Kevin's Watch

I know what you're saying...oh standard rock stuff: The Zoo makes make crazy, if I ever hear Black Out again I'll scream, and what have they done for me lately... Which is not to say that Black Out isn't a good song--to me it's more appropriate to bust your head apart at 3am in the morning or while you're recovering from a hellacious hangover (both of which I can't afford to do in my ripe old age ) But let's tell the truth: it's much better if you, a) haven't heard it in a long time or b) are in the exact mood for it.

Anyway, if you look hard enough, you can find some really kickass Peon songs. My favorite Scorpion stage is when they were young and had the incredible Uli Roth writing alot of the lyrics and playing lead quitar. The quintessential achievement of that phase is probably The Tokyo Tapes with long, mindbending, solos like Polar Nights, Speedy's Coming and Robot Man (all of which, for some reason, sound much, much better live, it's the pure raw energy behind it, I guess...)



Polar Nights
Down, down...
That's bringing me down
The stars in the sky
Seem to fall to the ground.
Time, time...
I'm chasing the time
The stars in the sky
Seem to be turning round.
Is that the wind in your eyes
That is soothing my mind?
Is that the night of your eyes
That is soothing my mind?

Round, round...
My mind's whirling round
The moons in the sky
Seem to burn on the ground.
Gone, gone...
My nightmares are gone
The moons in the sky
Seemed to eat up the sun.
Is that the wind in your eyes
That is soothing my mind?
Is that the night in your eyes
That is soothing my mind?
Back from polar nights...

I was down...
I was out...
The nights at the pole've been
So cold without you!
I was down...
I was out...
The pole-star was bringing me
Back home to you.
Is that the wind in your eyes
That is soothing my mind?
Is that the night in your eyes
That is soothing my mind?

Robot Man
Crave communication
See me this is my life in the crazy robot man reservation
Do you feel him, the cold vibration
'Cause a man everywhere, produce a crazy science fiction creation

And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a loser
I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
I lost my mind
I lost my life
I lost my soul

Babe, it's a magic station
Where we live what we do with our magic from my generation
I say babe, it's not a vision
It's reality, this is a robot scene that we live in.

And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a loser
I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
I lost my mind
I lost my life
I lost my soul

And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a loser

I say oooh, oooh
I'm a robot man
And I say oooh, oooh
I'm a loser

They've had other great guitarists since then like the under-realized Michael Shencker (UFO) but, maybe, Roth spoiled me and I felt they went steadily downhill from there. BTW those lyrics don't even begin to do those songs justice-you MUST hear them for yourself-The Tokyo Tapes is a must in any HEADBANGERZ collection.

Your thoughts?

Well, I can't speak about this old stuff you're talking about, but way back when, I thought the Scorpions were KICK ASS. Rock you like a Hurricane is as good a rock anthem as you will find, IMHO. World Wide Live is one of my favorite live albums, and I think I have Big City Nights somewhere as well (or was that album called something else?)

Old Scorpions songs are amazing. It's hard to believe that the same band that recorded Fly to the Rainbow also recorded Blackout.

I really, really loved the Scorps back in the 80s, but they really wore on me towards the end. I haven't heard any of their songs in years, then suddenly I heard Loving You Sunday Morning, and I was like, "WOW!", I forgot how good these guys really were before they hit it big.

what, no "Still Loving You"? (The Zoo was one of my first songs I learned on guitar, heh.)

I still play The Zoo on guitar. It's a good song to warm up with.

Wow Cail I forgot about Fly to The Rainbow (that's on The Tokyo Tapes, as well as the awesome Pictured Life)-truly a GREAT song! Wind of Change is also very good--a bit "ballady" but, still, very good. I'm not saying Michael's brother Rudi isn't a very good guitarist-it's just that the newer stuff got to be a bit more "slockish"...or, at least: predictable.

what, no "Still Loving You"?

Hey now - I liked that one!

I even liked the re-make of Rock You that was done with the Berlin Philharmonic.

never heard that one, dlb! I'll have to look it up.

you in a band, Cail? I don't play much anymore, I know enough to "diddle" on just about any instrument, drums included, and messed around a little here and there with a few friends and their bands, but I never quite excelled at it, and I blame it all on stubby fingers, *ahem*.

Fly to the Rainbow
Life is empty, can't remember anytime before,
On a plain lit cold December, see it evermore,
Gliding through this life, and another as a child,
Ever doing games, and losing things, always playing gigs.
Somewhere in the sky, where the moon the stars shine bright,
Where the sun is shining, in the night.
I am in disgrace, yet I see your smiling face,
and I hope you let me, share your place.
I don't live today.

