Cries from the Quiet World

jueves, 1 de junio de 2023

Scorpions "Fly To The Rainbow (2007, CD, RCA, Japan, Remastered, Mini-LP)"

Fly to the Rainbow is the second studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released in 1 November 1974 in the United States.

In support of their Lonesome Crow album, Scorpions appeared as the opening act for the British rock band UFO. At the end of the tour, Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker was asked to fill an open position as UFO's guitarist and accepted the role. Schenker's departure temporarily resulted in the breakup of the band but Rudolf Schenker and later Klaus Meine ultimately merged with the band Dawn Road which consisted of guitarist Ulrich Roth filling Michael's role, as well as drummer Jürgen Rosenthal, and bass guitarist Francis Buchholz. The new line up resumed under the Scorpions name and recorded Fly to the Rainbow.

Three songs were co-written with departing guitarist Michael Schenker as part of an agreement with the Scorpions for leaving them and joining UFO in April of that year.

When asked to comment on the cover art to the album, the band's former lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth said "Don’t ask me what that cover means… I disliked it from the beginning. It looked ludicrous to me back then and looks just as bad today. It was done by a firm of designers in Hamburg, who had actually done a good job on the Lonesome Crow album before, but I think that time they failed miserably. As for the meaning, I can only guess, but I’d rather not…"

Six songs from Fly to the Rainbow were regularly performed live by Scorpions: the title track, "Speedy's Coming", "They Need a Million", "This Is My Song", and "Drifting Sun". "Far Away" was already performed by early lineups with Michael Schenker, since at least 1973. The live versions of "Speedy's Coming" and the title track appear on the live album Tokyo Tapes which was recorded in April 1978. Soon afterwards, Scorpions dropped these songs from their setlist. Between 1980 and 1999, nothing from Fly to the Rainbow appeared in Scorpions concerts. Following a one-off performance of They Need a Million on 7 June 1999 at Patinoire de Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg, the title tune and "Speedy's Coming" were performed a number of times between 2000 and 2008. "Speedy's Coming" was played with relative frequency from 2015 to 2019.

Tracklist:

Speedy's Coming 03:33
They Need a Million 04:50
Drifting Sun 07:40
Fly People Fly 05:02
This Is My Song 04:14
Far Away 05:39
Fly to the Rainbow 09:32

Time: 40:30

Tracks 1, 2, 5 by Klaus Meine & Rudolf Schenker.

Track 3 by Uli Jon Roth.

Track 4 by Klaus Meine & Michael Schenker.

Track 6 by Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker & Michael Schenker.

Track 7 by Uli Jon Roth & Michael Schenker.

Issued in a LP style card sleeve.

Recording information:

- Recorded at Musicland Studios; Munich, Germany in April, 1974.

- Mixed at Studio Maschen, Hamburg, Germany, end of June, 1974.

Scorpions "The Original Scorpions (1986 Reissue of Lonesome Crow, Brain Records Japan, P33X-20003)"

Lonesome Crow is the debut studio album by the German hard rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released 9 February 1972 in West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie Das Kalte Paradies, and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, typical for early Scorpions but unlike their later work.

It is the band's only album with lead guitarist Michael Schenker – just 16 at the time of the recording – as a full-time member. He soon left to join UFO and was replaced by Ulrich Roth. Schenker would, however, rejoin briefly during the recording and touring of 1979's Lovedrive.

With Lonesome Crow, we were just a young band trying to find our way, trying to shape an artistic style to find the Scorpions DNA. There was a ballad with "In Search of the Peace of Mind", and a psychedelic rocker with the title track, "I’m Goin' Mad", [which] was a great rocker with Michael Schenker playing great solos. We were just a young band with talented guys, with no idea on where to go from here. For the subsequent album, Fly to the Rainbow, we brought in Uli Roth, who had a Hendrix influence, and Rudolf and I became a songwriter team. When Matthias Jabs joined the band, we found our style, fast riffs but great melodies, along with the power ballads.
— Klaus Meine

Michael Schenker in later years has spoken bitterly about not getting his proper writing credit, with a blanket "all songs by Scorpions" when in his mind many of the songs were written by himself and Klaus alone. In particular Michael cites "In Search of the Peace of Mind" remaining, unjustly, in the Scorpions set list for years when it's in reality, his song. Apart from these occasional performances of "In Search of the Peace of Mind" up to 1978 and between 1996 and 2006, Scorpions have played no song from Lonesome Crow since the tour in support of their third album In Trance.

