFO heavy edge was diminished. Most UFO fans were disappointed with the disc. One of the best UFO songs though, "Lettin' Go" is a highlight. It features strong riffing, a barn-burning solo yet with Mogg's catchy vocal hooks.
Paul Raymond was departed soon after, joining Michael Schenker in MSG. In his stead came another versatile keyboardist/guitarist, Neil Carter, who also played saxophone. For The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent (1981), UFO produced this one themselves and brought back the hard-edge while retaining the strings and horns (as well as adding Carter's sweet saxophone on the dreamy "Lonely Heart"). This collection proved to be one of the great post-Schenker classics with strong Chapman rockers like "Makin' Moves" and "Long Gone." Again this album goes to show that only few heavy metal groups could provide dynamics of heavy guitar with delicate parts as UFO could. "Profession Of" is possibly the most haunting ballad in Phil Mogg and Paul Chapman's catalogs. So interesting was the song that Chapman even showed it to Randy Rhoads shortly before Rhoads' tragic plane crash. Pete Way provided another catchy tune with "It's Killing Me", one that seems to capture a heavy sense of pop brilliantly.
Mechanix (1982) was a continuation of The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent theme, but some tunes sounded a bit uninspired this time around. "Let It Rain" comes to mind. The album provides some of the usual pulsating tunes, though, such as "The Writer", "Dreaming" and "We Belong to the Night." Chapman's solos on the latter two are of a kind that makes kids pick up the guitar. Mechanix turned out to be Pete Way's swan song for the decade. Only Andy Parker and Phil Mogg remained from the classic era by this time.
l to r: Neil Carter, Pete Way, Phil Mogg, Paul Chapman, Andy Parker (1982)
When it came time to record the new material for Making Contact (1983), Pete Way didn't show up. So UFO continued without him as both Neil Carter and Paul Chapman took bass guitar duties (while recruiting bass monster Billy Sheehan for the tour). Way went on to form his own back-to-the-basics group Waysted. Making Contact is even more impressive than The Wild, Willing and the Innocent. "Blinded By a Lie", "The Way the Wild Wind Blows" and "All Over You", memorable rockers pulsating guitar and Mogg's catchy and rough vocals, refuted Way's claim that UFO were playing "wheelchair music." This album stands proudly in the same league as the previous Schenker era ones.
The 1983 tour went rather badly as Phil Mogg suffered a nervous breakdown in Greece. The group decided it was time to break it off. Chapman, Carter and Parker decided to form their own unit as Mogg needed some time to recover. Thus the old UFO as they were known broke up. Though Hit Parader declared that "UFO's golden hour has passed", less than two years later, Phil Mogg would start UFO flying again.
