Scorpions – ‘Bad for Good: The Very Best of Scorpions’ (2002) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

Really! Another greatest hits album. Why? Well, the labels want money as this is a cash grab, but it does have some good points. The album was released on May 28, 2002 on Hip-O Records and contains 18 classic songs from the band. Scorpions – ‘Bad for Good: The Very Best of Scorpions’ does offer something a little different than some of their other compilation albums. First, you get 3 tracks that are single edits and not straight album tracks. Second, you get two brand new Scorpions songs!! That right there is the reason to buy this one.

Now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems with this release and for that problem is glaring. Again, we get a greatest hits compilation that completely ignores any album prior to 1979’s ‘Lovedrive’. Why do they keep leaving off all those good songs? Is it that the band, or the label, don’t own the rights to those songs? Whatever is the reason, it is an absolute shame that the public doesn’t get to hear those great songs from the 70’s up against these smash hits. Being a single disc release, I see that there is no room and I do get the label wants the biggest hits…but biggest doesn’t mean the best.

The album is in chronological order…wait…not quite. They start it off with “Rock You Like A Hurricane” because that is like their biggest, most notable hit. After that, the rest are in chronological order. Not sure the point of that and seems quite silly in my book. I am not sure how much input Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker or Mathias Jabs had, but at least they might have had a say in the two new songs, but that might be it. There is a nice multiple page write up in the liner notes about the band by Gerri Miller from Metal Edge magazine and she talks about 3 decades of the band, but the compilation doesn’t give us songs that cover the whole period…but I’ve said that already. Enough bitching, let’s get to the songs.

Every band needs a signature song and Scorpions did that on their 9th album with the song “Rock You Like a Hurricane”. It only went to #25 on the Top 40 chart, but it has lived on and given the band one of the quintessential 80’s rock songs ever made. There is no one that doesn’t know this song the second that opening riff kicks in. It is a rock anthem like very few achieve. For ever how many songs the album sold, most were sold because of this track. With heavy riffs, killer solos and one of the most catchiest choruses ever, this song took the band to a level they probably never thought they would see.

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Scorpions – ‘Best of Rockers ‘N’ Ballads’ (1989) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

The Scorpions were flying high. From the release of ‘Lovedrive’ in 1979 all the way up to ‘Savage Amusement’ in 1988, they could do no wrong. Their label, Mercury Records, thought, “hey, good time for a greatest hits compilation”…and ‘Best of Rockers ‘N’ Ballads’ was born. Since they have had other compilations focusing on Pre-‘Lovedrive’, Mercury Records released a compilation of only songs that were during the bands tenure on Mercury from 1979-1988. To make it enticing to fans, they added a few new remixes and unreleased tracks and I am a fan of new mixes and unreleased tracks.

The album was released on November 29, 1989 just in time for Christmas. And what a present it was. The album sold over 1,000,000 copies and is the only Scorpions compilation to be certified Platinum. The album went to #43 on the U.S. charts and had one single that went to #5 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Now, depending on where you were in the world, you got a different track list. The European version had an extra track, “Is There Anybody There” from ‘Lovedrive, but this was a remix and previously unreleased. They also got a remix of “Hey You” which is a Non-Album single from 1980 that hasn’t been released on any album up to this point. The US and Japanese releases did not have either of those tracks, but did have the original version of “Hey You”. The European CD release also included one more rare track. It was the version of “China White” which features the guitar solo that was only available on the US Blackout release. If you are a completist on the Scorpions, you have a lot to buy here.

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