There are many and varied Scorpions compilation albums, but 'Best of Rockers n Ballads' is a reasonable place for the newcomer to gain an overview of the bands' late-Seventies to late Eighties heyday. There's the inclusion of a couple of new songs to attract the fans who otherwise might not be tempted to part with their cash, plus the added bonus of some of the old songs getting the remix treatment. Unfortunately, each of these suffer from the process; when you're familiar with a song and love it just the way it is, hearing a "new" version can be unwelcome and that's exactly the case with 'Big City Nights', 'Is There Anybody There' and most especially the superb power ballad 'Holiday', which sounds somewhat empty and has had it's wonderful guitar outro tragically mutilated.
Still, there's nothing wrong with hearing classics such as 'Rock You Like a Hurricane', 'Blackout' and the stunning 'Still Loving You' in the different context a compilation album offers and whilst the cover of The Who's 'Can't Explain' is quite appalling, new song 'Hey You' (actually remixed from a 1979 session) is perfectly decent.
I'd still recommend a newcomer to seek out a few original albums rather than take the shortcut of a compilation, but if you were going to buy a Scorpions "best of", this is better than many out there and is an official release, not a record company cash-in.
