Scorpions Discography

Scorpions - World Wide Live
Released June 20, 1985

Track List:
Side one
"Countdown" - 0:41
"Coming Home" (Schenker/Meine) - 3:17
(taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
"Blackout" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell/Kittelsen) - 4:11
(taken from Blackout, 1982)
"Bad Boys Running Wild" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) - 3:45
(taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
"Loving You Sunday Morning" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) - 4:41
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
"Make It Real" (Schenker/Rarebell) - 3:51
(taken from Animal Magnetism, 1980)

Side two
"Big City Nights" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:49
(taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
"Coast to Coast" (Schenker) – 4:40
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
"Holiday" (Schenker/Meine) – 3:12
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
"Still Loving You" (Schenker/Meine) – 5:44
(taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)

Side three
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 4:04
(taken from Love at First Sting, 1984)
"Can't Live Without You" (Schenker/Meine) – 5:28
(taken from Blackout, 1982)
"Another Piece of Meat" (Schenker/Rarebell) – 3:36
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
"Dynamite" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 7:05
(taken from Blackout, 1982)

Side four
"The Zoo" (Schenker/Meine) – 5:46
(taken from Animal Magnetism, 1980)
"No One Like You" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:07
(taken from Blackout, 1982)
"Can't Get Enough", Pt. 1 (Schenker/Meine) – 1:59
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)
"Six String Sting" (Jabs) – 5:18
"Can't Get Enough", Pt. 2 (Schenker/Meine) – 1:52
(taken from Lovedrive, 1979)

Scorpions hit the road in support of their biggest album ever, 'Love At First Sting' and enjoyed playing sold out arenas all over the world. This would also be the longest tour ever to this point in their careers. To make the tour, they decided to record some shows and release them as an album. The shows recorded where as follows:


Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA (4/26/84)
The Forum, Los Angeles, CA, USA (4/24/84 & 4/25/84)
Pacific Amphitheatre, Costa Mesa, CA, USA (4/28/84)
Bercy, Paris, France (2/29/84)
Sporthalle, Cologne, West Germany (11/17/84)

The album was originally released on 2 LP Vinyl set and cassette. The original CD release only featured 15 tracks, dropping 'Another Piece Of Meat', Can't Get Enough Pt 1', 'Six String Sting' and 'Can't Enough Pt. 2.' This was corrected on the remastered release. I need to upgrade to that someday as I only have the original CD.

In addition to the album, Scorpions also released a video tape of the show. I can't remember if it was VHS only or Beta and VHS as Beta was still sold at the time. The video has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-Ray. The video has less songs than the album release and the track listing was as follows:

"Coming Home"
"Blackout"
"Big City Nights"
"Loving You Sunday Morning"
"No One Like You"
"Holiday"
"Bad Boys Running Wild"
"Still Loving You"
"Rock You Like a Hurricane"
"Dynamite"
"I‘m Leaving You"

And it looked something like this:

[youtube][/youtube]

The album was another huge hit for the band, going double platinum in the US. Everyone I know had it on cassette, album or a recording of someone's album. 'World Wide Live' contained all the hit from 'Lovedrive' through 'Love At First Sting'. The album totally ignores the Uli Jon Roth era. I don't know if that had something to do with the record label change or not, but I would have loved to have 'Pictured Life' or 'In Trance' thrown on this disc. This is a great live album but not a classic like the other big live album released in 1985 (Live after Death). The tracks sound great and much like KISS ALIVE 2, it's just not as good as their first live album. I also suspect that the tracks were "doctored" in the studio and I can't hear any mistakes on the album. It's a great listen but not a frequent player in my house as I actually prefer the studio albums to this live release, which is just the opposite of how I feel about Tokyo Tape - something about 70's live albums, they where album to capture the true sound of a band better than most of the studio albums and that just really didn't happen in the 80's (see Tokyo Tapes, KISS Alive, At Budakon). The songs in general are played noticeable faster than the studio albums. On many of the tracks it works, but 'The Zoo' really needs to be slowed down during the "chuga chuga chuga chug chug" part.

Overall, something to add to your Scorps collection. If you are looking for live Scorpions, get Tokyo Tapes first then this one.

