Customer Reviews

Deadly Sting

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, a small correction to the editorial review: Lovedrive is the 6th studio album, and 7th album overall. The previous releases (RCA Records) are:

1972 Lonesome Crow 1974 Fly to the Rainbow 1975 In Trance 1976 Virgin Killer 1978 Taken by Force 1978 Tokyo Tapes (live)

Now, this compilation has all of their commercial and worldwide succesful songs, plus some of the finest album cuts of the band. It's definitive (rather excesive) for the casual fans , but for hardcore Scorpions fans it's not representative of their whole career (They started in 1969) This is a better compilation than Best of Rockers and Ballads, since it also includes their 90's hits. It's a good starting point for this specific era of the band of commercial success.

If you're more interested in Scorpions 'the cult european metal band' you should check the compilations BEST OF and BEST OF Vol. 2 by RCA Records. They're currently out of print, but the music there (that includes virtuoso guitarist Uli Jon Roth) worth the search.

If you're the kind of fan who's searching ONLY the hits, you should try the european single disc compilation BEST, released recently.

this is my first scorpion album and my first review so please be gentle, thank you. i was so moved by this album that i just had to write this. I am 51 years old and i have heard "hurricane" many times but never thought an entire album could be this good. thanks scorpions.

I disagree slightly with Jon Weiderhorn's review. "Face The Heat" was not a "comeback of sorts", nor was "Crazy World" sloppy. It was "Crazy World" that was in fact the comeback the Scorpions had been waiting for, producing their biggest hit ever, "Wind of Change". I will agree that the Scorp's post '84 output has been at times mediocre. "Rhythm of Love", "Tease Me, Please Me", "Don't Believe Her" and "Alien Nation" aspire for greatness but instead invoke boredom. But songs like "Passion Rules The Game", "Send Me An Angel", "Hit Between The Eyes" and "Under The Same Sun" reveal a band with a few more tricks in their bag. And their cover of the Who's "I Can't Explain" absolutely blows away the original (though to be fair, the Who's version was an early-60's monophonic recording). It was the only decent tune on the otherwise awful "Stairway To Heaven/Highway to Hell" compilation album from 1989, done under the guise of being an anit-drug album by Bon Jovi manager Doc McGhee after he got arrested for his own trafficking schemes.

As for the first disc, what else can you say? Near perfect. The only missing tunes are "Hey You" (unavailable on any of their studio albums) and "I'm Leaving You" (decent tune from "Love At First Sting", received a fair amount of airplay). A must for the 80's metal fan.

Be careful if you order the import of "Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years" since this is a single-disc version, even though Amazon repeats the description from the double-CD version. This is similar to the first disc in the double-CD version, with a few tracks from the second disc added and a different track order. The track listing for the import version is correct (yes I know, only 15 songs, I should have suspected a single disc). Boo to Electrola for using the same title and image as the double-CD domestic version for this.

This CD covers a wide range of the hits of the Scorpions and is a great choice for a "Most-Own" Scorpions CD. It goes as far back as the "In Trance" album and has excellent live cuts.

"Best of" and "Greatest Hits" albums are, let's face it, not made for a band's hard-core fans who already own their entire catalog. They're typically marketed towards everybody else: the casual fans. That is, the people who don't own any albums from that band, but liked what they've heard (from a concert, radio, Mtv, etc.), and would enjoy a compilation of these songs from different albums.

When it comes to Scorpions, I'm in this second category. After seeing them live in '96 with Alice Cooper, I knew I had to break down and buy a CD of theirs once and for all. Especially after hearing "Coast To Coast", an instrumental that for whatever reason I absolutely fell in love with. So I bought "Worldwide Live". I liked it a lot, but I still preferred hearing the studio versions of all those songs I've come to know and like (The Zoo, Rock You Like A Hurricane, Black Out, No One Like You, Big City Nights, etc.) Plus, I also really liked those 90s hits and concert songs I heard (Tease Me Please Me, Don't Believe Her, Alien Nation).

Finally THIS CD, "Deadly Sting: The Mercury Years", hit the stores, and it was exactly what I was looking for. Quite simply, it had EVERY song I ever remember hearing from them! The audio quality seems good and consistant too. I even liked some of the few songs I wasn't originally familiar with.

So, if you like those Scorpions songs you heard on the radio or in the videos Mtv used to play, but never got around to buying any of their albums, just buy this one!

....on Jon Wiederhorn's editorial review. Contrary to what he states, "Face the heat" really isn't a universally acknowledged comeback-album, neither are 'Savage amusement' and 'Crazy world' sloppy let-downs. It is really the other way about, believe me.

Scorpions have had a about 100000 compilations released so far, so it's hard to find anything to say about Deadly sting. They have so many quality songs to choose from.....I have the 1 CD version and it's of course packed with great songs, with the exception of the obligatory new song "Edge of time". I really hate the inclusion of 1 or 2 new song(s) into a compilation.....the smell of rip-off can be felt miles away.

But for anyone who doesn't own any Scorps-CDs and is interested in their music this is a good introduction, even if it doesn't have their early diamonds like 'Sails of Charon'.

For anyone who likes the Scorpions I think this is probably your best choice of all their CD's. I have several other CDs and it is my favorite.

If you were a fan of the Scorps in the '80's and '90's, you'll LOVE this double CD. Included are five of their best songs from each of their most popular albums (Blackout, Love at First Sting, Savage Amusement, Crazy World), some classic early tracks (e.g., Lovedrive, The Zoo), some later songs, two live recordings, two previously unreleased songs and their excellent remake of The Who classic I Can't Explain (which is only available on compilations). All in all a solid (and I feel their best) compilation effort from one of the world's greatest rock bands.

not wanting to re-purchase all the scorpians catologue on cd, this set is perfect for me. not a bad song on the cd's. this is the mercury years so the early rca songs are not here.