Great Metal Albums of 1985: The Scorpions- World Wide Live

One of the greatest pleasures I had in 1984 was to see the Scorpions live whilst on tour for their album, “Love At First Sting.” So, when the live album, “World Wide Live,” came out as a result of that tour, it was a total no brainer that I get it. The album was recorded from shows in five different locations; thee in California, one in Paris and one in Cologne, Germany. Okay, I was a tiny bit disappointed that none of the songs from the show I saw in Philadelphia was used for the album but the shows recorded on the album were just as phenomenal.

One expectation from the show I saw from the Scorpions was that they would open with “Blackout.” After all, that song begins the album of the same name in such grand form.  Therefore, I was a little surprised when they opened “Coming Home.” But after a few listens to the album, I concluded that “Coming Home” was a good way to start the show, especially with “Blackout” following right after. The combination of those two songs packs the perfect one-two punch which is a great way to start any show.

Another excellent song, “Bad Boys Running Wild,” carries on what is to become a great show and a great album. Many a great moment is recorded here and there are many to find. Whether it’s Mathias Jabs’ great guitar solo on “Loving You Sunday Morning” or the single released from this album, “Big City Nights.” I remember seeing the live video for it quite a lot on MTV during the summer of 85 and that made me take a more appreciative look at the song. Of course, towards the end, “World Wide Live” doesn’t leave out the songs that gave them commercial success in the years running up to this. Their tremendous ballad “Still Loving You,” makes an appearance and is played brilliantly and is followed by the very famous “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” Of course whichever media you have the album on, for me it was vinyl, you had to change the record or tape after the first song to hear the second one. These two songs in conjunction was plenty of incentive for me to accomplish that task in record time.

Further credit where due on “World Wide Live” has to be given to the fact that there is a fairly good spread of albums the songs were chosen from. At this time, it was more the trend for bands to mainly focus on the previous two albums which brought them to stardom. In this case, the album would have been top heavy with “Blackout” and “Love At First Sting” material. However, the band also play a considerable amount of material from “Animal Magnetism” and “Lovedrive.” What this did was make younger fans only familiar with the last two albums delve back into the Scorpions’ earlier material. I have to believe that it was a good ploy by the band to do this as it made this album as great as it is.

Track Listing:

1. Countdown
2. Coming Home
3. Blackout
4. Bad Boys Running Wild
5. Loving You Sunday Morning
6. Make It Real
7. Big City Nights
8. Coast to Coast
9. Holiday
10. Still Loving You
11. Rock You Like a Hurricane
12. Can’t Live Without You
13. Another Piece of Meat
14. Dynamite
15. The Zoo
16. No One Like You
17. Can’t Get Enough (Part 1)
18. Six String Sting
19. Can’t Get Enough (Part 2)

The Scorpions

Klaus Meine- lead vocals

Mathias Jabs- lead and voice box guitars, backing vocals

Rudy Schenker- rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Francis Buchholz- bass, backing vocals

Herman Rarebell- drums, backing vocals

It has been argued that “World Wide Live” could be one of the best live albums of all time, at least in the top three. I certainly won’t enter into a debate about it as this is a great live album. What it’s doing for me at the moment is to influence me in going to see them headline at Bloodstock on the Sunday this year. The Scorpions, Queensryche and Dee Snider on the bill for that day, I shouldn’t miss this.

Next post: Virgin Steele- Noble Savage

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