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.