1309. Scorpions / Moment of Glory. 2000. 4/5

Having reached 30 years as a band, and having survived the many tumultuous changes in music that had occurred over that period, there isn’t much that the Scorpions had not been able to see off. Their popularity had been rusted on with a number of popular album releases through the 1980’s that had produced iconic songs that lived in the memory of their fanbase, and was then topped off with the worldwide success of their 1990 album “Crazy World” and the chart topping song “Wind of Change” that had tapped into the public sentiment about the bringing down of the Berlin Wall to end the cold war. It was these moments that had guaranteed Scorpions an undeniable place in their fans hearts forever.
By the end of the 1990’s however, this was beginning to be stretched very thin. 1996’s “Pure Instinct” had overindulged in the power ballad mentality in overwhelming numbers, which had seen their rock oriented fan group beginning to wonder if the horse had bolted. Following on from this had come “Eye II Eye”, which was another radical departure in that it moved towards a pop sound, an interesting choice for the late 1990’s. This album with its massive changes again alienated big portions of the fan base, despite their single “Mysterious” reaching number 26 on the US charts. It marked a decade that the band had been through a number of stylistic changes that markedly diverged from what was generally happening in the popular music scene, and while this may have been an important thing for the band to do, to continue to push themselves to be flexible with their music, it was not to the overall enjoyment of their long term fans.
So what was to come next? While they had not gone down the unplugged route – yet – the band turned their attention to again pushing the boundaries, though by the time they came to do so, those boundaries had already been given a huge shove. The decision was made by the band to try and record a collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, which was to feature rearranged songs from the Scorpions repertoire, as well as some classical interludes. Initially, English composer Andrew Powell was asked to provide the arrangements, and Michael Kaman was designated to be the lead on the orchestral material. Unfortunately for the band, Kaman left this project early on when the opportunity came to work with another band who were doing a very similar thing in regards to recording with an orchestra. That album that became S&M, was the biggest hit for Metallica in the late 1990s decade and it made them the leaders of the pack when it came to this kind of album. And despite the fact that Scorpions were doing this as a studio project whereas S&M was alive recording, eventually it was seen that they were copying this concept, when in retrospect, they had germinated the idea as early as Metallica had. Finally, they were able to come to terms with Austrian arrange and conductor Christian Kolonovits, and he proved to be the correct collaborator. Recording for the album took place between January and April of 2000, which led to the release of the final product which was titled “Moment of Glory”.

The album opens with the retitled and expanded glory of “Hurricane 2000”, the excellent reimagining of the band’s most famous and popular song “Rock You Like a Hurricane”. This has been particularly well orchestrated and fills it with an even more anthemic vibe than the original song contains. As a way to give the listener the best idea of the concept that the band is trying to look for here, this song does it perfectly. That opening minute that the philharmonic dominates before Schenker’s opening iconic riff comes in is superb, and from here the two combine as one to create an amazing version of this song. This is followed by a new song written especially for this album, “Moment of Glory”, which is an interesting piece as this had to have been composed with the Berliner Philharmonic in mind to add their pieces. It is very much in the expected power ballad variety of Scorpions track, and is one that has been utilised since this album’s release. And yeah... it’s fine. It morphs into the kind of track certain sections of the fan base would have been looking for.
One of the band’s amazing (if not their most amazing) power ballads “Send Me an Angel” is the next to get the treatment, and we are once again treated to an amazing vocal performance by Klaus Meine, alongside the beautiful orchestral arrangement provided as the background. This song sounds completely brilliant whenever it is performed, but this version with the enhanced acoustics it one of the best. Another of the ‘everyone in the world knows this song’... songs... “Wind of Change”, also gets its chance to shine in this environment, and yes, it too has had a makeover that brings to the fore especially Klaus’s vocals once again. But it does sound a little flat following the previous track, because the platitudes and emotion of that track well and truly outstrips that of “Wind of Change”.
“Crossfire” opens with a version of “Midnight in Moscow” which in turn was a version of the Soviet patriotic song “Moscow Nights”, a classically composed instrumental which ties in nicely to the opening of “Crossfire” itself from “Love at First Sting”, played as an instrumental track and beautifully performed. This then moves straight into the so-called “Deadly Sting Suite” which is a combination of two tracks: “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” from the album “Taken by Force” and “Dynamite” from “Love at First Sting”. Once again here, like the previous track, this is just an instrumental performance of the combined tracks, which showcases the combining of the band alongside the orchestration, and is excellently performed by both sides of this equation. These songs allow the band to show how wonderful the music is that the band writes, and how it merges so well with the Berlin Philharmonic, without a focus on the vocals of Klaus which had dominated the two power ballads.
“Here in My Heart” is a cover of a song written by well known songwriter Diane Warren and originally released by the artist Tiffany. I’m not going to lie to you here – I don’t understand the motivation to do this song on this album. There is a nice duet between Klaus and Lyn Liechty, but apart from that it is filler. “Still Loving You” is yet another of the Scorpions massive power ballads, and it receives the same sort of care and performance as the previously performed power ballads. Then comes the increased energy of “Big City Nights”, one of the band’s best high velocity tracks, and while the backing orchestration is good, this song really doesn’t need it, it isn’t the kind of song that is going to be improved in this situation. It also has a guest vocal performance from Ray Wilson, which again seems completely unnecessary. The album then concludes with “Lady Starlight”, the final ballad on the album, one that fits the purpose of this album but perhaps misses the mark if you are someone like me who was hoping for more hard in the rock.

At the time that this was released, I was still coming to terms with bands that I had grown up with who had played the greatest of heavy metal of my generation... suddenly devolving into other methods to their music. Metallica and Megadeth, both playing acoustic sets in their concerts, was something that... let’s just say it didn’t sit well with me. Listening to them was akin to torture. And it is fair to say that when these albums began to appear with bands utilising symphony and orchestra, I felt zero need to seek them out and listen to them. It was in fact only through the tireless and endless pushing from the kids half my age I was playing cricket with at the time that I relented and listened to Metallica’s “S&M” and found that it probably wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. The song selection though remained less than exciting. So that by the time this album was released, I felt less aggrieved by being forced to listen to such an album.
So I got the album and put it on. And the opening burst of the band’s most famous track does come across well. Well enough to deserve a few listens on its own aside from the rest of the album as it turns out. And then as you move through the album... yeah, it sounds great. The band always sound terrific and that is no different here. And the orchestra do a great job and generally fill the songs out well.
But just how often is this something that you are going pull off your shelves and listen to? Is this the kind of thing that is going to interest you enough to keep coming back time after time? I mean, to me it is still a gimmick. A clever one yes. A worthy addition, yes. But for the fan, is it something you will have a desire to revisit on a regular basis.
I have had this on again for the last couple of days, and to be fair that’s more than I would really have bothered with if I wasn’t being thorough for this episode. Once, actually, was enough. It is an enjoyable album. It has some very good Scorpions songs, moulded into shape to have them backed by this orchestra. And for anyone out there who enjoys the Scorpions and hasn’t heard this album, then certainly you should find it and listen to it, because everything about it is done wonderfully well. But this is one of those albums that I was very keen to get the script drafted for, so that I could move onto the next albums and review. Because it isn’t an album I have any need to listen to on multiple occasions back to back. It is a great one-off listen to remind you of their skills. And then, back on the shelves, until the next time.

1300. Scorpions / World Wide Live. 1985. 5/5

By the time the Scorpions had reached the middle of the 1980’s decade, their popularity had reached a peak that they could only have ever imagined that they would ever achieve. While they had had big selling albums through the 1970’s, their surge on the back of their 1980’s album such as “Animal Magnetism”, “Blackout” and “Love at First Sting” had been on another level entirely, and their tour around the world on the back of “Love at First Sting” had seen record crowds and sales especially from the singles “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Still Loving You”.
In 1978, with the news that guitarist Uli Jon Roth had decided to leave the band, Scorpions released their first double live album titled “Tokyo Tapes”, one that highlighted the very best songs the band had recorded over the first five albums of their career. It acted as a nice way to conclude that era of the band. The arrival of Matthias Jabs as his replacement brought about a change in style for the band, one that saw a slightly heavier direction taken, one that not only reflected the changing tide of music early in the 1980’s decade but also to suit the arrival of the new guitarist and his style.
With the band riding the crest of that wave, the decision was made to record several shows on their tour to release their second live album. At some point, the decision was made that the album would include only songs from the albums since “Tokyo Tapes” had been released, that being the three albums released in the 1980’s, along with Jabs’ first album with the band, 1979’s “Lovedrive”. In hindsight this was a savvy move. It meant that, when listening to both of the live albums back to back, it not only gives a wonderful anthology of the band’s great songs from their first release right through to their ninth studio album, there are no repeat tracks. It gives more of the 1980’s hits a chance to get their live rendition recorded for posterity, and though at the time there was some blowback from older fans saying that the band had abandoned their earlier material, the way it was been constructed has indeed turned out to be the best format the band could have achieved.
This the band released their second live album “World Wide Live”, an album that not only showcased the greatness of the band in the live setting, but proved to be my introduction to their amazing music.

