Tag: Rudolf Schenker

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

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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 – ‘Icon’ (2010) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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Back in November 2010, Scorpions were on their first farewell tour…and as we know now, it wasn’t their last farewell tour. To help capitalize on that tour, Mercury released a compilation for the band called ‘Icon’. The ‘Icon’ compilations have been around a while and numerous bands have these such as Kiss, Poison and so many more. The single disc version, what we have here, is simply a 12 track compilation that covers the biggest hits of their career. It is not very comprehensive, but there is a 2 Disc version that gives you a little more meat. This release covers mostly the 80’s with a few other timeframes sprinkled around as well. If you only have time for a handful of Scorpions classics, then this disc might fit that bill nicely.

The album kicks off with one of the band’s most famous songs, “Rock You Like A Hurricane” which is off their 1984 release ‘Love At First Sting’. 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.

Then we get one of the best songs ever by the band, “No One Like You” off the 1982 album ‘Blackout’. The band’s first #1 in the U.S. on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song is legendary. A power ballad like no other. With strong guitar playing by both Mathias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker, it is a most impressive opening riff and a solo that plays so well for the song. Klaus Meine’s vocals are so clean, smooth and even tender at times. The verses keep it soft and the chorus explodes with passion. What more could you want. As close to perfection as any band could get.

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The Collection: Ep. 37 – Scorpions On Vinyl (Part 2 of 2)

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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 which we covered last week. For Part 2, this week we will cover ‘Love at First Sting’ up to their latest ‘Rock Believer’. This will cover from 1984 all the way up to their most recent released in 2022. This will have the classic line-up of Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs, Francis Buchholz and Herman Rarebell. There will be new members on bass and drums down the road including Mikkey Dee from Motorhead on drums. We will talk covers, music and sound…all the good and bad an inbetween.

So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, October 14, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

The Collection: Ep. 36 – Scorpions on Vinyl (Part 1 of 2)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic5 Comments

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.


Scorpions – ‘Rock And Roll Queen’ (2019) – (Bootleg – The Scorpions Collection Series)

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I love to find bootlegs from my favorite bands. I was out and about doing some digging and came across this beauty. It is called ‘Rock And Roll Queen’ and it is a Scorpions bootleg taken from a live show all the back on the Fly to the Rainbow Tour. The show was recorded at Grugahalle, Essen, Germany on April 26, 1975. The line-up is great as it was Klaus Meine, Uli Jon Roth, Rudolf Schenker, Rudy Lenners and Francis Buchholz. There were various different colored vinyl released like red, white and peach and those are all listed on Discogs. My copy is traditional black and is not listed on Discogs…hmmm…that is strange. Maybe the black is more rare…who knows.

It opens with a straight up jam. It is a lot of guitar showboating and it is awesome. A nice drum and bass groove with Uli and Rudolf going to town. It is simply called “Jam” which is very appropriate. Not a traditional opening, but I’ll take it. They then go in to “This is My Song” off ‘Fly to the Rainbow. A mid-tempo rocker and it sounds great. It is a bootleg so it is a little rough, but I can hear everything. It only sounds like it does because it is from 1975. There are some cool moments with some dual guitar work with Uli and Rudolf wailing a solo. And if that isn’t enough, listen to Francis on bass…what a cool groove he is laying down. Lyrically, not the most stellar track, but musically, it does kick some ass. When the songs ends there is some polite clapping no huge cheers or roars.

Since they are in German, when Klaus addresses the crowd he does it in German which is cool and makes sense. They then go in to “They Need a Million”. It opens as a ballad with just a guitar that you can barely hear and Klaus singing away. A little ways in, a killer riff kicks in and the song explodes with some heavy drums. Someone else is on vocals and I believe it is Rudolf, Klaus comes back in and sings some harmonies, but this is a Rudolf track. The studio track has a Spanish vibe, this is pure rock & roll.

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Scorpions – The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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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.

#19 – ‘COMEBLACK’ (2011):

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Scorpions – ‘Rock Believer’ (2022) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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A couple years after ‘Return to Forever’ (released in 2015), the band released another greatest hits compilation. Sadly, I don’t have the album in my collection and I need to as there are some new songs and previously unreleased tracks on there. So, instead we jump to the next album which was released 7 years after ‘Return to Forever’ and that is the longest gap between any studio album in their history. The album is “Rock Believer’ and it was released on February 22, 2022 which is the band’s 19th Studio album and it is 50 years after the release of their debut album back in 1972 ‘Lonesome Crow’. Wow, a 50 year career is pretty impressive and they have a lot to show for it.

