Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode 326 – Michael Schenker Group – Assault Attack

Link to video episode on YouTube: 

Disclaimer: The video used on YouTube is a byproduct of producing our audio podcast. We post it merely as a convenience to those who prefer the YouTube format. Please subscribe using one of the links below if you’d prefer a superior audio experience.

Subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Anchor.fm, Breaker, PodBean, RadioPublic, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, or search in your favorite podcatcher! 

How To Support Our Show:

The Deep Purple Podcast is 100% listener supported and ad-free! If you receive value from our show please consider supporting us!

Patron Benefits:

  • Access to our Patrons-only Discord
  • Access to our ratings spreadsheet
  • Invites for livestream episodes
  • Link for Submission for all album rankings episodes
  • Access to banned episodes via Patreon

New Patron/Patron Upgrades:

  • Duncan Leask upgrades to the £4 Tier!
    • “Just got myself a new job, and the first thing I promised I would do is to upgrade my membership. It’s always surprised me that there’s never been a £4 tier (not sure what that in USD) so here goes! You can decide on whether that is foundation or core 😉”

Thanks to Our Executive Level Patrons:

  • The “In Memorium” Tier
    • Gerald “Jerry” Kelly & Family
  • The $25 “Uncommon Man” Tier
    • Ovais Naqvi
    • Purple Maniac
  • The “Twenty is Plenty” Tier
    • Alan “Ain’t Too Proud To” Begg
  • The £10 “Good Doctor” Tier
    • Dr. Mike Kattan
  • The Turn it up to $11 Tier
    • Clay Wombacher
    • Frank Theilgaard-Mortensen
    • Mikkel Steen
    • Will Porter, PhDPP
    • Michael “Don’t Call Him Bradford” Bagford
  • $10 “Some One Came” Tier
    • Ryan M
    • Jeff Breis
    • Victor Campos
    • “Better Call” Saul Evans
    • Peter from Illinois
  • The “Deep Thoughts by John Mottola” Tier
    • Fielding Fowler

Upcoming Rankings Show:

  • Deep Purple “Who Do We Think We Are”
    • Patron rankings needed by August 18th
    • Become a patron if you want to be invited to the live stream and submit your rankings!

Postcards From The Edge . . . OF CONNECTICUT!

  • From Germany!
  • A care package from Connecticut!
  • More updates from Ralphie!

Lead up to the Album:

  • Reportedly after returning from the Japanese tour (where they recorded the live album “One Night At The Budokan”) Cozy Powell and Peter Mesch (the band’s manager) announced that they wanted a better singer for the band. They suggested David Coverdale but Schenker had his mind made up that he wanted Graham Bonnet.
  • It’s thought that this and other disagreements were the reason that MSG and Mensch parted ways.
  • In February of 1982 Bonnet joined the band. Powell and keyboardist Paul Raymond left the band after this and were replaced.
  • After being together for about 4 months the band went to France to record the album at Château d’Hérouville (also referred to as Honky Château)
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_d%27H%C3%A9rouville
    • Elton John Recorded three albums here “Honky Chateau” “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
    • Rainbow recorded “Long Live Rock and Roll” here.
    • The studio closed in 1985 but reopened in 2020.
    • Martin Birch did this session immediately after completing “Number of the Beast” with Iron Maiden.

Core Band:

Additional Musicians:

  • Keyboards – Tommy Eyre
    • Tommy Eyre was the replacement for Paul Raymond for the recording of the album.

Technical:

  • Producer, Engineer – Martin (The Ninja) Birch
  • Engineer [Second] – Benedict Tobias Fenner*
    • Prolific engineer working with Radiohead, The Cranberries (co-producer), The Feeling, James, Marti Pellow, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Elvis Costello, INXS, Depeche Mode, The Kinks, Whitesnake, Trevor Rabin, Robin Trower, Michael Schenker Group, Bob James, John Patitucci, Bob Mintzer, Gary Husband and Janek Gwizdala.
    • Fenner has worked with many producers including long associations with Brian Eno, Elvis Costello, Andy Richards, Ray Davies, Trevor Rabin, Martin Birch, Eddie Kramer and Richard Niles.
  • Engineer [Second] – Patric Drouget*
  • Management – Damage Control Management
  • Producer, Engineer – Martin “The Ninja” Birch

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Other [Album Title] – Jack Magill
  • Photography By [Cover] – Fin Costello
  • Photography By [Group] – Brian Aris

Thanks to Our Core Level Patrons:

