Review Summary: The ultimate live celebration of Roth’s Scorpions years
I would be wary of anyone attempting to revisit a live album as good as Scorpions’
Tokyo Tapes. The original caught their seventies incarnation at its peak, with Uli Jon Roth’s departure lending the recording the significance of a farewell. Returning to that repertoire decades later invited some unforgiving comparisons. Roth, nevertheless, went back to Tokyo’s Nakano Sun Plaza, where the original had been recorded, for a concert in February 2015, released the following year as
Tokyo Tapes Revisited. The setting makes for a lovely reunion with his own history. More reassuringly, he and his musicians sound thoroughly aware of how much this music means to the people listening and the fans of Scorpions.
What strikes me first is how well the band plays together. The musicians sound so committed to the project that even their most precise playing feels exuberant, as though they had rehearsed until they could relish every turn in the arrangements. At times, the instrumental work sounds even more accomplished than on the original, if such blasphemy can be uttered. The guitar harmonies in
Sun in My Hand are an unmistakable highlight, while the straightforward drive of
All Night Long needs little embellishment to get the point across. Everyone sounds equally at home with the intricate harmonies and the more straightforward rockers. I hear considerably more of the camaraderie and excitement I wanted from
Scorpions Revisited, making this the stronger of Roth’s two celebrations of his former band.
Roth’s own performance has much to do with that improvement. His Sky Guitar remains a force to be reckoned with, and the fluency of his playing can still be astonishing, but he generally follows the peculiarities of his own guitar parts closely enough to preserve their studio legacy. The classical inflections and expressive phrasing belong to the songs again. There are still a few places where I wish he had stayed closer to the original lines. Those departures are occasional irritations, however, and his tendency to over-elaborate, which troubled me elsewhere in his solo catalogue, is largely kept in check.
The selection helps too. This is a generous return to the Scorpions years, extending beyond the contents of the 1978 album to include classics such as
Virgin Killer and
The Sails of Charon. I might even prefer this setlist, particularly for the opportunity to hear material less frequently encountered onstage.
Drifting Sun would have made a welcome addition, although that is the complaint of a listener being spoiled. Across the performance, the aggression of
Virgin Killer and the yearning of
We’ll Burn the Sky retain their distinct personalities. The Spanish-influenced
Rainbow Dream Prelude offers Roth a chance to rehearse the intro he wrote in the studio and completely re-arrange it, while the closing Hendrix selections fit naturally into an evening devoted to music so closely associated with Roth.
Nathan James deserves a good share of the credit for keeping that evening lively. His bluesy rasp gives the songs a robust, soulful delivery, and he sounds more comfortable performing the material. Klaus Meine’s absence remains a comparison that is hardest to escape. His peculiar tenderness was as important to this repertoire as the force of his singing, and some of that character inevitably disappears with another vocalist. Yet James gives these performances enough personality to make constant comparisons seem unfair. The choruses of
Pictured Life and
In Trance still invite an immediate sing-along, and his commitment seldom leaves me wishing the music would hurry back to a guitar solo. With Meine involved, this might have come closer still to surpassing the original. James makes a commendable contribution on his own terms.
The recording conveys much of the pleasure of hearing a band perform in front of an appreciative audience. Its warmth suits the material, and there is sufficient detail to follow the guitar work without losing the impression of a shared stage. A little muddiness accumulates when the arrangements become denser, so some EQ adjustment could have helped. That is a minor blemish on a performance whose vitality survives the recording process remarkably well. For all the preparation suggested by the playing, the concert never feels stiff or over-rehearsed.
I still give the original
Tokyo Tapes the advantage, chiefly for the chemistry of that particular Scorpions lineup and Meine’s unmistakable voice. Nevertheless, Roth and his band have made one hell of a companion piece to it. The playing is exhilarating, the track-list exceptional, if not superior, and the affection behind the undertaking is audible throughout. Anyone who shares any reservations about
Scorpions Revisited should give this a chance. It captures Roth enjoying his rock ’n’ roll inheritance with musicians who do it justice, and comes far closer to the old magic than I would have dared expect.