I have the original on CD that omits some songs and this was released on VHS because I have a VHS copy of this concert.


I like the album alot but I have a feeling that the album has tons of overdubs, like Jokerman said this album sounds way to perfect, but still an enjoyable album if not up to standards set up by 'Tokyo Tapes'

I like this album but I haven't bothered to upgrade it from LP.

great live album, although they waited two years too late. Should have put this out after "Blackout".

As far as live abums go,this thing is great (overdubs or not). I had it on cassette from Columbia House and it was played at alot of our parties. I never did upgrade this to cd though.

I loved it too in it's day but the tape got eaten and I never replaced it.

Scorpions - Savage Amusement
Released April 16, 1988

Track List:
1. "Don't Stop at the Top" (4:03)
2. "Rhythm of Love" (3:48)
3. "Passion Rules the Game" (3:59)
4. "Media Overkill" (3:33)
5. "Walking on the Edge" (5:09)
6. "We Let It Rock...You Let It Roll" (3:39)
7. "Every Minute Every Day" (4:22)
8. "Love on the Run" (3:38)
9. "Believe in Love" (5:22)

After the HUGE success of 'Love At First Sting', the Scorpions hit the studio once again with long time producer Dieter Dirks. This time, the band tried a different approach with the music. Dieter had decided that he was "Mutt" Lange and wanted to make "Hysteria" by the Scorpions. The resulting album sounded something like this:


[youtube][/youtube]

The sound of 'Hysteria' deeply influenced this album - adding synths, multi-layered guitar tracks, electronic sounding drums and mega-tracked background vocals. The result was an album that Dirks cut the cajones off the Scorpions. This did noty sound like the Scorpions of old. This was a pop metal album. While the new sound worked great for Def Leppard (and I am a big fan of Hysteria), it doesn't work well for Scorpions. Listening to the tracks, you can hear the true sound of the Scorpions in the songs, but the production just killed it. The album did go Platinum in the US and was another hit album for Scorpions, but it did not sell as well 'Love at First Sting'. Other than Kerrang! giving it 5 k's out of 5, it was critical disappointment. There are a few good track like 'Rhythm Of Love' (and the cheesy cool video), 'Love On The Run' (the album's "rocker") and the ballad "Believe In Love"

As I mentioned, you can hear classic Scorps in the songwriting, but the production just castrated the tracks. The blame for this one lies solely on the band's longtime producer, Dieter Dirks. He would pay the price for this album that was viewed as a huge failure by the band and long time fans. Dirks would be fired by the band as they tired to distance themselves from the album.

World Wide Live was a pretty good record, the version of "The Zoo" is actually my favorite moment on the album. I prefer it to the studio version, much meatier.

SAVAGE AMUSEMENT - yeah, Joker pretty much nailed it. This is a "Scorps Leppard" album. Was pretty disappointed in it when it was a new release but over the years I've warmed to it. "Don't Stop At The Top," "Media Overkill" and "Rhythm of Love" are all pretty damn good songs, even if they're coated in glossy production tricks.

The first time I saw the Scorps was during this era, when they were on the Van Halen's Monsters of Rock Tour in the summer of '88. The Scorps put on a killer set, with one very funny memory ...the gig was at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, but Klaus kept referring to the crowd as "New York City" during all of his between-song banter (i.e. "Hello New York City!", "Scream for me New York Cityyyyyyy!", etc.) ... eventually I overheard a guy in the next section scream at the top of his lungs, "You're in NEW JERSEY, you stupid f**king Kraut!"

Well,it was bound to happen. After so many strong releases in a row,the Scorps were due for a dissapointment and Savage Amusement was it. Although there are a few good tunes on here (namely the first 3),the rest is rather bland sounding like second rate songs that didn't make it onto Love At First Sting.

Mainly a collection filler for me.

I never thought of comparing 'Savage Amusement' to 'Hysteria' but thinking about it now it makes sense, not a great album, a it was a huge let down for me.

Not much to add except to say Jokerman got it right , as rock band who's balls where left on the cutting room floor.


