Ah yes, it's those German metal guys...funny how their style has evolved, they went from weird acid rock in the 70's, to more standard metal in the 80's, to pure crap in the 90's. One interesting fact about this band is they have had more album covers BANNED than any other group in history! Yet you can still find them, if you know where to look. :)

"Lonesome Crow"

1. "I'm Goin' Mad" (4:52)
2. "It All Depends" (3:23)
3. "Leave Me" (5:02)
4. "In Search of the Piece of Mind" (4:56)
5. "Inheritance" (4:37)
6. "Action" (3:53)
7. "Lonesome Crow" (13:29)

The band's first album, and the only one to feature guitar virtuoso Michael Schenker as a full-time band member (he contributed some licks to "Lovedrive", and also went on to play with UFO, MSG & a few other bands.) The sound is VERY different from any of their later works -- psychedelic & airy, with vocal harmonies reminiscent of Uriah Heep. This one's been on my "need it" list for a looooong time, but was never much of a priority since I own a tape of it with Renaissance's Prologue on the other side. The two go very well together, for some reason...

"Fly to the Rainbow"

1. "Speedy's Coming" (3:33)
2. "They Need a Million" (4:50)
3. "Drifting Sun" (7:40)
4. "Fly People Fly" (5:02)
5. "This is My Song" (4:14)
6. "Far Away" (5:39)
7. "Fly to the Rainbow" (9:32)

A trippy album. The title track is one of my favorite Scorpions songs, epic and transcendental. "Speedy's Coming" is also a nice rocker, the rest I can't remember right offhand (although "Fly People Fly" was pretty stupid.)

"In Trance"

1. "Dark Lady" (3:25)
2. "In Trance" (4:44)
3. "Life's Like a River" (3:48)
4. "Top of the Bill" (3:25)
5. "Living and Dying" (3:19)
6. "Robot Man" (2:42)
7. "Evening Wind" (5:01)
8. "Sun in My Hand" (4:21)
9. "Longing for Fire" (2:42)
10. "Night Lights" (3:13)

There's an uncensored version of this album available, but the only difference is you can see that lady's tit (simply blacked out on the U.S. version), which is cool but hardly worth paying the extra $10-15 for the import. In fact I was merely gonna hold out for a used copy of this, but finally realized I'd better get it before it goes out of print...

"Virgin Killer" (original artwork!!)

1. "Pictured Life" (3:21)
2. "Catch Your Train" (3:32)
3. "In Your Park" (3:39)
4. "Backstage Queen" (3:10)
5. "Virgin Killer" (3:41)
6. "Hell-Cat" (2:54)
7. "Crying Days" (4:36)
8. "Polar Nights" (5:04)
9. "Yellow Raven" (4:58)

WHOOHOO!!! This lovely item was on my "Need It" list for ages, in fact I was almost ready to make a special trip to Germany just to get it! (Would have been time wasted, since this turned out to be a Japanese import.) Of course, the "clean cover" version is readily available, but COME ON, I just HAD to have this one!! This cover is so cool, it's probably illegal... (For an up-close-and-personal view of the cover, click here -- I removed the CDNOW link because, well, they're gone now. Sigh. Oh, and in case the FBI or CPS is reading this, that link goes to some other Scorpions webpage, not mine.)

"Taken by Force" (Japanese import)

1. "Steamrock Fever" (3:39)
2. "We'll Burn the Sky" (6:29)
3. "I've Got to be Free" (4:02)
4. "The Riot of Your Time" (4:12)
5. "The Sails of Charon" (5:14)
6. "Your Light" (4:31)
7. "He's a Woman - She's a Man" (3:16)
8. "Born to Touch Your Feelings" (7:42)

Well, well. It seems that every great band has at least one CD that is out of print and nearly impossible (or expensive) to get, and this is the Scorpions one. I remember time spent in the spring of '87 in London, when I would make several trips to Tower Records at Piccadilly Circus, and held this CD IN MY HANDS, wondering if I should buy it or not... well, of course, it's now OUT OF PRINT and nearly IMPOSSIBLE to find, unless you wanna spend BIG BUCKS on eBay. And that's a damned shame, since it inlcudes some of the best material the Scorps ever recorded during the 70's: "Steamrock Fever", "The Sails of Charon" (covered by Testament and Yngwie Malmsteen), "He's a Woman - She's a Man" (covered by Helstar and Helloween), "We'll Burn the Sky", etc...."Born to Touch Your Feelings" is also a trippy ballad, as it contains several passages spoken by female vocalists in obscure languages...

