Reviews list for Scorpions - Taken by Force (1977)

It's sacrilege I know, but I have never enjoyed the scorpions and I have given them a chance on multiple occasions. Full disclosure, I listened to this on Spotify with their 2015 remaster version and it just sounds way too clean. Not sure if the original version had more personality but the version I listened to was too "perfect" like they went in and took out any of the tiny extra vibrations from the strings or that the drums never rang out more than absolutely necessary. It feels like they went back in and made sure any imperfections weren't there so much so that it kept it from having substance. Also, this does not feel like a metal record to me at all. Glam rock at best. The best song on here to me was The Sails of Charon where it actually felt like they tried to have a bit of an edge on it with some harsher tones. The rest of the album was way too poppy for me, starting with Steamrock Fever which was trying to be catchy but went on way too long especially for an intro track. Then We'll Burn The Sky was really chorus heavy, and so was most of the rest of this record. Most of the songs tended to lend into just repeating the song title too much with overly clean guitar tones and melodies. He's a Woman - She's a Man, what is that? Why? If I knew the meaning behind these songs would I like it more, because I just did not have that great of a time with this one. There's way to much music out there I would rather be listening to so that I can skip being negative towards the Scorpions.

Probably like many, my main exposure to Scorpions prior to this was "Rock You Like a Hurricane". Taken by Force predates that by some years, so I thought it'd be interesting to hear what was there before.

I'm going to cut straight to the most important point here: "The Sails of Charon" is amazing. Every part of it, the funky riffs at the core, Uli Roth's gorgeous lead work, the twisting, snaking, menacing vibe that it oozes, it's all vintage heavy metal. It's that classic sound where everything gels and flows so well, and will lead to so much in later years. "Sails of Charon" is a track that deserves to sit proud among other early classics like "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Children of the Grave", and whatever else I have to say about the album as a whole, this song should be in any metalhead's collection. 

As for the rest of the album...it's fine. It's decent. There's some good and some bad. It's hard not to be overshadowed around a track like "The Sails of Charon", honestly. None of the other songs on here are bad (though I'll admit "He's a Woman, She's a Man" feels a bit dry and overly reliant on just repeating the title). It treads the sort of lines you'd expect during the 70s, when hard rock was starting to give birth to heavy metal. There are typical but effective rockers like "Suspender Love", "I've Got to be Free" and "Steamrock Fever" (in which I actually enjoy the use of construction sounds and children chanting), and others that play a bit more with quieter moments. "Your Light" is a lazy river drifter with funky bass groundwork, "Born to Touch Your Feeling" harkens to some of Aerosmith's more effective ballads, and "The Riot of Your Time" has a nice rising sense of energy. "I've Got to be Free" is another of the harder tracks here, and probably the one that works best, just with sheer catchiness.

But despite all the praise I can give to these individual moments or elements, something's missing from the whole. Most of the songs on here are good, but rarely do Scorpions genuinely impress me like some of their contemporaries. Black Sabbath were darker, Led Zeppelin more ambitious, Motörhead nastier, Judas Priest sharper, AC/DC committing more fully to the rock aesthetic. Most of Taken by Force is good, but I can't say I'm going to stick the album on much after this review.

Except for "Sails of Charon". That shit rocks.

Choice cuts: I've Got to be Free, The Sails of Charon