I like pop metal but Scorpions were not meant to be Germany's answer to Def Leppard.

manny wrote:

I never thought of comparing 'Savage Amusement' to 'Hysteria' but thinking about it now it makes sense, not a great album, and it was a huge let down for me.

yeah, me too. I avoided getting "Savage Amusement" for years because I did not like it, but over the years it has grown on me, not unlike "Hysteria" which has also grown on me but at one time hated very much.

I liked the Rythm of Love and a couple of other tunes but this album did not interest me. I was musically moving in a different direction, as well, as I was HEAVY into The Pie, Metallica, the Blues and had discovered the wonderful world of 70s Progressive Rock at this time.

Scorpions - Best Of Rockers 'n' Ballads
Released October 1989

US Track List:
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:12
"I Can't Explain" (Pete Townshend) – 3:21
"Still Loving You" (Meine/Schenker) – 6:27
"Big City Nights" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:09
"Lovedrive" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:52
"Holiday" (Schenker/Meine) – 6:46
"Blackout" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell/Kittelsen) – 3:50
"Rhythm of Love" (Schenker/Meine) – 3:48
"No One Like You" (Schenker/Meine) – 3:57
"You Give Me All I Need" (Schenker/Rarebell) – 3:39
"Hey You" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 4:29
"The Zoo" (Schenker/Meine) – 5:30

Europe Tracklist:
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 4:12
"I Can't Explain" (Pete Townshend) – 3:21
"Rhythm of Love" (Schenker/Meine) – 3:48
"Big City Nights" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:09
"Lovedrive" (Schenker/Meine) – 4:52
"Is There Anybody There?" - 04:16
"Holiday" (Schenker/Meine) – 6:46
"Still Loving You" (Meine/Schenker) – 6:27
"No One Like You" (Schenker/Meine) – 3:57
"Blackout" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell/Kittelsen) – 3:50
"Another Piece of Meat" (Schenker/Rarebell) – 3:32
"You Give Me All I Need" (Schenker/Rarebell) – 3:39
"Hey You" (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 4:29
"The Zoo" (Schenker/Meine) – 5:30
"China White" (Schenker/Meine) - 6:56 (US version)

After the disappointment surrounding 'Savage Amusement', Scorpions fired their long time producer/sixth member Dieter Dirks. They began searching for a new producer their next release. They selected Keith Olson. In between the Scorpion's first release since 1975 without Dieter Dirks and the one that would come, the record label released a 'Greatest Hits' package. The album was a mis-named as it only contained songs from Lovedrive through Savage Amusement and didn't contain any of the great 70's output. This was due to the fact that RCA still owned the rights to the songs and I am sure the coked up record execs at Mercury didn't want to share the profits either or have to deal with making a deal with the execs at RCA as they where only thinking about their bonus checks.

The release seemed like a bridge to hold over fans until the next album was released. Also, at the time the album was released CD's where taking off fast and killing Vinyl sales. Record companies seemed to release Greatest Hits albums pretty fast and frequent at the time to get long time fans to buy a CD of 'Hits" before they upgraded entire discography. The "Greatest Hits" of the early years of the CD era also sold well. Kiss, Journey and many other bands with a deep discography seemed to have these albums during that time. Scorpions, like KISS at the time, added some "extras" to entice buyers. The CD contained songs not released anywhere before. 'Hey You' is a track recorded during the 'Lovedrive' sessions that featured Rudolph on vocals. 'I Can't Explain' was a cover of The Who. The track was also released as a single and got lots of play on MTV:

[youtube][/youtube]

Notice the Scorpion's logo in The Who's style on Herman Ze German's drum set. It's a cool cover track that showed the world that the Scorpions could still rock and gave the band a chance to test out Keith Olson as producer. The European release contained additional tracks and a previously unreleased "longer and re-recorded" version of "Is There Anybody There?". It also included the US version of 'China White' which has a different solo than the European versions. Unfortunately, the US didn't get the Europe version of 'China White.'

Much like KISS's 'Smashes, Thrashes and Hits', the tracks where remastered so the album sounded like one CD. Unlike KISS, Scorpions didn't pull what KISS did with 'I Love It Loud' and do piss poor remixes. Once again like KISS, the remastered tracks didn't seem to sound as good as the original release. I just noticed yesterday that it seems the bass end isn't as powerful and not as low as the original releases. It has a 'samey' sound to it.

