Scorpions – Forever and a Day
Featuring the Scorpions
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Katja Von Garnier
Cleopatra
Release Date: November 27, 2015

Like any long-running rock band, there comes a time when the group must decide how long they should keep it going. Are they too old for this? Should they go out while they’re still ahead?

German heavy metal band Scorpions, who’ve been in action for over 50 years, had to make that decision in recent years, which led to a farewell world tour that lasted three years. Scorpions – Forever and a Day, an authorized documentary from director Katja Von Garnier, gives the history of the band while also documenting their farewell tour, a lengthy outing that proved that the Teutonic titans are, in fact, not ready to pack it all in.

The documentary tells the 50-year story of the Scorpions with rare footage and old photos, along with interviews with past and present band members and crew, and others, all interspersed with live concert clips.

With the title track of their barn-burner 1977 album Lights Out, here is the classic lineup of UFO – watch the video here below.

This performance was filmed live at the Roundhouse Theater in London on June 12, 1977 and features guitar legend Michael Schenker laying down one of rock’s most iconic solos. If you like this, be sure to check out the band’s 1979 release Strangers in the Night, which many people (myself included) consider to be the greatest live album ever recorded.

AOL Music is giving fans of the hard rock/heavy metal band UFO a FREE listen right now of their 5-CD box set collection of the band’s Chrysalis records era, which was recently this week on CD and MP3.

Entitled UFO: The Chrysalis Years (1980-1986) the collection houses the band’s five albums released by the record label: No Place to Run (1980), Wild, Willing and the Innocent (1981), Mechanix (1982), Making Contact (1983), and Misdemeanor (1986). There are also tracks from some live performances in Cleveland, Ohio; on the BBC in England, and that country’s Hammersmith Odeon as well.

Amazingly English hard rock band UFO formed 43 years ago. UFO – The Best Of ’74-’83 covers the band’s greatest albums during its most popular period. This means songs from every album of the 9 recorded from 1974’s Phenomenon to Making Contact in 1983, via Force It and Lights Out (which featured what many fans believe to have the band’s “˜classic line-up’ of Michael Schenker, Phil Mogg, Pete Way, Paul Raymond, and Andy Parker) can be heard.

All 5 albums from Michael Schenker’s incredible first run with the band have tracks on here including “Shoot Shoot,” “Lights Out,” and “Only You Can Rock Me.” Right now you can pick this up at Amazon.com’s April MP3 Deals for only $5!

This and the 99 other $5 MP3 Deals run out at the end of the month so be sure to order before April 30, 2012.

Michael Schenker was becoming a rock star at an age when most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives. The German guitarist was barely into his teens when he joined his older brother Rudolf’s band the Scorpions. He quickly joined British rock institution UFO before putting together his own band, the Michael Schenker Group.

He is a man of undoubted talent, but it’s fair to say Schenker’s reputation precedes him. He became well-known for his extreme thirst and raging egotism which proved a very bad combination for those in the same band, resulting in the odd heated exchange.

But those days are behind him now. With his latest album, Temple Of Rock slowly gathering steam, Schenker was about to hit the road. Shortly before he headed off for a world tour – including a stint in the UK – the Schenker I talked to displayed his famous eccentricity and was happy and funny.