A few years back I did a complete collection series on the Scorpions. I figured it was time to show all the vinyl off on The Collection. We will break it up in to two parts with the first being from the debut album, ‘Lonesome Crow’, all the up to ‘Blackout’ with every thing I have in between. For Part 2, next week, will cover ‘Love at First Sting’ up to their latest ‘Rock Believer’. This part covers the 70’s up to 1982 it will feature a lineup of Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker plus a cast of characters from Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Mathias Jab and Francis Buchholz and numerous, I mean numerous drummers. We will talk the controversial covers and the albums and the sound.
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, October 7, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
It started back on August 1, 2022 and it ends today. The Scorpions Collection Series has been a run ride and after 40 posts, we come to the conclusion. And that conclusion will take the 19 Studio albums and 1 compilation and rank them from the best album to the worst. The 1 compilation is really a studio album. ‘Comeblack’ is 1/2 re-recorded hits and 1/2 covers so in my book, it is a studio album.
Scorpions started way back in 1965, but their first album after many ups and downs finally came out in 1972. It was ‘Lonesome Crow’. There are two classic line-ups of the band in my book. You have the 1st with Rudolf Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Klaus Meine, Francis Buchholz and Rudy Lennars. Then their heyday of the 80’s saw Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine, Francis Buchholz, Mathias Jabs and Herman Rarebell. Yes, Micheal Schenker was in the band and there have numerous drummers and the like, but I would say these two were my favorite line-ups. The final album came out in 2022 and it was called ‘Rock Believer’, so we have 50 years of albums and over 50 years of the band and it was a hell of a ride going through this series.
Now, let us get to the brass tacks here and start this ranking…and away we go….
THE WORST – ‘EYE II EYE’ (1999):
I think it is fair to say this might be the worst Scorpions album of them all. And since I’ve heard them all, I think I’m qualified to make that statement. I am all fine with experimenting, but with such a drastic change, it is a little too much all at once. The techno sound, the rapping, the almost full album of ballads was too shocking for most humans to handle. Now, there are a handful of great tracks on here, but not enough to save this pile of garbage (though good enough for a Scorps playlist). My Overall Score is a 1.0 out of 5.0 Stars as the Scorpions are not a boy band, they are not a pop band and they are definitely not a techno band. They are a hard rock, heavy metal giant that got lost in the 90’s like a lot of 70’s/80’s bands did.
Scorpions is no stranger to releasing compilation albums. In fact, there are 28 official greatest hits compilations over their career. That is insane. Out of those 28, some are worth getting, like ‘Deadly Sting’ or ‘Best of Rockers ‘n Ballads’ and some are not…like this one!! This is a complete money grab except it was released at a time where Scorpions weren’t getting much publicity so I am sure this was overlooked by everyone. There are no unreleased tracks, no single mixes, no nothing excited that would make this worth getting. So why do I have it? I found it in a bin for like $2 so why not. It isn’t worth anymore than that, I promise!
It was released on July 11, 1998 on Rebound Records & Universal Music Distribution. There is one interesting thing about it, some copies have the song “No One Like You (Live)” was weirdly replaced with the studio version, but still listed it as “Live” on the track listing. My copy is the boring old version with the actual live version. And that is it, nothing else interesting about this release. So, I will at least go through the songs and give my input on them.
“Big City Nights” is up first and it is off the album ‘Love at First Sting’ and was the third single off the album. This one leans more to the 80’s pop rock, very radio friendly and although a rocker, a little calmer. Yet, it is very effective with its cool riff, contagious chorus and of course, that great Klaus vocal. What is there not to like.
In the U.S., the label was capitalizing on the Scorpions success by releasing a compilation, so why not the European labels. 1984 was a big year for the Scorpions so lets milk it for what we can was the attitude of the day!. With the massive success of their ballad “Still Loving You”, why not release an E.P. of their best ballads and pick those from four of their best albums, ‘Lovedrive, ‘Animal Magnetism’, ‘Blackout’ and ‘Love at First Sting’. And ballads are big sellers, so it made perfect sense.
My copy is the German release…yes, I have a bunch of German releases as I found all of these at one of our local record shows (not stores, but the record shows where there are all the goodies). The album was released on October 13, 1984 with multiple reissues over the next couple years across Europe. This copy I have is from the original release in Germany. It is a 5 song E.P. and let me tell you, it is a great set of ballads. I also love that the cover is probably an outtake photo from the ‘Love at First Sting’ album cover shoot.
