Description

Check the exclusive video, showing the vinyl for sale!

Check the exclusive video, showing the vinyl for sale!

SCORPIONS Lovedrive LP 1979 audio review:  https://voca.ro/cqxDeFXBdxc 

The only Scorpions-Album with three guitarists on it.;-)

Perfect mix of slow and fast songs – faultless, unbelievable track list💥 The transformation from Taken by Force to Lovedrive and the success, glory and fame that proceeded it through the following decade is a marvellous story. Long live the Scorps 🔥💥🤘🏻
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Harvest-EMI Group (1979)
SHSP 4097 / 0C 062-06 984
Original UK 1st pressing

CHECK ALL 8 songs :

Lovedrive is the sixth studio album by the German heavy metal band Scorpions, released in 1979. Lovedrive was a major evolution of the band sound, which exhibited a new Van Halen-style energy. Michael Schenker, younger brother of rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker, performed lead guitar on 3 songs. The RIAA certified ‘Lovedrive’ as Gold on 28 May 1986 and the album ranked 25 on IGN list of the top 25 metal albums.

Track listing:
Side one
“”Loving You Sunday Morning”” (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 5:36
“”Another Piece of Meat”” (Schenker/Rarebell) – 3:30
“”Always Somewhere”” (Schenker/Meine) – 4:56
“”Coast to Coast”” (Schenker) – 4:42
Side two
“”Can’t Get Enough”” (Schenker/Meine) – 2:36
“”Is There Anybody There?”” (Schenker/Meine/Rarebell) – 3:58
“”Lovedrive”” (Schenker/Meine) – 4:49
“”Holiday”” (Schenker/Meine) – 6:32

Recording:
This was the first album to feature Matthias Jabs as the band new full-time lead guitarist, replacing Uli Jon Roth. During the recording of the album with Jabs, original Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker exited the band UFO and re-joined Scorpions for the remaining recording sessions, the result being “”Lovedrive became a three-guitar-player album””. Jabs recorded the album, but left shortly after completion to make way for Michael Schenker full time return.
Schenker, coping with drugs and alcohol addiction, missed tour dates repeatedly, with Jabs returning to fill in for him on nights when he was absent. Michael eventually would leave the band a second time after realizing that he was failing to meet their expectations resulting in Jabs being reinstated once again as the full time replacement for Roth.

Cover art:
The cover depicted a man and woman in formal wear seated in the back of a car, with one of the woman breasts exposed and connected to the man hand by stretched bubblegum. It was created by Storm Thorgerson of the design firm Hipgnosis. It caused some controversy upon the album release and was subsequently banned, with later pressings of the album bearing a simple design of a blue scorpion on a black background. The album artwork was named “”Best album sleeve of 1979″” by Playboy magazine.
Recalling the cover photo with the girl and the car, Thorgerson remarked, “”Not exactly the most politically correct scene you’ve ever seen. I thought it was funny, but women read a different inflection into it now.””

Klaus Meine: vocals
Rudolf Schenker: rythm guitar
Matthias Jabs: lead guitar
Francis Buchholz: bass
Herman Rarebell: drums
Michael Schenker: Lead Guitar on 2, 4 and 7″

(2 of the best Scorpions songs, as chosen by Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine)

Another Piece Of Meat

“Michael Schenker was always the Kinder Egg of the Scorpions – y’know, would he appear on this record or not? Without a doubt, Another Piece Of Meat is my favourite song he did with the band. There were these really tasty little blurts of guitar that he did in between the vocal lines, and he would almost take this running jump at the solo. It was different from anything I’d heard before in heavy metal.”

Lovedrive

“You’ve got that cool galloping riff, and behind it a second guitar doing counterpoint, which shows you how beautiful a guitar duo can be… if they know how to work off each other. Because if you go out there and you just start cramming shit into a song because you think you can, it’s gonna sound awful. No matter how great the song is, if you get a guy in the studio that doesn’t know fuck-all about mixing records, it turns to shit. I never heard any Scorps records that didn’t sound good…”

Lovedrive found Scorpions writing shorter, crunchier, songs, with Rudolf Schenker dropping Uli Jon Roth’s flowery Hendrixisms in favour of the choppy, precise riffs that would continue to define the band’s sound.

“This was the album where we wanted to prove losing Uli Jon Roth on guitar wouldn’t affect us,” says Schenker. “Klaus and I were determined to show we could carry on without him. We brought in Matthias, but he was still finding his way. So I did a solo, and Michael my brother also did some. He was on honeymoon and called to tell me he was back in Germany. Michael asked what we were doing, and when I told him we were doing a new album, he offered to come down and play on it. That made a big difference to the whole sound.”

Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.

Background

Scorpions 1977 album Taken By Force was Uli Jon Roth’s swansong, and the band set out on the arduous task of auditioning over 150 guitarists to find a replacement. They finally settled on a former member of the Pretty Things, Peter Tolson. Unfortunately, things didn’t gel and they again found themselves axeless. Once more they found the solution closer to home, in the form of Matthias Jabs.

“Rudy rang me up to say that he was recording a solo album and would I like to play on it,“ Jabs says. “That was typical Rudy, finding a way to hook you in.” But when Jabs joined the Scorpions, the unexpected happened. Michael Schenker had left UFO after an altercation with lead singer Phil Mogg and had also developed severe drug and alcohol problems in the process. An American management team expressed interest in working with the Scorpions, but strongly suggested it would be a good idea to take Michael on board, regardless of his state of mind. Desperate to break in the States, Rudy agreed and promptly let go of Matthias.

“What you have to remember,” Jabs explains, “is that the Scorpions weren’t a big band at all at the time, so it was really no big deal.”

Michael’s problems manifested themselves early on in the Scorpions’ US tour – he collapsed on stage during the third show. As the tour progressed the band had to plead with Matthias to help them out. “Rudy kept calling me to help out on the shows, and every time I said: ‘Okay, but just this one time.’ And he agreed… typical Rudy.”

Finally, an incoherent Michael departed and Jabs joined full-time, completing the classic Scorpions line-up. Michael did manage to stay long enough to contribute to a couple of tracks on Lovedrive, which marked the beginning of the band’s full-on assault of the US.

What they said…

“The band not only highlighted the album with the licks and riffs of three guitarists (Rudolf Schenker, Michael Schenker, Matthias Jabs), but they also dramatically changed their style to sound more like that of Van Halen. This change is quite welcome; not only are the performances more unpredictable, but the lyrics and melodies are better written.” (AllMusic)

“Laying the final piece of groundwork for the massive success to come, the power and passion of Lovedrive would set the table for future platters Animal Magnetism (1980), the groundbreaking Blackout (1982), and 1984’s massive smash Love At First Sting leading the band to continued success clear into the ’90s and still to this day.” (SleazeRoxx)

“This is an essential listen for sure, and definitely essential to own for any fans of The Scorps. Who can resist the sexual appeal and strong arrangement that is this beast? It’s a lovedrive on wheels of fire, a lovedrive just one desire, love, you drive me crazy babe.” (Metal Archives)