Acoustica

Great Album, Recommended

I was a tad behind in my Scorpions collection and had not bought the regular edition of Acoustica yet. Imagine my surprise when the Official Scorpions web site sent me an image, track listing and link to this Platinum Edition. Of course the link was to Amazon.com and the price was reasonable.Well, I must say I am impressed. It's a cool 2 CD set in a slip box. It was made in Thailand. Yes, the imprint on the back is Warner Music Thailand and the video footage was shot by a Thai television film crew.The 43:20 second video played great on my Windows Media Player9. It's a DAT file and you it's not like Quick Time or RP vids.That being said the video has astounding quality and sound. OH! I also was able to play disc 2 in my RCA DVD Player. Most Excellent!The interview with (only 2 members of) The Scorpions is in English with Thai Sub-titles. At times the interviewer speaks to the audience in Thai so what he is saying is lost on us.That being said the performance footage is fantastic. The interview is good. This was filmed in Portugal in Feb 2001 when Acoustica was being done. There is a lot of behind the scense footage. It's a real treat for the fans.The Scorpions used extra musicians for the 'Acoustica' shows. A (nationally known) Cellist from Portugal, a keyboardist, some extra guitars and three back-up singers!. The songs are given carefulo new arrangements. Even a hard number like 'The Zoo' works well in this setting.(The Scorpions played 3 Acoustica shows in early Feb, 2001. Most nights featured over 20-25 songs. With this set you get 18.)A cool cover song is Kansas' "Dust In The Wind". I really enjoyed it being in this set list, but I am not a fan of Kansas. A 2nd surprise cover song is "Drive". Yes, this is the song from The Cars. 'Acoustica' was done not long after the death of Cars guitarist/vocalist Ben Orr. Who knew the Scorps were fans? A nice tribute and one of the videos on disc 2. Of course All the Scorpion's Best Known Ballads are here and a few news songs.IF you are a Scorpions fan YOU must buy this set. It's excellent.IF you are a casual Scorpions fan I think you will enjoy this set MORE than a "Best Of" album. It's easy on the ears and the video footage is superb.The 3 bonus audio tracks on disc 2 are also Top Notch!Rock on Scorpions![One disappointment I have is that it is mentioned in the interview and behind the scenes footage that "Catch Your Train" was performed! I would rather have heard an acoustic version of that than say Hurricane 2001. This song hasn't been played live in years (if at all).]Note: Amazon's track listing above is INCORRECT.HERE is the actual track listing:Disc 1: 1. The Zoo 2. Always Somewhere 3. Life is too Short 4. Holiday 5. You & I 6. When Love Kills Love 7. Dust In the Wind (cover song) 8. Send Me An Angel 9. Under The Same Sun 10. I Wanted to Cry (But the tears wouldn't come) 11. Wind Of Change 12. Love of My Life 13. Drive (cover song) 14. Still Loving You 15. Hurricane 2001DISC 2: Video 1. When Love Kills Love 2. Holiday 3. Drive 4. Send Me An Angel Audio Only: Tease Me, Please Me; Is There Anybody Out There?; Rhythm of Love.

Loved the scorpions since I was a kid and this cd rocks

This CD was quite a surprise --- actually, I shouldn't say that I was surprised because I find everything that the Scorpions do as wonderfully creative and entertaining. This CD, however, really shows the Scorpions at their best in many respects. They are indeed a rock band -- in my opinion, the BEST rock band -- but on this outing they prove that they don't need amps and power chords to get their message across. What you get instead is pure Scorpions glory. Songs such as "Holiday" and "Still Loving You" have been rearranged as total acoustic numbers and they are absolutely gorgeous. I don't know that I will ever be able to listen to "Holiday" any other way from now on. The band covers "Dust in the Wind" and they blow Kansas away -- which is really saying something. The song literally brought tears to my eyes.The music fabulously showcases the songwriting talents of Rudolf and Klaus and the fantastic musical abilities of the entire band. The acoustic guitars are backed up by subtle drumming, a cellist, bass guitar and keyboards. It is almost a cross between their "plugged" music and the Berlin Orchestra Concert. Without the power normally generated through their amps, the Scorpions show us what they are all about -- good music. These guys aren't just rockers -- they are first class musicians (obviously classically trained) and the melodies are entrancing. I guarantee that true Scorpions fans will be almost moved to tears with the sheer beauty of the instruments "singing together" in perfect harmony.I get upset reading reviews that say "the Scorpions went downhill" or they "sold old" and changed their style. Those reviewers are not Scorpions fans -- they are fans of particular songs. True Scorpions fans understand that these guys have music flowing through their veins and they have not pigeon-holed themselves into one specific genre. They write from their hearts and play from their souls -- and that will understandably generate different types of music. To love the BAND (rather than just a particular song style) is to understand what they are saying to you through their music -- and to respond back to them in turn. I can't think of a single Scorpions song that I do not like on some level because I understand what they are trying to say with their music. They are saying "Here I am .. this is me" and when they bare their souls like that, who could NOT be moved by it?

Great concert and in the album is good to have if I don't have time to just sit and listen.

