REVIEW: Scorpions – Face the Heat (Japanese and Canadian versions)

Part 2 of 2 — for yesterday’s instalment, click here. For Aaron’s review of the domestic CD, click here!

SCORPIONS – Face the Heat (1993 Polygram, Japanese and Canadian versions)

1990’s Crazy World was a huge hit, but before Keith Olsen produced it, Scorpions had approached Canada’s Bruce Fairbairn. Pleased with his work on their Who cover “I Can’t Explain”, Scorpions prepared to convene in Vancouver with the producer. They were disappointed when Bruce changed his mind at the last minute when forced to choose between the new Scorpions and AC/DC projects. Fairbairn chose AC/DC, and the result was the five times platinum (US) Razors Edge album.

Since Crazy World ended up selling two million in the US and another five million worldwide, I’m sure there were no hard feelings between the two parties when they finally did hook up together on the followup album, Face the Heat. Personally speaking I felt Crazy World wasn’t heavy enough. I was hoping for more in Face the Heat. Additionally, this album was the Scorpions’ first since 1972 without bassist Francis Buchholz. Replacing him was five-stringer Ralph Rieckermann who ended up spending almost a decade with the Scorpions. Rieckermann was a very different player and added new elements such as slapped bass.

The first single “Alien Nation” showed promise. A menacing, metallic riff ushered in a tune with some slamming drums (thank you Herman Rarebell), and that ultra-low fifth string on the bass guitar. I preferred “Alien Nation” to just about any song on Crazy World. The year was 1993 and a heavy groove was exactly what the doctor ordered.

“No Pain No Gain” exhibits the Scorpions’ knack for naff song titles. Thankfully it too is a grinding metal groove, showing off Matthias Jabs’ talkbox skills on the guitar. With the Scorpions post-Schenker and post-Roth, you have to expect a certain amount of boneheaded metal. I think these guys genuinely love givin’ er on that trademark, simple sound. I believe they like playing this kind of thing with earnest, so good on them.

Three songs in and “Someone to Touch” is another great little Scorpions rocker. This speedy one won’t tax your brain cells in the lyrical department, but you will find yourself singing along to the chorus without realizing it. The chorus bears the stamp of Fairbairn with its answering lines. After this much firepower, I don’t mind a ballad and “Under the Same Sun” (perhaps a sequel to the worldwide hit “Wind of Change”) is a good one. Besides, Scorpions follow it by firing off another rocker called “Unholy Alliance”, another knockout with a great chorus. This helps lessen the impact of the next ballad, “Woman”. “Woman” is very different from “Under the Same Sun”, being dark and mournful. Another success.

Unfortunately, Face the Heat stalls in a major way on side two. A number of boring songs in a row (“Hate To Be Nice”, “Taxman Woman”, “Ship of Fools”, “Nightmare Avenue” boast only a few surprises and memorable moments. Jabs sports a nice fatbody jazz guitar solo on “Hate To Be Nice”, a trick that Fairbairn later encouraged Eddie Van Halen to use on his band’s next album, Balance. Unfortunately, a cool unique solo like this is within the same song as these lyrics:

“Hey baby, listen up,
I’m not in love with you,
You keep runnin’ off at the mouth,
And someone else can scratch my back,
And I could care less about your legs,
I just wanna see ’em walk all over me!”

The last listed track on the domestic CD is the ballad “Lonely Nights”, another really good ballad. Who cares that they just copied the way they ended Crazy World, with a slow dark ballad like “Send Me An Angel”? All well and good says I, but as I mentioned in yesterday’s instalment of Getting More Tale, the US and Canadian versions of the album have a hidden bonus track! Way back in ’89, the Scorps and Fairbairn discussed recording an Elvis cover. Tucked away unlisted after “Lonely Nights” is Elvis Presley’s “His Latest Flame”. It is a pleasant surprise! The trombone and trumpets are the perfect added touch. I’m sure Scorpions grew up listening to a lot of Elvis Presley records, and this version is faultless. It’s gleeful and authentic sounding despite the fact that it’s the Scorpions!

Neither of the two bonus tracks on the Japanese version of the CD are as good as “His Latest Flame”. Both are ballads: “Kami O Shin Jiru”, and “Daddy’s Girl”. They are inconsequential to casual Scorpions fans who don’t obsessively collect all their songs. Additionally, they are disappointing to Scorpions collectors who buy these things hoping the extra tracks will be better. I dig Rieckermann’s fretless bass on “Kami O Shin Jiru”, but these songs only serve to end Face the Heat on an excessively mellow note. “Daddy’s Girl” is particularly depressing; I don’t want to listen to songs about child abuse — I already know it’s bad! Scorpions tackle the subject in their usual subtle-as-a-brick fashion.