The album sees the main the band relatively unchanged with one big exception. Gone is James Kottak on drums as he was fired back in 2016. On board now is former Motorhead drummer, Mikkey Dee. This is first studio album with the band. The rest of the crew is still around, Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs and Pawel Maciwoda. And the band had been hinting at an album for years, but it took awhile to be inspired enough to record. Back in 2019, the writing process started, but a little thing called Covid-19 slowed things down immensely. Plans were to record in Los Angeles with Greg Fidelman, but the Pandemic forced the band to work with the producer remotely using Zoom while the band was in Germany and Greg was not. That didn’t work out well and plans were scrapped. They wound up working with Hans-Martin Buff and produced it themselves.

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Scorpions – ‘Return To Forever’ (2015) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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The band’s 18th Studio album was a long time in the making. The work started back in 2011 as they were throwing around ideas for new projects to do. One of those ideas was to go through their old catalog and find unreleased songs. Songs that dated back their heyday. The found enough songs to fit 3 CDs and then those CDs were sent to the producers, Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen. From their the band kept narrowing down and I believe in 2012, the recorded demos of around 12 of those songs and had intentions of recordings 6 more to give them 18 to choose from. The goal was to end up with 12-15 tracks from the unreleased tracks to use for an album.

Well, one thing led to another and they also worked on new songs as well. All in all, by the time the album came out, between new tracks and old tracks, they actually ended up with 19 tracks that have been released for the album. The standard edition only had 12, which is what we have here with the Vinyl. However, the US Deluxe Edition actually has all 19 songs so no need getting the Japanese Edition for this one. That is a ton of songs to sit through which is why I am focusing on the vinyl edition and keeping it simple.

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Scorpions – ‘MTV Unplugged in Athens’ (2013) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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The Scorpions have really had a new life since their farewell tour. With a new album, ‘Comeblack’ which had them re-record old hits and some covers, the band was having a good time again. So, when MTV approached them about doing an MTV Unplugged, they jumped at the chance. They put a lot of work in to re-arranging the songs for an acoustic setting as you can tell from the “Making of Documentary” on the DVD on this release. The band actually didn’t really wanted to play their hits, but dig deep. With pushback coming from either the label or MTV (I forget which), they agreed to do some of their hits, but they also went deep and even brought in some new songs specifically for this set. The setlist is one of the highlights as we get old school Scorpions, 80’s heyday and even songs from today. It spans their career in what a good setlist should do.

The recorded 25 songs and performed at MTV’s first outdoor unplugged show and they couldn’t have chosen a more beautiful spot than high a top a mountain at the Lycabettus Theatre in Athens , Greece. It was recorded over 2 nights on September 11 and 12, 2013. The release came quick on November 29, 2013 and I think the U.S. got it later. Let’s get out the one bad thing about the US version. The US Version is only 1 CVD and not a full show. The DVD that comes with it has the full show, but the CD does not. I am not sure why the rest of the world had a 2 CD full show option and we didn’t, but it is what it is. So, I am reviewing the DVD, full show set.

The full band is there and front and center are Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Mathais Jabs. The other two guys are slightly behind them with James Kottak on drums and Pawel Maciwoda on bass. But they weren’t alone, wow! There is a lot of extra help on the stage including a string ensemble, an extra percussionist with Pitti Hecht and then Mikael Nord Andersson, Ola Hjelm, Ingo Powitzer and Martin Hansen all on guitar (plus Mathias & Rudolf). And that wasn’t all, you also got Hans Gardemar on piano and accordion plus several surprise guest vocalists. It is a full house and one hell of a party.

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Scorpions – ‘Comeblack’ (2011) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

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Following their Farewell tour for the ‘Sting of the Tail’ album, the band decided to release one more album as sort of a comeback, but not. In all the reviews I read on this one, all the reviewers listed as the band’s final album. So, how can it be a comeback if it is the final. That might lie in the name of the album because it is called ‘Comeblack”. So a comeback album but the end at the same time…I don’t know. I’m confused. The band wasn’t confused. The excitement they felt after that tour and all the screaming fans, the success of ‘Sting of the Tail’, all led to the band wanting to do one more and do it for the fans. But as a fan, I don’t remember asking for this.

That wasn’t the only confusing thing about this album. It is sort of a compilation album with 7 songs that are Scorpions classics, but re-recorded and the final 5 songs are cover tunes. No new material here at all. The band wanted to re-record some classics giving them a modern sound with the new production capabilities and they did just that. The cover song choices are a celebration of some of their favorite songs/artists from the 60’s and I will say, they all have that Scorpions sound. But let’s be honest, this is a complete and utter waste of time and energy.

The album was released on November 4, 2011 and in the U.S on January 24, 2012 where the album only sold 5,000 physical copies in its first week and reached #90 on the Billboard 200 chart. Not very impressive. Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Mathias Jabs, James Kottak and Pawel Maciwoda all returned for this mess…or was it really that bad. I know the album cover was pretty decent which is not something that is normally the case. My copy is a gatefold, 2LP version and the packaging looks fantastic, but it is what is on the inside that matters

LP 1:

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