The Scorpions have managed to maintain a 50-year career powered by the yin-yang combo of sting and sentiment. Unlike contemporaries who banshee wailed their way to success, the five-piece German musical export combined infectious melodies with the dynamic voice of frontman Klaus Meine to enthrall millions worldwide.
Yet, while I feel the Scorpions are among the greatest hard rock bands ever produced, based solely on Meine’s stratospheric shriek of “Are you ready, baby!” (answer, not question) on “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” I know too that the band’s legacy is enhanced further by its unique interpretation of balladry. The band is also cognizant of this fact — hence Born To Touch Your Feelings: Best Of Rock Ballads, their latest compilation chock full of live, new and recognizable softer tracks.
While it’s apparent that fresh songs like “Melrose Avenue” and “Always Be With You,” have Meine singing down a peg, they are short and sweet complements to seminal Scorpions tunes like “Still Loving You” and “Send Me An Angel,” which have been updated for the 21st century. “Gypsy Life,” “Lonely Nights” and “Holiday” all delightfully capture microcosmic moments of the group’s heyday, while “Wind of Change” sounds as politically charged as it did when it was first released nearly three decades earlier.
While the Scorpions may slither into the musical shade after Born To Touch Your Feelings: Best Of Rock Ballads, it still proves that even one of the commercially hardest bands to hit the airwaves still has a pleasing soft side — one in many ways rivals their raucous musical leanings.
~ Ira Kantor
