I was not an Udo guy at all. The first glimpse I had of the band was the video for Balls To The Wall, wow what a great riff and then this blonde short haired guy with army clothes was front and center. Definitely not my image of metal, the others had the look but Udo was selling it and then he opened his mouth. Not buying, I thought they were by and large a second rate knock off of Judas Priest with a crap singer.
New Accept album? Not arsed followed by a laugh. Then a friend of mine gave me this and I instantly loved the first song X-T-C and much preferred David Reece’s voice. Definitely more commercial then their previous stuff but at the time that song structure, production and look was it. Love the tracks Generation Clash, Hellhammer, D-Train and Prisoner. Will admit that I Can’t Believe In You and Mistreated are pants though.
By and large the band hate this album as it was the ultimate sell out. David Reece was forced on them and they never got on. The old school fans cried what the fuck, potential converts couldn’t give a fuck and then they were gone till the inevitable reunion.
As for my take now on the earlier Udo albums, being honest I appreciate them better now and there are some great tracks on them. I absolutely love Midnight Mover from Metal Heart. I still don’t think they are groundbreaking though. I much prefer the Scorpions and think Blood Of The Nations and Stalingrad are fantastic and easily stand up to anything in the catalogue.
Richie.
