Tokyo Tapes (album)

Last updated

Tokyo Tapes
TokyoTapes.jpg
Live album by
Scorpions
Released15 August 1978 [1] [2] (Japan)
December 1978 (Europe)
January 1979 (US)
Recorded24 & 27 April 1978
Venue Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal
Length85:07
Label RCA Records
Producer Dieter Dierks
Scorpions live albums chronology
Tokyo Tapes
(1978)		 World Wide Live
(1985)
Original 1978 Cover (Japan Only)
Tokyotapesalternate.jpg
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Tokyo Tapes is the first live album by German rock band Scorpions and their last release by RCA Records. It was also the final release to feature Uli Jon Roth, who left after the 27 April taping session.

Contents

Overview

Tokyo Tapes includes songs from all Scorpions' albums released before 1978, which were recorded at Nakano Sun Plaza (Tokyo's Nakano Ward, Japan) on 24 and 27 April, during the band's Japanese tour in 1978. These shows were guitarist Uli Jon Roth's last performances with the band, who had announced his departure after the release in December 1977 of the studio album Taken by Force .

The live album was originally released on 15 August 1978 [1] [2] in Japan only, with a cover artwork of an embossed platinum Scorpion set on a rose, as opposed to a live shot of the band when it was eventually released in Europe in December 1978. It was released in the US in January 1979.

During these shows (which share the same setlist), the songs "Hell-Cat", "Catch Your Train" and the Japanese national anthem "Kimi ga yo" were also performed but were not included in the official album. At each show, "Catch Your Train" was chronologically played between "Speedy's Coming" and "Top of the Bill" while "Kimi ga yo" was played as the penultimate track and "Hell-Cat" as the final track. [4] [5]

On the 2001 EMI re-mastered CD, "Polar Nights" was omitted so as to fit a single CD, although it was included on the re-mastered version of Taken by Force. The earlier 1984 two-CD release, however, is the original album in its entirety.

Roth commented about the recording of the album:

"Tokyo Tapes was a peak time, we have played together for all these years and it all came together at that time. Particularly on the first show, which unfortunately wasn't recorded. There were three shows in Tokyo, the first one was by far the best, but the second one was good too. Those are the ones on the album, the second and the third that were used. The first one I thought was a lot better and I was disappointed that it wasn't recorded." [6]

In 2015, as part of Scorpions' 50th Anniversary, Tokyo Tapes was remastered and re-released, with all omitted songs ("Polar Nights" and the three excluded songs) restored and including alternate version of several songs originally found on the album. [7] Due to time constraints on Disc 1, "Robot Man", the last track of the original release, was shifted to the beginning of Disc 2 which, otherwise, contains the bonus tracks.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "All Night Long" (Uli Jon Roth, Klaus Meine) – 3:44
  2. "Pictured Life" (Rudolf Schenker, Meine, Roth) – 3:12
  3. "Backstage Queen" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 3:44
  4. "Polar Nights" (Roth) – 6:43 (omitted from single disc releases)
  5. "In Trance" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 5:25
Side two
  2. "We'll Burn the Sky" (R. Schenker, Monika Dannemann) – 8:07
  3. "Suspender Love" (R. Schenker/Meine) – 3:38
  4. "In Search of the Peace of Mind" (R. Schenker, Michael Schenker, Meine, Lothar Heimberg, Wolfgang Dziony) – 3:02
  5. "Fly to the Rainbow" (M. Schenker, Roth) – 9:39
Side three
  1. "He's a Woman, She's a Man" (R. Schenker, Meine, Herman Rarebell) – 5:22
  2. "Speedy's Coming" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 3:40
  3. "Top of the Bill" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 6:45
  4. "Hound Dog" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 1:14
  5. "Long Tall Sally" (Enotris Johnson, Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Richard Penniman) – 2:50
Side four
  2. "Steamrock Fever" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 3:41
  3. "Dark Lady" (Roth) – 4:18
  4. "Kōjō no Tsuki" (Rentarō Taki, Bansui Doi, arr. Francis Buchholz, Meine, Rarebell, Roth, R. Schenker) – 3:35
  5. "Robot Man" (R. Schenker, Meine) (first track on disc 2 of the 2015 50th Anniversary 2-CD release) – 5:47
2015 Remastered edition bonus tracks [7]
  2. "Hell Cat" (Roth) - 9:47 (recorded 27 April 1978)
  3. "Catch Your Train" (R. Schenker, Meine) - 3:52 (recorded 27 April 1978)
  4. "Kimi ga yo" (Yoshiisa Oku, Akimori Hayashi, Franz Eckert, arr. Scorpions) - 1:29 (Japanese National Anthem, recorded 24 April 1978)
  5. "Polar Nights" (Roth) – 7:32 (recorded 24 April 1978)
  6. "He's a Woman, She's a Man" (R. Schenker, Meine, Rarebell) – 6:06 (recorded 24 April 1978)
  7. "Top of the Bill" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 10:48 (recorded 24 April 1978)
  8. "Robot Man" (R. Schenker, Meine) – 6:49 (recorded 27 April 1978)

Personnel

Scorpions
Production

Charts

Chart (1978-1979)Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP) [8] 14
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [9] 10
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [10] 51
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [11] 42

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP) [12] Gold100,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scorpions (band)</span> German rock band

Scorpions are a German hard rock band formed in Hanover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. The lineup from 1978 to 1992 was the most successful incarnation of the group, and included Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band's only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of Scorpions' studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016, respectively.

