Assault Attack

Assault Attack
Studio album by The Michael Schenker Group
Released	October 1982
Recorded	Le Château, Hérouville, France
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	39:52
Label	Chrysalis
Producer	Martin Birch
The Michael Schenker Group chronology
One Night at Budokan (1981) Assault Attack (1982) Built to Destroy (1983)
Singles from Assault Attack
"Dancer / Girl from Uptown" Released: 27 August 1982

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Assault Attack is the third studio album from The Michael Schenker Group, and the only album to feature former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnet. The album was recorded in France at the Château d'Hérouville and was produced by Martin Birch.

Overview

After returning to the UK from Japan in August 1981, having recorded the live album One Night at Budokan, Schenker and his band played a short tour of the UK. After the tour Cozy Powell and Peter Mensch (MSG's manager) wanted a better singer for the band and suggested David Coverdale, but Schenker himself wanted Graham Bonnet. After some disagreements, which ultimately led to the termination of the cooperation between Mensch and MSG, Bonnet joined the MSG in February 1982. Meanwhile, Cozy Powell and Paul Raymond left the band for their own reasons and were replaced by ex-Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Rory Gallagher drummer Ted McKenna and session keyboardist Tommy Eyre (Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Alex Harvey, Greg Lake, Gary Moore, B.B. King, etc.). After four months the band went to France to commence the album that would became Assault Attack. As a producer they choose Martin (The Ninja) Birch who arrived fresh from Iron Maiden's album The Number of the Beast. The sessions took part at a French castle, called Château d'Hérouville. Nevertheless, the MSG-Bonnet cooperation would be short-lived, due to a serious incident caused by a drunk Bonnet who insulted Schenker especially and the rest of the band, in front of the audience in a warm up gig at the Sheffield Polytechnic, just before the appearance at the Reading Festival. That was the last time until the Tales of Rock'n'Roll album that Schenker and Bonnet cooperated. The BBC broadcast of the Reading Festival concert was released in 1993 as BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert.

Attracting mixed reviews on release, it is now looked on more favourably, and Schenker himself is considered by many to be in top form. More recent CD reissues contains the bonus track "Girl from Uptown," the b-side of "Dancer", the album's sole single.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Assault Attack" (Michael Schenker, Graham Bonnet, Chris Glen, Ted McKenna) - 4:16
2. "Rock You to the Ground" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:48
3. "Dancer" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 4:41
4. "Samurai" (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen) - 5:16

Side two

1. "Desert Song" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:51
2. "Broken Promises" (Schenker, Bonnet, Glen) - 6:21
3. "Searching for a Reason" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 3:46
4. "Ulcer" (Schenker) - 3:53

Bonus track on the 2009 CD reissue

9. "Girl from Uptown" (Schenker, Bonnet) - 5:21

Personnel

Band members

• Michael Schenker - guitars
• Graham Bonnet - lead & backing vocals
• Chris Glen - bass
• Ted McKenna - drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Tommy Eyre - keyboards

Production

• Martin Birch - producer, engineer
• Benedict Tobias Fenner, Patrick Drouget - engineers

Charts

Year	Chart	Peak position	Sales	Weeks on Chart
1982	UK	19	-	5
1982	Japan	9	44,000	8
1982	US	151	-	-
1982	Sweden	34	-	1