HERMAN ZE GERMAN And Friends (2012)

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German drummer Herman ‘Ze German’ Rarebell is best known for his tenure with the Scorpions during their most popular era – from 1977 to 1995 – playing on the
band’s more influential albums.
He was an important composer in the history of the group, co-writing such classic songs as ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane,’ ‘Make It Real,’ ‘Dynamite,’ ‘Blackout,’ ‘Arizona,’ ‘Bad Boys Running Wild,’ or ‘Another Piece of Meat’ among countless others.

But Herman was a prolific songwriter, and many of his own songs didn’t found place in the Scorpions schedule. Then, in 1982, the drummer recorded his first solo album, ‘Nip in the Bud’ only in released in Germany in limited quantities.
In the lapse of the following two years Scorpions fame exploded worldwide, specially in the US, where the band met many colleagues touring coast to coast.
Between the gigs Herman decided to re-record the songs of his debut, this time with the collaboration of rising stars of the new metal scene.

For the beautiful semitempo ballad “I’ll Say Goodbye” Don Dokken was called to track down the vocal parts. It’s a crime that the rest of the Scorpions members rejected this tune back in a day, as it would have surely been a worldwide hit for the band.
In the fun hard rocker “Junk Funk” the vocals are handled by Great White’s Jack Russell, as well as on the tongue-in-cheek “Messing Around”.
Don Dokken appears again on one of the best tracks here; the melodic “Destiny”, which sounds more Dokken than ‘Dokken the band’ itself.
On the cheap hard rocker and joke-like “Rock Your Balls” we have Perdo Schemm (first Victory singer), and in “Having A Good Time” the legendary Steve Marriott of Humble Pie fame.
The classic rock “Do It” features German singer Charlie Huhn of Victory, while Don Dokken returns on the US hard Rock of “Hard Sensation”.
Of course Herman includes two instrumentals for his drumming show, in the form of a cover of the classic old rock “Wipe-Out” and the interesting original “Pancake”, both featuring collaborations of Juan Croucier and Bobby Blotzer (Ratt), both also providing backing vocals on some other tracks.

“Herman Ze German and Friends” is a cool, unpretentious and fun hard rock album with a style and sound impossible to reproduce nowadays, as it has all that ‘analog vibe’ typically ’80s.
Long time out of print, the album was re-issued on CD some time ago but with a tiny & flat sound. Now it has been Digitally Remastered with noticeable gain and dynamics, available as digital download only.
We have here some kind of ‘lost tracks’ by Don Dokken and Jack Russell at their peak of their vocal potency, surely a collector’s item for many rockers out there.
Cool Stuff.

01 – I’ll Say Goodbye (feat. Don Dokken)
02 – Junk Funk (feat. Jack Russell)
03 – Destiny (feat. Don Dokken)
04 – Rock Your Balls (feat. Perdo Schemm)
05 – Wipe-Out
06 – Hard Sensation (feat. Don Dokken)
07 – Messing Around (feat. Jack Russell)
08 – Having A Good Time (feat. Steve Marriott & Darlene L.)
09 – Do It (feat. Charlie Huhn)
10 – Pancake

Herman Rarebell – Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Don Dokken – Vocals
Jack Russell (Great White) – Vocals
Charlie Huhn (Victory, Ted Nugent) – Vocals
Steve Marriott (Small Faces, Humble Pie) – Vocals, Guitar
Perdo Schemm (1st Victory singer) – Vocals
Darlene Love (Phil Spector) – Vocals
Juan Croucier (Ratt) – Backing Vocals, Bass
Bobby Blotzer (Ratt) – Backing Vocals, Drums

BUY IT !
itunes.apple.com/us/album/herman-ze-german-friends-feat./id509543384