Disco de Scooter: “Wicked”

This album truly is wicked! This remains one of Scooter's earlier and better albums, and is a good one because the tracks have quite a lot of variety and spice the album up a bit. Their previous album, "Our Happy Hardcore", was good too but I noticed some of the songs employed the same rhythms and choice of sounds on the keyboard. Of those two albums released in 1996, I have to say I like "Wicked!" better.

1. WICKED INTRODUCTION: This was Scooter's first album to start off with a short, non-techno but electronic introduction that has been used in every album since. It is a preview of the next track sampling from "Scotland the Brave", an old Scottish folk song.

2. I'M RAVING: This song was a big risk for Scooter to take as it was their first song to use a noticeably slower beat. However, it soon caught on, and remains one of their best singles ever. The melody is taken from Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis" with Scooter's own lyrics (i.e. "put on my blue suede shoes" now becomes "put on my raving shoes"). The secondary melody is "Scotland the Brave" again, except a little bit faster.

3. WE TAKE YOU HIGHER: This track is hardcore! Frontman H.P. Baxxter spins out some of his better lyrics in this song, while a fat melody plays in the background. It's very groovy, and just makes you want to jump up and down. I really like the syncopation used by the percussion and vocals in this song. I can picture people from the `90's Clubbing to this in some Euro discotheque.

4. AWAKENING: "Awakening" is probably the most boring track on this album. It just isn't that exciting and has very little creativity. But hey, it's Scooter, so who cares?

5. WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY: This song starts with one of the best percussion solos ever by Scooter, and then breaks out in a mellow piano solo with H.P. Baxxter singing (not shouting) some random lyrics that make no sense at all. But it's a great number, and I love it for its melancholy feel. Halfway through the piece, the DJ's play some awesome licks and riffs before returning to the main part. It concludes with H.P. yelling his signature laugh. It made me laugh when I first heard it.

6. COLDWATER CANYON: "Coldwater Canyon" is in my top three trance songs by Scooter. It starts off with string-synth and breaks out into a fast-paced beat with undoubtedly the best piano solo ever by Scooter. The piece slows down for a bit, returning to the intro but with more sounds and still retaining the original theme. This is definitely a Scooter trance classic.

7. SCOOTER DEL MAR: An odd piece, "Scooter Del Mar" is like a very slow techno song. It almost sounds like something you might hear on a smooth jazz radio station. This is the only song in which H.P. whispers his lyrics instead of yelling them like he usually does. It has a nice piano solo with synthesizers in the background that add a nice accompaniment.

8. ZEBRAS CROSSING THE STREET: This is an interesting track. The name of the song suggests the absurdity of the lyrics, which are done by an electronic voice (it might be H.P. singing through a weird vocoder). The piano/synths aren't all that fantastic but it is fast-paced and energetic.

9. DON'T LET IT BE ME: I have a feeling Scooter ripped this song off someone else, because the lyrics actually make sense. Anyway, H.P. Baxxter does a nice job singing this song, and he can actually sing in tune. For a German his English accent is excellent. The style of this piece has more traditional Scooter elements, but is nevertheless fun to listen to.

10. THE FIRST TIME: The first time, what? Well, this another sort of strange track, but it is Scooter and I like the variety. A woman repeats these words: "The first time I've ever seen this place, the first time I ever saw your face". It's a bit of a spooky track, and could have been a little shorter to avoid repetition.

11. BREAK IT UP: This was the first-ever ballad done by Scooter, and they add a nice touch. Sung wonderfully by H.P. Baxxter himself, "Break It Up" features an acoustic guitar with some additional electronic sounds in the interludes. This song represents the imaginative side of Scooter, showing that they are capable of more than just dance music. I'm sure that this song inspired "Leave in Silence", "Eyes without a Face", and "Stripped", the other Scooter ballads. I guess those are the songs that you would do a slow dance to in a club. Although I really wouldn't know since I'm only 16 and I live in America. Anyway, this number adds to the creativity of the album.

As stated above, what I love about this album is its intense variety and uniqueness in each song. "Wicked!" clearly is a turn in a different direction for Scooter, and it goes well because they still retain their traditional elements from song to song. As for whether you, the online shopper, should buy this album or not (depending on the outrageous price of Amazon - I downloaded this album for free), I would recommend it - not strongly, because I think Scooter has even better albums, but I would get it if I were a hardcore, diehard, ultimate Scooter fan (or groupie).


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