My usual spiel about live albums remains the same as I talk you through this album – that a live album should be an automatic 5/5 album, because you get the band’s best material in its best environment, the stage that it has been written to be performed on. And I can say that without question that this is the case for “World Wide Live”. It has the band’s best tracks from their previous four albums all represented, and they all sound brilliant here, in some cases maybe even better than their studio versions.
“Coming Home” is the perfect opening track for the album, with lyrics that relate the band’s feelings about its fan base, while also doubling as an allternative story as well. But simply saying that “I know for me it is like... coming home”, that brings the crowd into the show from the outset, and sets up what is to come. It’s a great song, jumping and jivy, one that brings the crowd to its feet. This crashes straight into the brilliant “Blackout”, one of the band’s best, a song that should never be out of its setlist. Klaus Meine’s vocals here set the scene along with Rudolph Schenker’s excellent rhythm guitar riff. This then enters the crawling guitar riff that opens “Bad Boys Running Wild”, another great anthemic track with a super guitar riff and singalong lyrics that offers the best of the band. These opening three tracks on the album find a great chord from the outset.
The version here of “Loving You Sunday Morning” is one of the best proof in points of live tracks that can make studio versions pop. This song, that opens the “Lovedrive” album is a terrific track in its own right, but perhaps is a slight plodder on the album itself. Here, it sparkles, with all of the great spots on the song brought to life and made all sparkly. The riff is a bit heavier, the pace is a bit faster, and it all seems to fit better in the live setting. A great track. The same can be said for the next two tracks as well. Both songs are good on their particular studio albums, but they sound better in this environment. “Make it Real” from “Animal Magnetism” and “Big City Nights” from “Love at First Sting” have more potency and a better feel all round on this album, and make the middle of the first album worthy of its content. It is topped off by the always brilliant instrumental track “Coast to Coast”, with Rudolph’s riffing throughout backed by the excellent rhythm section of Herman Rarebell’s titanic drum beat and Francis Buchholz’s metronomic bass line setting the base that makes this song so special.
The band then puts together their two enormous power ballads back to back, something that would always seem to be a dangerous thing in the live setting, chancing bringing the nights momentum to a standstill. But these are no ordinary power ballads, and Scorpions are no ordinary band. They pull this off perfectly, playing just the first half of “Holiday”, which then segues perfectly into “Still Loving You”. The way the band emotes during these tracks, musically and vocally, not only makes these a highlight, but showcases the side of the band that actually attracted a lot of fans to the band in the first place.
Not me though, because what attracted me to the band was their hard rock classics, and that is where the album heads now. “Rock You Like a Hurricane” crashes in to restore heavy loud order to the album, as anthemic as ever and a great live version. Following up is the brilliant “Can’t Live Without You”, perfectly introduced through the beginning of the song, and that bursts with energy throughout. Even when just listening to this section of the album, you can see the fun the band is having on stage while playing these songs, it is infectious. From here the drive through the back half of the album continues with Lovedrive’s “Another Piece of Meat” and on to the closing track of the gig, “Dynamite”, another song with such power and energy it takes you along for the ride. Everything the band had kept in reserve while performing their power ballad duo has been expended by the conclusion of these four tracks.
The encore starts with the quite magnificent “The Zoo”, one of the band’s best, and another where Rudolph’s rhythm riff dominates the track with its groove and perfect setting. They then bust into “No One Like You”, another song that has its highlights from the dual guitars, the delightful squeals from Matthias’s guitar complemented by Schenker pure riffing underneath holding the song together. The album and gig then conclude with “Can’t Get Enough”, including a solo spot from Matthias Jabs to remind everyone that he is still the gunslinger in the band alongside the band leader Schenker. All in all, 16 songs that remain almost unmatched in the band’s career, collected here to sit in posterity forever.

Back in the first half of 1986, I was beginning my heavy metal journey, one that mostly involved my heavy metal music dealer being asked to record me albums that he had brought up in conversation that he thought were excellent. I would find a blank cassette at home that had something on it that I didn’t want (or on rare occasions when I had some cash, I would buy new ones), and would bring them to school, and he would take them home overnight and bring them back the next day with new offerings for me to dine out on. On occasions when I had requested an album and he asked ‘what do you want on the other side of the cassette?’ I would suggest that he could put on something that he thought I might like. This occurred for me sometime during the first half of 1986, when on the back side of an album he recorded for me was the album “World Wide Live” by Scorpions – or at least, however much would fit on the space available. It was my first real meeting with the band, and I was immediately smitten. The great songs keep rolling into each other, they are upbeat and pacey with great riffs and those amazing unique vocals. Everything came together, and I caught the bug.
It would be a couple of years before I started to get the studio albums of the band, not until I began university and sought out a particular second hand record shop in Wollongong, but this album was enough in the meantime. The riffs from Rudolph Schenker, that became the mainstay of each song, were just superb. Matthias Jabs soloing and squeals and intricate pieces he kept throwing in – case in point the opening scrawling guitar to “Bad Boys Running Wild” - are wonderful, and his trademark to the band on those four albums to that point in time he had played on. And Klaus Meine’s vocals are out of this world.
For the past week my CD copy of this album has been back in my stereo, and I have relived it over and over, and it has brought back so many great memories of those school days when I was first introduced to it. It will always do that, because it is very much tied to that time of my life. And now having done that, I just want to go back and listen to the four albums that these songs were taken from and relive them as well. It is a difficult thing to rank live albums in the scheme of things. My heart tells me this is one of the best lives albums I own of any band. I am more certain that it is the best live album that the Scorpions have released. But as a vehicle to discovering the band, for me it was the perfect introduction.

1196. Scorpions / Savage Amusement. 1988. 3.5/5

The years leading up to the production of this album were arguably the most successful of the Scorpions career. On the back of albums such as “Lovedrive”, “Animal Magnetism”, “Blackout” and “Love at First Sting”, the band had found the perfect mix of hard-rock-to-heavy-metal tracks that could get the fans fist pumping and air guitaring, with power rock ballads that could find their way onto commercial radio and attract those fans that enjoyed this side of their personality. On the back of Klaus Meine’s amazing vocals and the twin guitars of Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs, Scorpions had managed to crack the US market with songs like “Blackout”, “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Still Loving You”. The band went on a world tour that stretched beyond two years, in the process recording the hit live album “World Wide Live”, and the music world through that period of the mid-1980's was at their feet. Backed by MTV and other music video shows having their hits on regular rotation, their success was at critical mass.
On the back of this, the band returned to write and record their follow up to “Love at First Sting” through 1987. In a move that suggested “when it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, Schenker and Meine did the bulk of the writing, with Schenker writing the music and Meine the lyrics. They also retained the services of Dieter Dierks as producer, and the trio who had been behind the band’s success came together to create an album that could stand alongside the success of their recent releases.

From the outset, this is a different album than what had come before it. While the basics on the surface appear the same, there is a definite mellowing or cleansing in effect. It’s interesting in retrospect that this album has been compared to the way Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” seemed to have been smoothed out and commercialised, that the production made it a much more streamlined and sauna-ed album. That might be an over simplification for the way this album turned out, but it has its truths involved.
The true heavy songs on this album are few and far between, the ones where the band really extends themselves, and allows Klaus to get right into the vocals on the song and Matthias is allowed to let rip on the lead guitar. “We Let it Rock, You Let it Roll” and “Love on the Run” could in fact be the only songs on this album that go in that direction. The majority of the songs are mid-range, mid-tempo tracks that are enjoyable enough because they are Scorpions songs, but they lack that energy and push that had been present before this. And with the success of albums such as “Hysteria” and Whitesnake’s “1987” album, perhaps this was what the band felt was their logical step in regards to their music.
The opening of “Don’t Stop at the Top”, “Rhythm of Love” and “Passion Rules the Game” - the last two of which were released as singles from the album – are all very formula-written, almost songs-by-numbers with vocals and guitars that are inoffensive and meant to appease all fans. They feel like they were the purpose-written songs here to promote the album to the MTV generation, and not turn them off. The songs through the middle of the album, such as “Media Overkill”, “Walking on the Edge” and “Every Minute Every Day” are good solid Scorpions tracks that the band has always been good at.
“Believe in Love”, the other single released from the album, and the song that closes out the album, with a music video that shows lots of shots of the band playing live on stage and the crowd holding lighters in the air, and snatches of people gathered in large city squares, always felt like it was trying to make a statement without getting into too much controversy. A couple of years later it all made sense, as this was an obvious precursor to “Wind of Change” that came on the next album. Play them back to back, you’ll see and hear what I mean. Just change the lyrics from being about love to being about peace, and you have the same basis in both.

It would not be unfair to suggest that, having loaded up on “Lovedrive” and “Blackout” and “Love at First Sting” over the previous three years in my opening years of heavy metal obsession, I expected a lot of this album when it was released. I absolutely believed it was going to be one of the albums of 1988, that it would continue down the route those albums had taken, and would blow me away with its awesomeness. It would be more accurate to say that this confused me somewhat with its averageness. And, again to be fair, it was released in the same two week period as Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Odyssey” and the majesty that was Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, so it had a lot of competition just with those two albums to compete against for my listening time and my love. But if it had retained that excellence of those earlier Scorpions albums I mentioned, it would have competed just fine.
And that’s the bare bones of the facts. This album isn’t as good as those albums. It certainly sounds like a Scorpions album, it has all of the required usual aspects of a Scorpions album. It’s just that the songs here are just not up to the level of those previous albums. They aren’t bad, in fact many are quite good, but for SCORPIONS songs, they are for the most part just average on their scale. They lack the intensity and fire power that would lift them and the album itself to a higher level.
I’ve still enjoyed catching up with this album over the last couple of weeks. It definitely wasn’t an unpleasant experience. But it did confirm to me that what I thought of it at the time, and at other periods over the past 35 years when I’ve put it on, hasn’t changed that much. There’s nothing wrong with “Savage Amusement”, it’s just that if you were choosing a Scorpions album to listen to for some great music for an hour, there are others in their discography that you would choose before this one.