Rain in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time
Sun in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time

Rain in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time
Sun in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time

Rain in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time
Sun in the sky made the world fly into time
Back beyond time

Well, I lived in magic solitude,
Of cloudy looking mountains,
And a lake made out of crystal raindrops.
Roaming through space, ten thousand years ago,
I've seen the giant city of Atlantis,
Sinking into eternal wave of darkness.
Shhh.

Somewhere in the blue distance
Are those long forgotten trees of yore
A broken violin floating alone in December
Darkness everywhere, and nothing more
Symbol, strange symbol, melancholy
Painting torrid colors on a sky of green
Candle breathing one night only
Far away, in chillness, bleak, unseen
Drifting galley, ghostlike shadow
Sails rigged to catch and kill the time
Echoes wandering down an endless meadow
I feel... sublime

This song was, actually, written by Michael Shencker who was, at the time of Tapes, the "second" or complimentary guitar to Uli.

MSG ROCKS!

Through many a journey, and a long overdue, 19 year absence here in America, Uli finally hit the shores of California in August to play a string of dates with The Michael Shencker group. For those who have followed his career in any way, understands the brilliance of Uli’s playing.

Wow! I MUST see them! The rumors I heard in the mid 80s were that Uli lived in some mysterious corner of Arizona (probably did anonymous private sets with Michael Hedges, if true...) and was a practicing mystic...

Played in a band years ago, I still sit in with some friends once in a while.

This is an odd song: it turned a bunch of new people on to the Scorps, it also, kinda, sorta, probably flipped out the old guard--alot of people like this, but it pretty much turned the tide downhill in some "purists" minds...


No One Like You
Girl, it's been a long time that we've been apart
Much too long for a man who needs love
I miss you since I've been away
Babe, it wasn't easy to leave you alone
It's getting harder each time that I go
If I had the choice, I would stay

There's no one like you
I can't wait for the nights with you
I imagine the things we'll do
I just wanna be loved by you

No one like you
I can't wait for the nights with you
I imagine the things we'll do
I just wanna be loved by you

Girl, there are really no words strong enough
To describe all my longing for love
I don't want my feelings restrained
Ooh, babe, I just need you like never before
Just imagine you'd come through this door
You'd take all my sorrow away

There's no one like you
I can't wait for the nights with you
I imagine the things we'll do
I just wanna be loved by you

No one like you
I can't wait for the nights with you
I imagine the things we'll do
I just wanna be loved by you

No one like you

Hey, I liked that song too.

Damm good song, just a bit too comercialized...

Blackout really is a great album, but it's the turning point, and I liked each successive album less and less.

Sounds like Ted Nugents State of Shock lp

You look at a poster
You look at the wall
The wall in the room where you live
Where you live with your stars
Just listen to his records
Now hear what he says
For he says, "I love you little girl
Come to see me today"
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
You like Alice Cooper
You like Ringo Starr
You like David Bowie
And friends in the Royal Albert Hall
Stick up the pictures, movies, TV
And I'll bring you the show little girl
Come to see me today
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
You like Alice Cooper
You like Ringo Starr
You like David Bowie
And friends in the Royal Albert Hall
Stick up the pictures, movies, TV
And I'll bring you the show little girl
Come to see me today
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart
Speedy's Coming
You live in his heart

...here's another GEM hidden on the Tokyo Tapes:

We'll Burn the Sky

Music by Rudolph Shencker
Lyrics by Dannemann

I'm in love with the sunshine
I'm in love with the fallin' rain
Everything seems to call your name
Yesterday you were leavin'
Leavin' life and all your pain
Everything wants you back again
Wants you back again
Wants you back again
I found myself through you
And there was love in my life
I felt always naturally high
And my love had a home
But now my mind has started to roam
You're my life giving fire
And you carry all my love
Through you I was so inspired
You're engraved deep in my heart
Heart, heart, heart
My dreams recall us being one
I've searched for you to be free
The force of life you have always been
I feel blue since you're gone
You're breath of life surrounded me
When can I join you to be free
Join you to be free
Join you to be free
Wait, can this be a dream
There is a voice in my head
It belongs to you, it says
Don't cry, no need to be sad
There's a way to stay with you again
It's more than you ever had
And no death brings us apart
Our timeless love always grows
Because you are my other part
I know we've never been apart
Your love sets fire to my heart
We'll burn the sky
When it's time for me to die
We'll burn the sky, oh yeah
We'll burn the sky, oh yeah
When it's time, time, time
We'll burn the sky
We'll burn the sky, oh yeah

bump for Menolly