Scorpions ‎– Hot & Slow (Best Masters Of The 70´s) orig.1974-1976, comp.1998***

I recently bought this scratched-up CD from a discogs dealer for 50 cents, together with some other stuff. He asked me if I noticed that he rated it "condition:poor" to which I replied "It's a CD, it'll either play perfectly or skip. It's worth the gamble". Well...it plays perfectly on my blu-ray at home but a few songs skip when played in my car stereo. I kinda wish it was the other way round, it's that kind of record. I went to highscool during the 80's, and Scorpions were probably the most popular rock band of the time; you could bang your head along to the likes of "Rock You Like A Hurricane" or make out with your girl listening to "Still Loving You" - what more can you ask? Nevertheless, I wasn't a huge fan. To this day they remain one of the few famous bands I haven't seen live despite having many opportunities to do so. I do have a live DVD and a few of their albums, from 1979's Lovedrive and afterwards. This compilation provided a cheap way to close a gap in my collection, as it includes the bulk of the 3 albums they made between 1974-1976. It contains a few classics, as well as some relatively unknown deep album cuts. Let's take them chronologically: 1974 saw the release of Fly To The Rainbow, The Scorpions' second LP after Lonesome Crow. Boy-wonder Michael Schenker had just left for UFO and was replaced by another hot-shot guitarist, Uli Jon Roth. His guitarwork and vocal (non-) skills are up front on "Drifting Sun" a Hendrix pastiche that sounds nothing like the Scorpions I knew from the 80's. 2nd guitarist Rudolph Schenker takes over lead vocals on "They Need A Million" consisting of an acoustic intro and prog/hard rock body. "Fly To The Rainbow" is another (excellent) proggy piece with a nice baroque intro and intricate solos, but at 10 minutes it overstays its welcome, especially during the slow interlude. Two other songs included here do sound like The Scorpions, the proto-metal dynamite "Speedy´s Coming" and mid-tempo "Far Away", both thankfully sung by Klaus Meine. The title song from 1975's In Trance needs, I hope, no introduction as it is one of the classics of its era, from the emotive intro to its epic chorus. "Robot Man" is another metallic (literally!) rocker while "Dark Lady", sung by Uli Jon Roth, sounds like a cross between Hawkwind (vocals) and Hendrix (guitar). "Top Of The Bill' and "Longing For Fire" are typical Scorpions rockers while "Evening Wind" sports some blues guitar for a change. 1976's Virgin Killer is the last album represented here. I'll spare you the talk about the album cover controversy and go straight to the music, which is by now recognizably The Scorpions. The K.Meine/R.Schenker songwriting team has hit its stride, offering the anthemic "Pictured Life" and "Catch Your Train" as well as (their future specialty) power ballads "In Your Park" and "Crying Days". Roth adds the screaming metal of "Virgin Killer" and a different kind of ballad, the quiet and introspective "Yellow Raven" - not to mention some dazzling solos. It is a pity he left the band just before they hit the big time - or maybe not. Imagine if he'd insisted on doing more singing on their records. Not his strong suit. But you can hear some of his best guitar moments on this compilation: 17 early Scorpions songs in a single budget CD, not a bad deal!

***** for Speedy´s Coming, In Trance

**** for Fly To The Rainbow, Pictured Life, In Your Park, Yellow Raven

*** for Drifting Sun, They Need A Million, Far Away, Dark Lady, Robot Man, Top Of The Bill, Longing For Fire, Evening Wind, Virgin Killer, Catch Your Train, Crying Days

