This is the Scorps first album of the 90's and isn't a bad piece of music at all. But truth be told it is a little bland. Sure tunes like Hit Between the Eyes and Tease Me Please Me race along quite happily and Kicks after Six cruises along propelled by Klaus Meines vox but much of this album just doesn't quite have that elusive X factor. It is a little sickly smooth and even the power ballads seem a little dull, and that's pretty much what the band was becoming known for at the time.

Money and Fame show the Scorpions could still spit and snarl with the best of them if they chose to but there is precious little display of bared fangs elsewhere on the album. The ballad Send Me an Angel, tacked onto the end of the album like some sort of bonus track actually became a hit in a number of territories. Not sure why but hey, nobody asked me!

The real saving grace for this album is the fact that it produced Wind of Change. This monster of a hit would not of struck gold at any other time, it was written and released at a time when certain historic events were taking place. There truly was a Wind of Change going through Europe in the couple of years after this album was put out and that's why heavy rock fans of a certain vintage will always 'zone out' when they hear this song on the radio. Which you often do as it transcended metal or hard rock, it captured the zeitgeist of the moment to perfection, encapsulating a feeling of optimism that fluttered and die in Europe a few years later, and then in the US a few years after that.

BUT - as towering as that song is, and as solid as a few of the rockers are this is not an essential album for the casual Scorps fan unless you pick it up 2nd hand cheaply. For the casual hard rock fan I'd suggest you get yourself a few other releases instead, those being Virgin Killer (1977), Tokyo Tapes (78) and maybe even Best of Rockers and Ballads (89) - the latter two particularly being a good taste tester for this bands product up to the end of the 80's.
This is the Scorps first album of the 90's and isn't a bad piece of music at all. But truth be told it is a little bland. Sure tunes like Hit Between the Eyes and Tease Me Please Me race along quite happily and Kicks after Six cruises along propelled by Klaus Meines vox but much of this album just doesn't quite have that elusive X factor. It is a little sickly smooth and even the power ballads seem a little dull, and that's pretty much what the band was becoming known for at the time. Money and Fame show the Scorpions could still spit and snarl with the best of them if they chose to but there is precious little display of bared fangs elsewhere on the album. The ballad Send Me an Angel, tacked onto the end of the album like some sort of bonus track actually became a hit in a number of territories. Not sure why but hey, nobody asked me! The real saving grace for this album is the fact that it produced Wind of Change. This monster of a hit would not of struck gold at any other time, it was written and released at a time when certain historic events were taking place. There truly was a Wind of Change going through Europe in the couple of years after this album was put out and that's why heavy rock fans of a certain vintage will always 'zone out' when they hear this song on the radio. Which you often do as it transcended metal or hard rock, it captured the zeitgeist of the moment to perfection, encapsulating a feeling of optimism that fluttered and die in Europe a few years later, and then in the US a few years after that. BUT - as towering as that song is, and as solid as a few of the rockers are this is not an essential album for the casual Scorps fan unless you pick it up 2nd hand cheaply. For the casual hard rock fan I'd suggest you get yourself a few other releases instead, those being Virgin Killer (1977), Tokyo Tapes (78) and maybe even Best of Rockers and Ballads (89) - the latter two particularly being a good taste tester for this bands product up to the end of the 80's.