  • The $6.99 “New Nice Price” Tier
    • Spike the Rock Cat’s Ghost
    • Sugar T
  • The Episode $6.66 Tier
    • Steve Coldwell
    • Arthur Smith
    • Anton Glaving
    • Charles Meadows
  • The $6.65 “Almost Evil” Tier
    • Kenny Wymore
    • Richie Sucksmith
  • The 70 NOK Tier
    • Kai Rune “Yes, I’m Norwegian” Olsen –  🇳🇴
  • $5.99 The “Nice Price” Tier
    • Robert Smith
  • The 60 Kroner “Scandinavian Nights” Tier
    • Knut Morten Johansen –  🇳🇴
  • The €5.50Tier
    • Merlijn Rotte
  • The £4.00 Tier
    • Duncan Leask
  • $5 “Money Lender” Tier
    • John Convery
    • German Heindl
    • Adrian Hernandez
    • Jesper Almén
    • Oleksiy The Perfect Stranger Slyepukhov
    • Kev Roberts
    • Scott Zerns
    • Cynthia Dube
    • Raff Kaff
    • Coyote Bongwater
    • John Miceli
    • Sarah Sanders
    • Jellybean
    • Evan Robison
    • Purple Swede
    • Ralphie Lee

Album Tracks:

Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Side One:

  1. Assault Attack (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen, McKenna)
    • This song was included in the video game “Brutal Legend” which was released in 2009.
    • Video game was made by Tim Shafer which made one of  this host (Nate’s) favorite video games of all time, 1995’s Full Throttle which was also a heavy metal themed game as well as the first two Monkey Island games and Psychonauts.
  2. Rock You to the Ground (Schenker, Bonnet)
  3. Dancer (Schenker, Bonnet)
    • This was the only single from the album. It was released with the B-side “Girl From Uptown) which was included in the later CD reissue as a bonus track.
  4. Samurai (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen)
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos

Side Two:

  1. Desert Song (Schenker, Bonnet)
  2. Broken Promises (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen)
  3. Searching for a Reason (Schenker, Bonnet)
  4. Ulcer (Schenker)

Thanks To Our Foundation Level Patrons:

  • £3.50 “Deep Purple NY” Tier
    • Lord Longford
  • The £3 “The Aromatic Feed” Tier
    • Simon Ford
    • Richard Breese
  • The €3.50 Tier
    • Weston Super-Mare Pilgrim
  • The 293 Pence Tier
    • Blackmore’s Tights
  • The $3.33 Half Way to Evil Tier
    • Stephen Sharpe
  • $3 “Nobody’s Perfect” Tier
    • Peter Gardow
    • Ian Desrosiers
    • Mark Roback
    • Stuart McCord
    • Flight of the Rat Bat Blue Light
    • Øyvind Fjeldbu – 🇳🇴
    • Runar Simonsen – 🇳🇴
    • Ruinous Inadequacies
    • Corey Morrissette
    • Ashely { Still I hear, “Burn” } Rose
    • Joe “Dopefish” Siegler
    • Adam Corke
    • Tim Wood
    • Steve “Down to Earth” Koeller
    • Michael
    • Matt R
  • The $1.71 “I Want My Own Tier” Tier
    • Rich “Yngwie” Shailor
  • The 10 DKK  “Cold Hard Danish Kroner” Tier
    • Carsten Lau
  • $1 Made Up Name Tier
    • The “Cold & Rainy &” Leaky Mausoleum
    • Stephen Sommerville The Concerto 1999 Fanatic
    • Hank the Tank
    • Private Eyes
    • Ashen Lionel
    • Zwopper The Electric Alchemist
    • Anders Engstrom
    • I see DC
    • Durple Purple
    • David Hattam
    • Graham Bonnet’s Disco Pants and Haircuts
    • Eddie Lion
    • Sicktone

Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Chart (1982)Peakposition
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[6]9
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[7]34
UK Albums (OCC)[8]19
US Billboard 200[9]151

Reception and Charts:

  • The album was released in October of 1982.
  • Ranked #481 in Rock Hard Magazine’s book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.
  • Get With The Programme. The Michael Schenker Group Assault Attack UK tour of 1982 was only 14 dates starting in late November. 2 at Manchester Apollo, one at the Hammy and a haul around the provinces.
  • Peak chart position:
    • UK – 19
    • Sweden – 34
    • Japan – 9
    • US Billboard 200 – 151

Reviews

  • Martin Popoff ranked this album 10/10 in the “Collector’s Guide to Heavy Metal.”
  • https://zrockr.com/2015/11/05/michael-schenker-group-assault-attack/
  • Kerrang Review
  • Sounds 3 / 5
  • Metal Hammer 6 / 7
  • All Music 3 / 5 (User rating of 4.5 / 5)
    • Assault Attack Review by Andy Hinds
    • Michael Schenker’s pairing with former Rainbow wailer Graham Bonnet made perfect sense, since Schenker’s facile, classically flavored Euro metal guitar style is a graceful extension of Ritchie Blackmore‘s innovations. The results on Assault Attack are pleasing; while Schenker predictably delivers top-notch performances, Bonnet‘s vocals are edgier and more engaging than those of former MSG singer Gary Barden. [A bonus tracks edition of Assault Attack was released in 2006.]

Deep Dive Podcast Network:

Check out our website to find other like-minded shows taking deep dives into individual songs, bands, and albums.

Brendan Ashbrook – Logo Designer

For More Information:

Listener Mail/Comments

  • Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover?  We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, or Threads.

Leave a Reply