1152. Scorpions / Rock Believer. 2022. 4/5

One of the greatest German bands of all time, the Scorpions, have now been on the music scene for over fifty years, and the milestone of that first album release occurred just a few weeks ago. In that time the band has been remarkably stable in line up, and remarkably consistent in both album releases and the quality of those albums themselves. The band had even decided to ‘retire’ a few years ago, citing a final album and a final world tour. And yet, here we are, having gone through two years of a global pandemic, and the Scorpions are still at it, planning yet another tour, and having just completed and released another new album, titled “Rock Believer”. So what keeps the band going, how do they retain their fans undying faith in them, and what can you expect from a new album from a group that has so much history behind it? As it turns out, I can't answer all of those questions, but what I can do is offer you an insight into the best that the new album has to offer, as I give you MY review of Scorpions “Rock Believer”.

Scorpions have had a quite remarkable career, from local German legends to worldwide chart topper, from hard rock and metal fist pumping anthems to multi million selling power ballads. And all of it has been done without selling out their sound or integrity. Whether you prefer their metal balltearers or their crooning ballads, you can appreciate the other because they all have those grounded Scorpions basics about them, that they are all undeniably written and performed by the same band.
The longevity of the band has been one of its hallmarks, with founding members Klaus Meine and Rudolph Schenker still there at the age of 73, and with legendary 66 year old guitarist Matthias Jabs who has been with the band since 1978 they continue to form the core of the band’s success. Along with bass guitarist Pavel Macwoda and for the first time recording with the group former Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee, the band had been toying with a new album as a follow up to “Return to Forever” for some time, and with the onset of the covid pandemic had an excuse to have to put their touring schedule on hold and use that time to get back into writing. All this after they had announced that they were going to retire from the music business following the tour to promote their 2010 album “Sting in the Tail”. So what changed after that?, Well, depending on who you listen to, the band just found that they were still enjoying the ride, and after the compilation “Comeblack” was released, they even had ideas for new songs, and so they continued onwards.
Ideas and initial writing for the album began in 2019, but with the onset of the covid19 pandemic the band found themselves with time to fill and the writing began in earnest. From all reports, the songs were written lyrics first which was unusual for the writing pairing of Meine and Schenker. And through 2021 there were videos posted by Mikkey Dee on his pages of the band in the studio, mysteriously recording new music but without any hint of what it was. So whether it was just a project that took a long time to form, or the fact that the band had time to spend in writing a new record, we came to a couple of weeks ago when the long awaited for new album, “Rock Believer” finally came to rest, and the fans responded in the only way they knew how. By celebrating.

So after fifty years of writing and recording some of the great songs of the era, there is no reinventing of the wheel here by the band. Their tried and true formula comes to the fore again, the same number of hard rock songs and the same number of slower more reflective tracks as they have done for so much of their career. It’s a formula that has worked well for generations, and perhaps it’s a little predictable in places. The opening track “Gas in the Tank” is a beauty, but both lyrically and musically it is of the same progression as other recent album opening tracks like “Going Out With a Bang”, “Raised on Rock”, “The Game of Life” and “New Generation”. They all are great tempo opening tracks, ones that get you in the mood immediately, and the lyrics are unashamedly about the place the band finds themselves at the time of their career. Here on “Rock Believer” the band has found they still have enough gas in their tank.
The days of unashamed ballads such as “Wind Of Change”, or pop-metal such as “Is There Anybody There?” or bold experiments such as “The Zoo” are long gone. Instead, barring two versions of the 'hold your lighters in the air’ styled “When You Know (Where You Come From”), (yes, one electric and one acoustic) they’ve stuck very much to the hard rock that they have built their career around, and done in such a way that it is hard to imagine they are at an age when most of us would prefer to be retired and in our armchairs.
The formula remains wonderfully intact: galloping guitars and deft choruses – or, as Meine encapsulates in less grammatical terms in “Gas In The Tank”: ‘let’s play it louder, play it hard’. Meine’s vocals, as powerful as they were when he’d rock you like a hurricane, have retained their emotional undertone, and incredibly appear to have deteriorated not a bit since those heady days of the 1980’s when he did actually blow out his vocal chords. He is a modern miracle, where he still seems to sing every song as he did when he first recorded them. Just as impressive is Matthias Jabs’s guitar playing, still which still stands out from the crowd, most heroically on the terrific “Shoot For Your Heart”, and that rhythm section is still just as powerful as it ever was. The great songs keep coming, with “Roots in My Boots” to “Knock em Dead” to “Rock Believer” dealing out the great vibes in the same way they always have.
The utilisation of the reggae guitar riff in “Shining of your Soul” further exemplifies that “past present future” sound, though to be honest it has never really excited me in the songs that the Scorpions use it in. On the other hand, songs such as the frantic and brilliant “When I Lay My Bones to Rest” and the single from the album “Peacemaker” are top shelf Scorpions tracks.
There are two CDs on the Deluxe edition, and I can’t understand why the first song of that second CD, “Shoot from the Heart”, is not on the main album. It is an absolute ripper, fast paced, Klaus really getting into the vocals and Matthias’ guitaring is just superb. It’s practically the best song on the album. This is followed up by the excellent “When Tomorrow Comes” where Klaus sings at us ‘Good morning, world. How do you feel? You look so tired’, and the unusual but interesting “Unleash the Beast”, all of which showcases a terrific band that continues to surprise as to just how good they are.

How good are the Scorpions? The first album I ever heard of the band was their “World Wide Live” live album from the mid-80's which was taped for me by my number one metal music dealer from high school, and I was hooked from the start. From there I went back and bought albums such as “Lovedrive” and “Love at First Sting” and “Blackout”, albums that I still today are their best. But really, are there any truly bad Scorpions albums? Sure, their first couple were of a different era, and they hadn’t really found their sound at that point, but from the time Matthias jabs joined the group, they have just been pumping out hit after hit, and it has been a joy to listen to. I thought especially “Humanity: Hour 1” 15 years ago was just an extraordinary album, one that showed they still had what it takes.
And in that spirit, I have thoroughly enjoyed “Rock Believer”. In many ways, the only ingredient that is missing here from those three monster albums of the 1980’s is a... ‘youthful exuberance’. And I guess what I mean in that way is that there is still such energy in these tracks on this album, but it isn’t a hyped up natural ‘we are mid-30's here we are’ kind of energy, it’s a ‘we are middle-aged but we can still rock’ kind of energy. And it is still the same things today that made Scorpions such a great band 40 years ago. Those Klaus Meine vocals that still defy belief – and that he still produces on stage too, as I can finally verify after waiting my whole life to see them. The raging guitars of Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs, both still producing amazing riffs after all of these years. Schenker is still a marvel, still so tight in that rhythm, while the solos and over the top riffing from Matthias here still equals anything he has ever produced. It is a masterclass and still so satisfying and electric. And that rhythm section of Pavel’s bass and the legend of Mikkey Dee on drums is magnificent.

Judas Priest came out a couple of years ago, ironically another band who had whispered about a retirement album and tour about ten years ago, and released their album “Firepower” to worldwide acclaim, as having returned to their roots yet made a modern metal album which was loved by new fans and old alike. And for me, this is a similar album. The formula is tried and tested, there is nothing here that you will consider ground breaking. But it is that great old fashioned Scorpions sound, but in a modern way. The musicianship is second to none, it is recorded, mixed and produced to perfection. And the songs are all terrific. Is there another “Rock You Like a Hurricane” or “Blackout” or even “Wind of Change” here? No, because you don’t want another one of those. You want new songs that remind you how good this band is. And that’s what you get here on “Rock Believer”. Listen... and believe...

945. Scorpions / Lovedrive. 1979. 5/5

Scorpions had released five studio albums up to 1978 with gathering success, before touring and releasing the live album “Tokyo Tapes”, the episode of which you can find earlier here in Season 6 of this podcast. Following this, lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth quit after his concerns about the direction he felt the band was taking, and he left to form his own new band called Electric Sun. In order to find his replacement, it has been said that the band auditioned over 140 guitarists, a phenomenal amount of work in trying to find the right guy for the position. During this process bass guitarist Francis Buchholtz suggested one of those guitarists that they should audition was a former school acquaintance Matthias Jabs, whom Buchholtz had tutored in maths for extra money while they were at school. After the auditioning process had come to its conclusion, it was Jabs whom the band decided to employ as their new guitarist. At this time the band also changed record companies in order to get a better deal and hopefully more exposure worldwide outside of Europe.
The band entered the studio to write and record the new album, but the changes weren’t finished with yet. As the band had begun the new album process, Michael Schenker, original lead guitarist and brother of band leader Rudolph Schenker, had left the band UFO, with whom he had recorded five albums. Turning up at the studios at a loose end, he began sitting in, and before long he was even making contributions to the writing process, and eventually played lead guitar on several tracks as a contributing artist. While his contributions no doubt added to the eventual success of the album, his presence must have been a slightly disrupting one, if only for Jabs himself. Indeed, once the album was completed, the band decided to birng Michael back into the group, leaving Jabs out in the cold. All of this exacerbated when, within weeks of the tour starting to promote the album, Schenker quit the band again, and Scorpions had to go crawling back to Matthias Jabs and ask him to return to the group. It would not be a stretch to suggest that If Jabs had refused to rejoin after the way he had been treated, then the success the band enjoyed over the next decades may well have not occurred given his amazing influence on that over the next 45 years. Thankfully for all of us, he relented and returned to the band, giving the group the line up that created some of the best albums of the next 15 years, and helped to propel the Scorpions to greatness.

