The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: uwe on May 12, 2010, 04:57:15 AM
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I first saw The Scorpions in 1977 with Uli Roth in a small school gym hall - that was a time when they were better known in France and Belgium than in Germany, they were touring Virgin Killer. Then again with Michael Schenker (a short stint before he went AWOL again) on the Love Drive tour in the early eighties. And now again tonight on their (sold out) farewell tour. Full closure so to say.
Why am I writing this here? Because I finally found a pic from that 77 tour through small clubs and halls were Francis Buchholz is playing what I remembered all these years, but could never find a confirmation of:
(http://img.webme.com/pic/o/ottersberg-rockt/scorpions1.jpg)
(http://img.webme.com/pic/o/ottersberg-rockt/scorpions4.jpg)
Memory had tricked me into believing it was a Grabber, but, hey, I was close!
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That's cool. Those Marshall stacks looks almost out of place in such a small hall.
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I heard on the news last week, that some scientist had found evidence that the Neanderthal man has left traces in modern folks DNA, supposedly 2-4%. The pic of the guy in Scorpions makes one wonder if some of us didn't get more than the regular dose of Neanderthal?
I even heard some speculations concerning how the Neanderthals communicated. Some think they used some kind of music, to get a message thrue. A whop bop-a-lu a whop bam boo?
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Braces just weren't that common in after-war Germany, ok?! ;D
That stubble did poor Francis no favors whatsoever, he only had it for that tour though. Age has de-neantherthaled him somewhat and being a millionaire helps with your teeth too:
(http://www.metal-rules.com/zine/images/stories/interviews/FRANCIS06/F/uli06%20168.jpg)
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I saw them a few times; I have a good set of pics somewhere... I still think of Coast To Coast as being my favourite song, with Lovedrive being the greatest work... still have most of the vinyl back to Lonesome Crow but nothing yet on CD, much to my shame...
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Wow, I had no idea they were still unknown in their home country as late as '77. Chicago was a big town for those guys. I had a couple of older friends down the street that turned me on to all kinds of obscure German bands. I remember raving about Van Halen when they came out, and these guys are like "Van Halen? No, no, no. ULRICH ROTH!" LOL! So I got to know of them just before they broke through with Lovedrive. Great album BTW. Every song is a gem. It was pretty much downhill from there. Which of course means they got really rich. :-\
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I heard on the news last week, that some scientist had found evidence that the Neanderthal man has left traces in modern folks DNA, supposedly 2-4%. The pic of the guy in Scorpions makes one wonder if some of us didn't get more than the regular dose of Neanderthal?
I even heard some speculations concerning how the Neanderthals communicated. Some think they used some kind of music, to get a message thrue. A whop bop-a-lu a whop bam boo?
The Neanderthals must have used fusion. I know there has to be some explanation for it. ;)
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Just waiting for them patientlly ...
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I never saw the Scorps but I remember learning Speedys Coming off Fly to the Rainbow when that came out.. I liked that album alot. When did that come out, '75-'76 ?
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I played Tokyo Tapes a lot when I was a teenager.
And Coast To Coast was on the setlist of my first band.
But I think it's kinda strange that Klaus Meine still can't speak English properly after singing it for more than 40 years...
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I got into them from the start, with Lonesome Crow. I would hope they were big in Chicago - their first record company was running out of a record store on Archer Ave. there.
I got to see them at a club right as Lovedrive was coming out. It was the first tour with Matthias Jobs, and he was using Michael Schenker's amps. The bass was great that night.
For me, I think "Pictured Life" has always been my favorite.
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Gary, was that at B'Ginnings?
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Gary, was that at B'Ginnings?
