The Sails of Charon - Scorpions 1977 Uli Jon Roth Klaus Meine. Interview and Music Video. I thought I'd include a little insight of the song from an interview found on the Scorpions channel.
The thing I love about uli he didn't need a ton of distortion to make his point you can hear every single note so clean such a phenomenal guitar player
There is no song like this song anywhere else. Mystical, forward-thinking, brilliant, tasteful, and mega-heavy. This is one of the few songs I actually like to have stuck in my head repeatedly. Never get tired of it.
@@TheGodsrighthandman Yes! actually it also has a stargazer feel too when Dio sings the "Where is your star? is it far?" part. I'd say this song is half Gates of Babylon half Stargazer. Uli's guitar playing is also really Blackmore influenced and of course the Hendrix vibe with the clothing and the white strat.
I have a 14 year old son that is into thrash metal. He tried to tell me there was no shredding prior to Dimebag Darrel of Pantera (RIP). He heard Ulrich Roth and his mind was blown. This shit was WAY before its time.
I agree. There wasn't anybody else playing like this. I like how Herman is always so intense looking and Uli is so relaxed, even when he's tearing it up.
Why aren't The Scorpions in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? These guys are Incredible. The total package! Not just Uli Jon but everyone in the band are Great
@@ThanosGod1969 also: Thin Lizzy: Not in; Ted Nugent, Not in....R&R Hall of Shame...Bravo for James Hetfield when he said at the mic on his induction "...Ted Nugent is not in the RR Hall of Fame?????
I wish people would stop hailing the HoF as some beacon of recognition. They put modern pop musicians in there, before putting real legends it. HoF is a joke, and always will be
I just found out about this song and I have to admit I never knew the Scorp's rocked out like this. After hearing it I have a whole new respect for them.
Good to see Klaus and Uli hanging out..... great track and what a monster solo.... it has taken 30 years for this to gain some traction for Uli to be respected as a truly awesome guitar player.....
Ahead of his time. An absolute master. Doing things long before Malmsteen, Van Halen, Rhodes, and all others. This was 1977. No one caught up to him till at least 1982. Al though, I do believe Blackmore was a huge influence on Uli.
@Angie Barclay Uli Jon Roth said in the past that Blackmore was one of his influences... so I really don't what your talking about. Everyone else can agree with me and another of example is Uli's thick custom tremolo bar on his strat that was a custom job done for him he got that from Blackmore. Blackmore would do that to his strats in the early 70's. Uli's aggressive tremolo bar use also comes from Blackmore. Everything else comes from Hendrix. Uli's biggest influence was Hendrix. He always said it. That's where the white strat and his other big headstock strats come from, His body language on stage, his playing and more. There's no doubt that his biggest influences were Hendrix and Blackmore.
@Angie Barclay see that's what I mean lol. Blackmore started doing that on his strats in late 1969 early 1970 he was the first to come up with that idea. There's a lot in common between the two. Uli also played a black fender Stratocaster which is also influenced by Blackmore and Hendrix too not to mention the Marshall stacks as well
@Angie Barclay You're right they are both disciples of Hendrix both of them got the guitars the amps the playing and more all from Hendrix. But when it comes to the classical thing Blackmore was the first to introduce that into rock music with deep purple and was also one of the earliest shredders to do fast techniques and the speed long before Uli. He was the first guy that started doing sweep picking also long long before Yngwie Malmsteen and all of the other famous guys later on in the 80s and 90s
Uli Roth is a great master; a true innovator. The way his playing flows seemingly effortlessly is testament to his many years of work - and the innate talent no amount of work can attain. God, '70s Scorpions was so vastly superior to the 80s version, it's ridiculous. I loved the Blackout album, then they went right into the pop metal toilet...but hey - it made 'em rich.
Man, I never get tired of this song! So unique. Just a shame when there is a poll for the "Best songs of all time..." You see the popular songs only. This song is so great....needs to be recognized as "one of the greatest songs ever recorded". Period!!
One of the first Epic Metal pieces?? One of the best Metal songs ever for sure!!! I must have heard it around 1980-81 first time, omG time really flies....
Dare I say Rock Gods :-) Holy crap can the man play guitar I have never seen anyone play so smooth and effort less watch his picking hand it floats over the strings he makes it look so easy the whole band is on fire the vocals are unreal as usual drums pounding beautiful bass lines this is what Rock and Roll was meant to be I am Thankful for RU-vid and these videos as I will never get to see them live.
As a drummer born in the 60's, I caught on to UFO and the Scorpions in 1978. My favorite song to play at the time was "Speedy's Coming". I was 16 at the time...and our band was one of the very few that ever covered the Older Scorpions tunes. I played the Toyoko Tapes albums endlessly!
