Heavy Hitters

Michael Schenker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cleopatra
• ASIN: B0009VI4LC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,711 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

An all-star lineup of platinum musicians featuring ex-Scorpions, ex-U.F.O. guitar slayer Michael Schenker pay tribute to some of the greatest rock songs ever!

Heart-pounding, fist shaking, all new renditions of rock classics such as War Pigs, Money and Hair Of The Dog just to name a few!

Features Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Tommy Shaw (Styx), Edgar Winter, Tony Levin PLUS members from Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Ozzy and more!

Major press and marketing campaign include full promotional servicing, ads in Lifestyle and rock mags such as Metal Edge, Hit Parader, Revolver and others!


Featuring:
Mark Slaughter (Slaughter)
Tim "Ripper" Owens (Iced Earth / Judas Priest)
Mike Inez (Ozzy / Heart)
Jeff Pilson (Dokken)
Eric Singer (Kiss)
Sebastian Bach (Skid Row)
Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel)
Joe Lynn Turner (Deep Purple / Rainbow)
Tommy Shaw (Styx)
Edgar Winter
Paul Dianno (Iron Maiden)
Gary Barden (MSG)
Jeff Scott Soto (Soul Circus / Yngwie Malmsteen)
Leslie West (Mountain)
Marco Mendoza (Soul Circus / Whitesnake)
Mike Baird (Journey)
Brett Chassen (Bret Michaels Band)
Aynsley Dunbar (Whitesnake / Starship)
Tony Franklin (The Firm)
Rudy Sarzo (Dio / Quiet Riot)
Simon Wright (Dio / AC/DC)
Phil Soussan (Ozzy)
Vinnie Appice (Black Sabbath)
Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot / Alice Cooper)
Bob Kulick (Meatloaf / Paul Stanley Band) --Cleopatra Records

Product Description

Digitally remastered reissue of this 2005 album from the guitar legend and founder member of The Scorpions and UFO. Rock producer and musician Bob Kulick adds guitar and production skills to this CD, which features an all-star lineup of musicians based around guitar virtuoso Schenker paying homage to their contemporaries. This powerhouse collection features an impressive lineup of artists showcasing their renditions of such classic songs as "War Pigs", "All Shook Up", "Money", "Doctor, Doctor" and "Hair of the Dog", to name just a few. Guest musicians include Sebastian Bach, Tommy Shaw, Tony Levin, Edgar Winter, Vinnie Appice, Aynsley Dunbar, Joe Lynn Turner, Gary Barden, Leslie West, Jeff Scott Soto and Rudy Sarzo, among others. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doctor, Doctor, please!...euthanize the patient! Enough with the covers already!, September 6, 2005

By 

Spatzi (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heavy Hitters (Audio CD)

Why is the flying V and MSG logo on this cover? This is not MSG, this is not Schenker's current band. It's just a sales gimmick to get attention. (Schenker himself, on his website, has confirmed he is quite upset with them using the MSG logo without his knowledge or permission.)

I feared the worst when I heard there was a third Schenker covers CD in the pipeline. Surprisingly, it's not as bad as the last 'schenker/pattison summit'. The production is a lot cleaner for one thing, Schenker's guitar actually sounds like Schenker, and he sounds more enthusiastic playing solos over these songs than he did on any of the 'Endless Toe Jam' cds. That could be attributed to actually playing with or meeting some of the other musicians (I'm just guessing) instead of just mailing in his solos like Greta "I vant to be alone" Garbo. (Phil Mogg spoke of his loner persona as far back as the mid 70's, when he would find Schenker always holed up on a room somewhere practicing solos endlessly, saying "I prefer to pratice alone.") For UFO, that anti-social chemistry seemed to work, but it certainly didn't with 'Schenker Pattison summit'.

I found about half of these songs worthwhile. I really liked 'Blood of the sun' with Leslie West on vocals, 'All shook up', 'War pigs', 'Out in the fields'.

'Hair of the dog' features a very Dan Cafferty like vocal from former Maiden God, Paul Dianno, but unfortunately, during the key 'son of a b...ch!!' vocal, someone else has to fill in the high notes, because he obviously can't do it, and that really detracts from the power of the song. If you can't sing it all the way through, then why bother? No real need for this cover. The 'Nazerth' version is unassailable.

What you really need to do when listening to cover versions is decide, "Is this better than the original? Would I ever listen to this version over the original?" In most cases here, I would have to say no. Sure, some of the arrangements are different, like 'I'm not talkin' by the Yardbirds, but it's still extremely weak compared to the original. Just because Schenker solos like mad all over the track does not make it good. It just sounds like he's trying too hard. The essential rhythm of the track, which is its strength, is completely missing, and as every guitarist worth his salt knows, you need an inspiring rhythm to play over or the solo is just pointless and worthless. Schenker is obviously trying to wring what he can out of it, but he deserves a better rhythm. And the vocal on this song is just laughable, and that's saying something, because Keith Relf was a one lung singer who wasn't exactly strong in the vocal dept. But he had PERSONALITY. Makes me really appreicate those old Yardbird recordings even more. So if this song brings attention to the original band, and the Jeff Beck version that's far superior, that's great.

Metal Gods, I beseech you! Why do you allow 'Doctor Doctor' to be covered again? This song needs to be permanently laid to rest. It's been done to death, on practically every UFO live album, every Schenker live album, plus remixes on his solos albums, etc, for the last 30 years. Ugh. And to think I used to like this song up until 'Strangers in the night' (Definitive version), but nothing has been improved or added to it since then, so "Doctor Doctor, please!...euthanize the patient!" UFO has such a huge back catalog of 'hidden gem' songs that could be covered today on an album like this, so who really needs to hear this again? Certainly not a UFO fan. I'm sure they're all sick of it.