<i>Love at First Sting</i> 1984 studio album by Scorpions

Love at First Sting is the ninth studio album by German rock band Scorpions. It was released in February 1984 by Harvest and EMI Records in Europe and Mercury Records in the US. The album contains "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Still Loving You", and "Big City Nights", three of the band's most famous songs.

<i>Lovedrive</i> 1979 studio album by Scorpions

Lovedrive is the sixth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions, released in 1979. Considered by some critics to be the pinnacle of their career, Lovedrive was a major evolution of the band's sound, exhibiting their "classic style" that would be later developed over their next few albums. Lovedrive cemented the "Scorpions formula" of hard rock songs combined with melodic ballads.

<i>Lonesome Crow</i> 1972 studio album by Scorpions

Lonesome Crow is the debut studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released on 29 February 1972 in West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie Das Kalte Paradies, and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, typical for early Scorpions but unlike their later work.

<i>Still Loving You</i> (album) 1992 compilation album by Scorpions

Still Loving You is a compilation album by the German hard rock band Scorpions.

<i>Fly to the Rainbow</i> 1974 studio album by Scorpions

Fly to the Rainbow is the second studio album by the German rock band Scorpions, released on 1 November 1974 by RCA Records. This was the band's first release with guitarist Uli Jon Roth and bassist Francis Buchholz, and the only one to include drummer Jürgen Rosenthal.

<i>Face the Heat</i> 1993 studio album by Scorpions

Face the Heat is the twelfth studio album released by the German hard rock band Scorpions in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Buchholz</span> German bass guitarist

Francis Buchholz is a German musician best known as the bass guitarist of German rock band Scorpions from 1973 until 1992. Since leaving Scorpions, he has been a member of Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock.

<i>Taken by Force</i> 1977 studio album by Scorpions

Taken by Force is the fifth studio album by German band Scorpions, released by RCA Records in 1977. This was the first Scorpions album to feature drummer Herman Rarebell and the final studio album to feature guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Roth left the band in 1978 following the end of the album's tour, and was at first replaced by Michael Schenker and later by Matthias Jabs.

<i>World Wide Live</i> 1985 double live album by Scorpions

World Wide Live is a live album by German rock band Scorpions, released in 1985. The original audio recording was produced by Dieter Dierks. A VHS was released at the same time with footage of Scorpions' world tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uli Jon Roth</span> German guitarist (born 1954)

Uli Jon Roth is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Academy and designer of the Sky Guitar. He is the older brother of fellow guitarist and artist Zeno Roth (1956–2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Still Loving You</span> 1984 single by Scorpions

"Still Loving You" is a power ballad by the German hard rock band Scorpions. It was released in June 1984 as the second single from their ninth studio album, Love at First Sting (1984). The song reached number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was most successful in Europe, reaching the top 5 in several countries.

<i>Gold</i> (Scorpions album) 2006 greatest hits album by Scorpions

Gold is a compilation album by German hard rock band Scorpions. It was released in 2006 on Hip-O Records.

<i>Live at Wacken Open Air 2006</i> 2008 video by Scorpions

Live at Wacken Open Air 2006 is a live DVD released by the German heavy metal band Scorpions. It was supposed to be released on 18 December 2007 but was delayed till 12 February 2008 for reasons undisclosed to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nakano Sunplaza</span> Hotel building in Tokyo, Japan

Nakano Sunplaza, formerly Nakano Sun Plaza, was a Japanese concert hall and hotel complex located in the Nakano, Tokyo. It opened in 1973 and closed in 2023. A 262-meter-tall skyscraper is scheduled to be completed on the site in 2028.

<i>Virgin Killer</i> 1976 studio album by Scorpions

Virgin Killer is the fourth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions, released in 1976 by RCA Records. It was the band's first album to attract attention outside Europe. The title is described as being a reference to time as the killer of innocence. The original cover featured a nude prepubescent girl, which stirred controversy in the United Kingdom, the United States, and elsewhere. As a result, the album was re-issued with a different cover in some countries.

<i>The Platinum Collection</i> (Scorpions album) 2005 compilation album by Scorpions

The Platinum Collection is a compilation album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released in 2005.

<i>Taken B-Side</i> 2009 compilation album by Scorpions

Taken B-Side is an unofficial or bootleg compilation album by the German rock band Scorpions, released in 2009. It contains songs that were released only as bonus tracks of certain studio albums and includes new recordings, cover versions, live tracks and B-sides of some singles. Two of the tracks are not in the rock genre and were not performed by the band. One of them was based on a poem and it involved only the lead vocalist.

Dawn Road was a German hard rock band playing neoclassicism, formed in February 1972. All four members of Dawn Road ended up playing in Scorpions, with bassist Francis Buchholz staying for 12 albums throughout their most commercially successful era, leaving the band in 1992 and later playing with among others guitarist Uli Jon Roth who had a successful solo career after leaving Scorpions in 1978.

References

  1. 1 2 "Tokyo Tapes – Scorpions". Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 Tokyo Tapes (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) [Live] by Scorpions, 15 August 1978, retrieved 15 August 2022
  3. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Scorpions Tokyo Tapes review". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  4. ↑ www.setlist.fm > APR 24 1978 Scorpions Setlist at Nakano Sunplaza, Tokyo, Japan
  5. ↑ www.setlist.fm > APR 27 1978 Scorpions Setlist at Nakano Sunplaza, Tokyo, Japan
  6. ↑ Syrjälä, Marko. "Interview with Uli Jon Roth". Metal-rules.com. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Tokyo Tapes (Deluxe Edition)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – S". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2024.Select Scorpions from the menu, then press OK.
  9. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  10. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  11. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  12. ↑ "French album certifications – Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 13 January 2022.Select SCORPIONS and click OK. 
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.