Tracklist:1. Raised on Rock
2. Sting in the Tail
3. Slave Me
4. The Good Die Young
5. No Limit
6. Rock Zone
7. Lorelei
8. Turn You On
9. Let's Rock
10. SLY
11. Spirit of Rock
12. The Best is Yet to Come
I Fail to Get Stung – 6/10
The sooner the release date approached, the better the album was promised to be. First we are told this album is going to sound like the Scorpions did in the early 80s. Second we are told that this album is very good, on par with the classic albums Blackout and Love at First Sting, in the opinions of the band members. Last we are surprised with this being the final studio album the Scorpions will ever make together and they want to end their career on a high note, making this their swan song. If all these things were true, the Scorps would be making on hell of a farewell album. Unfortunately, the Scorpions seemed to have set the bar extremely low or they have just no more inspiration. I don’t mean to say the entire album is bad, but it sounds uninspired nonetheless.
Oh yes, this album sounds 80s alright, but it’s nowhere near Blackout. Actually, the sound reminds me more of Crazy World and Unbreakable, with a dash of new. This new element is the will to party, and party they did. Choruses like “Let’s Rock” and “Turn You On” are really happy and celebrating, unique to Sting in the Tail. The quality of the songs is however a bit less. I already said it was a little like Crazy World, and I think that one is a bit of a dull album. Well, this album is actually quite the same, but in a different way. Where Crazy World just didn’t have enough hooks and heartbreaking melodies, SitT does have hooks, but they don’t last for very long. They kept this album very simple, very happy and thus making it sound uninspired. The band’s performance is very tight, but the arrangements are dull. Best example of that is the title track with its one-chord verses and chorus. There’s just no challenge for the listeners on this album, although I have to admit the guitar solos are great again, after a short absence from previous albums.
This doesn’t mean the album doesn’t have its moments. “Raised on Rock” is a classic opener with very tight “Hurricane”-ish riffs and real good vocals. Vocalist Klaus Meine is really shining on the album, hitting high notes on his old day. “Lorelei” is a truly great ballad, slightly borrowing arrangements in the main theme from Crazy World’s “Send Me An Angel”. “Let’s Rock” is my favorite track with it’s relaxing heavy riff and very melodic partying chorus, but unfortunately not all CD releases feature this song. “The Best Is Yet to Come” is as a final ballad also worth a positive mention with its more modern sound and very catchy melodies. It’s obviously an upcoming live track with the stadium chants of ‘heyaheyo’. Having mentioned these four good songs, this is where the notable work stops.
The rest of the album is filled with okay but not great tracks. “Sting in the Tail” and “Rock Zone” for example are two very uninspired rock songs that don’t feature anything really stunning or notable. Same with rockers as “No Limit” or “Spirit of Rock”. These songs are not necessarily bad: they have considerably good riffs, great vocals and good choruses, but they are far from memorable. It’s okay, but not great. The ballad “SLY” on the other hand is quite a bad song. They not only copied the opening chords from “Send Me An Angel” again, but the rest of the track doesn’t go anywhere. That’s the whole problem with this album: most songs don’t go anywhere, they just go. That’s what makes this album pretty dull. European single “The Good Die Young” is in itself not a bad song, but doesn’t add anything to the album but an okay track without a solo. And then we have Tarja Turunen doing some backing vocals here, but it’s nothing that can’t be replaced by keyboards. It’s really a pity the Scorpions decide to end their career with this.
In short, Sting in the Tail is not the great farewell album they promised it to be. There are some fine songs on it, but the rest doesn’t matter. They’re not bad songs, but not at all great, and thus they make this a very dull album. I would recommend this only to collectors of the Scorpions’ music.
Strongest tracks: “Let’s Rock”, “Lorelei” and “Raised on Rock”.
Weakest tracks: “Sting in the Tail”, “Rock Zone” and “SLY”.
As a long time Scorpion fan all I can say is they have embarrassed themselves by presenting this album as ther final project. On many Rock forums where opinions on bands are bantered about many always say over the years Scorpions suck, I have many times tried to defend them but it has become increasly hard to defend them over the years, and this album is undefendable. This final album makes me look back and review the whole of teh Scorpions work over teh years and I find myself questioning why I have even remained a fan, was it out of sentimentality ? Because really the music got progressively worse. I think the Scorpions pissed off a lot of their power and potential by egotisically viewing themselves as "artists" thus trying to be "artistic" and venturing into "new" areas over the years like Acoustica, rock mixed with orchestra and sappy ballads instead of staying true to their roots (talking vintage here).
ReplyDeleteI think fans who continue to defend this last album do so for sentimentality and some twisted sense of loyalty. If this album was played for fans and they were told it was some new band and there was a way to disguise Klaus german accent a bit so they didn't know this was Scorpions, most would say this was a crappy album, if they didn't know it was their beloved Scorpions. Raised on Rock has a catchy chorus but its like something you would hear on a TV commercial. Final rating : Crap.
My feelings about Scorpions last album have run the gamut as I've listened to it over the past week. First, I cried because it sounded so good and I couldn't believe they would quit. Then I was appalled by the lyrics - did they really say that? But Scorpions have always been a schizophrenic band - there are serious songs like "Wind of Change" and "Alien Nation" and then there are silly party songs like "Tease Me Please Me." This one has more than it's share of silly party songs but part of being a Scorpions fan is letting some of the absurdity of the lyrics slide.
ReplyDeleteThe melodies are catchy and now I find the songs stuck in my head even when I wake up in the morning. Perhaps the best yardstick to measure the new songs is how they sound live, which is where Scorpions have always been the best and judging from the bootlegged Moscow concert, the new songs (Sting In the Tail and Raised On Rock) sound good.
Is this the best Scorpions album ever? No. Is this an irredeemable piece of crap? No. The songs are catchy and the melodies infectious. "Lorelei" is one of the best Scorpions ballads ever. "No Limit" really rocks. "The Good Die Young" and "The Best Is Yet To Come" are catchy slow songs. "Raised On Rock," "Sting In The Tail," "Slave Me," and "Lets Rock" are decent little rockers that grow on you. The one song that is a total waste of space is "Sly" which is five minutes plus of misdirected wandering.
Final verdict: It is what it is. Catchy melodies, silly lyrics. Must be Scorpions. Definitely worth a listen.