The songs "Action" and "I'm Goin' Mad" are re-recordings of the songs for their unreleased 1970 single on CCA label that were later released on the compilation Psychedelic Gems 2, making them the earliest released Scorpions recordings.

The album had several different sleeves and was re-titled Action for its initial release in Scandinavia, The Scorpions for one 1976 release, and The Original Scorpions, with a different running order, for a Japanese release in 1981 and its first-ever CD issue in 1986. The 1982 German reissue cover art was created by the artist Rodney Matthews.

The Original Scorpions 1981 Japanese reissue

"Action" 3:56
"It All Depends" 3:30
"Lonesome Crow" 13:31
"I'm Goin' Mad" 4:53
"Leave Me" 5:06
"In Search of the Peace of Mind" 4:59
"Inheritance" 4:41

Recording information:

Recorded in October, 1971 at Star Studios in Hamburg, (West) Germany.

Scorpions "Lonesome Crow (2005, CD, Universal Music Group, Remastered, 00422 825739-2)"

Lonesome Crow is the debut album by German hard rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released 9 February 1972 in the United States and West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie Das Kalte Paradies, and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, unlike the band's later work.

It is the band’s only album with lead guitarist Michael Schenker, who was just 17 at the time of the recording, as a full-time member. He left not long after to join UFO and was replaced by Ulrich Roth on later albums. Schenker, however, would rejoin the band briefly during the recording and touring of 1979’s Lovedrive.

Of the album, vocalist Meine said:

With Lonesome Crow, we were just a young band trying to find our way, trying to shape an artistic style to find the Scorpions DNA. There was a ballad with “In Search of the Peace of Mind”, and a psychedelic rocker with the title track, “I’m Goin' Mad”, [which] was a great rocker with Michael Schenker playing great solos. We were just a young band with talented guys, with no idea on where to go from here. For the subsequent album, Fly to the Rainbow, we brought in Uli Roth, who had a Hendrix influence, and Rudolf and I became a songwriter team. When Matthias Jabs joined the band, we found our style, fast riffs but great melodies, along with the power ballads.
— Klaus Meine

Apart from occasional performances of “In Search of the Peace of Mind” up to 1978 and between 1996 and 2006, Scorpions have never played any song from Lonesome Crow in concert since the tour in support of their third album In Trance.

The album had several different cover art sleeves and was re-titled Action for its initial release in Scandinavia, The Scorpions for one 1976 release, and The Original Scorpions with a different running order for a Japanese release in 1981 and its first-ever CD issue in 1986,. The 1982 German re-issue cover art was created by the artist Rodney Matthews.

"My biggest skeleton in the closet is my Scorpions collection," confessed Uffe Cederlund of Swedish death metal band Entombed. "Actually, I have four different pressings of the first album, Lonesome Crow. In fact – and I've got to admit this, really – I still like them, too."

Tracklist:

I'm Going Mad 04:53
It All Depends 03:26
Leave Me 05:04
In Search of the Peace of Mind 04:59
Inheritance 04:40
Action 03:54
Lonesome Crow 13:30

Time: 40:26

Includes a 16-page booklet.

Recording information:

Recorded in October, 1971 at Star Studios in Hamburg, (West) Germany.

Scorpions "Lonesome Crow (2010, CD, Universal Music Japan, Reissue, Remastered, Japan, Mini LP, SHM-CD)"

Of the album, vocalist Meine said:

With Lonesome Crow, we were just a young band trying to find our way, trying to shape an artistic style to find the Scorpions DNA. There was a ballad with “In Search of the Peace of Mind”, and a psychedelic rocker with the title track, “I’m Goin' Mad”, [which] was a great rocker with Michael Schenker playing great solos. We were just a young band with talented guys, with no idea on where to go from here. For the subsequent album, Fly to the Rainbow, we brought in Uli Roth, who had a Hendrix influence, and Rudolf and I became a songwriter team. When Matthias Jabs joined the band, we found our style, fast riffs but great melodies, along with the power ballads.
— Klaus Meine

Tracklist: