Scorpions "Sting In The Tail (Japan Edition, Sony Records Japan, SICP 2670)"

Sting in the Tail is the seventeenth studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions. It was released on 19 March 2010 in Europe (14 March in Greece) and on 23 March in North America. At the time it was a farewell album, released prior to their farewell tour.

Band members explained that the sound of the album would have been similar to that of the classic releases of the 80s, but with a modern twist.

The album features a duet on the song "The Good Die Young" with the Finnish symphonic metal singer Tarja Turunen, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish.

A tentative title for the album was Humanity: Hour II, however this was eventually scrapped.

First week sales in the United States were 18,500 copies sold placing the album at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 chart. In Germany the album debuted at No. 2, but fell in its second week to No. 3, in France at No. 16 and in Greece at No. 1. The album also peaked at Number 2 on the Billboard Rock Charts.

The Get Your Sting and Blackout World Tour promoting the album was initially reported to be the band's last tour, though this proved not to be the case. In later interviews given after the tour had started, at least two band members (Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs) stated that the band was not going to stop touring and was in fact, working on new material.

Rudolf Schenker explained that with this album, Scorpions went back to their roots. He said "If you take the best song elements from the ‘80s albums, and put these on one album, you come up with the Sting in the Tail album. So in this case we tried to re-invent the Scorpions sound from the ‘80s, using the same DNA after putting in a modern twist, to make it sound like today’s music".

Lyrics on the album deal with various subjects. "Raised on Rock" is a song about Scorpions' philosophy of life. Meine explained "We all started listening the music and growing up with the music back in the 60s". Schenker also added ""Raised on Rock" is our soundtrack and it will be our soundtrack until the end of our days. It's the reason why we formed the band." Songs "Let's Rock", "Rock Zone" and "Spirit of Rock" deal with the same subject. "Sting in the Tail" is a song about attitude and as Schenker said "it is really a great symbol of what the Scorpions are all about". "The Good Die Young" is an anti-war song about soldiers in Afghanistan and all the people around the world who stand for freedom and peace. Meine explained "We all live in trouble times. I think that song is trying to express that kind of feeling". Lyrics for the song were inspired by the conversation between Meine and his friend who was preparing to go to Afghanistan for eight months. Meine said: "In between the lines I could hear, 'Well, let’s hope I come back home alive'." "Lorelei" is a song about the legend of the water-spirit Lorelei who lives on the top of the rock Loreley above the river Rhine. "SLY" is the fictional song about a girl named Sly. Meine explained "When "Still Loving You" was a smash hit back in the '80s, many folks made love to that song, obviously. Many people told us in Europe, especially France, 'We called our daughter Sly because of Still Loving You'"

The title for the album was announced on 22 November 2009 and the artwork was released on 8 January 2010. First snippets of the album were uploaded on Scorpions' official web site on 24 January 2010 and final snippets of the whole album were released on Amazon.de on 25 February 2010. The complete track list was revealed on 5 February 2010. Eight days later promotional video for the album was released on Blabbermouth.net The first international single released from the album was the song "The Good Die Young". It was premiered by the Greek online radio station Rockmachine.gr and a reduced radio broadcast quality version of the song was uploaded to YouTube by the domestic Scorpions' fan club Greek Sting Fan Club. The first single in the United States was "Raised on Rock". It was available for purchase via Amazon.com prior the release of the album. The song reached No. 1 one on the classic rock radio stations. On 21 June 2010, the band released the single from the album to the radio, with the title track "Sting in the Tail". In Greece the album was released exclusively with the Real News newspaper on 14 March 2010. The day before the release Greek Fan Club held a listening session for the album at Hard Rock Cafe in Athens. The album was released on 19 March 2010. in Europe and 23 March 2010 in the US. In the week of release in the US, iTunes gave customers the opportunity to preorder the album until 22 March with the special download of the exclusive bonus track called "Let's Rock!". From 20 April till 1 June 2010, the web magazine Classic Rock Revisited gave Scorpions' fans opportunity to win a copy of the album autographed by Meine, Schenker and Jabs by filling out the eForm for a randow draw. On 2 November 2010. Sony Music Germany released a Premium Edition of the album, which consists of the CD and a bonus DVD. The CD has the standard 12 tracks plus five bonus tracks: "Dreamers", "Too Far", "Miracle", a new version of the song "The Good Die Young" which is a duet with Tarja Turunen and "Thunder and Lightning", which was previously released as a bonus track on a Japanese versions of the album. The bonus DVD has live videos of the performances of the song "Sting in the Tail" in San Antonio and the song "The Best Is Yet to Come" recorded in Prague. Bonus DVD also features EPK for the Sting in the Tail album.

Track listing

Sting in the Tail – International release

1. "Raised on Rock" Martin Hansen, Klaus Meine Mikael Nord Andersson, Hansen 3:58
2. "Sting in the Tail" Meine Meine, Rudolf Schenker 3:13
3. "Slave Me" Meine, Matthias Jabs, Eric Bazilian Schenker 2:45
4. "The Good Die Young" (featuring Tarja Turunen) Meine Schenker, Christian Kolonovits 5:14
5. "No Limit" Meine, Schenker, Bazilian Meine, Schenker, Bazilian 3:23
6. "Rock Zone" Meine Meine, Andersson, Hansen 3:18
7. "Lorelei" Meine, Bazilian, Fredrik Thomander, Anders Wikström Schenker, Thomander, Wikström 4:33
8. "Turn You On" Meine Schenker, Andersson, Hansen 4:23
9. "Let's Rock!" Meine, Bazilian Meine, Schenker, Bazilian 3:20
10. "SLY" Meine Meine, Schenker 5:17
11. "Spirit of Rock" Meine, Schenker, Bazilian Schenker, Bazilian 3:43
12. "The Best Is Yet to Come" Schenker, Bazilian, Thomander, Wikström Bazilian, Thomander, Wikström 4:33

Total length: 47:20

Japanese edition bonus track

1. "Thunder and Lightning" Meine Schenker, Meine, Kolonovits 4:35

Total length: 52:11

Release dates:

Greece, March 14th.

Europe, March 19th.

North America, March 23rd.

Japan, April 21st.

Originally announced as the band's final studio album. 

Tracks 3, 5, 8 and 12 were originally written during the "Unbreakable" recording sessions.

Recording information:

Recorded at Scorpio Sound Studio in Hannover, Germany.

Vocals also recorded at The Garage Studio in Stockholm, Sweden and Vocal Land Studio in Germany.

Drums recorded at Atlantisstudion in Stockholm, Sweden.

Mastered at Sterling Sounds in New York, New York, USA.