Tokyo tapes
| Tokyo tapes | ||||
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| Scorpions live album | ||||
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Publication |
August 1978 (Europe), February 1979 (USA) |
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| Label (s) | RCA Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
18 (Unabridged), 17 (Abridged), 26 (50th Anniversary Edition) |
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running time |
84 min 25 s (original double album version), 77 min 43 s (remastered as single CD), 131 min 05 s (50th Anniversary Edition) |
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| occupation |
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Location (s) |
April 24-27, 1978 at Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo, Japan |
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Tokyo Tapes is the first live album by the German hard rock band Scorpions after the release of five studio albums , which was released in Europe in 1978 and in the USA in February 1979. The recordings were made during the Taken by Force tour at the last shows that lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth played before leaving the band, which he announced after the Taken by Force album was released.
background
The album was compiled from recordings from the concerts on April 24th and 27th, 1978 at Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Overall, the band completed u. a. concerts in the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Osaka . Singer Klaus Meine: “The screeching and yelling was incredible. It was all the star hype. Huge road cruisers were waiting for us in front of the airport hall, and the fans waved and raved and drove next to us in their cars. "" They treated us like superstars, we could hardly believe it, "added Rudolf Schenker in Billboard magazine." It was a bit like the reception the Beatles had received 14 years earlier when they first came to New York. ”Guitarist Roth testified about the album that of the three concerts played there, the first“ unfortunately ”was not recorded has been, but in his opinion it was by far the best concert, but in his opinion the second was also good. He also says that the guitar cannot be heard loud enough on this album. The songs Hell Cat , Catch Your Train (both from the Virgin Killer album) and the Japanese national anthem Kimi ga yo were played at these appearances, but they are not featured on the official album. In Asia, the album was released with a different cover, which replaced the actual cover on which Rudolf Schenker (left) and Francis Buchholz (right) can be seen "live" in action, with a darker cover with a red rose. The official cover artwork was designed by Hans G. Lehmann.
Title selection
The title selection of the album takes into account all five studio albums published up to then, with the first album Lonesome Crow (1972) with only one title ( In Search of the Peace of Mind ) being the least represented, while the two albums In Trance (1975) and (the current album at the time) Taken by Force (1977) with four songs each are most frequently represented. However, if one takes into account the songs that were played during the recorded performances but not used for this album, then Virgin Killer would be the most dominant studio album on Tokyo Tapes' track list with five instead of three represented songs . However, the band also plays some songs here that cannot be found on any studio album. The opening track All Night Long is a rewritten song that is only available on this album (and one single). Also "new" are the cover versions of the rock-n-roll classics Hound Dog and Long Tall Sally as well as the Japanese song Kojo no tsuki .
Criticism, sales and awards
The Musikexpress judged: "They are only completely faded out on stage when the electricity flashes from the guitar to the amplifier, from the musician to the fan."
To date, over two million copies of the album have been sold worldwide.
Track list
Double album
LP 1 / Disc 1
- 1. All Night Long - 3:44
- 2. Pictured Life - 3:12
- 3. Backstage Queen - 3:44
- 4. Polar Nights - 6:43
- 5. In trance - 5:25
- 6. We'll Burn the Sky - 8:07 am
- 7. Suspender Love - 3:38
- 8. In Search of the Peace of Mind - 3:02
- 9. Fly to the Rainbow - 9:39 am
LP 2 / Disc 2
- 1. He's a Woman, She's a Man - 5:22
- 2. Speedy's Coming - 3:40
- 3. Top of the Bill - 6:45 am
- 4. Hound Dog - 1:14
- 5. Long Tall Sally - 2:50
- 6. Steamrock Fever - 3:41
- 7. Dark Lady - 4:18
- 8. Kojo no tsuki - 3:35
- 9. Robot Man - 5:47
Single CD (Remastered)
On August 24, 2001, the album was released together with several older Scorpions works in a remastered edition, in which the original double album was made into a single CD. Since the length of the original version exceeds the capacity of a single CD, the almost seven-minute live version of the Uli Jon Roth composition Polar Nights - originally the fourth track on the album - was removed from the single CD. This recording was transferred as a bonus track to the new edition of the album Taken by Force , which was published at the same time . So the track list on this CD looks like this:
- 1. All Night Long - 3:44
- 2. Pictured Life - 3:12
- 3. Backstage Queen - 3:44
- 4. In trance - 5:25
- 5. We'll Burn the Sky - 8:07 am
- 6. Suspender Love - 3:38
- 7. In Search of the Peace of Mind - 3:02
- 8. Fly to the Rainbow - 9:39 am
- 9. He's a Woman - She's a Man - 5:22
- 10. Speedy's Coming - 3:40
- 11. Top of the Bill - 6:45 am
- 12. Hound Dog - 1:14
- 13. Long Tall Sally - 2:50
- 14. Steamrock Fever - 3:41
- 15. Dark Lady - 4:18
- 16. Kojo no tsuki - 3:35
- 17. Robot Man - 5:47
50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition - CD / LP
In 2015 the album was released on the 50th anniversary of the Scorpions in a deluxe edition on CD and LP. The LP also includes the CDs.
Here Polar Nights is included on the CD. Instead, the last title Robot Man was moved to the bonus CD. All titles are included on the LP.
Compared to the original LP from 1978 and the remastered CD from 2001, various titles have a slightly different duration, also on the LP.
- 1. All Night Long - 3:43
- 2. Pictured Life - 3:13
- 3. Backstage Queen - 3:40
- 4. Polar Nights - 7:01 am
- 5. In trance - 5:27
- 6. We'll Burn the Sky - 8:07 am
- 7. Suspender Love - 3:41
- 8. In Search of the Peace of Mind - 3:02
- 9. Fly to the Rainbow - 9:38 am
- 10. He's a Woman - She's a Man - 5:22
- 11. Speedy's Coming - 3:39
- 12. Top of the Bill - 6:47
- 13. Hound Dog - 1:14
- 14. Long Tall Sally - 2:50
- 15. Steamrock Fever - 3:41
- 16. Dark Lady - 4:38
- 17. Kojo no tsuki - 3:18
50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition - bonus tracks
- 1. Robot Man - 5:49
- 2. Hell Cat (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 1978) - 9:45
- 3. Catch Your Train (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 78) - 3:51
- 4. Kimi Ga Yo (Unreleased Japanese Hymn 78) - 1:30
- 5. Polar Nights (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 78) - 7:30
- 6. He's A Woman She's A Man (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 78) - 6:04
- 7. Top Of The Bill (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 78) - 10:46
- 8. Robot Man (Unreleased Live Track) (Japan 79) - 6:49
Single releases
The song All Night Long , newly presented on this album, was released as a single in 1979 along with the live versions of Fly to the Rainbow , Speedy's Coming and In Trance .
Additional live recordings
The cover Long Tall Sally, which is otherwise only included on this live album, is also included in a somewhat extended version on the USB stick A Night to Remember - Live in Essen (2009).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Uli Jon Roth in December 2006 on metalrules. com ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Product descriptions Tokyo Tapes (Remastered) on Amazon.de
- ↑ Product descriptions Taken by Force (Remastered) on Amazon.de
- ↑ Overview Scorpion's single All Night Long on the band's official homepage ( memento of the original from December 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Overview Scorpions USB stick A Night to Remember - Live in Essen at Concert Online
