This is an unusual slant on the tribute album.
Guitarist extraordinaire, George Lynch, ex of
Dokken and Lynch Mob has recorded 12 of the Scorpions' best known / loved tracks, with him playing all guitar parts and with a variety of vocalists at the mike.
Kelly (Hurricane/Foreigner) Hansen overdoes opening track, '
Rock You Like A Hurricane'. As Meine shows on the original version, this song only works if you underplay the vocal.
Steve (Kix) Whiteman settles into '
Still Loving You' damn quick, and makes a decent fist of it.
Marq (Bullet Boys) Torien sounds surprisingly flat footed on
'Falling In Love', but Lynch nails it absolutely.
In fact, Lynch, as you would expect, nails everything absolutely. Every riff, every axe solo, every arpeggio, every frill, fill and thrill. He clearly has immense respect for The Scorpion's guitar men, as he changes little in his interpretations of the material.
That said, elsewhere and too often, the vocalists fall short of Meine's nasal teutonic keen.
Although I'm a self confessed critic of Meine's voice, when you hear so many second raters here, you appreciate just how much Meine contributes to the sound of The Scorpions.
Kevin (Quiet Riot) Dubrow and Stevie (Tuff) Rachelle fail to shine on '
Big City Nights' and
'Blackout', but
Jizzy Pearl seizes '
No One Like You' by the balls and makes it wail.
John (Union) Corabi probably shows best of all - on '
He's A Woman, She's A Man' - that you need a powerful voice to best portray Scorpions' material, with a large chunk of it held in reserve.
Not far behind is Paul Shortino's straitlaced interpretation of '
Holiday'. Combined with Lynch's subtle rhythms and subdued, shaded guitarwork, it turns out to be a very classy version of an underrated song.
'Scorpion Tales' is clearly one for Lynch fans. But Scorpions' fans will find much to enthuse over too.
Completists will just love it.
Written by
Brian Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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