Fly to the Rainbow
Fly to the Rainbow is the second studio album by the German hard rock band Scorpions. It was released on 1 November 1974 in the United States through RCA Records. This was their first release with guitarist Uli Jon Roth and bassist Francis Buchholz, and the only one to include drummer Jürgen Rosenthal. Background. In support of the "Lonesome Crow" album, Scorpions toured 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 position. Schenker's departure temporarily resulted in the breakup of the band but Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine ultimately merged with the band Dawn Road. The new band consisted of guitarist Ulrich Roth replacing Michael as well as drummer Jürgen Rosenthal and bass guitarist Francis Buchholz. The new line up assumed the Scorpions name and recorded "Fly to the Rainbow". Three songs on "Fly to the Rainbow" were co-written with departing guitarist Michael Schenker as part of his agreement on leaving the band. Artwork. When asked to comment on the cover art for the album 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…" Live performances. Six songs from "Fly to the Rainbow" were regularly performed live by Scorpions: the title track, "Speedy's Coming", "They Need a Million", "This Is  My Song", and "Drifting Sun". "Far Away" was already performed by early line-ups with Michael Schenker, since at least 1973. The live versions of "Speedy's Coming" and the title track appear on the live album "Tokyo Tapes" which was recorded in April 1978. Soon afterward Scorpions dropped these songs from their setlist. Between 1980 and 1999 nothing from "Fly to the Rainbow" appeared in Scorpions concerts. Following a one-off performance of "They Need a Million" on 7 June 1999 at Patinoire de Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg the title tune and "Speedy's Coming" were performed a number of times  between 2000 and 2008. "Speedy's Coming" was played with relative frequency from 2015 to 2019. Personnel. Scorpions Additional musicians Production