Michael Schenker’s upcoming album of UFO songs features vocals from Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
In a new interview, Schenker revealed that when Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash recorded his contributions to the “My Years With UFO” album in Frankfurt, he said he’d talked to Rose about the project, and that the singer wanted to be part of it.
Schenker explained, “I said to Slash, ‘That would be fantastic. Ask Axl which song he would like to do.’ And so actually Axl ended up singing “Too Hot To Handle,” “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Love To Love.” But I think they also were on tour at the time, and so Axl was not actually happy with his performance on “Only You Can Rock Me” and “Too Hot To Handle.” And I guess it was too many songs, because they were in the middle of a tour, and he preferred to just focus on “Love To Love.” And he is a perfectionist, I have noticed, and so we waited until he was ready, and then finally he went, ‘Okay, Love To Love’ I approve. You can release it. And that was it.”
In the end, Europe frontman Joey Tempest sang on “Only You Can Rock Me,” and “Too Hot To Handle” was fronted by former Rainbow man Joe Lynn Turner.
“My Years With UFO” is scheduled for release on September 20.