The album opens with the positive earnest lyrics of "Loving You Sunday Morning", fired along by the first involvement of Mathias Jabs lead guitar. Everything flows together wonderfully well to open the album in a great way. This is followed by the hard rocking and lyrically tongue-in-cheek relating of "Another Piece of Meat". This has been a fan favourite since its release, not only because of Klaus' wonderful vocal range, but the fast-paced rhythm pounding out the song, while returning prodigal son Michael Schenker blazes away over the top with his solo for the song, and Mathias throws in his lead licks throughout. It's a fast paced song that really clicks along, a real mood swinger.
"Always Somewhere" is a song that, by any other band on any other album, could be one of the straws that could contribute to breaking the camel's back. Following hard on the heels of such a raucous song, if this wasn't handled perfectly, it would have stopped the momentum of the album in its tracks. However, this is the Scorpions, and amazingly, it just seems to fit. Yes, I know that coming from me that seems incredible, but just occasionally I am able to go with the flow of such peculiar swings in mood and song genre. And it was always the case with this album. Each piece of the puzzle seems to fit at every section. There's no doubt that, if this type of track came up on a song shuffle, I would very possibly skip it to get to the next action song. but when listening to “Lovedrive” in its entirety, there's no way I can do it.
Perhaps my favourite part of the album follows this, and some may also feel this is an anomaly. The instrumental "Coast to Coast" is the song, and I simply love this piece of music. It is simple and 'basic', but what a terrific sound! The 2/4 drumming with the bass working alongside, allowing the guitars to do their things over the top of this. For me this has always been an uplifting track, a mood changer, in all of its simplicity but marked with its intricate guitar pieces. A winner. Rudolf Schenker, thank you.
Side Two of the album starts again with the heavier and raucous elements of "I Can't Get Enough". It was certainly enough in the old days to make you get up and turn the vinyl over. And then, such is the joyousness of this album, you can't even feel any enjoyment seeping away when you first notice the complete reggae-ness of "Is There Anybody There?" In fact, with the mood of the album, you move into and through the song as if it is an everyday event for an album based in the roots of 70's hard rock and heavy metal to have a song so flavoured by reggae on it. Klaus' amazing vocals are the star of the show. Crashing out of this is the upbeat return of that magical Scorpions heavy sound in the title track "Lovedrive", driven by that magnificent drum beat and heavy rhythm guitar riff flowing from Rudolf's guitar, and complemented by the leads of both Mathias and Michael. Awesome riffs, just brilliant. Just a great song.
The closing track "Holiday" returns to the quiet melodic half of the Scorpions sound, dominated in the first half by Klaus' amazing harmony vocals over the acoustic guitar, before the band comes in halfway through the song to bring out the fullness of the song and band. Again, reggae flavours this half of the song, though not as completely is it does in "Is There Anybody There?"
This is quite an amazing album, given the ebbs and flows of the music, or certainly the flow from the heavy side to the reflective side. And yet none of it sounds out of place, as can often be said of power metal bands albums of the late previous century and early this century. Scorpions is a band that has its two sides, and especially on “Lovedrive” they blend as a perfect mixture.

I had had a little bit of Scorpions stuff on cassette prior to 1987, provided by my heavy metal music dealer, which was mostly the “World Wide Live” album, and had always enjoyed it. I had then moved on to Uni, and started making regular trips to the store that really started off my vinyl collection, the second hand superstore in Wollongong called Illawarra Books and Records. On one of these early visits, I came across the vinyl copy of this album “Lovedrive”, the first Scorpions album I ever owned. And sure, the cover of the album does rope you in a little, but it was the prospect of actually experiencing a full album of this band that had me excited when I found this. There was also the excitement of discovering that Michael Schenker had contributed to the album as well, given that by this time I had already purchased an anthology of his songs of all of his bands from the very same store, as well a couple of his MSG albums. I can still remember the day I bought this clearly in my mind, and the rush to finish Uni for the day so I could get home, and then the first time I put it on my parents' stereo in the lounge room when I got it home. It has been a favourite ever since. All of those songs I knew from the live album, but also all of these new songs I had never heard before. And the studio versions of those songs I knew sounding bigger and better than those live versions. Maybe just because I knew it was Michael playing on them, but to me they were like an artwork here on this album. And I played this album until the needle went blunt, and I taped it onto cassette so I could listen to it in the car day after day. And I did.
Even listening to it again over the last few weeks, it is still just as fresh and awesome to me as it was when I first bought it. In fact, every time I listen to it, it reminds me of those days when I first found the album. At a time when I wasn’t particularly sure what the hell I was going to do with my life, this album at least was a comforting presence.
I love this era of the band, and I still love this album today. Choosing between this and “Love at First Sting” and “Blackout” would be a difficult thing to do if someone asked me to nominate my favourite, as all three are magnificent, but perhaps the fact that this has such a varied range of material that sews together almost seamlessly, and that it also has "Coast to Coast" on it, could be the swaying factor in my suggestion that this is my favourite of all Scorpions albums.
After three false starts, when I was going to finally get a chance to see the band live after 40 years, and all three falling through due to logistics and then band illness, I got the chance to see the band live a few years ago, and it was worth every moment. This album was the one that started me on the journey of love for this band, and it still remains as one of my all time favourites.

883. Scorpions / Return to Forever. 2015. 3/5

This could be the longest goodbye retirement farewell in the history of music, but Scorpions are still out there doing their thing, and doing it their way. So they may have reneged on their retirement announcement, and they may have reneged on their final album quote. They may well be around forever, constantly touring the globe without ever coming to Australia so that we could see them live like practically every other place in the world has. Certainly they have come across a slightly new and ingenious way to write and record this new album, and while only time will tell if this party is going to continue, there is no denying the fact that this band keeps producing listenable albums after almost 50 years.

From all reports, when this album was first mooted, it was actually going to contain only material from the archives, culled from the numerous songs written and recorded for previous albums, but never used mainly due to the space and time restraints on vinyl records.. The majority of these songs were to be from the 1980's and through into the early 1990's, so the era that they were being drawn from was arguably the band's greatest. However, when the band had come to its decision not to finish up, and there was some more writing being done by the band, it was decided to make the album a hybrid, mixing both new material and these older unused songs and demos, with a little bit of spit and polish to bring them up to speed.
Does it work? It's an individual's thing I guess. The new songs written for the album have that Scorpions sound to them. "Going Out With a Bang", "We Built This House" and "All For One" all have that famous Scorpions hard rock sound and sing-along choruses, and focus on the relationship of the band as a whole. "Rock My Car" originates from the band's early days, and rocks along much like these songs.
"House of Cards" falls in that slower, quieter, ballad section that Scorpions always have, and admittedly always do well. Obviously there are some songs that stand out better than others of this variety from the past, and these songs here wouldn't make that. "Gypsy Life" also goes down this path, though as it was written originally for the Acoustica album this is understandable. Both of these songs are okay, but not high on my list of favourites from the album.
"Rock 'n' Roll Band" and "Catch Your Luck and Play" are from the Savage Amusement era, and both actually have the vibe of that album. Both are catchy and pacier numbers that track along at a fast clip with prominent guitars and again those choruses that are simple and as a result easy to sing along with. "Eye of the Storm" finds itself somewhere in the middle of all of this, a reasonable track that doesn't seem to be able to find its niche within the album framework.

When Humanity - Hour I was released, it blew me away. It was an album that just enraptured me. Sting in the Tail was fine, but more back in an average type of Scorpions album. Return to Forever ends up being in the same category. The idea of finding these songs written in the past, in an era when they dominated the scene, and using them now 30 years later isn't a bad one. There is good material here, and the band sounds as good as ever, but perhaps in the long run this does just sound a little too much like their standard songs without having a real hook or a real thunderhead to grab your attention and hold onto it. if you like the Scorpions, you will be able to put this on and enjoy it for what it is. If you are looking for an album that will be this year's balltearer, then you should be searching elsewhere.

Rating:  We're going out with a bang. Well, we'll see about that...  3/5

738. Scorpions / Love at First Sting. 1984. 5/5

Scorpions had been on a steady rise in the years since the late 1970’s, where Uli Jon Roth left the band because of musical direction differences, and was replaced by Matthias Jabs. Then came the first of the classic lineup releases “Lovedrive”, reviewed just recently in this season of the podcast, and was followed by the almost as excellent “Animal Magnetism”. Then came the brilliant album “Blackout”, the episode of which you can find in season 2 of this podcast, an album where Klaus Meine’s vocals were so bad he had had them operated on, and Don Dokken had done guide vocals on tracks until Klaus was fit to return to the microphone. There had been doubts he would return, and it wasn’t the last time this was to occur for members of the band for the recording of a Scorpions album. Indeed, it occurred on this very follow up to that album.
There are so many stories tied up in the recording of this album that is it still hard to work out what the truth actually is. When it came to recording the album, both bass guitarist Francis Buchholtz and drummer Herman Rarebell were not on the original recordings. The facts are that Dio and Rainbow bass guitarist Jimmy Bain was asked to come in and play on the album, and he spent the recording process there apparently with the blessing of Buchholtz, who sat in the studio while Bain lay down all of the bass tracks for the album. According to Rudolph Schenker, the band felt a new sound was required, and Rarebell actually suggested Jimmy Bain as the perfect person for the role. Following this Bain headed back to the band he had just joined – Dio. Then towards the end of the studio time, Rarebell was taken ill and couldn’t play, and the band had to find someone else to play his parts. This was where Bobby Rondinelli, another former Rainbow drummer, was called in to complete the recording process. None of this is disputed by any of the parties involved.
Schenker has then suggested that, following a short tour after this with all core members of Scorpions back in the swing of things, that the band decided to return to the studio and re-record all of the bass and drum parts in particular, so that both Buchholtz and Rarebell would actually be playing on the album. This is where the stories start to branch out. The band suggest that the five original members of the band are all playing their instruments on the released version of the album, while many still believe that Bain and Rondinelli’s parts are still on the album, though uncredited on the album sleeve. What’s the truth? Will we ever know? I do know that in many places on the album, the basslines seem familiar to what Jimmy Bain has offered over his long career, and that not all of the drums have that familiar Rarebell beat. Of course, in the long run it makes little difference. But wouldn’t we all like to know just for our own curiosity's sake?...

