Scorpions - Blackout
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Free Music Notes for Blackout
Free Music Review: "New" Fan Thanks to BLACKOUT
Hit: 4 Stars
I recently purchased this album because I have seen the No One Like You video (both versions) a lot on VH1 Classic lately. The only other Scorpions albums I had prior were Humanity and Moment of Glory, and I'm of course familar with their other big hits.
Well I was pleasantly surprised by Blackout! I "discovered" the gem that is Arizona! It is very catchy (which I like) and seems like it should have been a "hit"!
No One Like You of course rocks, everyone's heard it. I really enjoyed this album, its thoroughly and consistantly good. Very METAL! So after that I purchased Love at First Sting. I thought I would love that album as well, thinking it would be a progression from Blackout but I'm disappointed in that one! I won't get into that review here but I have to say Love at First Sting makes Blackout sound that much BETTER!
Free Music Review: Scorpions - Blackout
Hit: 5 Stars
Arguably the best hard rock album of all time. This album rocks from start to finish with hits like the title track, No One Like You, Dynamite, Arizona, China White and Can't Live Without You.
I remember being a child in the 80's when everybody was flying high and this was one the soundtracks to everyone having a good time. Always a great album to play to get in a good mood. An absolute party album.
I like this album so much that I almost got the Blackout guy tatooed on my arm (Thank God I didn't).
Free Music Review: A Classic Must Have!
Hit: 5 Stars
Solid hit by the Scorpions following 'Animal Magnetism' and 'Lovedrive.' This album is just great German hard rock from the 1980s from one of the best bands in that genre along with Def Leppard. Every song on this album is just a classic hit thanks to brilliant musicianship and the outstanding lead guitar work by Mathias Jabbs: simply one of the most underrated lead guitarists from that period who is just as impressive as Randy Rhoads in his style. Just listen to the rythm and lead on the title song! 'Dynamite' is another hit! Great stuff! Also, don't forget to get out your lighters and raise your hands as Scorpions is the model hard rock band for your power ballad with the hit 'No One Like You.' Just as creative and moving as the later hit 'Still Loving You.' Again, Mathias Jabbs just delivers an excellent solo on this one. You can't go wrong with this album or any album by Scorpions except those following Love At First Sting which was their last good album. Free Music Review: One of the great melodic metal albums
Hit: 5 Stars
With their 1982 release, Blackout, Scorpions finally broke through the U.S. market. Their previous two albums, Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism respectively, showed the band adapting a more commercial sound without abandoning their metal roots. Those albums would also introduce longtime lead guitarist Matthias Jabs to the band, whose melodic style was a sharp contrast to the wild kamikaze playing of their previous lead guitarist, the excellent Uli Jon Roth. Rather than be a band that seemed to be going in two different directions, Scorpions were now a more focused band and this would come to fruition on Blackout. "No One Like You" would become their first U.S. hit single and would become one of their most enduring songs. Like their future hit "Rock You Like a Hurricane", the track contains a soft spoken verse that builds in momentum before hitting its loud and memorable chorus. Whether it's heavy songs carried by wicked riffs such as "Dynamite" and the title track, an anthem like "Can't Live Without You", or catchy melodic songs like "You Give Me All I Need" or "Arizona", the band pull it off extremely well. Not to be outdone is "When the Smoke is Going Down", another in a long line of great power ballads that the band has done well since their beginnings. Other great tracks include the short and intense "Now!" and the dramatic "China White." All told, this is one of the great melodic metal albums of the `80s. And their next album, Love at First Sting, would be even better. Highly recommended. Free Music Review: 3.5 Stars for this breakthrough album
Hit: 3 Stars
Blackout is seen by many as the point where the Scorpions became what they'd be known as throughout the 80's. Basically pandering power ballad lightweights. The again with the kind of sales figures they were racking up it's unlikely the band cared, they'd paid their dues with albums like Virgin Killer and Taken By Force and documented their rise on Tokyo Tapes.
Here we see the band roar out of the blocks with the title track, a metal tour de force with a line of humou running through it. Top stuff. But proceedings take a shift with the next three tracks, Can't Live Without You/No One Like You/You Give Me What I Need and this is sort of the blueprint for so much that went wrong with the band. Individually not bad songs, actually hits in some territories, but stacked up after one another it certainly drains the energy away.
The rockers that come later do restore some order but aren't exactly awesome. But we do get an example of the famously bad Scorpions song title schtick with the albums closer When the Smoke is Going Down. But fans have loved them for such silliness for years and I can easily forgive them.
Rock journos lauded this album as a link between the metal cred 1970's and the more generic hard rock juggernaut of the bands 80's and 90's output. That's as may be, but I can't help but feel a little let down by this album. Some great songs but for some reason it rarely hits my stereo, my vote going to Virgin Killer for that less commercial kill factor.