Sit back and let us go trough it for you.
SEITE 1:
“Still Loving You”, from ‘Love at First Sting’, is one of my favorite Scorpions ballads and one of my favorite all time as well. About a couple in love that knows it’s over, but try to make it work one more time. The song opens with some gentle, soft riffing and Klaus singing in almost a whisper. Then the power part of the ballad kicks in and the guitar licks are blissfully beautiful and the chorus is gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking and lovely at the same time. I think this might one of Klaus Meine’s best vocal performances on any album.
As reported in the ‘Lovedrive’ review, Michael Schenker rejoined Scorpions after he left UFO. He toured with the band and left during the tour so Mathias Jabs was brought back in the fold after some heave negotiations. It is the line-up of Mathias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine, Francis Buchholz and Herman Rarebell that bring us the bands seventh studio album, ‘Animal Magnetism’. A name that was thought up by Mr. Rarebell.
The album was released on March 31, 1980 and saw the band maintain their current sound with hard rock songs that were melodic and catchy as hell. The sound that the world would soon catch on too and see them hit the stratosphere, but not just yet. The album went #52 in the U.S. and it would reach platinum status. In the UK, the album spawned two singles that reached the Top 100 though the only made it as high as the 70’s and not Top 40 hits. It was another album that saw the band keep moving in the right direction.
Now, like almost all of Scorpions album covers, this one too had a little controversy. It was designed by renowned artist, Storm Thorgerson of the design firm Hipgnosis. It had a young lady on her knees in front of a man and she only comes up waist high. It is very suggestive as we wonder is she going to do something sexually to the man although nothing is shown. It is purely speculation. As a result, there was no alternative cover done for this one. But the most interesting thing about the cover is the addition of the dog right next to the girl. Why is he/she there, we have no idea other than to stick with the name of the album, ‘Animal Magnetism’. It is so strange and yet so captivating. I love this cover for everything that it doesn’t show.
That is right…starting August 1, 2022, we will begin the next series here on 2 Loud 2 Old Music and it is the Mighty Scorpions!! This is another “Collection Series” so will be everything I have in my collections from The Scorpions so I might miss a few things. We will start from the beginning with ‘Lonesome Crow’ in 1972 and go all the way to 2022’s release of ‘Rock Believer’. 50 Years of the Scorpions and it is time to celebrate them for the greatness that they are!!!
We will do studio albums, live albums, compilations and singles and whatever I have you will see. So what will we see…a list is at the bottom, but for now here you go.
The 70’s Studio Albums…
The 80’s Studio Albums…
The 90’s Studio Albums…
And the 2000’s…
But we don’t stop there…we will cover their live albums…
Their greatest hits compilations…
And I even have a handful of singles and promos…
So, buckle up and get ready to walk through the history of the Scorpions!! And it is a lot…take a look at it all in its beautiful glory!!
Below is a list of the order of the reviews (it is subject to change)…I can’t wait to dive in deep with these German Rock Gods!! See you real soon…
Lonesome Crow (1972)
Fly to the Rainbow (1974)
In Trance (1975)
Virgin Killer (1976)
Taken by Force (1977)
Tokyo Tapes (1978)
Lovedrive (1979)
Best of Scorpions (1979)
Animal Magnetism (1980)
Rock Galaxy (1980)
Blackout (1982)
Hot & Heavy (1982)
Love at First Sting (1984)
Still Loving You Maxi Single (1984)
Best of Scorpions Vol. 2 (1984)
Gold Ballads (1984)
World Wide Live (1985)
Savage Amusement (1988)
Rhythm of Love – Single (Box Set) (1988)
Best of Rockers ‘n’ Ballads (1989)
Crazy World (1990)
Crazy World – 4 Track From Crazy World Promo Vinyl (1990)
Tease Me Please Me Promo CD (1990)
Don’t Believe Her Promo CD (1990)
Send Me An Angle Promo CD (1991)
Face the Heat (1993)
Live Bites (1995)
Pure Instinct (1996)
Big City Nights (Compilation) (1998)
Eye II Eye (1999)
Moment of Glory (with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) (2000)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 