So...how did this long sought-after gem land in my collection? You'll never believe it...a vinylphile from Washington basically traded this CD for one of my Loudness crappy vinyl imports -- essentially, I sold him the record, and he sold me the CD at the same price, so my total cost was...lessee, 80 cents for the money order, 33 cents for postage, about 1 cent for the envelope, for a total cost of: $1.14, plus the obsolete vinyl thingy. CAN YOU BEAT THAT???? (Well, I shouldn't gloat TOO much, since the guy who sold me this thing is probably reading this page right now...)

Oh yeah, in case you're in the market for this CD, be sure to get the JAPANESE IMPORT, since it not only includes the cool graveyard shoot-out artwork, but also the guitar intro to "Sails of Charon", which European & domestic version do NOT have...

A great live set which sums up their 70's period. What's interesting here are the songs "All Night Long", "Suspender Love", and "Kojo No Tsuki", which don't appear on any of their studio records! Oh, I must also pat myself on the back for ordering this long before it went out of print. :-)))

"Lovedrive" (original artwork)

1. "Loving You Sunday Morning" (5:40)
2. "Another Piece of Meat" (3:31)
3. "Always Somewhere" (4:57)
4. "Coast to Coast"--instrumental (4:44)
5. "Can't Get Enough" (2:37)
6. "Is There Anybody There?" (3:58)
7. "Lovedrive" (4:52)
8. "Holiday" (6:33)

Another GREAT album cover that was censored in America (damn right-wing zealots!) This was also where they started their new, 80's metal sound, especially on the tight-and-fast rockers "Can't Get Enough" and "Another Piece of Meat". They also show their talent for rock ballads ("Always Somewhere", "Holiday") which unfortunately ruined their sound later. "Coast to Coast" is an awesome instrumental, too.

"Animal Magnetism"

1. "Make it Real" (3:49)
2. "Don't Make No Promises (Your Body Can't Keep)" (2:57)
3. "Hold Me Tight" (3:58)
4. "Twentieth Century Man" (3:01)
5. "Lady Starlight" (6:14)
6. "Falling in Love" (4:10)
7. "Only a Man" (3:35)
8. "The Zoo" (5:28)
9. "Animal Magnetism" (5:57)

The title track is very dissonant and evil-sounding, one of their heaviest songs, and of course one of my favorites...as well as "The Zoo", a rhythmic & radio-friendly rocker (which I'm sure you've already heard by now, so why am I telling you? Of course I bet you didn't know that Bruce Dickinson did a kickass cover of that song on ECW: Extreme Music...) "Don't Make No Promises..." is by far their coolest song title ever. :)

"Blackout"

1. "Blackout" (3:49)
2. "Can't Live Without You" (3:46)
3. "No One Like You" (3:57)
4. "You Give Me All I Need" (3:38)
5. "Now!" (2:35)
6. "Dynamite" (4:12)
7. "Arizona" (3:55)
8. "China White" (6:58)
9. "When the Smoke is Going Down" (3:51)

This album really shows the breadth of this band's talent, with all-out thrashers ("Blackout", "Now!", "Dynamite") paired off with more mainstream, catchy tunes ("Can't Live Without You", "Arizona"). "No One Like You" was the song that first gave them mass appeal, along with that really cool video filmed at Alcatraz...