Hollywood Vampires "Hollywood Vampires" 2015***

As all-star jam bands go, The Hollywood Vampires' line-up isn't what you'd call "a rock'n'roll Dream Team": Sure, Aerosmith's Joe Perry is guaranteed to lay down some nice solos, but who the hell wants to listen to Johnny Depp playing his guitar? As for Alice Cooper, well, we all love him when he's being his plain-old shock rocker self, but do we really want to listen to him covering oldies by Led Zeppelin and The Who? Aaaa... but there's a twist! The album is a celebration of dead rockers whom excess -particularly excessive love of booze- has led to an early grave. Many of them were Alice's friends and drinking buddies from the 70's, his dissolute years when he used to preside over an LA "drinking club" called The Hollywood Vampires. Members included, among others, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin, The Monkeys' Mickey Dolenz, and John and Ringo from The Beatles - during Lennon's low point, the 1,5 year Yoko-less boozing period usually referred to as "the lost weekend". Many other rockers not residing in L.A. were considered "honorary" members, a title that could only be obtained by outdrinking everyone in the room. Alice himself hit the brakes on drinking after waking one day in the 80's puking blood and being told by the doctors that he had drunk himself to the threshold of death. Depending on one's cynicism level, this album is either a heartfelt tribute to his "dead drunk friends" or a calculated move to profit from the legend of The Hollywood Vampires which keeps getting bigger as more stories from those days see the light of day in music magazines and rock biographies. Based on the energy and good-time vibes of the project, I'd like to think it's the former. The first song (after a suitably creepy spoken intro by the one and only Christopher Lee) makes as much clear: "A sudden quick demise/And so the body dies/But the music stays alive/So let's raise the dead".
It predictably sounds like a cross between Alice Cooper and Aerosmith: a metallic rocker with a roaring chorus, and one of only two original songs in the album. The other one is called "My Dead Drunk Friends", a heavy mid-tempo piece more typical of Alice's theatrical horror rock-style with a drunken chorus that could come straight from The Pirates Of The Caribbean - maybe a Johnny Depp contribution? It goes like this "We drink and we fight/ And we puke and we puke/ And then we die/ My dead drunk friends". Irreverent, unsubtle and tasteless it is, but no-one ever accused Alice of being sensitive or subtle. The vibe of the album is of a big party where everyone is having fun, which makes up for the lack of any nuances: the band chooses to cover some of rock's most famous old warhorses, and to play them more or less straight rather than try to infuse them with their own personality. Famous guests include AC/DC's Brian Johnson, who is a powerful presence on "Whole Lotta Love" (Led Zeppelin, R.I.P. John Bonham) and Alice's own "School's Out" which also features Slash on guitar and which is played as a medley with Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" (R.I.P. Richard Wright). Porno For Pyros' Perry Farrel guests on "I Got A Line On You" (Spirit, R.I.P. Randy California) and "One / Jump Into The Fire" (R.I.P. Harry Nilsson), while the latter also features David Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana) on drums. Another high profile guest is "Sir" Paul McCartney on "Come And Get It", a song he had penned for Badfinger (R.I.P. Pete Ham). The Doors' Robbie Krieger guests on his old band's "Five To One / Break On Through" (R.I.P. Jim Morrison). Other songs tackled with success include "Cold Turkey" (R.I.P. John Lennon), "Jeepster" (T.Rex, R.I.P. Marc Bolan), "Itchycoo Park" (Small Faces, R.I.P. Steve Marriott), and "Manic Depression" (R.I.P. Jimi Hendrix).  Despite the overabundance of guitarists on the album, songs are kept short and lean (Perry and Depp are augmented by regular Alice Cooper guitarist Tommy Henriksen, studio hand Bruce Witkin, female guitar prodigy Orianthi, The Eagles' Joe Walsh, Krieger and Slash). Many more musicians appear on bass, keys, and drums (special mention here for Zakk Starkey, Ringo's son and current Who drummer) but it's impossible to mention them all. Suffice it to say, everyone joins in the fun with gusto, resulting in an enjoyable but ultimately forgettable album.

