Scorpions Album: “Love at First Sting [Clean]”

This is the release that followed the band's 1982 hit album Blackout. It is perhaps the peak of the Scorpions' recording plateau studio-wise. They were indeed firing on all 8 cylinders on this one.

Song listing and thoughts:

1. Bad Boys Running Wild - a great opening song with Schenker on rhythm and the frantic Jabs on lead guitar

2. Rock You Like A Hurricane - this song took the world by storm and wouldn't let go ... sleazy lyrics and A+ solo work by Matthias

3. I'm Leaving You - kinda a mixture of a mid tempo rocker/ballad which works really well

4. Coming Home - starts with the false ballad opening then rolls hard the rest of the way

5. The Same Thrill - a fast paced song, sounds kinda rushed though

6. Big City Nights - a Schenker masterpiece...don't let the guitar tracking fool you, this song is nearly all Schenker. Mr. Flying V starts off with the main rhythm and also plays the lead melody. Matthias plays the 2nd rhythm and the solo fills for the chorus, but Schenker returns with the lead melody along with his powerful lead solo. However, when played live Matthias had/has to play Rudolph's intro rhythm guitar part to compensate

7. As Soon As the Good Times Roll - a mid tempo song with different drum stops, a cool touch

8. Crossfire - a nice slow burning song with Matthias and his laser shooting guitar

9. Still Loving You - a ballad masterpiece featuring Schenker baby aka Mr. Flying V on the soaring lead guitar

Klaus' vocals are top notch throughout.

A great album by a hard rocking band that made it big and deserved it. Something that has always bugged me about Love At First Sting is that Matthias' guitar tracking volumes are noticeably low in the mix for whatever reason (compared to Blackout or Savage Amusement), but that's just a minor picky track mixing detail.

In the eighties, The Scorpions would undergo a transformation not unlike another classic metal band, Judas Priest. Priest had shed many trappings of their more epic 70's sound in favor of more streamlined songwriting and a (somewhat) more commercial sheen. The Scorpions did the same, and by 1984 this transformation had been complete. Uli Jon Roth was nothing but a distant memory, and the most well known line up of The Scorpions had found their place. Love at First Sting still remains a great album, maybe not up to par with their 70's material but strong just the same. It has a very sleek sound that would later be copied by lesser bands who sought to capture the sleekness and commercial potential in this type of production. However, the songs still count, and they still rock, probably more than their previous album, Blackout. It begins with the rocker Bad Boys Running Wild, then to the anthem (the overplayed infamous) Rock You Like a Hurricane, and then to the more speedy songs Coming Home and Same Thrill. No Scorpions album would be complete without some experimentation, and this is in the epic anti cold war track, Crossfire. The ballad Still Loving You is their strongest ballad since the seventies, and the other songs have their own strengths as well. Too bad they hired outside songwriters and so on to try to duplicate the magic later. They couldn't. The Scorpions are the original "pop metal" band, but I mean that in a good way. Their songs are catchy and concise (even in the Roth era though maybe not on Lonesome Crow which I do love btw) and have a keen sense of melody and the bite that they possess keeps the songs from being "pop" in a bad way. Like a Heavy Metal Beatles (early) in a way. Get this, you should already have it!

This is well crafted hard rock/metal. Not Kid Rock, not Limp Bizkit, not Korn, etc. Nu-metal is a joke compared to the classic, timeless songwriting of bands like The Scorps, Iron Maiden, Rush, Sabbath, Dio, Symphony X, Metallica, Dokken, Loudness, AC/DC, Queensryche, Fates Warning, etc. The nu-metal clowns should take some pointers on how to really write and play quality music from some of the aforemetnioned bands. Long live The Scorpions! LAFS is a great release!

I gave this version of Love at First Sting a four out of five rating. The songs on this disc are GREAT ! They deserve as many silly stars as one could possibly place upon them. My problem with this release is that it is being marketed to Scorpions fans such as myself who are expecting an upgrade in sound over the older cd version of this title. If this sounds like yourself, then don`t waste your money. There is no upgrade in sound. I don`t even think it has been remastered at all. I buy all the newly remastered cd`s that come out these days from my favorite old bands and most of them are truly remastered but not all. There is an expensive import version of this available that I was told has truly been remastered but I`ll wait until the Scorps redo everything and re-re-release it all again before I buy this disc for the third time.

TDJ (Houston)

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SCORPIONS ALBUMS. THIS PARTICULAR REMASTER IS REALLY GOOD, SPECIALLY COMPARED TO PREVIOUS ONES. THE SOUND IS VERY CLEAN, NOT TOO MUCH BASS. IT SOUNDS VERY ANALOGUE (WITH GOOD EQUIPMENT)NO HARSHNESS AT ALL. AN ABSOLUTE BUY NOT ONLY FOR THE ALBUM ITSELF, ONE OF THE VERY BEST HARD ROCK ALBUMS, BUT ALSO FOR THIS EXCELLENT TRANSFER.