Eye II Eye (©1999)

01 Mysterious 02 To be No.1 03 Obsession 04 10 light Years Away 05 Mind Like a Tree 06 Eye to Eye 07 What U Give U Get Back 08 Skywriter 09 Yellow Butterfly 10 Freshly Squeezed 11 Priscilla 12 Du bist So Schmutzig 13 Aleyah 14 A Moment in a Million Years

The faces on the cover say it all. By all accounts, this album represents the lowest point in the band's history. Before picking this up I read a number of reviews and there's no shortage of opinions out there ranging from merely dismissive, to downright caustic. I'm kind of a fan of under dog albums and if I'm told something sucks, I'll usually try to take the counterpoint just to be difficult.

I suppose I should learn to trust the masses on occasion - this really isn't a very good Scorpions album at all. However, it's a decent enough collection of songs, and the guys tried to shake things up a little bit and introduce a few more modern elements into their sound - the results were inconsistent, but I'm not adverse to band's trying out new things - after all they are artists.

The album started off pretty well with "Mysterious" a good pop song, but one that probably had the hard core fans scratching their heads, and checking to see if there'd been a mix up on the label. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of cool songs here, "Yellow Butterfly" being another. These guys have done their share of ballads, but Eye II Eye sounds like the kind of album you'd get if you let George Michael produce the band.

Oddly enough, the more I listen to this, the more it grows on me. I guess I'm just a sucker.

Reviewed December 18, 2007

1: Rock You Like A Hurricane 2: No One Like You 3: The Zoo 4: Loving You Sunday Morning 5: Still Loving You 6: Big City Nights 7: Believe In Love 8: Rythm Of Love 9: I Can't Explain 10: Tease Me Please Me 11: Wind Of Change 12: Send Me An Angel

Emerging before hair, and lasting after hair, Scorpions were the real freakin’ deal and could literally rock your face off. I’ll admit to never being a hardcore fan, but I had Love at First Sting on vinyl. A buddy of mine had a bunch of their early albums and I always liked them. Great big guitars, and great vocals – not to mention a truly unhealthily love of the double entendre – not bad for a bunch of Germans who had to learn English.

Considering I don’t have the deep knowledge of their back catalog a true fan would have, I can only speak to this as a casual fan who’s heard some of their stuff on the radio. This pretty much has all the songs I’d expect. “Rock You Like a Hurricane” was overplayed, but still rocks. I’m glad that “I Can’t Explain” was included here, as I really liked this cover. There’s not a bad tune here, and who knows there were probably a bunch of killers left off this collection - perhaps to leave room for a sequel.

Reviewed July 12, 2005

Humanity: Hour 1 (©2007)

1. Hour 1 2. Game of Life 3. We Were Born to Fly 4. Future Never Dies 5. You're Lovin' Me to Death 6. 321 7. Love Will Keep Us Alive 8. We Will Rise Again 9. Your Last Song 10. Love Is War 11. Cross 12. Humanity

I'd sort of lost my taste for the band - once bitten twice shy and all that. But dang it, if I haven't been on a binge with these guys over the last several months. Humanity: Hour 1 is a retooled yet vintage offering from these seemingly ageless wonders (they look older, but they sound great). The album kicks off with one of the strongest rock songs I've heard in ages "Hour 1" - you can forgive any comparison's to Marilyn Manson as the guitar chugga chugga stuff is provided by John 5, and the song kicks some serious ass. The band follows this up with "Game of Life" a song my son thought was "Hurricane 2007" at first. Oh well, it's a typical Scorpions song. Probably one of the weirdest, and coolest songs on the album is "321" a song I really like, despite the fact that for all the songs musical muscle Klaus Meine's vocal delivery is oddly devoid of life.

As you'd expect there are a number of mid temp songs, and if there's anything the Scorpions pull off better than face melting riffs, it's the mid tempo rock ballad. There are a few to choose from here, and frankly they're all pretty good. The album closes with "Humanity" and although it stirs up memories of "Winds of Change" it's a wicked song, and Klaus nails this one out of the park.

Over thirty years into the game, Scorpions don't seem to understand that they're supposed to be too old to pulling off this kind of stuff?

Reviewed March 18, 2007