Too Hot To Handle Belladonna Couldn't Get It Right UFO

Too Hot To Handle Album: Lights Out (1977)
Belladonna Album: No Heavy Petting (1976)
Couldn't Get It Right Album: The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent (1981)
by UFO

According to Pete Way in his autobiography A Fast Ride Out Of Here..., Too Hot To Handle started as a coded reference to his sex life, i.e. THTH. Best say no more!

However, it is fair to point out that at that time the woman in his life was Yvonne, and that like Henry VIII, he would marry no fewer than six times!

The phrase "too hot to handle" is of course a well-known cliché, and has been used inter alia in a number of other song, book and film titles, including a documentary about UFO.

This is a Pete Way/Phil Mogg composition. Running to 3 minutes 37 seconds, it is the first track on the 1977 Lights Out album, but like much of the genre, is popular live.

The song "Belladonna" from No Heavy Petting was popular in the USSR, owing to a cover version by Alexander Barykin.

It is the first UFO album to feature a full-time keyboard player as a member of the band, making this their first record as a five-piece band. While keyboardist Danny Peyronel only stayed in the band for this one album, he did co-write several tracks on the record.

In 1994, a CD including this album and Lights Out was released by BGO Records. Like many CDs in the UFO catalogue, it was remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in 2007.

No Heavy Petting was a rule posted in many public baths in England during the 1970s and 1980s.

Paul Raymond the UFO guitarist and keyboard player died on April 13th of a heart attack. He was 73 years old. Paul gave joy to millions with his music not only in UFO but also with Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown, MSG, Waysted and his own Paul Raymond Project.

The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent is the ninth studio album released on 16 January 1981. Their first to be entirely self-produced. Track 7 is Couldn't Get It Right.

Former Wild Horses' keyboard player Neil Carter replaced Paul Raymond, who had left to join the Michael Schenker Group after a disagreement with singer Phil Mogg. However, according to guitarist Paul Chapman, Carter – though credited on the sleeve – did not play keyboards on the album (see below).

"We produced it ourselves with nobody breathing over our shoulders. The only problem was it cost twice as much because we kept changing studios and rerecording stuff…. [After Paul Raymond's departure] I tried to get John Sloman involved because he could sing, play keyboards and guitar, and was just out of Lone Star like me. He did play on the Wild album, but most of the keyboards are by the brother of the engineer Gary Edwards – until Phil sacked him. We finished that album without a keyboard player, then got Neil Carter in later." – Paul Chapman

The original cover was, as usual, designed by the art studio Hipgnosis.

The album was remastered at Sound Recording Technology in Cambridge in 1994 and reissued on Repertoire Records. The album was also reissued in 2009, remastered and with an expanded booklet and bonus tracks.