Just when you thought it was over, the Scorpions arise once again. After announcing their farewell in 2010 with the release of Sting In The Tail and touring behind it, it’s a pleasant surprise for all of us that there is even more gas in the tank of the German rock machine. Although that “gas,” a quality high-octane as always, has been a bit recycled. Comeblack is a combination of re-worked Scorpions classics and cover songs. As the minimal liner notes state, the band wanted to give their fans one more “encore” as they were blown away by the fans response to Sting In The Tail CD and the tour that followed.
What follows is a solid 13-track CD of some of their most popular hits and 6 surprisingly well done cover songs, that are all consistent with the classic Scorpions sound, courtesy of stellar production from Mikael Nord Andersson and Martin Hansen. Many of the biggies like “No One Like You,” “Wind Of Change” and Rock You Like A Hurricane” sound like they could have been released today and been hits – that’s how good these songs are. As they say in the business, “they got LEGS!”
Each song seems to be about an octave lower or so than the originals but the performance is stellar. Vocalist Klaus Meine is one of the best in the business and his range, from full-on rockers to ballads, is second to none. Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matias Jabs are solid in every way; there really is not a clunker in the entire collection.
The real surprise is in the choice of cover material. The old 80s new wave hit, Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love?” Are you kidding me? But it rocks. Very reminiscent of when the band covered the Who’s “I Can’t Explain.” It just works! “Across the Universe” the Beatles classic, is tailor-made for Meine’s spectacular voice. You can just see a huge crowd singing along at a European rock festival to this one.
Another surprise is “Tin Soldier,” a hit from the 60s group Small Faces. It was one of those “I know this song, but I can’t remember from where, or by who” tunes that the band just makes their own. One listen and you are hooked. Others include T. Rex’s glam-rock classic “Children Of The Revolution” and the Kinks standard “All Day And All Of The Night.” Closing out the CD is the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards classic “Ruby Tuesday.” I highly recommend Comeblack to fans and skeptics alike. If this is indeed “Auf Weidersein” for the Scorpions, then they have truly come black and rocked us one more time.
~ Junkman
