McAuley Schenker Group – Love Is Not A Game (Newton/McAuley/Nelson) b/w Get Out (Schenker/McAuley) 1987
In 1987 it was just about allowed to look like you’d stepped out of the court of Charles I and Robin McAuley surely wouldn’t have got away with one of the worst barnets in rock history at any other time.
If his surname hadn’t so handily started with an M then he might never have got away with a stint in MSG but the famous logo remained intact even if there was a name change in the mid 80s. And this cracking little single is just one of the many reasons why his collaboration with former Scorpion Schenker seemed to work so well.
Released to coincide with the band’s support slot on the 1987/88 Whitesnake European tour – which stopped off at Newcastle’s City Hall for rammed back to back gigs – this is a piece of polished soft metal perfectly suited to the MTV generation. And on this evidence it seems grossly unfair that this prolific period of Schenker’s career is often overlooked and dsimissed by the German maestro’s so-called devotees.
Ignore McAuley’s hair and feel the fringe benefits of a razor-sharp piece of modern rock. A cut above (ok, all hair puns end here).