Most pathetic here is the cover of Pink Floyd's 'Money'. The Floyd version is one of the most overplayed songs in the universe, and I wince when I have to hear it again, yet, I now have a renewed respect for it. As I said before regarding 'endless jam', Schenker is not a blues player. He may occasionly use 'blues scales' in some bastardized Euro metal fashion, but his blues phrasing, his timing, his selection of notes is a joke. The Schenker guitar tone is not a blues tone. I'm not 5% of the technical player that Schenker is, but I can play rings around him when it comes to the blues. German 'neo classical' guitarists just cannot play blues, (I'm also talking to you, Uli Roth). Heck, even Steve Vai can't play the blues worth a damn, so don't feel too bad. This song starts to seriously blow from the first five seconds, when you hear this completely useless scratching of the pick against the strings. It's like someone tuning up in the middle of a track. Is he trying to be cute? It's so irritating, it ruined the song for me instantly. And then it gets worse. Listen to a player like Dave Gilmour on the original. That is what the song needs. There is a reason Floyd is rarely covered by other bands or players. You cannot beat the feel/phrasing of David Gilmour. Robin Trower could play over this, but not Schenker.

Thankfully, this travesty is remedied by the Gary Moore cover, 'Out in the fields'. Since Moore and Schenker come from the same general school of thought, I really enjoyed his take on this classic. It doesn't surpass the original, but it doesn't embarass itself either. The biggest surprise here was hearing original MSG vocalist, Gary Barden, turning in a fine performance. The nostalgia of 1980 flooded over me when I thought about the good old days when MSG was creating its legend. I didn't know he was on it until I heard it. His voice is still the same and instantly recognizible to any MSG fan. This just makes me wish for an 'entire album' reunion between them, but we may have to make do with this and the track he contributes on the upcoming MSG '25th anniversary' studio CD.

'War pigs' has been covered a lot, but this is still a great take on it. The vocal, the playing, all top notch. Schenker is getting in the 'zone' on this one, mainly because he has time to stretch.

'Politician'? Again, why bother? This song should have been retired after 'Cream' did it. Robben Ford does the definitive cover of this song on his 'Mystic mile' Cd in 1993, because he changed the arrangement and improved the guitar riff, and he's an even better blues player than Clapton. Schenker once again, should stay away from blues songs. If a guy played like this in my local 'blues bar', he'd be booed off the stage for being completely out of his element. This reminds me of many band auditions I have witnessed, where you'd get the usual metalhead trying vainly to impress by wanking out a million notes (in a blues song!) where one would do, while the band rolls their eyes and calls, "Next!" Some guys like Scott Henderson can pull off the metal/fusion/blues switch because they understand what the blues is about, meaning knowing when to lay off the technical solos and endless fills, and know how to change their tone. Schenker hasn't got a clue when to play and when not to play. His timing is off, he plays way too much (didn't think I'd ever say that about Schenker) and his choice of notes is just absurd in relation to proper blues scales.

Top marks to 'Blood of the sun', 'All shook up', 'Out in the fields', and 'War pigs'

Medium marks to 'Hair of the dog', 'I don't live today' (Listen to Seal/Jeff Beck version to hear someone go BEYOND Hendrix. Beck is about the only one who could surpass Hendrix.)

Into the trash bin: 'Money', 'Politician', 'Doctor doctor', 'I'm not talkin'.

Enough of the covers. The chinks in Schenker's armor are starting to show. Up to the point he did these cover albums, he seemed beyond reproach, but these albums hurt, more than help his stature as a guitarist. I don't even know if he had a hand in choosing these songs or if they were picked by Mike (how can I make another quick buck?) Varney. If it's going to be a cover album, seeing Schenker's PERSONAL FAVORITES would be best.

On this one, Schenker's out of his element half of the time, and it's a step backward for someone of his talents. Like telling DaVinci to invent a cheese grater. He's not a bar band, nor does he belong in one. He's a true individual, has enough of his own brilliant ideas, his own style, (copied by everyone or an influence to every guitarist on the planet since the 70's) so at this point in his career, he doesn't need to do these things. He's released so many albums under UFO, MSG, solo, that are his own, and are LEGEND, these lame cover projects just seem like so much 'I need the money' filler.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is a Shame...Michael Schenker did not approve this release, October 23, 2005

By 

cd-heaven (ROCK CITY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heavy Hitters (Audio CD)

Bob Kulick and Cleopatra Records, but mainly Bob Kulick released with compilation without Schenkers approval, or consent. Schenker did record the guitar parts, but everything else was plotted and concieved without his knowing and it shows. This is not an MSG release, this is a star-studded affair which happens to feature Schneker on all lead guitar on all tracks. Bob Kulick is a favorite to do these types of tribute releases, but this one was not with Michael Schenker's participation on the album. Schenker had no idea nor was told who is to perform on each song. While there are some good performances, it's a letdown and does not warrant to being either an MSG or a "real" Michael Schenker release. Bob Kulick and Cleopatra records are responsible for the misrepresentation of MSG on this slimeball release.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars heavy melody, September 21, 2005

By 

Frank Raguso (Naperville,Il) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heavy Hitters (Audio CD)

Michael's playing is better than ever.He has such a melodic touch and he knows when to hold a note and when to let em fly.Great classic rock song selection as well.The guests lend their specific talents to each track.Of note is the drumming from Aynsley Dunbar.A must have for Schenker fans.