Another interesting feature of the earlier SCORPIONS albums is the sharing of vocal duties. While hardly noticeable there’s a touch of organ and Mellotron providing the rare atmospheric enhancer most notably on the title track. Rosenthal equally delivers his unique drumming skills that accent Buchholz’ groovy bass abuse. ![]() All of the tracks on this one pack a punch of some of the tastiest rock melodies combined with an energetic and passionate delivery whether it be Meine’s excellent vocal performances or the bedazzling dual guitar assault action of Ulrich Roth’s Hendrix inspired guitar acrobatics teamed up with founder Rudolph Schenker’s power riffs. FLY TO THE RAINBOW is one impressive powerhouse of excellent songwriting skills, heavy rockin’ guitar riffs, pummeling bass and drum drives as well as the first album to really showcase Klaus Meine’s incredible vocal range that suits his true skill set. And NOTHING says i’m a new band more than the the most anti-Krautrock song possible namely the sizzling hot bluesy hard rockin’ opener “Speedy’s Coming.” A prescient track title indeed as the band would only gain momentum and heaviness over the following years and become one of Germany’s biggest exports (sorry Volkswagen). The two bands merged like a fleet of BMWs to the Autobahn and it became a major win win situation ushering in the newly born SCORPIONS ready and willing to rock the world to kingdom come. This lightning bolt from the sky forced them to do some serious soul searching and they found their new lease on life as a heavy rock band after they serendipitously met another band named Dawn Road which hosted none other than Ulrich Roth (guitars), Jürgen Rosenthal (drums) and Francis Buchholz (bass). These guys wanted to fuckin’ rock! And loud! And it didn’t help that when they were on tour opening for hard rockers UFO, Michael Schenker jumped ship and joined the other team leaving the band more dry than high. Gone are all the psychedelic jams, freaked out ambience and electronic experiments that personally i liked quite a bit but it was like being torn between two lovers and feeling like a fool and a little obvious that just because these guys were German didn’t mean they quite had the temperaments for such drawn out and intricate mechanical meanderings. ![]() Fast forward to album number two for the SCORPIONS and we get their first truly hard rockin’ heavy hittin’ metal album FLY TO THE RAINBOW. Did you think Krautrock had a chance here? For those who care, Krautrock was gravely injured but lived to carry on in more appropriate venues around the Berlin scene and lived happily ever after following this painful divorce. insert dramatic pause here - Ladies and gents! We have a winner! HEAVY FUCKING METAAAAAALLLLL! Now seriously. Let the best genre win! Ding ding! And they’re at it! Bonk! Crrraaack! Ker-sploosh! Splatt! Whamm! OMG! That’s so gotta hurt……. ![]() They can’t take it anymore! The tensions have reached the breaking point to heights not even the Odd Couple could resolve and we are gathered here today to watch one of these genres meet its maker. The two genres coincided side by side for a single album creating one weird little musical hybrid but trouble was afoot as they just can’t get along another day. On the other side we have heavy metal! The new kid in town who was vying for control on “Lonesome Crow” but was constantly distracted by loose skirts, cheap Schwarzbier at happy hour and blowing out too many amps at rehearsals following whiskey fueled bar fights. In this corner we have Krautrock! Lysergically trippin’ right now and recently seen piling in the Bratwurst and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte at their local Hannover buffet after an apparent pot brownie overdose. Step right up and see today’s genre death match.
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