Francis and ze Ripper

[Freuds_Cat]

..... 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. 

[godofthunder]

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.

[gweimer]

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.

[uwe]

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

[gweimer]

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.

[Highlander]

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