The first thing to mention here, for those of us who are English speakers, this documentary is in The Scorpions’ native German. There are subtitles provided in both English and French, though. What a lot of people in the US might not realize is that the Scorpions have been around since 1965. The early period of the band doesn’t get a lot of coverage here, though. Instead, the bulk of this focuses on the period since Klaus Meine joined in 1969. Still, although those were formative years, they represent only a short period given the long history of the act. This documentary (once you get past the whole subtitle thing) is quite cool. It features interviews, clips and a lot more to tell the fascinating story of the Scorpions. How many music documentaries include an interview with Mikhail Gorbachev? I don’t have the answer to the question, except to say that this is one. In addition to the interviews we get behind the scenes footage, live coverage and a lot more. This is a very satisfying documentary. Sure, it’s not perfect, but really, what is?

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.