Moment of Glory

From the opening bars of this CD, I quickly came to appreciate the album artwork. This strikes you much like seeing a fully adorned T-Rex striding toward you would! I did not expect to be blown away by this album, but I have been.When this was released, taking an established rock/metal artist and combining it with a full on philharmonic orchestra was not a new concept. The concept had produced mixed results in the past, with very few "great" albums (in fact, I can only think of one other truly "great" album of this nature, Metallica's S&M album and really only the 2nd disc of that album is truly great.). Often, the symphonic arrangements are too far in the direction of appeasing the Classical music crowd at the expense of the original music, or the symphony is relegated to background textures only. Neither is true here.Hurricane 2000 opens the CD and, after some opening symphonic bars, the band joins in and it becomes the song we are all familiar with, with a whole new level of mind-blowing intensity added in by the symphony (is that possible for the Scorpions?). This is one of two cranked up rockers on this album (the other a very interesting version of Big City Nights later on) and they give nothing up in terms of volume or pace by adding the orchestra. In fact, in both cases, you have to wonder how many violins were damaged in the recording of the songs, as the musicians work as hard as the band attacking the song. (This is a consistent reaction to the one I have when I listen to Mettalica's S&M album...perhaps that is the key, having an arrangement that is as aggressive for the orchestra as the original is for the band...)From this point on, not surprisingly, the band moves toward the pieces you would expect to be more readily adaptable to orchestration of this nature. That being said, these songs (Send Me An Angel, Winds of Change, and later, Here in My Heart and Still Loving You) sound almost revitalized in this mix. The originals are all great songs, and that is no less the case here. The listener now has "another way" to approach and enjoy this music. They are the same, yet different from the original. Send Me an Angel and Still Loving You still raise the goose bumps, just like the originals did/do.The only "drawback" to this album would be this, if you are not big on powerful "movie music", some of the arrangements here will probably push you off alittle. In fact, the Crossfire instrumental and Deadly Sting Suite are more like this. If, however, you like music where the guitar and the orchestra share the spotlight (for example, better Trans-Siberian-Orchestra, or some of the better symp/metal music of the last 10 years or so) you will eat this stuff up. (There is some very serious guitar soloing going on in the Deadly Sting Suite!!!)Probably the weakest point of the whole album is Here in My Heart. Nice song well orchestrated. However, considering the rest of the album, it feels like a bit of a let down. In part, that is due to following an amazing, over-the-top ending to Deadly Sting Suite. However, still not a bad song.OK, maybe there is one complaint. I wish they had added a couple more full on rockers to the list like Hurricane and Big City Nights. Those two are absolutely amazing!Favorites on this album: Hurricane 2000, Send Me an Angel, Still Loving You, and Big City Nights.One more thing I should point out, several of the songs involve a guest singer/duet with Klaus (four different singers across different songs). Surprisingly, the singers all meld very well with Klaus and the music and are another point marking these songs as "new".Bottom line: this is not a greatest hits album and this is far more than a "re-recording" or "reworking" of several favorites. This is an album of very good music interpreted in such a unique and powerful way as to make them "new" all over again. Do yourself a favor, get this album. If you love the power of the Scorpions to begin with, this will take you to a new, intense place. If you love powerful, modern movie music, you will love this. If you love this concept but have been frustrated with most other band's efforts at this, you will feel vindicated. Regardless of your reason, you will not regret this one!....I must get my surround sound cranked for this one!.....

This is a hard to find CD. Great musical collaboration. Thank you.

This is the album that you never even knew you were missing. If you like orchestral music, this is great. If you like classic rock this is great. You can’t go wrong with this album. Chef’s kiss doesn’t do it justice.

This is my best choice! My favorite album! I suggest it to all people who loves listen rock music but there is a plus, just a great band as scorpions is plus the best philarmonic orchestra around the world: Berliner Philarmoniker!Rock you like a hurricane and way to go!

4.5 - 01-Hurricane 2000 Great opening piece for this album. It seemed a little choppy in the mid-part of the song, butoverall I liked it.3.0 - 02-Moment Of Glory The title track was a little “ho-hum” for me.4.75 - 03-Send Me An Angel Great dramatic opening and passionate vocals. The 2nd vocalist grows on you. Very mmoving.5.0 - 04-Wind Of Change Haunting and beautiful.4.0 - 05-Crossfire I liked the bittersweet opening. The track then morphed subtly into the classic we all knowand got down to business. In the middle I felt like it kind of went to pieces with too muchorchestral embellishment, but then it came back together toward the end and was finishingstrong, then (I thought) the ending left me hanging.3.5 - 06-Deadly Sting Suite For me, this one had moments, but for the most part, it seemed like too many things weregoing on at once and I found it distracting to try to listen to. The last half of the track cametogether OK.4.5 - 07-Here In My Heart What a nice love song. Are these guys versatile, or what? It left me all warm and fuzzy.5.0 - 08-Still Loving you The orchestration added to and strengthened this emotional number. Very well done.4.5 - 09-Big City Lights This one really gets with it, although at times the orchestration distracted from the overalleffect.3.0 - 10-Lady Starlight The last song brought the album to a smooth conclusion, and the orchestration worked well.Average = 4.175Overall I give this album 4.1 stars out of 5. It was slightly less exciting that what my buddy at work hyped it to be, but I’m not unhappy that I acquired it. I think it should real collaborative talent from both sides (classical and rock). If they did another such album, count me in to buy one.

One of the best albums ever made.

Nothing, and I mean - nothing - matches a power of a symphony orchestra.Amazing album.

I should never have paid $30 for this cd, but I didn’t want to wait months to receive it. If I would have gotten a deal on it then I would rate it 5 stars.