Scorpions Album: “Fly to the Rainbow”

Scorpions _World Wide Live_ was the first album I ever purchased for myself, a monstrous, treasured double-vinyl artifact that I literally wore the grooves out on. Years later, having navigated through plenty of phases with my fickle musical tastes, I was turned on and totally blown away by the heretofore unexplored Uli Jon Roth era, of which this album, though probably not the best, is by far my personal favorite. You can almost smell the incense burning from the first chords. Although the songwriting is uneven, with Roth taking too many vocal turns, the textures and art-rock song structures are mezmerizing, especially on the title track, where Roth's gorgeous, classically-informed technique leads into a track which is some kind of psychadelic metal masterpiece, the kind of track Hawkwind wishes they had the chops to play and Yngwie Malmsteen is still trying to write to this day. "Speedy's Coming" is a great, racous opener and features the first really strong Klaus Meine vocal workout along with some great tongue-in-cheek lyrics ("Do you like Alice Cooper/Do you like Ringo Starr?"). The intricate, gorgeous intro to "They Need a Million" leads into a telltale flamenco-influenced chord progression and showcases Uli Jon Roth's Hendrix-meets-Blackmore soloing (also, unfortunately, his singing). The keyboards on quasi-operatic background vocals are very strange things to find on a Scorpions record, and while many folks may deem them somewhat silly, I find them strangely intoxicating. If "This is My Song" seems somewhat redundant, the delicate, Floydian ballad "Far Away" should make it forgivable. If you approach this as more of a guitarist's record (as it is easy to see Uli Jon Roth was in the spotlight here) the blueprints for the 80's neoclassical shredder can be seen here. But its not a bad intro to the Scorps' early output, either, and it definitely belongs in any hard rock afficianado's collection.

THIS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF ULI'S FINEST WITH THE SCORPIONS. MY FAVORITE TRACK HAS TO BE DRIFTING SUN WHICH I CONSIDER A METAL CLASSIC. THIS ALBUM/CD GETS OVERLOOKED ALOT BUT IT IS SOLID THROUGHOUT! SPEEDYS COMING IS PROBABLY THE MOST KNOWN TRACK AND ROCKS BUT IF FIND THE WHOLE TRACK LIST EXCELLENT. KLAUS'S VOCALS ARE GREAT AND RUDY SCHENKER IS THE RIFFMASTER EXTRAORDANAIRE! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OLD SCORPIONS GIVE THIS A LISTEN!

This is probably one of my favorite metal album of all time. For 1974, this album is so far ahead of its time. Although the lyrics are not the greatest, it really doesn't matter because you have a MASTER guitar player in Ulrich Roth. I still remember the first time I listened to this record I was so amazed by his work in songs like "They Need A Million" "Fly People Fly" and the title track (which is ONLY available on the Japan Import onf this album). You can if you appreciate NWOBHM bands and early 80s thrash metal, pick this album up and you will be in for a REAL treat!

While guitarrist Ulrich ROth was still on board, Scorpions made set-standard rock. Songs like the tittle track adn "Speedy's Coming" were amazing. Klaus Meine's interpretation (albeit full of sotak) was divine, adn the band flourished. After ROth left, the band was gone.

This album is creatively better than any of their other pre-Lovedrive stuff, but it needs to be remastered in at least 20 bit form. As soon as this happens, I'll buy another copy.

To everyone who is crying about the Scorps going commercial after Roth's departure, please wake up from dreamland. The Scorpions were NEVER a hair band even though so many tried to put them in that category. These guys have always been a very heavy and sophisticated rock band all the way up to 1990's Crazy World. Of course their peak time period was the Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, and Love At First Sting era. Please remember that Rudolf's ultimate dream was to become a household name in the rock/metal genre. His dream came true because he and Klaus Meine gave the fans what they wanted, intelligent hard driving rock, and positive progressive ballads that spoke volumes about their creativity, compassion, and integrity. They Never wrote the kind of cheesy songs that Poison, Rat, Motely Crue and other glam bans were famous for. Let's face it, their latter offerings were almost as underrated as their pre-lovedrive efforts. All of these Scorps CDs are now remastered, so get your copy before they are all gone. The Rush, Van Halen, Deep Purple, and Iron Maiden-Canadian remasters are also well worth the money.