Scorpions - Comeblack
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Last year when Scorpions announced that they were going to go into retirement at the conclusion of their Get Your Sting and Blackout tour everyone assumed that their 2010 release Sting in the Tail would be the band's last. That assumption still stands as far as new original music goes but the band has produced one last treat for their legion of fans in Comeblack, an album of re-recorded favorites and cover songs. The first half of Comeblack features newly recorded versions of seven of the band's big songs, all of which have noticeable differences from the original cuts. The guys haven't done anything to the arrangements though; if you've spent years singing along to "Rhythm of Love" you'll be happy to know that the tinkering on the song, like with most of the other new versions, amounts basically to better enunciation from singer Klaus Meine and some updating of selected guitar parts. The most notable difference is audible on "The Zoo" where the marching drumbeat remains the same but the guitar parts exude a bluesier swagger, Matthias Jabs gets a little crazier when he fires up the talk box and Meine phrases his vocals differently, perhaps demonstrating the satisfaction that comes from having navigated the rock'n'roll zoo safely and successfully for four decades. Casual listeners to Scorpions hits may not be able to discern many of the differences here but hard core fans will hear every tweak and most likely they'll be pleased. The second half of the album is a hodge-podge of covers that, if Comeblack were not a parting gift to fans, would be considered poor choices for covers. Fans have probably not been sitting around wishing their favorite band would cover the Beatles' "Across the Universe," the obscure T. Rex cut "Children of the Revolution" or the hoary Gloria Jones/Soft Cell hit "Tainted Love." But the band says the covers they perform here are representative of what influenced them in their younger days, so what could be more appropriate to close out the band's recording career. Thanks guys, for forty years of rocking us like a hurricane.
Scorpions - Comeblack
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