Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
bulls eye, 19 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Been a huge fan for over 17 years and finally will be able to get this masterpiece in cd-format. Glad they added 'Suspender Love' and really hope this is the studio-version, not the live version. Think that Uli's guitar work is at it's peak in this release in songs like Your Light (my favourite off this album) and We'll Burn The Sky. Signs of the band moving into more commercial direction are in sight in this one, but that doesn't matter. Reunion with Uli is something this band hasn't done yet, so...hoping for the best!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent rock album, 15 Jul 2002
This record was, along with the live Tokyo Tapes, the final album the band recorded with Uli Jon Roth. It has his stamp all over it, as the band's subsequent move to mindless fist-in-the-air stadium rock proved.This album is chock full of great tunes, my personal favorites being "We'll Burn The Sky", "The Sails of Charon", "Your Light" and "Born To Touch Your Feelings". The playing on this album is superb, particularly during "We'll Burn The Sky" and "The Sails of Charon". The double harmones are brilliantly arranged and blow the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest out of the water. This record was the zenith of the Scorpions career - their earlier albums having been patchy but with some great songs ("Polar Nights" from Virgin Killer is tacked on to the end of this CD - great!) and their output evrafterwards has been extremely poor. Its such a shame that the band split with their main creative force at such an early stage. This record reminds us of what might have been.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Last studio effort from Roth, 22 May 2006
When compared to the harsh tones and in-your-face guitar and vocals of the previous two albums, the softer production values of `Taken by Force' come as something of a disappointment. That's not to say Dieter Dierks does a bad job, but a little of the edginess is removed from the Scorpions' sound and as such this album sits a notch below the excellent `In Trance' and `Virgin Killer'. Still, there is much to recommend `Taken by Force' because the band's songwriting abilities are sharply-honed and the album boasts three definitive Scorpions numbers, starting with opening number `Steamrock Fever'. Silly title and distinctly underwhelming intro aside, this is a strong mid-paced rocker that gets the blood flowing. `We'll Burn the Sky' is probably the highlight of the eight songs on offer, a magnificent power ballad, building from Klaus Meine's acoustically-backed mournful vocals to some pounding, insistent hard rock carried along by great guitar work courtesy of Uli Jon Roth. `I've got to be Free' is something of a curio, with slightly odd lyrics and a rather chaotic but unusually funky beat, yet it works well, especially when it drops into the more familiar guitar sonics of the mid-section. Whilst this and the next three tracks showcase more unusual songwriting, particularly in the religious angle of `Your Light' and the mystic meanderings of `The Sails of Charon', each has its own merits. Though none come close to memorable hooks of the Scorpions' best tunes, they conspire to make `Taken by Force' more esoteric than many of the band's albums and as such the record as a whole is rather charming.
Things get back on track in the final quarter of the album. `He's a Woman, She's a Man' is terrific, the band hammering out the song with maximum energy and Uli Jon delivering a blistering lead break straight through the it's heart. A classic and no mistake, which leads into the gorgeous `Born to Touch your Feelings', a ballad of typical light and shade and with a remarkably moving outro, thanks to the many female vocals overlaying the gentle guitars.
`Taken by Force' is another quality album from the more adventurous and challenging Seventies model of the Scorpions, yet it doesn't quite match the consistent high quality of its immediate predecessors. Still, it's well worth a listen, but don't get too excited by the remastered CD adding the demo version of HR plodder `Suspender Love'.
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