The 'Scorpions' first live album 'Tokyo Tapes' successfully charted the bands early albums, but 'World Wide Live' deals with their most successful mid career albums 'Lovedrive', 'Animal Magnetism', 'Blackout' and 'Love at First Sting'. There's very few, if any surprises here, but this is an ultra solid live album, with excellent all-round performances and a remarkably decent production.

A short building introduction tilted 'Countdown' opens proceedings, before bursting into an energetic and flawless rendition of 'Coming Home', a top track full of lively guitars, driving rhythm and 'Klaus Meine' working the lyrics excellently. Following superbly is the 'Scorpions' classic 'Blackout' and we are gifted a brisk run through, graced with shredding axe work and plenty of strong backing vocals to make this an impressive cut. The rich vein of form continues with a solid working of 'Bad Boys Running Wild', while 'Loving you Sunday Morning' is respectably executed, albeit very close to the album version. The pace drops a little for the rocker come ballad 'Make it Real', not one of my personal favourites, but still a fair offering. Improvements are made with the more lively 'Big City Nights', the strong sing-a-long chorus really hits homes with the audience for another album highlight. Next up are two tracks from 'Love Drive', the instrumental 'Coast to Coast' is well accomplished and ultimately enjoyable, while 'Holiday' is passionately sung and complemented by a refined melody of which 'Rudolf Schenker' shines. Continuing with the ballads is 'Still Loving You' and as with the previous track 'Klaus Meine' governs the song with a faultless performance. The tempo is restored with a string of rockers and first up is an impeccable rendition of the classic 'Rock you Like a Hurricane'. 'Can't Live without You' ensues and fails to disappoint as 'Klaus' whips the crowd up before a brisk and heavy account of this overlooked number. Heavier still is the guitar driven 'Another Piece of Meat' and while it doesn't flow quite as well as it could, still another decent cut. The pace is maintained with a strong working of 'Dynamite', where 'Mathias Jabs' and 'Rudolf Schenker' shreds throughout, 'Klaus Meine' sounds a little out of breath at times but still a great rocker. Better still is a superb rendition of 'The Zoo', probably my favourite 'Scorpions' song and they don't disappoint me here, the superb rhythm is executed exactingly, while the vocals and guitar work are impeccable. 'No One like You' follows and fails to deceive as the refine melody of the studio counterpart is matched perfectly, while 'Klaus Meine' again shows his vocal talents. Regrettably it starts to go down hill here, the two parter 'Can't Get Enough' comes across rowdy, despite the fine guitar work and 'Six String Sting' is an overindulgent and longwinded guitar display, which doesn't really fit in with the exacting nature of the previous tracks.

It's all a little too predictable to go down as a classic live album, but 'World Wide Live' stands as a very good account of the 'Scorpions' best years. Regrettably it all got a bit commercial after this and they never really made a full returned to the enjoyable carefree Hard Rock / Metal exhibited here.