The comp was a decent seller, going platinum in the US. This is a good overview of 80's Scorpions if you are just getting into their back catalog. I got mine from either BMG or Columbia House, I can't remember which....

Not a bad comp album, and mostly own it for the songs 'Hey You' which is not a great song and it is very definition of filler material.

On the other hand their version of The Who's 'Can't Explain' is killer, and originally done for the charity CD 'Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell' , it was cool that Scorpions took a Who classic and made it their own, not many bands have been able to successfully cover Who songs.

This was my first and for a long time, only Scorps disc I owned. I bought it for exactly the reason Joker mentioned. It gave me a decent enough overview of their 80's output without spending much money. Based on that album, I never felt compelled to dig any deeper until many years later when I started to discover their lesser known 70's music. I still have this disc, but it's been awhile since I've played it.

That Who track also appeared on this comp album around the same time. Not sure where it appeared first though.



EDIT: Do'h, Manny beat me to it!

Never owned World Wide Live but I have the VHS tape. I caught the Costa Mesa gig but missed the Forum shows (which I heard were better) cause of a fight at a club and got incarcerated for a few days. The DA didn't file charges, thank goodness.

Savage Amusement-Being the big Scorps fan that I was and/or am. My trippin on this was pretty much BIG TIME. I liked "Rhythm of Love" well enough but something was awry.
Hindsight makes it easier to explain, but back then it pretty much was songs over production. I didn't buy it untill coming across a cassette tape for a buck at a Goodwill store a few years ago. It didn't take long to realize why I dismissed it at it's release. Though I often enough tossed the tape in the Frieghtliner while working.

The comp......similar story as Savage Amusement. Thrift store cassette find and listened to while driving at work. I prefered the RCA comps.

BEST OF ROCKERS & BALLADS was a decent comp, at one time (late 80s) the only Scorps tapes I owned were LOVE AT FIRST STING and that one. It would be a few more years before I really got whole-hog into'em and started collecting their stuff more avidly, so BEST OF ROCKERS & BALLADS served as a decent starting point.

I loved Savage Amusement when it came out, i've said before, glossy production rarely scares me off and this was the sound of the day. That said, this didn't age as well as other albums.

Never bought BoRaB as I had most of the songs already.

Best of Rockers and Ballads was my first Scorpions cd. It was a great comp to have since it covered all the popular hits. I always wondered where Hey You came from. I knew about the Who cover because I also had the charity cd. I've since upgraded all the immediate prior cds to this but held onto the comp because of the 2 exclusive tunes.

I didn't know 'Hey You' was exclusive to that album until I read that yesterday. Whoopie!!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I didn't know 'Hey You' was exclusive to that album until I read that yesterday. Whoopie!!

Yep!!!! They added it as a "bonus track" to the remastered Lovedrive.

Crazy World coming soon - I have a meeting (teleconference) from 3 - 4 that I don't have to really pay attention to (just prove I was logged in), so it will be up by then.

Scorpions - Crazy World
Released November 6, 1990

Track List:
1. "Tease Me, Please Me" (4:44)
2. "Don't Believe Her" (4:55)
3. "To Be with You in Heaven" (4:48)
4. "Wind of Change" (5:10)
5. "Restless Nights" (5:44)
6. "Lust or Love" (4:22)
7. "Kicks After Six" (3:49)
8. "Hit Between the Eyes" (4:33)
9. "Money and Fame" (5:06)
10. "Crazy World" (5:08)
11. "Send Me an Angel" (4:34)

After the debacle known as 'Savage Amusement', someone had to pay the price and that person was long time producer Dieter Dirks. He was unceremoniously fired. I remember Klaus calling him out in interviews at the time, saying the band was "lied to" by Dirks. I also remember reading that Scorpions had hired the hit maker of the day, Bruce "Horns" Fairbairn, to produce the album. The Scorps where ready to hit the studio, but "Horns" decided to produce AC/DC's "The Razors Edge" first. Scorpions didn't want to wait and choose to hire Keith Olson, who had produced Whitesnake's biggest hit albums in the 80's (and Fleetwood Mac in 70's).