*** for Raise The Dead, My Generation, Whole Lotta Love, I Got A Line On You, Five To One/Break On Through, Jeepster, Cold Turkey, Itchycoo Park, School's Out / Another Brick In The Wall, My Dead Drunk Friends

** for The Last Vampire, One / Jump Into The Fire, Come And Get It, Manic Depression

Various "Velvet Revolutions:Psychedelic Rock From The Eastern Bloc 1968-1973" 2013(comp)**

To people who grew up listening to vinyl, like I did, cover art is an important part of a record. At a time before internet when we only had state radio in Greece which seldom played rock music, we relied a lot on the cover to figure out how the music must have sounded: how did the band look on it? what kind of instruments they used? which font did they choose? was the cover funny? serious? sexy? all that played a role. My first record was Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. I bought it because I'd heard "Temple Of The King", but above all I think because of the cover: a guitar castle out of fairy tales, what more could a 14-year old fantasy fan ask? During the CD era, covers shrinked and became less impressive but there was still a lot to be gathered by looking at them. I'm only starting my review with this because I'm looking at this CD cover and wondering how much ignorance has gone into it, and whether this can affect the way I feel about the album. Let's start with the title: "Velvet Revolution" refers to the regime change (from Communism to Western-style democracy) in Czechoslovakia in '89. Which means that the compilers missed the mark by only 20 years. Many of the bands here do come from Czechoslovakia but that's probably just a happy coincidence. I'd think they had confused the Velvet Revolution with the Prague Spring (1968) but I don't want to give them too much credit. That would imply they have at least some clue. Next, to the one that really irks me: the huge CCCP  means of course that the CD contains music from the Soviet Union. Right? I mean you don't put a huge USA on an album containing music from Guatemala - or Canada, for that matter. Nooo...apparently you do. Just to throw potential buyers off. To amplify the message they use a pseudo-Cyrillic font that renders the band names virtually unreadable. Why? Cyrillic is used mainly in Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia. You feature bands from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany and Poland. These countries all use the Latin alphabet. Do you just want to get on my nerves by making me strain my eyes to decipher your bullshit font? But then I realized: the compilers apparently believe that the Eastern Bloc was a single country (capital:Moscow) that existed in an unspecified time and place. That explains why the cover features World War II bombers (again, 25 years off the mark) and a Soviet soldier - because this is what eveyrone wore in those countries, right? uniforms and hats with red stars on them. Ah, and according to discogs, the tracklist on the back has no less than 4 spelling mistakes. Now, why am I not surprised? Do you know how much skill it takes to copy a title from a record label? At least the booklet seems to have been written by a different person, someone who can actually tell Poland from Mongolia.

Now let us go to the music, starting with the Hungarian bands: Opener "Visz A Vonat" by Illés is groovy, organ-heavy, soul-rock with female vocals. A second song by the same band is completely different, featuring male vocals and a folk sound akin to Incredible String Band. Another (as Illes Zenckar) has some nice hard rock guitar but is otherwise unimpressive. Neoton is also represented with 3 tracks: hard rockers "A Haz" (Deep Purple-influenced) and "Nehez Fiuk" (Hendrix-like) and ballad "Gyere Alom". Moving on to Czechoslovakia, "18 Minut" by Juventus starts off like typical 60's pop but turns into a freakout with the singer yelling and band attacking their istruments hard. Olympic were a hugely popular band (nicknamed The Czech Beatles). "Tobogan" is a Yardbirds-like rocker and "Ikarus Blues" reminds me of Traffic circa 1968 - including a Chris Wood-like flute solo. Blue Effect were a Matadors offshoot (We'll talk about the Matadors in another post). The Effect's "White Hair" has some nice guitar but otherwise sounds like an outtake from the musical Hair. Of the Polish bands, Czerwono Czarni offer their own take on The Electric Prunes' Mass in F Minor with the instrumental "Kyrie". No To Co's "Saturday To Sunday" is English language flower pop. The band even made an attempt for an international career by releasing a record at the UK, but failed to get noticed. By "international" I mean in the West. Most of these bands did have international careers within the confines of the "Eastern Bloc". Breakout's "We Have Told All" (sung in Polish, despite the English title) sounds a lot like Jullie Driscoll circa 1968-69. Rounding the compilation up, there are some East German numbers. East Germany had a great rock scene, evidence of which is the fantastic hard rock of Scirroco Combo (think Atomic Rooster), Joco Dev Sextett (Black Sabbath without the ultra heavy riffs) and Electra Combo (rather progish -  Jethro Tull meet Cream?). On the whole this compilation helps to dispel the myth that Eastern Europe was this backwards place where rock was unknown or banned. Despite their difficulties in dealing with the state, rock bands flourished and produced music at least equal to the one made on the other side of the Continent. Musically, this is probably worth 3,5 stars but I'm subtracting 1,5* because of the disrespectful cover art presenting all these countries as if they were nothing more than Russian provinces.

