I have heard it said before that when a band is either out of creative ideas or exhausted from touring, one way to appease their fan base and buy time before they re-enter the studio is to put out a live album. As a result, most hard rock/metal albums of this sort frequently miss their target as they are generally rushed efforts that seemingly throw together tracks in a mis-sequenced manner and dissolve the real emotion the live performance originally carried.
In the case of the Scorpions's World Wide Live effort, I get the feeling this production was scripted long before my two assertions were ever to be realized. Evidenced by the sampling of tracks from five cities representing performances from over a 150-date, 13-month world tour supporting the band's Love At First Sting album, World Wide Live was given its proper due and serves as a testimonial to the second chapter to the Scorpions existence.
Every track from World Wide Live originated from the bands 1979-1984 studio albums, including Lovedrive, Animal Magnetism, Blackout, and Love At First Sting. During this time frame, the band's worldwide marquee was raised as it built off of a previous era (early 70's) documented by their first live album, Tokyo Tapes.
Coincidentally, the band was also rewarded by their creative
visual efforts in making conceptual music videos embraced by the
early days of MTV and catapulting three of the bands most
recognized anthems, "No One Like You", "Rock You Like A Hurricane",
and "Big City Nights" into the U.S. mainstream. Using these three
anthems as the foundation of
World Wide Live
, any listener will recognize that this band
had one of the most talented and wide ranging vocalists in Klaus
Meine as well as a very talented and powerful guitar tandem in
Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs.
On this recording, Meine, Jabs, and Schenker are joined by bandmates Francis Bucholz (bass guitar) and Herman Rarebell (drums) who in retrospect have become the core unit in producing the most commercially successful and memorable tracks in the band's nearly 30-year existence. Their performances sampled on this album are nearly flawless and share in the emotion and power that one would expect a band to have during a live show.
Sandwiched in the middle of this 15-track set are two of the finest heavy metal ballads ever recorded. "Holiday" is a stunning acoustic number performed by Schenker that allows Meine the opportunity to showcase his vastly underrated vocal range all while the Paris crowd eerily matches him word for word. "Still Loving You" is yet another reminder of Meine's ability to finesse his vocals through the crescendo of Schenker's guitar work as he shares more emotion in his delivery than the studio recording would ever allow. Both tracks are seductive pieces that only a few metal acts of this era would have even considered recording live.
If there is one track that benefits from being included on this album it would have to be "Dynamite". The sheer power of Schenker and Jabs guitar licks on this song has me convinced that had my only opportunity to hear this song be on Blackout, I would have forgotten it long ago. This conclusion should in no way undermine these two guitarists performance on any of the other tracks on the album. Scorpions songs from this era were built equally around the guitar solos and lead breaks as well as the range of Meine's vocals.
If one were to find fault with anything on this album it might fall on the track, "Can't Live Without You". This performance borders on overkill with the repetitiveness of the title chant and accompanying guitar loop that extends the original version to an almost untolerable length. In reminding myself that most rock and roll concerts center around a drawn out version of one of the band's songs allowing for extended instrumental solos and crowd participation measures, I still find myself reaching for the skip button with this one.
All in all, any listener of this album who is also familiar with the studio releases of the Scorpions will be amazed at both the collective and individual efforts of the band to perform at levels greater than the studio will allow. World Wide Live proves that the Scorpions are a band that thrives on live performance. With Rock and Roll, and more specifically Heavy Metal music, relying on amped up production it is indeed rare for a live album to be as balanced as this one.
Beware…..the first CD pressing of World Wide Live omits several tracks from the original vinyl release. Recently, a remastered version has been printed which includes the "Six String Sting" solo as well as the "Can't Get Enough" and "Another Piece of Meat" tracks. Not that these tracks are essential pieces in the Scorpions catalog but they still extend a nearly perfect recording even further.