“As soon as Jimmy Page came on, the roof came off the place! Afterwards, Plant was absolutely fuming”: The epic, ego-fuelled story of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath’s Live Aid reunions As Way recalled: “Sometimes he would ask: ‘Is Phil coming in today?’ because he was used to John Lennon and Paul McCartney having their lyrics ready. George became anxious about the [lack of] words, and we’d have to placate him: ‘Oh, don’t worry, they’re done,’ when we all knew very well that Phil was down at the beach waterskiing.” “George would sometimes read out my lyrics,” Mogg tells Classic Rock, mimicking Martin’s upper-crust accent as he intones the opening lines of No Place To Run’s title track: “‘Joey rides the subway, fast from east to west, on the streets he’s number one, some say that he’s the best’. And he’d ask: ‘Who is this Joey? And what was he doing on the subway?’ There was a bit of a culture clash.” It wasn’t just Martin who was mystified by UFO. The band were left equally puzzled by the quietness of Martin’s studio playbacks. “They sounded like a transistor radio,” Way told Classic Rock. “After George had left on an evening, [guitarist/keyboard player] Paul Chapman and I would rachet up the volume to the point where I’m surprised the place still had a roof.” No Place To Run was released in January 1980. While Mogg tells Classic Rock that he thinks his band “made a good album”, he concedes that “sometimes it does come across as a little polite”. The singer adds that the union with Martin as “a bit of a mismatch”. “He must have wondered what he was doing there,” says Mogg. “I don’t think he was that into us, it was probably just another job, though it was obvious he enjoyed recording.” Martin himself didn’t disagree. “I once had a flirtation with heavy metal, and I regretted it very much,” Martin later told an interviewer. “It [the genre] didn’t seem to have any sense.” It’s not clear whether it was UFO or Cheap Trick who broke him, but the smart money is on the former. Pete Way certainly thought so. “George was probably talking about us,” the bassist admitted to Classic Rock. Either way Martin, who died in 2016 aged 90, was true to his word. He never produced anything remotely heavy again, preferring to stick to less chaotic artists such as Celine Dion, Kenny Rogers and Paul McCartney. Read the full interview with UFO about the making of No Place To Run in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, onsale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door. (Image credit: Future) Source: https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/i-once-had-a-flirtation-with-heavy-metal-and-i-regretted-it-very-much-it-didnt-seem-to-have-any-sense-the-british-hellraisers-who-put-legendary-beatles-producer-george-martin-off-working-with-hard-rock-bands