Fly To The Rainbow＜Transparent Purple Vinyl＞

On their second effort, Fly to the Rainbow, the Scorpions begin to establish their trademark hard-rock sound while exorcising the last of their remaining psychedelic hippie tendencies. In fact, the band bursts out of the gate in surprisingly straightforward fashion with the hard rocking "Speedy's Coming" before resorting to the aforementioned bad habits on otherwise promising tracks such as "Fly People Fly" and "They Need a Million"; the first never really gets off the ground, seeming almost like a prelude to the title track, and the second is let down by the weak vocals of guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, who have no business competing against vocalist Klaus Meine. Roth insists, however, on taking center stage for "Drifting Sun," which exposes his shameless Hendrix-isms, down to the opening riff lifted straight out of "Spanish Castle Magic." And while it closes the album in rather schizophrenic fashion, the epic nine-minute title track would become a concert standard -- albeit without its senseless folky intro. Fly to the Rainbow is another growing experience for the Scorpions; and the band would truly hit the jackpot with the following year's In Trance. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia