Scorpions - Lonesome Crow [Clear]

Before the stadium anthems and power ballads, Scorpions made Lonesome Crow, a moody 1972 debut now pressed on limited edition 180 gram clear vinyl in a gatefold jacket.

Recorded in Hamburg with producer Conny Plank, the album catches a young West German band still working out who they were. Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker were joined by Rudolf's teenage brother Michael on lead guitar, and this is the only Scorpions album to feature him as a full-time member before he left for UFO. The record also served as the soundtrack to the anti-drug film Das Kalte Paradies.

Musically, it sits closer to krautrock and psychedelia than to the hard rock that followed. "I'm Goin' Mad" opens in eerie, unsettled territory before locking into a riff, "In Search of the Peace of Mind" lets Michael's melodic leads drift and soar, and the sprawling title track stretches past thirteen minutes of hypnotic, jam-born exploration.

Plank's production keeps everything spacious and slightly uneasy, with guitars that roll in and out like weather. The seeds of the band's later melodic instincts are all here, tangled up in long passages and darker moods.

For fans who know Scorpions mainly from the radio, it is a fascinating origin story, and the clear vinyl and gatefold make it a handsome one to own.