Opening with Matthias Jabs' marvellous crawling guitar riff, "Bad Boys Running Wild" opens an album that combines lyrical references that young men around the world could relate to with a thumping and heavy back beat, blazing guitar riffs and stadium-filling vocals that make this such a huge recording. "Bad Boys Running Wild" sets the tone, with great singalong lyrics from Klaus and that damn fine guitaring from Schenker and Jabs. It’s a great opening track, and kicks the album off in fine style. It ends perfectly, before crashing straight into the 80's anthem and opening riff that everyone in the world knows, "Rock You Like a Hurricane", a song that propelled the Scorpions to stardom in the US and around the globe. Anthem is stating it mildly, as this became the band’s signature tune, setting the tone for their future live shows, at least until the release of "Wind of Change" on the “Crazy World” album changed that focus. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" was played everywhere and became an air guitar classic in bedrooms all over the world. Still is, in fact. “Here I am...!!” Indeed.
"I'm Leaving You" deals with the teen angst (though, maybe surprisingly from the male perspective, again perhaps only surprisingly because I never had to worry about this sort of thing when I was a teenager), rolling in with a guitar lick to a simple chorus, and then leading into Matthias' brilliant liquid guitar solo. Another great Scorpions track that transcends hard rock and rock balladry. After this comes the no doubt autobiographical "Coming Home", with a beautifully understated beginning before crashing in with the whole band on fire immediately, then blazing into the heart of the song with lungs pumping and guitars sizzling. “The Same Thrill” continues the fast pace of the album, with Klaus’s over the top vocals leading the charge and charging the pace of the song with unbounded joy. It is a fantastic first side to the album, one that is hard to top in the Scorpions discography.
The remainder of the album continues in the same vein - but okay, it's hard to top the first half of the album. "Big City Nights" opens up the second side with a great hard-hitting rhythm from the drums and bass, followed with another anthemic-like chorus that just encourages you to join in and sing along. "As Soon as the Good Times Roll" combines the hard rock and rock balladry once again, another example of this amazing way Scorpions can create this kind of track, and have it appeal to both sides of their fan base. "Crossfire" is another great song, more than holding their own against the heavyweights in the first act, utilising a dramatic drum beat along with Schenker’s super rhythm guitar plucking to create a superb atmosphere throughout, and exemplifying the lyrics and bringing them to prominence. Like all of their songs it has those sing-along choruses that just drag you in each time you play the album.
The closer is a creeper, in a similar vein to Lovedrive's closing number "Holiday". Yes, it is a slow track, in essence a power ballad. And yes, for the most part I believe you can take your power ballads and shove them up your... shirt. But this is a rarity, one of those power ballads that is written and performed so well in the context of the album that you can't help but like it. For a start, it doesn't stop the momentum of the album, because they hold it back to the end, after they have finished ripping out your senses with their awesome tracks. As a result, it fits in perfectly, and ends the album in amazement of Klaus's vocal range and Rudolph's great solo to the fade out. So, on this occasion, it is a worthy addition. And again is yet another example of a song written and performed by this band that can transcend all areas of the fan base and not disappoint any of them.
Klaus Meine's vocals are absolutely magnificent throughout this album. From the opening strains of "Out on the streets!..." from "Bad Boys Running Wild" he nails it immediately. His anthemic triumph in "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "Coming Home". His soulful crooning in "Still Loving You". His vocal performance on this album is quite possibly the finest in his tenure. He has to find every range, and every emotion, and he does so with aplomb. Matthias Jabs and Rudolph Schenker are again superb on guitars, combining brilliantly throughout, and trading lead duties on different songs along the way.
The bass and drums, no matter whose versions finally make this album, are also terrific and play their part in making the atmosphere of each track a superb moment time.

It wasn’t long ago that I reviewed “Lovedrive” for this podcast – 16 episodes ago if I am to be accurate – so anyone who has listened to that episode knows how my introduction to this band came to pass. Suffice to say, the “World Wide Live” album, then the “Lovedrive” album. After that, it was a matter of picking up the other albums from the 1980’s as quickly as possible. One of my best friend’s, who is now my brother-in-law, was the one who had this first, and I borrowed it to transfer it to cassette, on which the other side I had UFO’s “No Heavy Petting” album, also borrowed from Joelsy.
This album was amazing at the time. I got this some 4-5 years after its release, but when I first heard it all in its completed form, I don’t think I ever turned back. That first side of the album is just as amazing now as it was when I first heard it. That opening riff of “Bad Boys Running Wild”, and the transition into “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, and the gentle build of “Coming Home” to when it bursts into bright light and rages out of the speakers. It’s just so powerful and melodic and perfectly performed. I spent 30+ years just hoping I would get to see “Rock You Like a Hurricane” live, and went from never believing it would happen, to having my dream of it occurring being smashed to pieces three times... before it finally occurred. And it was as amazing as I hoped it would be.
This album took on a life of its own for me. It would be fair to say that I became obsessed with it at one stage, never letting it leave my car’s cassette player, indeed just going out for a drive so I could wind the window down, put the elbow on the edge and have this album turned up to extreme volumes as I blasted around town. In my opinion there is not a weak moment here,
So to finish where I started - the late 70's and early 80's is this band's finest era, with the albums “Lovedrive”, “Animal Magnetism”, “Blackout”, “Love at First Sting”, and the live album “World Wide Live”. It is where their greatest tracks reside. And if I was forced to separate the albums listed, well... I know on my review of “Lovedrive” that I would lean towards that album as my favourite... but I’ve now spent a month listening to this album all over again... and having done that, then I guess my vote would go with this one as the best Scorpions album. It is one of the classics. But it is still an amazingly close call between all of those albums.
There are plenty of arguments that can take place in regards to the greatest era of the Scorpions - 70's, 80's, 90's - and also as to what is their best album. Everyone will have their own opinion in both regards. In many ways it will depend on when you came to fall upon the band and their work. Whichever way you may lean, this album brought them to light worldwide in a way that they had been unable to do beforehand, and which was the concluding act that cemented them as one of the world’s biggest bands.

629. Scorpions / Comeblack. 2011. 3/5

With the news a couple of years ago that Scorpions were going to release their final album, and then follow that up with their final tour, there was expectation and weariness. Sting in the Tail came and went, another average release with that good ol' Scorpions sound. And then this arrives on the doorstep, and the initial thoughts are, 'mid-tour filler?' Well, the answer is, for the most part, yes.
Scorpions have had any number of greatest hits albums. I think I have five or six of them myself. How many generations of listeners do you have to try and lure in with yet another compilation, when in all likelihood you've dragged in all the fans you can muster?

The lure of Comeblack is the twofold set-up of the album. The first half contains several of the band's most popular hits, re-recorded in the current day and given a spit polish with a modern edge. And it is a veritable best of - "Rhythm of Love", "No One Like You", "The Zoo", "Rock You Like A Hurricane", "Blackout", "Wind of Change" and "Still Loving You". These are the songs that made Scorpions the band they are. They all sound great. But we've heard it all before. Could this not have been an opportunity, given that this is supposedly the swansong for the band, to drag up some rarities, some gems that aren't as well known, and up date them well and give them some exposure to fans who may well not know they even existed? Did it really need yet another shot at "Rock You Like A Hurricane" to get people to buy this album? It's great to listen to, but I think it was an opportunity lost.

The second half of the album are cover  versions of songs that the band enjoy or drew inspiration from. It is an eclectic mix. The Gloria Jones song (though made much more famous by Soft Cell's version in the early 80's) "Tainted Love" is given a funky do-over, and is probably the best version of the secondary part of the album. T.Rex's well known and well covered "Children of the Revolution" is another standout. The other artists to be honored here are The Beatles' with "Across the Universe", Small Faces' "Tin Soldier", The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night" and The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", and all of these versions have a bit of the Scorpions sound injected into them.

While the album is done well, performed well, and produced well, it's a novelty. The Scorpions songs will always be better in their original album environment, because that's what we remember them as. The cover songs are like all bands who do cover albums - these versions sound OK for a few listens, but if the songs are any good, you will always drift back to the original versions because of that. Worth a listen, but in the end it's a stocking filler.

575. Scorpions / Sting in the Tail. 2010. 3/5

There has probably been more publicity surrounding the fact that this album apparently signals the final act for the Scorpions as a band than anything else, and perhaps it is this smoke screen that is being used to hide the fact that it has some failings.
The announcement that this would be the band’s final album, hoping to ‘retire’ while still at the top of their game, certainly drew some interest from me. However, I was more interested to see how they would follow up their finest album in almost 30 years, 2007’s Humanity: Hour 1.

