SCORPIONS - Pure Instinct

Scorpions - Pure Instinct (1996, Atlantic Records)

Track Listing:
1. “Wild Child” - 4:16
2. “But the Best for You” - 5:19
3. “Does Anyone Know” - 5:55
4. “Stone in My Shoe” - 4:37
5. “Soul Behind the Face” - 3:59
6. “Oh Girl (I Wanna Be with You)” - 3:48
7. “When You Came into My Life” - 5:27
8. “Where the River Flows” - 4:09
9. “Time Will Call Your Name” - 3:56
10. “You and I” - 6:13
11. “Are You the One?” - 3:11

Band:
Klaus Meine - Vocals
Rudolf Schenker - Guitars
Matthias Jabs - Guitars
Ralph Rieckermann - Bass
Koen Van Baal - Keyboards
Curt Cress - Drums

Additional keyboards by Luke Herzog

Produced by: Scorpions, Keith Olsen, and Erwin Musper

Got this one fairly cheap used alongside Face the Heat.

Wow. Scorpions got really soft here. “Wild Child” is a great opener and really rocks in typical Scorpions fashion (despite ludicrous lyrics), but the rest of the album is slow to mid tempo balladry. I guess the band was feeling emotional at this point in their career? Who knows. I understand wanting to expand on the kind of music you play, but how do you go from being such a great hard rock band to doing practically an all-ballad album? I don’t understand what they were hoping to achieve with this album. To be respected? In the mid-90s? Who were they targeting with this release?

And Scorpions usually produce great ballads, but that’s only when they do one or two per album. Pure Instinct is ate up with slow songs & ballads. I can’t say it’s a bad album though, sure, some of the songs fall flat, but putting aside that Scorpions should’ve delivered another great hard rock album, this is a decent effort. It’s just that it is a very weird effort coming from this band.

Highlights: “Wild Child”, “But the Best for You”, “Does Anyone Know”, “Soul Behind the Face”, “When You Came into My Life”

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