Tag: In Search of the Peace of Mind

Scorpions – ‘From The First Sting’ (2025) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic17 Comments

60 Years! Think about how long that number is. That is how long Scorpions have been a band and a band that is still going strong. Quite impressive! To celebrate that length of services, they have released a new greatest hits compilation that goes all the back to the first sting and one of the most recent stings. Musically, the band has released material since 1972 which isn’t quite 60 years, but the essence of the band goes back to 1965 when it was started by Rudolf Schenker. Their first album, ‘Lonesome Dove’, came out in 1972 and their last studio album so far, ‘Rock Believer’ came out in 2022. And they have a brand new live album coming out on December 5, 2025 called ‘Coming Home Live’ that was recorded on July 5, 2025. Can’t wait.

This compilation came out on October 17, 2025 and I have both the CD version and the Amazon Exclusive Gold Vinyl which also comes with a Scorpions Patch. The album on vinyl is a 2 LP set while the CD is only a single disc. Hard to put 60 years of songs on a single disc that only has 16 tracks. I think a 2 CD or even 3 CD set would’ve been a more appropriate and better way to celebrate 60 years. 60 years, did I mention that yet? They do cover some great songs on here and we even get 2 previously unreleased versions of a couple of their songs so that is cool at least.

As far as band members go, there have been quite a few, but Rudolf Schenker has been in there since the beginning, singer Klaus Meine since 1969 and Mathias Jabs joined around 1978. Currently, there is Pawel Maciwoda who has been on bass since 2004 and the most recent member is the great Mikkey Dee on drums who joined back in 2016. Throughout the years we have seen some great players like Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Francis Buchholz, Herman Rarebell and James Kottak to only name a few. What a career these guys have had as they have survived through every genre change that music business has seen and each time they stayed true to themselves and survived. They are all legends and one of my favorite bands. Let’s get to the music.

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Scorpions – ‘Tokyo Tapes’ (1978) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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After 5 albums and the band in peak shape, it was time for a live album. While touring Japan in 1978, they recorded the two shows at Nakano Sun Plaza on April 24th and 27th. From those shows they pieced together a sensational double live album. Not only was it the band’s first live album, it was also the last album they would do with their label, RCA Records. If that wasn’t enough, it is also the last album to feature Uli Jon Roth as he left the band after the Japanese tour and prior to the release of this album. The band would audition close to 140 guitarists until they finally found the right fit in Matthias Jabs, but more on him with the next review in the series. This one is all about the live album.

The album would be released in Japan in August 1978 and around 6 months later, get released in Europe and then the U.S. The album finally saw Scorpions receive some success as they charted in 4 different countries reaching #10 in Germany and they went Gold in France. In an era of great live albums, there is no reason this shouldn’t be up there with some of the best as this takes some already great songs and turns them up a notch. I listened to this album in the car and on the turntable and once with headphones and let me tell you this is a headphone listen for the best experience. Trust me, you pick up so much more.

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Scorpions – ‘Lonesome Crow’ (1972) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic77 Comments

Welcome to the start of the Scorpions Collection Series. We will be going through my entire Scorpions collection and only what is in my collection. I wont’ be covering anything that I don’t own on this series as I have all the studio albums. I even have some bonus stuff like promos, singles and whatever else I have found. We will start at the beginning and work all the way up to ‘Rock Believer’ which was released only a few months back. I hope you enjoy!

In 1965, Scorpions was born. Rudolf Schenker is the founding member and at the time he even handled the lead vocals. Scorpions have changed their style over the years, but back in 1965, they were more in to Beat Music. Thankfully for us that all changed by the time their first album came out in 1972. Other members at the time were Wolfgang Dziony on drums, Achim Kirchhoff on bass and Karl-Heinz Vollmer on lead guitar. Rudolf handled the rhythm guitar. Out of this original group, the only 2 to make it to the debut album were Rudolf and Wolfgang.

In 1968, they hired a new bass player after Achim had left and he was replaced with Lothar Heimberg. It wasn’t until 1969 when lead singer Klaus Meine showed up along with Rudolf’s little brother Michael Schenker on lead guitar. At the time of his joining the band Michael was only 14 years old. And when the debut album came out he was the ripe old age of 16 years old. Insane!! So now the line-up was complete.

Things started looking better when they entered and won a contest in which allowed them to record two songs with the CCA label to be used as a single, however, they were never released. The band did re-record those songs when they went in to record their debut ‘Lonesome Crow’ back in October 1971. The album was recorded in about 6 to 7 days. The album would be released in February 9, 1972 in West Germany and strangely as the soundtrack to an anti-drug movie called ‘Das Kalte Paradies’. The U.S. released would come in May 1973 over a year later.

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