Following on from the breaking of the Scorpions mould on their last album, this is a follow up that plays it straight down the line in order to try and keep all their fans of all genres happy, and in the process really not making anyone excited. The opening songs prove to be very much in the role of their typical nineties stuff, in a hard rock mode but without the great anthems that they flooded us with during the 1980's. "Raised on Rock", "Sting in the Tail", "No Limit" and "Rock Zone" leave you in no doubt that the band is trying to reinvest their past sound into their current music. There are also the typical Scorpions power ballads, which, I must say, don't quite hit the mark this time around.
In fact, the whole album is just off the track, and in trying to tie down what it is that just doesn't make it for me, I can come to a couple of conclusions - it is a very generic album, and it’s obvious that the band has played it very safe in the writing process. Being their final release, they have obviously gone out and tried to capture both lyrically and musically the best and most successful of their past, and recreate it here as a fitting finale for themselves and their fans. Though I hesitate to use the word, some of it is quite boring because of that, and in essence brings to the table the kind of emotion they were inevitably trying to prevent.
It's not a bad album, but it won't be memorable for the music, but only because (at this point) it will be their final release.

If they had announced that they were calling it a day after Humanity: Hour 1 I would have kicked up a stink, suggesting that they still had plenty left in the tank. Having now listened to Sting in the Tail a dozen times, I can honestly suggest that the band gets out and does a farewell World Tour – including coming to Australia, because we've only been waiting 30+ years – and then take a well earned rest, because maybe the bottom of the well is in sight.

547. Scorpions / In Trance. 1975. 3.5/5

The progress of German band Scorpions had been a slow burn since the first iteration of the band under that name back in 1965, through to the recording of their debut album in 1972 called “Lonesome Crow”. Listening to that album now, or anytime after the 1980’s in fact, is like trying to search out how the band could have gone from the sound they produced in that post-1960's era to what the band became in the MTV era of the 1980’s. On the back of the album, they toured Europe and the UK, and in particular as support to the British hard rock band UFO, who were also trying to find their niche in the music market. So impressed were the band with the Scorpions young guitar prodigy Michael Schenker that they asked him to join their band. Having consulted with older brother Rudolph, who encouraged him to further his career, Michael left Scorpions for UFO. A fusing of two bands, Scorpions and Dawn Red, saw the coming together of Uli Jon Roth (guitars), Francis Buchholz (bass) and Jürgen Rosenthal (drums) with Rudolph Schenker and Klaus Meine, and with it a change in the dynamic of the writing teams. Scorpions split into two camps, with Rudolf and vocalist Klaus Meine on one side and Uli Jon Roth on the other. Their sophomore album “Fly to the Rainbow” saw these new writing partnerships put together for the first time and showed the creative forces that were available, and the meshing of both brought together a different sound from the debut album and yet one that still felt fragmented, not yet ‘a band’.
For the follow up album, another change was forced upon the band. Drummer Jurgen Rosenthal left the band because he was drafted into the Army. He was replaced by Rudy Lenners, another fellow German, and by the time the band entered the studio they were in a much better place. Having toured together now on the back of “Fly to the Rainbow”, they felt like a band and were comfortable within themselves moving forward. The other move that proved to be an important one not only for this album but for those moving forward was the appointment of Dieter Dierks as producer. His influence, not only on this album but for the next decade was an enorous part of the rising success the band experienced.
As such, everything was set up for Scorpions to truly find their feet with their third studio album, and album that with the firm base of the band and its new producer, would be released in September 1975 under the name “In Trance”.

The album kicks off with one of the band’s most interesting songs, “Dark Lady”. It is a typically offbeat Uli Jon Roth track, incorporating his amazing guitaring style that doesn’t seem to stick to the road, it is always looking for off ramps to explore. It is a first for the band with both Uli and Klaus sharing lead vocals. You have Uli on the verses and Klaus screaming on the chorus, shrieking to the heavens. Ui’s solo pieces are just as entertaining. It’s a truly unique song, one that challenges everything that the band has done to this point, and opens the album in an infectious way. To then move from the outwardly raucous beginning to the title track that follows is something that probably shouldn’t work. The quiet almost acoustic opening passage of “In Trance” is a complete opposite to what has come from the opening, and yet, here for the first time, Scorpions make it work, and indeed make it an absolute classic. Not a power ballad per se but with tidings towards that direction, “In Trace” highlights what the writing core of Schenker and Meine produces, a melodic and harmonic track both musically and vocally. The harmony vocals from Klaus in the chorus are spectacular, and the addition of the keys that complements and in no way overpower the beauty of the song are sublime. The power comes from the song, not any singular piece or part of the composition. Scorpions would become one of the greatest composers and writers of power ballads through the years, and while this song doesn’t really classify under that banner it showcases everything great that would be utilised in those songs in the future. As the benchmark, it radiates its aura here. “Life’s Like a River” is another softer rock track that is highlighted by the terrific rhythm of Francis’s basslines and Lenners’ drumbeat, which give the song its deep meaningful sound all the way though. Uli’s solo and Klaus’s manoeuvring vocals highlight the change in tone through the song. This is interesting as it has co-writing credits for Uli and Rudolph, but also Dieter Dierks’s wife Corina Fortmann.
“Top of the Bill” immediately comes in with that wonderful Schenker rhythm guitar riff, the type that he writes so well, that are immediately invoke a reaction that requires air guitar and a mimicking with your voice. While it may sound simple, it is the perfect structure for a Scorpions song, with Burchholtz’s bass running alongside. Klaus sings to the ceiling on this track, telling the story of the rock and roll life, trying to be top of the bill, and the vocal harmonies are superb and add to the dynamic. And Uli plays out the back half of the song in his uniquely fluid style of solo that ends the track on a high. Still a great song in the Scorpions catalogue. This then sweeps back into another slower less energetic tune as per earlier in the album with “Living and Dying”. It is a brooding moody track that sludges through the mire to complete the first side of the album.
Side 2 opens with another killer track, “Robot Man”. Here we are treated to a song that sounds nothing like what has come before it, the guitars and drums drive us out of the blocks at pace, the combination of Schenker’s fast guitar work and Klaus’s vocals picks up the energy and pace from the outset. Klaus and Rudolph showcasing the other side of their writing partnership, the ability to produce a high octane track that pushes the bands boundaries. Then we have the other side of Uli’s writing with the ballad “Evening Wind”, an atmospheric opening heavy on the bass, and back to a morbidly slow pace where everything seems drawn out, Klaus’s vocals and Uli’s guitar solo included. It’s a very blues based song that does brings thoughts of Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin in places. As it fades out, we have the introduction of “Sun in My hand”, which does have a bassline and guitar riff sound that is derivative of other bands of the era, one that is basically repeated through the course of the track while Uli squeals and solos his guitar over the top. The lead vocal is also provided by Uli, which brings the song down in both energy and inspiration. Again, the question can be asked that if you have Klaus Meine in your band, why do you need anyone else providing lead vocals on any track? These two Uli penned tracks are the longest on the album as well, and they do both tend to overstay their welcome. The second of the Roth and Schenker songs is “Longing for Fire”, which is fine, but it just isn’t an inspiring sound like the songs on side one of the album. Francis’s bass is very high in the mix here and sounds good, and Uli’s solo to play out the song again is a highlight. But there is a modicum of averageness about the songs as a whole. And the album then closes out with another Uli track, this time an instrumental titled “Night Lights”. It’s a pretty song, almost a singular playoff between lead guitar and bass guitar. It is that slow, mid-tempo track with dreamlike qualities, almost enough to send you off to sleep by. Is that the way you want a Scorpions album to finish? Given down the track they almost always ended with the ballad, perhaps it is one and the same.

For all those playing at home, you will have heard on the very recent episode I did on Scorpions second live album “World Wide Live” that it was my true introduction to the band, and that everything that I discovered came after that. When it came to the 1970’s albums, including “In Trance”, that was quite a few years after that fact. I had happily sat with the 1980’s second phase of the band’s career albums for quite some time, and not really given those early albums much thought at all, until I then got another album that I have reviewed on this podcast all the way back in January, episode number 6 of this season, called “A Tribute to the Scorpions”, which had a wide range of Scorpions songs covered by other bands, some well known, others not so much. And, what I discovered on that album was not only new bands I needed to check out, but some great songs that I only had a minor grasp on. And it was at this point that I decided that I needed to invest in those first five studio albums, along with the first live album, from the band, and see what I had missed along the way.
“In Trance” is an interesting fulcrum for this lineup of the band, of the Uli Jon Roth years. Michael Schenker had been in the band for the debut album and was a heavy influence in the writing. On “Fly to the Rainbow” he had moved on to UFO, but in agreeing to let him go he had had to help with writing that album, which meant Uli only had one writing credit on that album, even though his guitaring was noticeably different and a major part of the sound of that album. Here on “In Trance”, we have the first teu album of this line up, with Schenker and Meiene writing together on one hand, and most Uli Jon Roth on his own on the other. And this created the different pathways that helped create the uniqueness of this band. Both writing teams produced both genres of tracks – the hard rock to heavy songs and the slower to ballad songs – but they did it in their own way. “Dark Lady” and “Robot Man” for instance, which open up either side of the album, are similar in pace and heaviness, but are different because of the different writers. The same can be said in comparing “Sun in My Hand” and “Living and Dying”. This is where the band moved on this album, and it can be argued that it is more authentic as a result.
Having had the album out again, for the first time in a while, over the last few days, I find that there are songs that stand out more than others. I question – as I almost always do – the decision to have fast paced energetic songs immediately followed by softer quieter and slower tracks, and then back again. Some albums are good enough structurally to be able to handle these changes without by default losing focus. Others are not. Having the momentum of the album drained or constantly changed may be something that some people enjoy. For me it is often an album killer. There is some truth in that for me with “In Trance”, but I must say that I can overlook that when it comes to this album. I’d prefer it structured another way, but that is not how the bad wanted it to be, and when it comes to the Scorpions I will allow it. Perhaps it is just because I don’t listen to this album as much as I do others, you know, those from the 1980’s that I mostly grew up with. With “In Trance”, when I DO put it on to listen to it, I let it flow as it is put out there.
This is an album that the Scorpions fans who are bigger fans of the 1970’s decade Uli Jon Roth years love to a fault. And I can understand why. It has all of those qualities that make it one of their best of that era. It also has some of their best songs of the era, “Dark Lady” and “In Trance” and the brilliant “Top of the Bill”. It is, remarkably, now 50 years old, and that in itself is something to ponder, to consider how an album of this type has weathered over the massive changes in the music world since its conception. As it turns out, it has weathered pretty well.

