''Fly to the Rainbow'' is the second studio album by the German hard rock band

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

. It was released on 1 November 1974 in the United States through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. This was their first release with guitarist

Uli Jon Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) 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 Aca ...

and bassist

Francis Buchholz Francis Buchholz (born 19 February 1954) 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. Biography Bo ...

, and the only one to include drummer Jürgen Rosenthal.

Background

In support of the ''

Lonesome Crow ''Lonesome Crow'' is the debut studio album by the German hard 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 9 F ...

'' album, Scorpions toured as the opening act for the British rock band

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

. At the end of the tour Scorpions lead guitarist

Michael Schenker Michael Schenker (born 10 January 1955) is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group. He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf Schenker ...

was asked to fill an open position as UFO's guitarist and accepted the position. Schenker's departure temporarily resulted in the breakup of the band but

Rudolf Schenker Rudolf Schenker (born 31 August 1948) is a German guitarist and founder of the hard rock band Scorpions. He is the rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter and longest-serving original member of the band. He is also the CEO/owner-manager of the Sc ...

and Klaus Meine ultimately merged with the band Dawn Road. The new band consisted of guitarist Ulrich Roth replacing Michael as well as drummer Jürgen Rosenthal, keyboardist Achim Kirschnig and bass guitarist

. The new line up assumed the Scorpions name and recorded ''Fly to the Rainbow''. Three songs on ''Fly to the Rainbow'' were co-written with departing guitarist Michael Schenker as part of his agreement on leaving the band.

Artwork

When asked to comment on the cover art for the album Uli Jon Roth said: "Don't ask me what that cover means… I disliked it from the beginning. It looked ludicrous to me back then and looks just as bad today. It was done by a firm of designers in Hamburg who had actually done a good job on the ''Lonesome Crow'' album before but I think that time they failed miserably. As for the meaning I can only guess, but I'd rather not…"

Live performances

Six songs from ''Fly to the Rainbow'' were regularly performed live by Scorpions: the title track, "Speedy's Coming", "They Need a Million", "This Is My Song", and "Drifting Sun". "Far Away" was already performed by early line-ups with Michael Schenker, since at least 1973. The live versions of "Speedy's Coming" and the title track appear on the live album '' Tokyo Tapes'' which was recorded in April 1978. Soon afterward Scorpions dropped these songs from their setlist. Between 1980 and 1999 nothing from ''Fly to the Rainbow'' appeared in Scorpions concerts. Following a one-off performance of ''They Need a Million'' on 7 June 1999 at Patinoire de Kockelscheuer,

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

the title tune and "Speedy's Coming" were performed a number of times between 2000 and 2008. "Speedy's Coming" was played with relative frequency from 2015 to 2019.

Track listing

Personnel

Scorpions * Klaus Meine – vocals * Ulrich Roth – lead guitar, vocals on "Drifting Sun", storytelling in "Fly to the Rainbow" *

– rhythm guitar, vocals on "They Need a Million", storytelling in "Drifting Sun" *

– bass guitar * Jürgen Rosenthal – drums Additional musician * Achim Kirschning – organ, Mellotron, synthesizers Production * Mack – engineer * Horst Andritschke – engineer

Charts

References

External links

''Fly to the Rainbow'' at the-scorpions.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fly To The Rainbow 1974 albums Scorpions (band) albums RCA Records albums