For the new album, the band wanted make a back to basics Scorpions metal album. For the first time in their careers, the band brought in an outside songwriter. Jim Vallance was brought in to write with the band. Jim was best known as Bryan Adams songwriting partner, but he had shown his metal song writing skills (and actual Bryan Adams did too) by co-writing 'Rock And Roll Hell' and the ultra heavy 'War Machine' for KISS' 'Creatures Of The Night'. Scorpions and outside songwriters? Doesn't sound like a great idea. Well, at least they didn't call Desmond Child (at this point in their careers).

The production stripped away the high-gloss of 'Savage Amusement' and sounded, well, different that what the band had done before. The production was more Americanized, for lack of a better word (and I am hoping someone can add some better words to describe it). It doesn't sound bad, just different than what Dirks would have done on a Scorpions metal platter.

With the first video, Scorpions announced to the world that they where back:

[youtube][/youtube]

The album was a decent return to form and a good album. It's not as good as 'Lovedrive' through 'Love at First Sting', but is still a good album and much, much better than 'Savage Amusement'. The album would go double platinum in the US, marking a huge sales comeback from the previous studio album. Album sales where helped by the biggest single of Scorpions career, 'Winds Of Change' (you hear that whistling from the intro, don't you? Now it is stuck in your head! LOL!!!) The tracked reached number 4 on the Billboard singles chart, the highest position ever for a Scorpions song. The song was written about the fall of communism in Europe and in Russia in particular. It is a good song, however I would be happy to live the rest of my life and never hear it again. This one was played to death and I got so sick of hearing it.

The rest of the album has some great, catchy songs. 'Don't Believe Her' would have been a better lead off single in my opinion than 'Tease Me, Please Me'. Both of those tracks remain in the Scorpions set list to this day. Other good tracks include "To Be With You In Heaven", "Lust Or Love" and 'Kick After Six".

'Crazy World' is a good, solid album. It below the level of classic such as 'Love Drive' and 'Animal Magnetism', but is a still worthy addition to the catalog.

CRAZY WORLD is one of my favorite Scorps albums. When it came out I was more or less a casual fan of the Scorpions (i.e. I had maybe two or three of their albums but that was about all), however when the tour for this album came thru my area in early '91 I went with a college friend who had an extra ticket - her brother was supposed to go to the show with her but he had to bail @ the last minute so she offered it to me. I had enjoyed the Scorps at the Monsters of Rock gig in '88 so I figured even if I wasn't totally familiar with their back catalog and I didn't even have the CRAZY WORLD album at the time, I knew I was gonna be in for a good show.

...boy, was I ever. The Scorpions blew me away that night! I went out & bought CRAZY WORLD a day or two later and started collecting as much of their other stuff as I could get my hands on afterwards.

"Wind of Change" was a show-stopper at that gig, you could've heard a pin drop while it was played. At the time it hadn't been released as a single yet so that was the first time I heard it and that was what pretty much sold me on the album. Of course, over the next couple of years it became overplayed as Hell, but still, it's a great track. I also dug "Hit Between The Eyes" (which can be heard in the Emilio Estevez science fiction movie "Freejack"), "Kicks After Six," and the title track.

So yeah, this concert sold me on the Scorpions and got me into 'em biggy styley, but unfortunately, it was ALSO at this particular gig that I began to notice that maybe some of the so called "80s bands" were beginning to lose some of their drawing power -- the venue I saw'em at (Nassau Coliseum) was barely half full for that show, and a friend who saw'em a few nights later at the Meadowlands Arena reported that attendance was soft there as well. Of course, a few months after these shows "Wind of Change" started climbing the charts and I'm sure it helped propel ticket sales afterwards, but at the time I remember looking around at the half empty arena and thinking that something just seemed...wrong....

This is a good album and surprisingly the outside songwriter Jim Vallance did not seem to add anything to the band's songwriting, it did not make them sound like a pop metal band or a German Bryan Adams, interesting enough the biggest single on the album 'Winds of Change' was not even co written with Vallance.

Not an album I reach for when I am in mood to hear the Scorpions but this is a very good album that does not take it self too seriously.