516. Scorpions / Hurricane Rock. 1990. 5/5

Another of the 40 000 greatest hits packages that seem to have been released of the Scorpions material, but at least this one is a pretty good one.

Covering most of the hits the band had between the start of their career and the mid-1980’s, this has everything that any fan could want to hear. As an album to put on at a party night to hear the best hits this band can offer, or as a starting point for someone who wants to experience one of the best bands out there, this wins on all counts.

Rating: Close to outstanding as a greatest hits package. 5/5.

515. Scorpions / Humanity: Hour 1. 2007. 5/5

It's a Saturday afternoon. I'm at home at the computer, and it's time to put on a new album. I take the disc, put it on and press play. What comes out in the first 30 seconds blows me away. Have I made a mistake? Is this really the new Scorpions album? OK, there's Klaus Meine's vocals - it must be Scorpions!

But what the hell?!? So here's the deal - I expected much the same that the band has released in recent years, okay stuff without being exceptional. Well bugger me, instead they've come out and rocked the house down!

This is what I wrote when I first heard this album when it was released last year, and to be quite honest my opinion has only strengthened in the time that has passed since. The arrival of this album, and the astonishing return to form of this band is quite magnificent. Following a number of disappointing efforts where there were obvious attempts to change their musical formula, Humanity: Hour 1 effectively returns the band to their solid roots of melodic heavy metal, and the result is stunning.
There is a definite heavier feel to the songs than has been present for some time, as is shown during “Hour 1” and “The Game of Life”, “You’re Lovin’ Me To Death” and the excellent “321”. Each show the best of the faster side of Scorpions.
Backing these up are the amazing Scorpions ballads, as only they can do, “The Future Never Dies” and “Your Last Song”. Just terrific examples of how to do a power ballad with power, and not weakness. Then to finish it all off are the brilliant “The Cross” which features Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, and “Humanity” which tops the album off on a great note.

Concept albums are tricky things to get right. Not only does the story have to be relevant, and the songs able to recreate the mood of the piece, they need to retain their individuality as well. No qualms here about all that, this is superbly done. The guitaring of Rudolph Schenker and the brilliant Matthias Jabs is magnificent, as is the drumming of James Kottak. Magnificent stuff.

What impresses me most about this album is that I feel more strongly about it now than I did in the first months after its release. To me, that indicates its strengths and appeal. At the time I rated it very highly, about 4 or 4.5. I truly believe it now belongs in the top echelon of Scorpions albums.

Rating: One of the best albums of this decade. 5/5.

446. Scorpions / Gold Ballads. 1984. 3/5

Mmmmm… ballads…

Why put this compilation together? To make money, why else?
Contains the big ballad hits of “Still Loving You” and “Holiday” and “Always Somewhere”, which are all great songs. But why?!!? Just buy the damn albums they were released on!!!

Rating: Good enough, but not something I pull out to listen to all the time. 3/5.

392. Scorpions / Fly to the Rainbow. 1974. 3/5

Scorpions had released their debut album in 1972, titled “Lonesome Crow”, having done their time out in the pubs and clubs like all bands of their ilk. On the back of the album, they toured Europe and the UK, and in particular as support to the British hard rock band UFO, who were also trying to find their niche in the music market. So impressed were the band with the Scorpions young guitar prodigy Michael Schenker that they asked him to join their band. Having consulted with older brother Rudolph, who encouraged him to further his career, Michael left Scorpions for UFO, a decision that was to benefit both parties until the end of the 70’s decade. In order to complete the tour, Michael suggested his friend Uli Jon Roth come in and fill in on lead guitar, which he then did. At the end of the tour Uli Jon was asked to remain a part of the band, but he instead decided to remain in his own band, called Dawn Road. This and Michael’s departure led to the Scorpions breaking up at this time.
All was not lost, however. Despite the demise of Scorpions, Rudolph had decided that he wanted to work with Uli Jon, and having attended some of Dawn Road’s rehearsals he decided to join the band, which at that time consisted of Uli Jon Roth on guitar and vocals, bass guitarist Francis Buchholtz, drummer Jurgen Rosenthal and keyboardist Achim Kirschning. Once he was in the mix, Roth and Buchholtz convinced Rudolph to invite Klaus Meine to come on board as lead vocalist, reprising his role from Scorpions, which he eventually agreed to. With two bands figuratively merging into one, the new group decided to forego the Dawn Road name to retake the name of Scorpions, as that name was already well known in the German music community and had of course already released an album, which Dawn Road had not. And thus came the second coming of Scorpions the band.
This was the lineup that entered the studio to record what would now become Scorpions sophomore album. As a part of his agreement to join UFO, Michael Schenker contributed to the writing of three songs on the new album, thus allowing a direct correlation and similarity in the writing partnerships between the first two albums. And with Rudolph and Klaus contributing the majority of the rest of the writing, the band was ready to take the next step in their career.

Creating a tradition that would last for decades, the Scorpions open their album with the hard rocking and fast tempo of "Speedy's Coming", a song that not for the last time references the band's fans and they way they both interact. It is a terrific opening statement from the newly constituted band, composed by Rudolph and Klaus and showing off each aspect of the new band lineup, especially showcasing Klaus Meine's amazing vocals and Uli Jon Roth's wonderful lead guitar work. On this track too you get a real feel for Francis Buchholtz's bass sound, it is very prominent here and adds greatly to the sound of the song. Following this comes the very middle-eastern influenced sound of the Schenker/Meine song "They Need a Million" featuring the lead vocals of rhythm guitarist Rudolph Schenker, one of the very few times he performed this role in the band's career. And, he does an admirable job of it as well. Certainly not well enough to justify doing the role over Klaus, but it is still interesting to hear him do so on this track. Then comes "Drifting Sun", the only song on this album composed by Uli Jon Roth, and also featuring him on lead vocals. It must have been an interesting time for the band, and with three different lead vocalists on the first three songs of the album, perhaps they thought at the time this would be a direction they might head in. Once again, Uli Jon is not in the same race as Klaus Meine when it comes to singing, but here, unlike some of his efforts on future albums, his vocals are quite listenable, and his lead guitar is great once again. It's a long rambling song in the style of the era, and one that is enjoyable as a result. Closing out side one of the album is the first of the tracks co-written by Michael Schenker, this one along with Klaus, "Fly People Fly" with Klaus returning on lead vocals, a song that harps on rising above your struggles and reaching for the sky.
The second side of the album is kickstarted by "This is My Song", Rudolph and Klaus's remonstration with the state of the world, of the negativity that prevails and their hope for a better world. The lacklustre start does brighten towards the end with Uli Jon's solo guitar stretching through the back half. "Far Away" is composed by Rudolph and Klaus along with Michael, follows on from this song, with Klaus's lyrics encouraging of leaving behind any troubles and of searching for positives in your life. Again the song starts off in a quiet melancholy phase before breaking out at the halfway point and coming home in a harder fashion. The album then concludes with the epic title track "Fly to the Rainbow", composed by Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, the only time they have collaborated together. At almost ten minutes in length, it covers the gamut of music at the time, including psychedelic elements and hard rock themes, with the bass guitar from Francis again booming through as a major player throughout the song, topped by the drums of Jurgen Rosenthal. Uli Jon has a ball on his guitar during the song, breaking out at times of his choosing to penetrate the songs veneer. This song is again perhaps the final great song of that era in regards to its sound. It is born of the 1960's, and by 1974 music had morphed into a different era, and this is the final remnant of the psychedelic period, one which all members of this band originated from, but were well on their way to helping to form what was to come in the music world.

Those who have followed my Scorpions journey will know that it was those albums of the second era of the band, from 1979 through to 1993, that initially grabbed me by the you-know-what's and turned me into a fan. The World Wide Live album was that first stop, and the other albums from that point on are still a major part of my music makeup. Delving back into the albums of the 1970's became a task that followed all of this, and was an interesting period in itself. The Uli Jon Roth years are a different kettle of fish in the Scorpions discography and journey, and having digested the later material first, it is a challenging thing to firstly listen to and then appreciate this era of the band.
This first album of the merged entity does however deliver. It would be hard not to, with Klaus Meine's voclas and Uli Jon Roth's guitar alone. Both are spectacular and are afforded the opportunity to shine. This is not to overlook the excellence of Rudolph Schenker's guitaring as well, always so important in the band's music, and Francis Buchholz on bass guitar is excellent as is Jurgen Rosenthal on drums.
It has been a little over 20 years since I first heard this album in full, and listening to it again in recent weeks it has been noticeable to me how much I still enjoy it. "Lonesome Crow" is almost a standalone album, given the time since it was recorded and released and the change in personnel, and this merged group could easily have gone bust very quickly. But the choice to insist that Michael Schenker contribute to the writing of this album before leaving for UFO, and only one song from Uli Jon, meant that the writing stayed on a similar path that the original Scorpions had done, and allowed the other influences to seep in slowly, and I think that not only works here on "Fly to the Rainbow" but for the basis of the future albums. Achim Kirschning decided to leave after the recording of the album. Soon after, Jürgen Rosenthal had to leave as he was drafted into the army. He was to become the first of several drummers over the next few years. This album began a run of several albums through to 1978 where the Scorpions built their reputation through Europe and the UK, and eventually into the US, as a band with great songs and great musicianship. It may not be what people who grew up with the band through the 1980's would remember, but with a consideration for the times it was recorded in, this album holds its own for the era.