**** for Visz A Vonat (Illés), Wege Mit Gutem Namen (Scirroco Combo), Stapellauf (Joco Dev Sextett)

*** for 18 Minut (Juventus), Tobogan (Olympic), Du Bist Mir Nah (Joco Dev Sextett), The Story Of M (Illés), Ikarus Blues (Olympic), Kyrie (Czerwono Czarni), Saturday To Sunday (No To Co), We Have Told All (Breakout), Über Feuer (Electra Combo), Nehez Fiuk (Neoton)

** for A Haz (Neoton), Gyere Alom (Neoton), Menekilles (Illes Zenckar), White Hair (Blue Effect)

Eric Burdon "Power Company" 1983**

I used to have this LP, but I sold it during the great vinyl purge. Seeing it recently at a used records store brought a surge of nostalgia and I went and bought it again. I became a big Burdon fan since my late teens, after seeing him give a passionate performance at Rodon Club, Athens, back in '88 - one of my first rock concerts. He was no haughty rock star, more like a working musician earning his living by shouting the blues at the top of his lungs night after night, club after club. Which is, I guess, the way his black idols lived, back in the 50's and 60's. Among his peers in the British blues boom, Eric Burdon alone turned out to be a true bluesman, as opposed to someone just singing blues music. Whether he's playing blues, hard rock, funk or whatever, he brings that gritty intensity to the table. This album has The Voice, and a decent band backing him up. What it's missing is, as was often the case with Burdon's albums of that period, the songs. With the exception of "Power Company" a potent blue-collar R&B anthem in the vein of The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and yet another version of "House Of The Rising Sun". Different than his other recordings of the song, solo or with The Animals, this one starts with a long acapella intro, followed by the familiar arpeggio and a short electric solo. It doesn't matter which way he sings it, the man may not have written the song but he sure owns it. Unfortunately, Burdon sings, screams, growls and raps his way through the rest of the album without managing to produce anything else memorable. Except if you count the profanity on heavy R&B "Who Gives A Fuck". The sinister "Sweet Blood Call" and "Devil's Daughter" have a more swampy feel, while "Do You Feel It" is a Status Quo-like boogie. "You Can't Kill my Spirit" and the rockabilly-ish "Comeback" feature some nice barroom piano, and "Wicked Man" and "Heart Attack" are closer to hard rock. This run-of-the-mill bluesy hard rock nature of the album reminded me why I chose to part with it in the first place. It's worth mentioning that about half of the album is recorded live and that it's apparently tied to a film project called Comeback, starring Eric Burdon in the role of a fading rock star making a comeback in the music scene - a bit autobiographic it seems: at the time Burdon retained a following in Holland and Germany, but couldn't get arrested anywhere else. Other English R&B singers of his generation were selling millions of records in the 80's, but to be honest, I prefer even a rough and unexceptional gutsy album like Power Company to any sterile big budget album by the Claptons and Rod Stewarts of that time.

**** for Power Company, House of the Rising Sun

*** for You Can't Kill my Spirit, Do You Feel It, Wicked Man, Sweet Blood Call, Comeback

** for Devil's Daughter, Heart Attack, Who Gives a Fuck