Scorpions - Deadly Sting The Mercury Years 1997 [FLAC] [h33t] - Kitlope

Scorpions are a heavy metal[1][2][3][4]/hard rock[5][6][7] band from Hanover, Germany, probably best known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and their singles "No One Like You" and "Still Loving You". The band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide [8] and were ranked #46 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock program.[9]

Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years is a 2 disc Greatest Hits compilation.


Review from teamfreak16 at epinions.com:


If someone were to give you a proverbial nickel for each time you headbanged or played a heavy-duty power chord via air guitar while listening to the Scorpions' Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years, you could probably earn enough to purchase a ticket to see the German band live, with enough left over to buy a good-sized bottle of Jamo to enjoy prior to the show - hell, if your nickel-giving friend threw in bonus change for things such as trashing your coffee table and lamps, you might even be able to pay for gas on the way to the venue. Yes, the Scorpions' Mercury era (1979-1983) was that much fun to listen to - hits-wise and chart-wise, it was their most prolific period, full of standing room only world tours.


Since a large chunk of their success took place in the 1980's, the Scorpions often get classified as "hair metal," which isn't altogether accurate. For one thing, they usually rocked harder than their glamorous counterparts, and for another, they simply weren't "pretty" like the hairspray guys were. Hell, rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker alone would probably scare the crap out of anyone encountering him in a dark alley (just check out his crazed lunatic pose on the cover of Blackout for confirmation,) and vocalist Klaus Meine looked pretty much like a Germanic version of Ronnie Dio, leaving lead guitarist Matthias Jabs as the group's poster boy, and he wasn't exactly trying to emulate Stephen Pearcy. Nonetheless, the band really never bothered experimenting with keyboards, electronics, bongos, or synthesizer loops - no, the Scorpions always recognized that their strengths lay in loud, booming rock and roll, tight, crunchy guitars, and wicked cool guitar leads to go along with Meine's powerful vocals and German accent. What's more, the band stayed true to their strengths, making Deadly Sting a worthwhile purchase for anyone that enjoyed listening to the band during their glory years - Herman Rarebell (drums) and Francis Bucholz (bass) were about as rock solid a rhythm section as metal from the period got, especially when Schenker joined in, and Jabs was an adequate replacement for his insanely talented predecessors, Ulrich (Uli Jon) Roth and Michael Schenker. And Meine managed to maintain enough vocal control that he sounded more like a metal vocalist than a guy with a small moustache giving a speech in Berlin. Oh, by the way, the band also managed to write some fantastic, radio-friendly tunes along the way.


They wrote tunes such as Loving You Sunday Morning, which chugs along melodically with enough headbanging to at least earn enough for a sixer from your nickel-plated friend - oh, Jabs' guitar solo ain't none-too-bad, neither. Or The Zoo, with its pounding, menacing beat - big, booming drums underneath loud, razor-sharp rhythm guitar play and a talk-box solo from Jabs. And who can forget 1982, when No One Like You was getting heavy airplay on our nations FM rock stations, and for good reason: it was loud, it certainly rocked way harder than, say, Journey, Night Ranger, or Bryan Adams, yet it also had the wicked pop sensibilities possessed by those acts. In short, it was heavy metal that both you and your girlfriend could agree on and listen to together. Meanwhile, the fact that there are only a handful of pro and college teams with the nickname "Hurricanes" seemingly doesn't stop every team in existence from blasting the anthemic Rock You Like a Hurricane over it's stadium sound system, despite the fact that the tune has absolutely nothing to do with sports but everything to do with feeding a "bitch" inches and feeding her well. If you haven't heard Hurricane by now it's because you simply aren't watching enough hockey/football/basketball/marbles/spelling bees and therefore aren't living a fanatical life.



Often a rare feat, songs that weren't hits ended up sounding just find around the hits, simply because the albums during this era were so consistent. Can't Live Without You is a furiously paced tribute to the Scorpions' long-time legion of fans (OK, the track did reach number 47 on the mainstream rock chart, but that pales in comparison to the number 1 peak of No One Like You.) And Blackout storms along with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer meeting a piece of drywall head on - Schenker plays his rhythm riffs as if he's out to save the world, and Jabs simply shreds maniacally alongside - it's the perfect concert opener, at least it was when I saw the band in 83. Meanwhile, despite lyrics like "the music knocks me down the mojo way," Lovedrive is a slammer that reminds one of the reason the band was so fun to listen to in the first place.


Of course, one might assume that these gents woke up banging heads first thing in the morning and rocked non-stop until bed time, but they were quite capable of producing some lovely balladry as well. Holiday is a beautiful acoustic slow jam that has Meine wanting to take his lady on a far away holiday - yet it still manages to rock out near the end with some slamming guitar riffage (the "longing for the sun" part, for those that might remember it.) It's also got a shimmering acoustic part at the end that Jabs solos beautifully over - I always thought that it should have been placed at the front of the track as a lead-in, but I'm not a producer or musician, only a guy that thinks like one. And Still Loving You builds to a powerful conclusion thanks to Meine's impassioned vocals and Jabs' razor-tight riffing; I remember this one getting vast amounts of play at the end of teen nights during the day, despite it's sad lyrical content. Meanwhile, the group managed to include whistling into the politically-oriented hit ballad Wind of Change without it sounding at all hokey - instead, it turned into a fine early-90's power ballad about the opening of the Berlin Wall and might be the band's most well-known song to newer fans.


Lets face it - the Scorpions have released a fine body of music since they formed in Hannover back in 1969, and the music found on Deadly Sting represents their most prolific, radio friendly period. It's not perfect - I'd have opted for the inclusion of When the Smoke is Going Down over later tracks such as Don't Believe Her, and I thought they mellowed out and became a little too commercially oriented around 1988 or 89, but you can't fault a band for riding it's wave of popularity while they can, and overall, this is a very solid collection of songs. Granted, in the face of what falls into the metal category these days, this is pretty tame, but back in the day, this stuff rocked pretty hard. In the end, anyone that enjoyed the Scorpions during their heyday but is reluctant to purchase all the albums should find that Deadly Sting more than meets their needs.