Fly to the Rainbow

Fly to the Rainbow is the second studio album by German hard rock band Scorpions, released in 1 November 1974 in the United States.

Fly to the Rainbow
Studio album by Scorpions
Released	1 November 1974
Recorded	April 1974
Studio	Musicland Studios, Munich, West Germany Studio Maschen, Seevetal, West Germany
Genre	Hard rock[1]
Length	40:47
Label	RCA Records
Producer	Frank Bornemann
Scorpions chronology
Lonesome Crow (1972) Fly to the Rainbow (1974) In Trance (1975)
Singles from Fly to the Rainbow
"Speedy's Coming" Released: 1976

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Teraz Rock	[3]
Sputnikmusic	[4]

Background

In support of their Lonesome Crow album, Scorpions appeared as the opening act for the British rock band UFO. At the end of the tour, Scorpions lead guitarist Michael Schenker was asked to fill an open position as UFO's guitarist and accepted the role.[5] Schenker's departure temporarily resulted in the breakup of the band but Rudolf Schenker and later Klaus Meine ultimately merged with the band Dawn Road which consisted of guitarist Ulrich Roth filling Michael's role, as well as drummer Jürgen Rosenthal, and bass guitarist Francis Buchholz.[6] The new line up resumed under the Scorpions name and recorded Fly to the Rainbow.

Three songs were co-written with departing guitarist Michael Schenker as part of an agreement with the Scorpions for leaving them and joining UFO in April of that year.

Artwork

When asked to comment on the cover art to the album, the band's former lead guitarist 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…"[7]

Live performances

Five songs from Fly to the Rainbow were regularly performed live by Scorpions during the tours for it and the following album In Trance – the title track, "Speedy’s Coming", "They Need a Million" and less often "This Is My Song" and "Drifting Sun". The live versions of "Speedy’s Coming" and the title track appear on the live album Tokyo Tapes, recorded in April 1978. However, soon after the band quite rapidly dropped these songs from their setlist, so that between 1980 and 1999 nothing from Fly to the Rainbow ever appeared in Scorpions concerts.[8] Following upon a one-off performance of "They Need a Million" on 7 June 1999 at Patinoire de Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg,[9] the title tune and "Speedy's Coming" received a number of performances between 2000 and 2008, with the latter having been played with relative frequency from 2015 up to 2019.[10]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Speedy’s Coming"	Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine	3:36
2.	"They Need a Million"	R. Schenker, Meine	4:50
3.	"Drifting Sun"	Ulrich Roth	7:42
4.	"Fly People Fly"	Michael Schenker, Meine	5:03

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
5.	"This Is My Song"	R. Schenker, Meine	4:18
6.	"Far Away"	M. Schenker, R. Schenker, Meine	5:38
7.	"Fly to the Rainbow"	M. Schenker, Roth	9:40

Personnel

Scorpions

• Klaus Meine – lead vocals
• Ulrich Roth – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Drifting Sun" and co lead-vocals in "Fly to the Rainbow"
• Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "They Need a Million" and "Drifting Sun"
• Francis Buchholz – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Jürgen Rosenthal – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Achim Kirschning – organ, Mellotron, synthesizers

Production

• Mack – engineer
• Horst Andritschke – engineer

References

1. Heatley, Michael (1996). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Rock: The World's Most Comprehensive Illustrated Rock Reference. Virgin. p. 134. ISBN 9781852276669.
2. Rivadavia, Eduardo (2011). "Fly to the Rainbow – Scorpions | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
3. GAJEWSKI, MARCIN (2011). "Teraz Rock | jedyne pismo rockowe w Polsce". terazrock.pl. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
4. user DLT (2011). "Scorpions – Fly to the Rainbow (album review) | Sputnikmusic". sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
5. Trunk, Russell A. "Scorpions: Yet Another Sting in the Tale!". Annecarlini.com. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
6. Syrjälä, Marko. "Interview with Francis Buchholz". Metal-rules.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
7. Jeb Wright. "Uli Jon Roth: Surviving the Scorpions Sting". Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2007.
8. Scorpions Album Statistics
9. ‘They Need a Million’ setlist statistics
10. https://www.setlist.fm/stats/scorpions-3d63ddf.html

External links

• Fly to the Rainbow at the-scorpions.com