What are your top 3 UDO albums from the early days forward?

[mika]

I myself do not know the answer...and let us wait for the latest album Touchdown to reach my final verdict?

But I can say this: I really love Steelhammer so far. Hmm...for this millennium so far my faves are: Steelhammer and/or Steelfactory. And all in all there are other good candidates for my taste: Mean Machine, FW, Man And Machine, Mastercutor... Will Touchdown reach the top 3? - I do not know yet.

[Tomcat]

All I can say is TimeBomb is #1!

[John]

i agree 100% with Tomcat. Mean Machine is a very close second to me. probably Animal House is 3rd.

[psychdoc]

My top 3:

1. Steelhammer
2. Faceless World
3. Timebomb

Honorable mention: Animal House, Holy, Mean Machine, Decadent, Touchdown, Steelfactory, We Are 1

[mika]

And I cannot say my final verdict... Ha, ha...
Touchdown won't be in top 3 for me.

[mika]

Steelhammer and Steelfactory are there for sure...but after them. Blimey! Mean Machine, FW, Man And Machine, Mastercutor. And I do like Holy album, too.

[mika]

I am going off topic now. Think about a great leap forward from Accept - Predator to UDO - Solid. At least music-wise...

[metalmachine]

Steelhammer was the one that got me hooked on U.D.O. I remember hearing Metal Machine on the radio and falling in love with it instantly. I obviously knew all the Accept hits before, but had never heard any of Udo's solo stuff. The second album I really liked was Faceless World, probably because they performed a lot of that album on the Steelhammer tour. And third one would be Animal House for me. The title track and Go Back to Hell were amazing to hear live on the last tour.

[mf]

Animal House ( I know it's written by Accept but it's fantastic), Mean Machine and Faceless World ( So different and beautiful,I also like the fake drums there LOL), Timebomb is great and heavy but I like the First 3 more. For the late 90's Solid Is the best One, Independence day is Just and incredible track, Two Faced Woman too. For the early 2000's Holy for sure, so much good tracks there and I can stand the choir thing for Just One album. Steelhammer for sure in the modern era. The First 3 are my favourite ones anyway

[Tomcat]

Still cannot name the best three but I can tell which were the milestones to me:

Animal House - for sure since this was the firstborn child. It was fresh and interesting then. Listened to it a lot back then.

Faceless World - this album had a second bloom in my life when I bought the CD version with the two bonus tracks. I remember that the CD turned to be a fixture of my player

Timebomb - well, the biggest fav of mine, no doubt. This was my first CD. I bought it and my first CD player on the same day. Actually bought the CD some hours before the player
I had to learn a lot those days for my graduation so I allowed to myself only a short time of listening to music every day. And yes, I listened to Timebomb. Diodn't like the album for first cause it was way too wild to my taste. But it opened upo slowly and became my biggest favourite. I don't really think that they will ever be able to make another album like Timebomb. That would need a very lucky constellation of too many elements... Plus Udo himself says sometimes that they had made Timebomb once, why should they make it again. (OK but why have they made so many -tor albums with the same boring sound, boring songs, boring solos then?) But hope dies last.

Man and Machine - a very melodic album and maybe the most ACCEPT-like. Many great songs here, including the fantastic Network Nightmare. The title track is really overhyped though... I was still living with my parents and I had all my CDs and Hi-Fi things to be boxed because of a house renovation. This album plus Warriors of the World by Manowar, plus Power of the Dragonflame by Rhapsody were the only three I could listen to via the computer at my workplace. Those three albums saved my life then

Steelhammer - I will never forget how happy I was reading the news that Igor and Stefan left the .B.A.N.D. I still remember the first snippet we heard from the album. It was so great to hear Francesco playing real drums on a .U.D.O. album! The songs were great, the sound was great. Everything was great then.

[u94]

1. Holy
2. Man & Machine
3. Decadent (maybe a little shocking, I know...it improved the style on "Steelhammer" but then some of the steam was lost by "Steelfactory")

After those, I'd slot the 2 albums before Holy: Solid and No Limits.

I have never shared the love for "Time Bomb" or the hate for the "-Tor" period. I don't really consider "Animal House" because it's still essentially Accept. "Mean Machine" has moments but I think "Faceless World" is the landmark release of his early solo career. That said, I listen to my top 3 the most and then usually his latest records.

"Thunderball" and "Mission No. X" strangely leave me cold despite some great songs. These albums remind me of what he's doing now with "Game Over" and "Touchdown". Nothing outright awful about the material or performances but I just don't find myself coming back too often. Playing it too safe I suppose.