348. Scorpions / Deadly Sting. 1995. 4.5/5

Bring it on! Another best of collection for the Scorpions! And just in case you don’t think you can fit everything onto one album – we’ll make it a double disc!!

OK, so it’s the record companies who put these out constantly, not the band. And in retrospect it probably wasn’t such a bad move considering the success of Crazy World and in particular the single “Wind of Change”, which brought a whole new fan base to the band that probably hadn’t experienced all the great stuff they had released before that.
As for the tracklist, you can’t fault it. As a greatest hits release, it is top notch.

Rating: For the very best of the Scorpions, this is where to come. 4.5/5.

323. Scorpions / Best of Rockers 'n' Ballads. 1989. 4/5

Another of the increasingly infinite compilation albums that have been released by record companies of the Scorpions material.
This one says it all in the title – Rockers and Ballads. It doesn’t say that some are just brilliant, and others are just average.

This is an adequate release. It could have been done better, but the material on board is mostly fantastic.

Rating: Only a little filler. 4/5.

306. Scorpions / Best. 1999. 4.5/5

“Best” is such a subjective term. What one person calls ‘best’, another calls ‘dogmeat’.

This is a best of compilation of Scorpions. With a band like Scorpions, you can’t really go wrong. Generally it is the quality of the songs left off that is of more concern than those found on the album.
This is a great collection. “Loving You Sunday Morning”, “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, “Is There Anybody There”, “Send Me An Angel”, “Another Piece Of Meat”, “In Trance”, “Still Loving You”… the list goes on. Most impressive is the addition of the extremely Black Sabbath-sounding “I’m Going Mad”, which isn’t played very often. A great number to have on board.

If you are looking for an album to get your first taste of this great band, this is worth purchasing.

Rating: Great stuff from a great band. 4.5/5.

305. Scorpions / Best Masters Of The 70's. 2004. 4.5/5

The prefix to this album in some parts of the world is “Hot & Slow”, which generally relates to the fact that some of the album contains songs that are far too slow, ballady and wimpy for my own particular tastes. However, that aside, this is an excellent compilation. As so much of the music that Scorpions did in the 1970’s has been overlooked, this album puts out the best of that decade for you to listen to, and there are some classics in amongst them.

What it also does is showcase the transformation of the band’s sound, from that early 70’s somewhat long-winded musical exploration type of song, to the punchy rocking tracks that became their trademark in the 1980’s and beyond. Certainly, the earlier songs are good, but they don’t approach the mettle of their later and better songs.

For someone who has only heard the later material, or someone who is interested in how this band began, this is an excellent album to pick up.

Best for me include ‘Speedy’s Coming”, “In Trance”, “Dark Lady”, “Top Of The Bill”, “Virgin Killer” and “Pictured Life”

Rating: Great songs from first to last. 4.5 / 5.

290. Scorpions / Face The Heat. 1993. 3/5.

Climbing out of the growing commercial success the band had enjoyed through the mid-1980's, Scorpions had gone one better with their first album of the new decade, 1990’s “Crazy World” which in particular had spawned the single “Wind of Change” that had topped the charts globally and brought them to the attention of a new fan base who would barely have known that they existed before that time. The Scorpions ballad, of which there were generally one or two produced on most albums during that decade, had finally worked, with the political motivations of the track combining with the sweet melodies to create a monster hit. The world tour to support the album was huge (though once again failed to appear on Australian shores), and at its conclusion the band must have felt that it was riding a tidal wave that was never going to stop.
Following the tour, long time bass guitarist Francis Buchholz left the band, meaning for the first time in 12 years a new member would come on board. For the album, the band hired Ralph Rieckermann to join the band for the recording.
In many ways you would expect the album following this success should have been one that had a lot of credits, and despite the pressure of following a successful release would be one where the band was confident in what they would produce. But 1993 was a different world musically than 1990, and such were the musical changes that were still in progress, a band of Scorpions style and genre were the ones who were under the most pressure to conform or change completely in order to move with the times.
To help produce their follow up, the band brought in the renown Bruce Fairbairn, whose fingers had been all over the successful late 1980’s charge of Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” and “New Jersey”, along with Aerosmith’s return to form with “Pump” and AC/DC’s “The Razor’s Edge”, just to name a few. His modus operandi was to make sure that the hard rock songs were hard rock, and the ballads were radio friendly, two things that 1993 was not particularly in favour of. It immediately gave the album a sense of going against the current, and perhaps looking to produce something that was not what their contemporaries were looking to create at that time. But then, Scorpions as a band had always marched to the beat of their own drum, and this was just another example of that occurring.

This album has divided fans and critics since its release, and I’ve never really understood if it is just because of the difference in the music on this album and the music the world had flooded to over the previous two years, or if the subtle change in Scorpions style here is what they are reacting to. In either case you can make a case for either depending on whether or not you enjoy the album yourself.
The opening tracks are at a slower tempo than you expect most Scorpions great songs come at, but they are no less effective, and they are certainly on the heavy side of the register. The opening track “Alien Nation” is a beauty, a slow crunching monster that creeps up on you the more you listen to it. On first reflections it seems like a strange way to start the album, but it ends up being quite effective by giving the album a powerful base with that heavy sound that the band doesn’t always utilise enough. The second track “No Pain No Gain” follows along the same path, with another great mutual riff from Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs and a punchy chorus and bridge to sing along to. Then we have the first perfect Scorpions sounding track, “Someone to Touch”, with a more melodic guitar sound punctuated with Klaus Meine’s perfect vocal lines. This could have come from any album of the band’s golden era and is still a terrific track today. The opening three songs to this album signify a defining moment for the band, in that they are not only sticking to their guns in regards to their songwriting, but actually moving it up a notch to set themselves apart from their contemporaries.
The first of three definable ballads comes next. “Under the Same Sun” is typical of the Scorpions motions of this genre, and while they are habitually more enjoyable than the ballads of other rock bands, that doesn’t make it any less cumbersome when it comes to halting the momentum the album had built up to this point of the track list. “Unholy Alliance” moves in the same circles of the opening two tracks with a heavier feel and slower tempo, but still with the anthemic vocals especially through the chorus. “Woman” on the other hand is difficult to love. A slower paced, blues-based ballad that probably does all the right things for such a track to be enjoyable but is an acquired taste. It doesn’t grab me. “Hate to Be Nice”, “Taxman Woman” and “Ship of Fools” all travel down that line of great solid Scorpions tracks with lots of energy from Klaus’s vocals, Mathias’s awesome soloing and Rudolph’s terrific riffing. They are all easy to sing along to and come at a pace with solid core drumming from Herman Rarebell that have you tapping away in time as well. Then we have “Nightmare Avenue”, a terrific song that goes up a level again, arguably the heaviest song on the album, and extremely enjoyable.
Then we come to the closing track of the album, the third and final ballad on “Face the Heat”. Now we know Scorpions have a habit of closing out their albums with the ballad, allowing Klaus’s vocals to soar over the quiet harmonies and take everyone’s breath away. But once again, for me, it just depreciates everything that has come before it. It doesn’t surprise me that they have done it, because they do it so often, but they could have left this song off, and the album would have finished perfectly well. Indeed, if it was me, I would have none of those three ballads on this album and I think it would have been better because of it. It is performed amazingly well, like all their ballads are. But it’s no “Still Loving You” or “Holiday” or “Send Me an Angel”. If it was, I wouldn’t be so disappointed. It’s OK but for me makes the end of the album much less good than the rest of the album.

It was a number of years after “Face the Heat” was released that I first heard the album. Several reasons contributed to this, but certainly lack of disposable income had started to mean that I had to pick and choose what albums I could buy at the time, and what I had to forego. So it wasn’t until over a decade later that I actually listened to the album for the first time, and at that time I was suddenly inundated with so many albums that I had never heard that it got lost in the deluge. I listened to it a few times, and then it got lost in the avalanche of other albums. So much so that it really wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I actually sat down and gave this album the time it was due.
What did I discover? Well let’s check the list. I certainly missed something at the time that the album was released, that seems a certainty. Firstly, given the other music I was listening to around this time, I think this album would have slotted in very nicely. Secondly, the heavier songs here, such as “Alien Nation”, “No Pain No Gain” and “Nightmare Avenue” are particularly excellent, and are a step up in that grade when it comes to Scorpions tracks. Thirdly, the three ballads, which were probably the highest held songs by most fans on this album’s release, for me just hold the album back from what it could have been.
We all know what was dominating music at the time this came out in 1993, and it isn’t what was on this album. The band’s major writing duo of Meine and Schenker, had a different vision for what they wanted this album to be that what much of the rest of the world was doing, and I admire that immensely. In the US and other territories, it was grunge and alternative that was sweeping the music scene, while in Europe the growing influence of power metal and rock was amping up. Here, Scorpions went in their own directions under their own power, and the album stands alone as a result. Does that make it a brilliant album? Not necessarily. Does it make it an average album? Same answer. It makes it a Scorpions album, with the Scorpions sound basically unaltered, and tweaked ever so slightly here and there to add to the ambiance of the album. Overall despite a couple of reservations, I think this is a terrific album, and one I am sorry I didn’t have 30 years ago. At least, the great thing about music is, I can enjoy it now for the same reasons.