I have this on CD but it gets stuck, vinyl sounds so much better and you get a couple of bonus songs that aren't on the CD. A must for Scorpion fans.

This one was surprisingly hard to find; never saw a copy of it anywhere in stores in the U.S. and didn't hear anyone else really talking a lot about it in the press or on the web. So, I came here and picked up a copy. I for one love "Moment Of Glory" and feel that it's easily one of the best collaborations between an orchestra and a rock group ever done. Seriously. It's an incredible work and I strongly advise anyone to pick up a copy. This on the other hand isn't that great. Some of the arrangements make the band sound a lot like Enrique Iglesias's backup band and while the band does very good covers of The Cars "Drive", Queen's "Love of my Life" and Kansas's "Dust in the Wind" I ask why they did them in the first place and not throw in more of their own stuff? "When Love Kills Love" is a decent ballad, but it's kind of indicative of the material the band was doing in the wake of "Crazy World"; not all that great.However, soon after this the band would rebound with three of their best albums ever and hit a late-career resurgence in terms of quality. And, ironically, they would release an acoustic live album "Live In Athens" which completely blows this one away in terms of song selection and overall arrangement. THAT is a much better representation of what this band sounds like acoustically.

Let me honest upfront, the Scorpions' "Acoustica" album was a random purchase, completely random, it wasn't anywhere near my long list of wanna-haves let alone the short list of must-have next purchases. I'm not even a Scorpions fan, the only other album I have by them is "Crazy World" which I gave three stars and described as "not being 54 minutes of Wind of Change". But I've always had a thing for hard rock/metal bands going acoustic so here goes"."Acoustica" opens with the rocker "The Zoo" before slowing down with "Always Somewhere" and then new track, the first of four new tracks, the ballad "Life Is Too Short", it's ok but not great being too long with an extended repetitive outtro. The infectious "Holiday" from the breakthrough "Lovedrive" album follows picking-up the pace slightly and getting the Portuguese audience going but somehow in this acoustic setting it lacks the oomph and power of the electric version. "You and I" follows keeping-up the audience participation levels up before another new track "When Love Kills Love"; and it's about this point with six tracks down and nine to go that I'm beginning to have my doubts about this album. So far it's all largely been a bit stodgy like a rice pudding, the songs have been laboured and drawn-out, and I get a feeling that I'm caught in an endless re-run of the all-time most mediocre moments from the Eurovision Song Contest.Things don't really get any better with the next track, a cover of the Kansas hit "Dust in the Wind", it's never been one to get the heart racing but here it too gets the Eurovision treatment with ladleful's of over-wrought pathos. The ballad "Send Me an Angel" , a real standout from the general frankly forgettable thump-thump-bang-bang that makes up much of the "Crazy World" album, follows but what I want right now is some forgettable thump-thump-bang-bang and not another hand-wringing ballad.At least "Catch Your Train" kicks-off with a little honky-tonk piano before rocking and rolling and at this point things are looking up. But not for long, "I Wanted to Cry (But the Tears Wouldn't Come)" is another slow ballad, but then at last it's time for "Wind of Change" and things must get better, but no, this too is laboured and over-engineered, it does at least get a big cheer so someone must have appreciated it. A cover of Queen's "Love of My Life" follows, always a dirge it only succeeds in dragging the album down further, fortunately though it's short. The cover of The Cars "Drive" could have been inspired, the instrumentation would be great but for the awful plinky-plinky highlights [sorry I'm no longer mincing my words]. "Still Loving You" is a great song but like so many of the tracks here its presentation is laboured and lacks any tension. Final track "Hurricane 2001" is without doubt the best track here with at last a bit of the oomph that I had expected and wanted, but sorry guys it really is a case of far too little far too late and I doubt I'll get this far again.And that's it. It's disappointing, it maybe live but frankly it's moribund. The playing is excellent but the arrangements are laboured, and the recording lacks the bottom end and has the vocals too far forward. The song selection is uninspiring being either ballads or emasculated rockers, and I only wish I had read the kevmeister and Nev Daimler's reviews before I splashed the cash.

This is a review of the vinyl version , not the music as it's scorpions chillout album and it's great , surprised it's on Sony label , 1st I've had , the vinyl is as flat as glass , sound quality is right up there with the best modern vinyl I've heard , it's very heavy and ridged vinyl so a little more surface noise than normal, but the dynamic range more than makes up for that , beats even some of my Abbey road half speed masters , nice to get vinyl that's pressed with care , cover is great quality and comes with full colour inner sleeves , and it's scorpions what's not to like

one of my pals when he heard this album in my car said wow this is the best song ever speaking about wind of change .. for me this is one of the best albums ever for the German kings they made this album at the time when everyone was doing gigs with acoustic guitars and leaving the lead at home but scorpions did it with style in a powerful way they did what others tried to reach . what made this album special is that they had played all the fans fav then added a couple of killer covers .. and dust in the wind made many fans buy the dvd for .. buy it

Very pleasantly surprised with this album including the cover version of Drive.

Another disappointment in just two days - wrong item delivered. And the delivered record has sticker misplaced as in the pictures. Unusable.