Tag: Polar Nights

Scorpions – ‘Hot & Heavy’ (1982) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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With the album ‘Blackout’, the Scorpions were starting to break big and it looks like the record company wanted to promote more of the band’s 70’s material, especially with Uli Jon Roth. This is the band’s second compilation and like the first one, only features songs with Uli. Released on May 4, 1982, ‘Hot & Heavy’ is released under the RCA banner of “Takeoff” series. The album, as the title suggests, features the heavier songs by the band and even has 3 Uli sung songs. The songs cover the years 1974-1977.

Admittedly, this is not really necessary as a release, but it is a good showcase of the band’s more rocking material. Sadly, there are 6 repeats on this compilation that are on the ‘Best of Scorpions’ released a few years back. My version is the German release of the album and the back cover has a brief history of the band in both German and English. The back cover also highlights a few other albums under the “Takeoff” series umbrella.

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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 – ‘Virgin Killer’ (1976) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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Another year, another Scorpions album. The band recorded their fourth album during 1976 and it was released on October 9, 1976. The album saw the band continue down the hard rock road and refining their sound more and more closer to what they became most famous for, but this album didn’t see them push much further in sales. The album did better outside of Germany seeing some success in Japan, but the U.S. still hadn’t jumped on board yet. In Japan, the album landed at #32 and sold over 100,000 copies but success elsewhere was coming, but not with this album.

With the last album, ‘In Trance’, the album cover saw a little controversy. ‘Virgin Killer’ looked at ‘In Trance’ and said “Hold my Beer”. The original album cover for this album was of a nude prepubescent girl with a broken glass effect over her private parts. This did not sit well with a lot of the buying public as some considered it child pornography. The album cover was not designed by the band as they generally had no say in the album artwork, that was handled by the label and this picture was handled by Steffan Böhle who was product manager for RCA Records. Some countries wouldn’t sell the album unless it was sealed in black plastic so the cover wasn’t visible. As a result, an alternate cover that featured the band members was issued and is the cover I have. I had the opportunity about 6 months ago to buy the original cover album at a record show, but they wanted $150 for it and I didn’t want to spend that much…maybe someday.

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