{"id":39800,"date":"2006-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/lovedrive-2\/"},"modified":"2006-06-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-06-16T00:00:00","slug":"lovedrive-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/lovedrive-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lovedrive"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

This is another one of those albums that works like a
\ntime machine for me. Four chords in and it’s 1979 again and oh God
\nis that really *all* my hair?<\/p>\n

But I digress. The Scorpions were formed in Hannover,
\nGermany in 1969 by guitarist\/vocalist Rudolf Schenker, who shed the
\nband’s entire first lineup before they ever recorded, forming a new
\nband around the core of lead singer Klaus Meine and, on lead
\nguitar, Rudolf’s brother Michael. After the Scorpions’ debut album
\nLonesome Crow<\/i>, Michael Schenker departed to gain fame as
\nlead axeman for UFO, and was replaced by Uli Jon Roth.<\/p>\n

The Scorpions’ early sound took its cues from hard
\nrock contemporaries like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, using their
\ntwin-guitar attack to construct a barrage of monster riffs and
\nscreechy vocals that was full of energy, if a little short on
\nfinesse. They experienced moderate success through four albums, but
\nnever seemed to hit on all cylinders.<\/p>\n

That all changed with Lovedrive<\/i>. As fate would
\nhave it, Roth departed the Scorpions at almost the same time
\nMichael Schenker left UFO, leading to Michael being recruited back
\ninto the fold on a temporary basis. Lovedrive<\/i> features
\nMichael sharing guitar duties with brother Rudolf and the band’s
\nnew lead guitarist — still with them today — Matthias Jabs. At
\nthe same time, the band elected to go in a more melodic direction,
\ntaking the hint from the successful arena rock bands of the day
\nthat The Killer Riff goes down easier paired with a singalong
\nchorus and slicker production. They were still a lot closer to
\nAC\/DC than Journey, but on Lovedrive<\/i>, the Scorpions
\ndelivered heavy music that dares to be hummable.<\/p>\n

Nowhere is that truer than on the title track, whose
\nbrilliant chorus melody and sizzling solos put it up there among
\nthe era’s neglected classics. “Loving You Sunday Morning” is nearly
\nits equal, a rocker full of stellar riffs that convey a kind of
\nlanguid intensity that’s perfect for the lyric. “Can’t Get Enough,”
\nas obvious as it is, explodes with undeniable energy. “Another
\nPiece Of Meat” is maybe the one place where the boys go right on
\nover the top into Bon Scott territory with the lyric, but Michael’s
\nleads are muscular, fiery and damn near unstoppable.<\/p>\n

Of note here also is the inclusion of one of the
\nband’s best ballads, the stately, often soaring “Holiday.” The
\nScorps would go on to have several hits in the same power-ballad
\nvein, but none with the creative atmospherics of this one’s
\nextended outro. A final highlight is the instrumental “Coast To
\nCoast,” a pure showcase for the Schenker brothers that stands among
\nthe best of its genre.<\/p>\n

Two mid-tempo cuts (“Always Somewhere” and “Is There
\nAnybody There?”) don’t quite live up to the rest of the album, and
\nthere are places where the band’s sometimes-tenuous grasp on the
\nEnglish language leaves the lyrics feeling slightly off-kilter. But
\nthese are minor quibbles on a superb album.<\/p>\n

(Sidebar: The cover seen here was banned in the US
\nand replaced with one featuring a drawing of a steely-looking
\nScorpion perched on top of the band’s logo. What can I say, I live
\nin a country where SUVs are a birthright and breasts are dirty.
\nIt’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.)<\/p>\n

Lovedrive<\/i> was the album that pointed the
\nScorpions in the musical direction they’ve successfully pursued
\never since, and a highlight of a career that’s been successful in
\nmany more ways than simply outlasting my hairstyle.<\/p>\n

<\/review><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6173],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39800","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-scorpions","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39800"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}