"Love at First Sting"

1. "Bad Boys Running Wild" (3:53)
2. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" (4:10)
3. "I'm Leaving You" (4:10)
4. "Coming Home" (4:58)
5. "The Same Thrill" (3:30)
6. "Big City Nights" (4:02)
7. "As Soon as the Good Times Roll" (5:02)
8. "Crossfire" (4:33)
9. "Still Loving You" (6:27)

Apparently there was a much racier version of this album cover that was never released, but I've yet to confirm that... This is their seminal album, with songs more stripped-down and radio-friendly than anything they've done previously. Still, I quite like it...

"World Wide Live"

1. "Countdown"--instrumental (0:44)
2. "Coming Home" (3:17)
3. "Blackout" (4:04)
4. "Bad Boys Running Wild" (3:52)
5. "Loving You Sunday Morning" (4:41)
6. "Make it Real" (3:49)
7. "Big City Nights" (4:58)
8. "Coast to Coast"--instrumental (5:13)
9. "Holiday" (3:23)
10. "Still Loving You" (5:49)
11. "Rock You Like A Hurricane" (4:15)
12. "Can't Live Without You" (5:32)
13. "Another Piece of Meat" (3:46)
14. "The Zoo" (5:55)
15. "No One Like You" (4:09)
16. "Dynamite" (7:14)
17. "Can't Get Enough (part I)" (2:16)
18. "Six String Sting"--instrumental (4:15)
19. "Can't Get Enough (part II)" (1:54)

"Uncle Joe" Benson (damn you KLOS, bring him back!!!!) had a saying that a live album usually sums up a period of a band's career, and in this case, I couldn't agree more. What an INCREDIBLE set of songs, performed flawlessly. And it's true, the band went on a major downhill slide after this.

The original release of this CD was a COMPLETE travesty, since it omitted no less than four songs!! Fortunately, the "remastered" version made things right, although I didn't find out about it for several years...I think part of the "Six String Sting" guitar solo was edited out, but I can't confirm that, nor do I care that much...

"I Can't Explain" (CD single)

1. "I Can't Explain" (3:22)
2. "Blackout" (3:45)
3. "Hey You" (4:29)

The Scorps covered this Who song (which sounds GREAT, by the way) for their Best of Rockers & Ballads compilation, a worthless purchase for me since I already own all their other albums, so getting this on CD single was quite a score. "I Can't Explain" is also on the various artists album Stairway to Heaven, Highway to Hell, but "Hey You" apparently was released nowhere else.

"Savage Amusement"

1. "Don't Stop at the Top" (4:03)
2. "Rhythm of Love" (3:47)
3. "Passion Rules the Game" (3:58)
4. "Media Overkill" (3:32)
5. "Walking on the Edge" (5:05)
6. "We Let it Rock...You Let it Roll" (3:38)
7. "Every Minute Every Day" (4:21)
8. "Love on the Run" (3:35)
9. "Believe in Love" (5:20)

Hmm...well, this was where the band finally started to sell out. The sound is so different from their previous works, it hardly sounds like the Scorpions at all! Still, it's catchy enough to be listenable, except "Believe in Love", a TERRIBLE ballad which they should be ashamed of! Their followup, Crazy World, dropped things even further, especially with that drippy-sweet, totally annoying ballad "Wind of Change" which suddenly became a mega-popular Berlin-Wall-Falling-Down anthem, and thus sealed the band's fate to permanent mediocrity...

[untitled CDR]

1. "Edge of Time" (4:07)
2. "Rubber Fucker" (3:40)
3. "She's Knockin' at my Door" (3:20)
4. "Over the Top" (4:25)
5. "Life Goes Around" (3:41)
6. "White Dove" (4:20)
7. "Destin" (3:17)
8. "Daddy's Girl" (4:18)
9. "Concerto in V"--live, instrumental (3:00)
10. "I'm Goin' Mad" (4:56)

Another freebee CDR I got from my "rare CD connection" :) Unfortunately, it's all b-sides and whatnot from their 90's period (except for "I'm Goin' Mad", from Lonesome Crow), and reinforces my belief that the Scorps have been incapable of writing a decent song since "Tease Me Please Me"...

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band