It's funny how every other musician looks like they're struggling to keep up with these riffs, yet Uli just closes his eyes and relaxes through all the sturm and drang.
I grew up in the 80s, knew The Scorpions as a fun party metal band with the big hits like Hurricane, of course. I only recently went back and gobbled up all their 70s stuff, going all the way back to the first couple records, which were psychedelic ... and now I just hate myself for never having realized sooner how amazing their sh** was in the 70s. Holy smokes. My goal has been now to let everyone else like me know. I had always liked The Scorpions' for what I thought they were - but the 70s stuff blows me away.
Gotta disagree with you there. Up through at least the Animal Magnetism album they were still legit metal gods. With Blackout, they did produce a few radio-friendly cuts but it's hard to argue that Blackout -- with the grinding rhythm guitar of Rudolf Schenker -- is anything but a blistering metal cut. After that album I did slowly lose interest in their subsequent releases and all, they were definitely a metal-oriented pop group by then. But having been listening to the Scorpions since around the age of 13 -- I'm 60 now -- I love the band and would not begrudge them the commercial success they found in later years. Over the years the Scorpions had more guitar talent in it than any group ever had a right to. I still consider Rudolf Schenker the greatest metal rhythm guitarist who ever walked the earth, but Roth was always my favorite of the bunch. I never did understand why he left the band but they did go on to greatness with other guitarists. He and Rudolf Schenker were a great match, and this song is a great illustration as to why. Both of them are clean, precise, fast as hell, without ever a single misstep or flubbed note. And both are cool, relaxed, and make brilliant guitar work look easy. Both have always been class acts.
There is no better example of what it feels like to own your craft and truly become one with it. Smooth. effortless, relaxed and exceptional somehow forged into one delivery..Simply Awesome..Legend...Godlike...
Wow nicely put your Wright effortless all most like he's born with all the skills from his mind to the guitar without even trying even playing with his eyes closed its all about the feeling I guess you can say he mastered his craft hats from years and years of practice to make it look that easy
I can give Them the Hard Rock pass. But definetly not "heavy" metal. Tony iommi is from The same period as Them a bit earlier tho there you can talk about metal
Honestly, the sails of charon has got to be one of the coolest guitar riffs and a 'must learn how to' of all time. ( after purple haze ) Thank you Maestro!
Dimebag Darrell was nothing but trash to Uli Roth.....he had no culture and an empty headed playing style.... i've never heard a solo yet to convince me otherwise... Q: Are you even aware of the technical capacity this solo exudes...??? D.D was a grade exponent of the "plentatonic" and the "Any Many Might be Major or Minor scale..... he'd never had known either which one it was...... One guy is all class and the other all crass.... you work it out....
I was not comparing the two I was simply stating that I could imagine a young guitar player being influenced by Uli John Roth,you sound like your typical cork sniffing guitar snob you must own a Paul Reed Smith I am sure.
In the 70's, I was in my bedroom, with rock posters clipped from Cream magazines on my walls, playing this song at half-speed on an old record player that could play 33 albums at 16 speed, trying hard to figure the solo out. Never did get it!
I love his fluid playing, man so good. His right rist is relaxed, very inspiring. I was 11 when it came out. I'll never grow old of this music. best scorpions ever.
Genius, like Gary Moore also, Uli can play fast but with solos constructed so well. Not many guitarists can create solos that work on their own merits and can stand on their own as compositions. Brian May is another and so was Randy Rhoads.
The SCORPS would have been musically so different from what they became if Uli John stayed with them......maybe not so commercially successful but man! Musically, they would've been GODS!
I remember back in middle school years in San Antonio Texas listening to kmac/kiss fm with Joe the godfather Anthony would always play this song along with speedys coming,he's a woman she's a man awesome early metal in the 1970s my favorite song was well burn the sky r.i.p godfather u are missed in San Antonio
+Russell Mcgurn I do hope you have listened to 'Tokyo Tapes'. The early Scorpions, doing what they would do best for their entire career, with Uli Jon leading the way. Plus, you get to listen to Klaus speak Japanese with that thick German accent. Bonus!
The first time ever herd this song I was about 10 years old I was on my porch with my mom with a held radio jamming to 99.5 Kiss rock radio in San Antonio this song. blow my mind and it still dose long live rock and roll
Give me In Trance or Taken By Force over the popular MTV era Scorps ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. Not that the 80s stuff was bad, but this was SO GOOD and ahead of its time.
Scorpions were top of the heap long before they were considered top of the heap. "Taken By Force" is such a masterpiece of Teutonic metal. A brilliant swan song for Uli Jon Roth even though he was already checked out.
