Scorpions - 'Comeblack'

After their final tour, the Scorpions have a made a 'Comeblack'.

After their final tour, the Scorpions have a made a comeback or in this case a “Comeblack” as the album title suggests.On paper, this is a strange collection of songs ranging from remakes of ‘Love You Like A Hurricane’ to metallized covers such as Soft Cell´s ‘Tainted Love’.On listening though, the band has smoothed the variance by making all the songs sound like the Scorpions anyway.So their version of ‘Tainted Love’ is 100% closer to Marilyn Manson than to Marc Almond. 

Starting with a remake of 1988´s ‘Rhythm of Love’, this album kicks off in a spirited way. This and the other reworked Scorpions classics such as ‘Wind of Change’ to the untrained ear are pretty much faithful to the original but with a more contemporary production.The old Scorpions songs such as, ‘Blackout’ and ‘Hurricane’ are clearly laid out in the album as a potential swansong by the band.The press release describes this album as an encore; certainly these three songs would satisfy the fans as an encore in a live setting.

Regarding the covers: the version of the Small Face´s ‘Tin Soldier’ works well, proving that the 60´s original was, in effect, ahead of its time and works as well if not better as a hard rock version.‘Tainted Love’ is interesting, nothing more.Their take on Marc Bolan´s ‘Children of the Revolution’ is more worthwhile with a great twin guitar take on the famous riff and the vocal style hitting Klaus´ sweet spot.

The album finishes with versions of the Kinks´ ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ and The Stones´ ‘Ruby Tuesday and are a testament to the 60´s bands that the Scorpions´ grew up listening to.So in a way, they form an apt ending to this potential coda to the Scorpions´ career.In particular ‘Ruby Tuesday’ is faithful to the original but is played in a timeless way and ends the album in a particularly poignant way.

Rob McKenzie