Yup. I even had a backstage pass, but gave it to a friend who freaked at the chance to meet them. We knew the security crew that night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm7Pz64zifY
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I saw them later, when they were touring in support of "World Wide Live", Ratt opened for them. It was, to quote Clint (Stiles 72) "The big rock show" perhaps more so than any concert I ever attended, they were quite polished and the sound was good as arena sound goes. I always thought Schenker and Jabs were an exceptional pair of guitarists, I really enjoy their rhythm playing.........A lost art these days ;)
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I saw them two or three times around the Blackout era and then once again in the late 90's. They were one of the tightest, most pro sounding bands I ever saw. Klaus was amazing in both his energy and how he used it (while still singing surprisingly well *full stop* (not just for a guy who moved around that much). Any time I hear someone excusing today's crop of talentless, can't go onstage without full backing tape, 'singers', I think of Klaus - and the word 'bullshit' springs to mind. He ran around that stage like a motherf#*ker and still sang his ass off!
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..... rhythm playing.........A lost art these days ;)
I couldn't agree more.
I saw the Scorpions (and I mean saw) playing in front of the wall at the Wall concert in Berlin in 1990. Closest I got. :-\
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I saw them two or three times around the Blackout era and then once again in the late 90's. They were one of the tightest, most pro sounding bands I ever saw. Klaus was amazing in both his energy and how he used it (while still singing surprisingly well *full stop* (not just for a guy who moved around that much). Any time I hear someone excusing today's crop of talentless, can't go onstage without full backing tape, 'singers', I think of Klaus - and the word 'bullshit' springs to mind. He ran around that stage like a motherf#*ker and still sang his ass off!
Backing tracks UGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some bands in the area uses them even at the club level. What a bunch of crap. I am proud to say we don't.
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Even MSG, when I interviewed Michael Schenker, had a live background vocalist, even it he was offstage, behind the amps. It was the last show at Haymakers. Great show, too.
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Fly to the Rainbow was from 1974 actually, their first album with Uli Roth and in my ears quite a step forward from Lonesome Crow, their first.
Klaus Meine's grasp of zee Eeeenleeeeesh langwich has been the butt of jokes/source of considerable embarrassment in Germany even in the early days of the Scorpions. They themselves quoted a German producer who laughed at them when they said they wanted to conquer the USA and play baseball stadiums, adding incredulously: "Let's face it, you can't even sing proper English, you will get killed in the USA, better stick to your home market where most people won't notice." Well, seemingly large parts of the US thought otherwise or perhaps saw the strengths of the Scorpions in something else than their inane and often plain clumsy lyrics.
Back to the concert: they played well and long (over two hours). Klaus Meine whose nasal tone you either hate or don't mind still has his old range - his voice in better shape than those of Messrs Gillan, Coverdale and Halford. Rudolf Schenker, the Keith Richards of the band, plays more lead than he used to though Jabs still has the lion's share. Rudolf assumes the same huddled position as his bother Michael when playing lead, Flying V (he changed between about 20 different ones during the gig) jammed between his legs. He has a feel similar to Michael too, just less technical expertise and more bum notes! Jabs, forever to the Scorps what Ron Wood is to the Stones, is technically more accomplished, wielding either Explorers or Strats. To me, his solos will always sound a little perfunctory as opposed to gifted. A German engineer on the guitar. During the acoustic sets he sports an acoustic, thick bodied Explorer just like Rudolfs sports a similarly bulky acoustic Flying V. They are not afraid to play quite a few ballads. Their interwoven rhythm playing is good - when the bass dropped out of the PA for technical reasons for quite some time, you noticed that between them and James Kottak's bass drums (a yank, formerly of Kindom Clone), there is not a whole lot of room for the relatively new, youngish bass player (Francis Buchholz left in the early nineties under acrimonious circumstances after some tax schemes floundered he had thought up for the band together with their tax advisor, they haven't spoken since). I doubt that more than a handful of people noticed the bass dropping out of the pa system.
Uwe
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I had the chance to interview the Scorps back when they were first breaking out. At the time, Herman Rarebell was doing all interviews in the US, since he had the best command of the English language. The fact that Klaus managed to do as well as he did phonetically never seemed to be an issue on the recordings. Actually, it gave his voice a unique element that I thought worked pretty well for them. My interview never happened in the end.
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Rarebell produced an excellent solo lp (Nip In The Bud/ Herman Ze German, depending on where it was released), but wasn't there some controversy over who the guitarist/vocalist that was on some of it...? Steve Marriot iirc