When this album came out in 1990 it blew me away. I had
Fate's prior recordings, but this record is very different from
Fate's earlier stuff.
"Scratch 'N Sniff" followed up the disappointing "Cruisin' for a Brusin'" and introduced a new singer Per Henriksen and young guitar ace Mattias "IA" Eklundh.
Fate also changed style from AOR/Hard Rock to powerful crunchy Heavy Rock.
Not only did the style change but also the sound changed and
Fate really progressed into a top class Hard Rock band with their own unique sound. Eklundh was the main man responsible with his distinctive guitar-sound recorded through an old Sharp tape recorder. The guitar sound is killer and Eklundh plays some of the most inventive guitar I ever heard. His playing is in vein and league as
Steve Stevens plus the late Derek Frigo. To this day I still get impressed and entertained by his playing style.
Gotta Have It All opens with a great riff and immediately you notice the unique sound of Eklundh's guitar. The song is close to perfection with edge, great melody lines, crunchy vocals and over the top unique guitar playing.
You're The Best (money can buy) is driven by an inventive guitar with Eklundh filling out slots for more than one guitarist with lots of fills all over the tune. The guitar solo is probably the best on the whole record.
Walk On Fire was the song that first got me hooked on this album. 15 years later I still enjoy this song just as much. Henriksen's vocals really blast through followed by the tight rhythm section of bassist Pete Steincke and skin basher Bjarne Holm.
Freedom is the ballad of the album.
Fate performed this on national TV for the Danish Grammy awards.
Freedom is great with an acoustic verse and a great chorus that goes electric.
Won't Let You Down is probably my least favorite on the album. However, that just underlines the high quality of this album since it's still a good song though.
The Whalesong displays Eklundh fooling around with some cool effects and soloing for around a minute only to break into the classic chords of
Larry. Pay attention to the lyrics, since Larry is a very tragicomic story with lots of Danish humor in it. The crunchy chords Eklundh strums get you hooked immediately.
On
Fate's earlier records they used quite a bit keyboards, but
Good Times Coming is the first song on "Scratch 'N Sniff" to use a very modest keyboard. The chorus of the song is excellent.
One By One is driven by a happy "hum along" riff and Eklundh really delivers the goods on the guitar solo. Speaking of guitar solos,
Surgeon In Love has a very long and exciting guitar solo. When hearing this it is hard to imagine that Eklundh only was around 19 years old, since he plays with creativity, haughty and a reserve of strength.
Wanna be Your Lover is the most bombastic song on the record. The organ makes it a bit
Deep Purple alike - again the song builds up for a great chorus.
Originally a bonus track limited to the CD version
Think For Yourself really does the album's high quality justice.
Fate plays it groovier because of the
Van Halen like riff and Per Henriksen sings his guts out.
Unfortunately
Fate disbanded after this masterpiece. Eklundh left the band and
Fate continued a short while with a Danish guitarist Soren Hoff. That version of
Fate only recorded a few demos in 1992 and now 2 of them are used as bonus tracks for this release. The 2 bonus tracks add nothing to this release. On the contrary they lack Eklundh's unique playing and the song writing is not as strong as on any of the original "Scratch 'N Sniff" songs.
I feel blessed that I experienced the "Scratch 'N Sniff" line up Live in 1990 on Tour supporting this album and still got the t-shirt to prove it :)
Just like a family member this CD has become an integrated part of my life since 1990. I am sure that it will last a life time, since this album is so well written, performed and entertaining. "Scratch 'N Sniff" is a record I listen to regularly and I cannot imagine ever being tired of it. This is the best Hard Rock record ever to come out of Denmark and a masterpiece in guitar driven Heavy Rock.
The MTM Classix re-issue is re-mastered, but you cannot tell because the production of Tommy Hansen was very strong at that time and still sounds great.
Written by
Michael Thursday, April 7, 2005
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