FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 1, 1974, the Scorpions released their second full-length studio album Fly to the Rainbow in the US via RCA Records.
This was their first release with guitarist Uli Jon Roth and bassist Francis Buchholz, and the only one to include drummer Jürgen Rosenthal.
Background:
In support of the Lonesome Crow album, the Scorpions toured as the opening act for the British rock band UFO. At the end of the tour Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker was asked to fill an open position as UFO's guitarist and accepted the position. Schenker's departure temporarily resulted in the breakup of the band but Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine ultimately merged with the band Dawn Road. The new band consisted of guitarist Ulrich Roth replacing Michael as well as drummer Jürgen Rosenthal and bass guitarist Francis Buchholz. The new line up assumed the Scorpions name and recorded Fly to the Rainbow. Three songs on Fly to the Rainbow were co-written with departing guitarist Michael Schenker as part of his agreement on leaving the band.
When asked to comment on the cover art for the album Uli Jon Roth said: "Don’t ask me what that cover means… I disliked it from the beginning. It looked ludicrous to me back then and looks just as bad today. It was done by a firm of designers in Hamburg who had actually done a good job on the Lonesome Crow album before but I think that time they failed miserably. As for the meaning I can only guess, but I’d rather not…"
Five songs from Fly to the Rainbow were regularly performed live by Scorpions; the title track, Speedy’s Coming, They Need a Million, This Is My Song, and Drifting Sun. The live versions of Speedy’s Coming and the title track appear on the live album Tokyo Tapes which was recorded in April 1978. Soon after Scorpions dropped these songs from their setlist. Between 1980 and 1999 nothing from Fly to the Rainbow appeared in Scorpions concerts. Following a one-off performance of They Need a Million on June 7, 1999 at Patinoire de Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg the title tune and Speedy's Coming were performed a number of times between 2000 and 2008. Speedy's Coming was played with relative frequency from 2015 to 2019.
Critical Reception:
In his review for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia wrote; “On their second effort, Fly to the Rainbow, the Scorpions begin to establish their trademark hard-rock sound while exorcising the last of their remaining psychedelic hippie tendencies. In fact, the band bursts out of the gate in surprisingly straightforward fashion with the hard rocking Speedy's Coming before resorting to the aforementioned bad habits on otherwise promising tracks such as Fly People Fly and They Need a Million; the first never really gets off the ground, seeming almost like a prelude to the title track, and the second is let down by the weak vocals of guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, who have no business competing against vocalist Klaus Meine. Roth insists, however, on taking center stage for Drifting Sun, which exposes his shameless Hendrix-isms, down to the opening riff lifted straight out of Spanish Castle Magic. And while it closes the album in rather schizophrenic fashion, the epic nine-minute title track would become a concert standard -- albeit without its senseless folky intro. Fly to the Rainbow is another growing experience for the Scorpions; and the band would truly hit the jackpot with the following year's In Trance”.
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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