18. Scorpions Animal Magnetism 1980 (Harvest)
Heavy Metal
..and then she said, I've met your type before.
Album
Animal Magnestism is probably the biggest disappointment in the band’s whole discography, as it came after their previous masterpiece
Lovedrive and before their return to form on
Blackout. This is because by and large
Animal Magnetism despite its sexually alluring cover (depending on your taste of course) has a complete middle section of mostly drab and uninspiring material which is chocca with filler, that tries to glimmer now and again with Scorps magic, but overall it’s just plain bland material well below the capabilities of the band. But what saves
Animal Magnetism though as an album, is quite simply its killer opening of three tracks and its stunning duo to close out the album, five songs that are capable of matching the best out there. Michael Schenker’s short return to the band had also come to an end and he was now off recording his first solo album (higher up on this year’s list of course) and Mattias Jabs was now permanently installed as the band’s guitarist along with the pivotal Rudolf Schenker. The album starts off its great trilogy with “Make it Real” with its distinctly Scorps riff before Ralf Meine’s trademark nasal whine starts proceedings.”Don’t Make No Promises (That Your Body Can’t Keep)” is a catchy, fast and a prime example of pop metal at its best. Then comes the best track on the whole album and that is the sombre hard rocking “Hold Me” which signals the end of its quality material for now. Then the album hits its lethargic middle section starting with the plodding “Twentieth Century Man” and the band put out their dullest ballad ever in “Lady Starlight”. “Falling in Love” is the glimmer in the middle and it was the sole contribution of drummer Hermann Rarebell and perhaps he should’ve written more tracks on this album! before the poor run finishes with the obvious filler of “Only a Man”. The final two tracks “The Zoo” and its title track “Animal Magnetism” are amongst the highlights of the album. The former song a recognised classic and the latter song an almost doomy heavy metal classic. A bonus track that appears on some versions of the album is the excellent pop inspired “Hey You” sung by Rudolf Schenker, which should’ve appeared on the main album, even though it would’ve been an anamoly for the album as a whole. Overall
Animal Magnetism is largely a failed attempt to merge pop and metal circa 1980, an area that the Scorpions would be very adept at doing, but not on this album they weren’t.
...and would you believe that this is the Scorpions