Uli Jon Roth really comes in a category of his own. Being one of the founders of the band Scorpions, he has also had an interesting solo career. Inspired by some amazing 1960s acts, in particular Jimi Hendrix, he has carved out an interesting solo career as a guitarist. Also worth mentioning is the fact that he has a highly unusual and customised set of guitars made by hand under the label Sky Guitars, if you are interested in looking into that. In any case, this album encompasses a large volume of music and is essentially a double album released in the year 2000. There is little information online to go on with, but one can be assured that this will be an interesting listening experience. Let’s take a listen to this album, which runs for just over two hours from 25 songs, and we shall hear if it is any good.

1. Sky Overture is a nearly nine-minute-long piece. It begins with a grand introduction with a crowd cheering nicely. Uli Jon Roth emerges into a glorious tune with some searing lead guitar and organs to match. It sounds absolutely fantastic to listen to, and very Deep Purple-ish. Soon enough, some awesome shredding leads us into the tune at hand. This sounds absolutely amazing to hear, to this very day. The rhythm section is awesome as well. The squealing lead guitars are really sweet to listen to. Uli Jon Roth surprises and dazzles you throughout. He plays a truly wonderful piece with the band following him very well. Extremely cool, and impressively listenable. A searing, fiery and absolutely awesome listening experience for all to hear. Near the middle of the tune is a breakdown with volume guitar swells, keyboards and piano to match it all. This is Neo-Classical Metal that deserves to be heard. Some divine and amazing guitar work is present on this tune. The midsection is symphonic and amazing to listen to. This never gets dull or boring throughout. Soon enough, this launches into an extremely cool second half with some top guitar leads and playing that sounds magical. A sonic assault on the senses with guitar work, one can certainly hear the influence of Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple throughout. No doubt Yngwie Malmsteen was paying attention as well to Uli Jon Roth. A really fantastic listening experience that sounds loud, awesome and fresh. All in all, a monster of a tune that sounds fresh and interesting. Very sweet to hear. A loud and bombastic piece of music that has some shredtastic guitar work soloing away nicely. This ends with some excellent lead guitar work and some unique phrasing to boot. Extremely cool to listen to. The playing never fails to amaze the listener at the end. Some crowd cheering at the end is great, and some French is spoken, before Uli Jon Roth invites the crowd in English to appreciate this music.

2. Rondo Alla Turca is a take on Mozart, and is a guitar and keyboard rendition of that music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself was a legend of music proportions, and this sounds like a wacky, yet amazing tune to listen to. Absolutely awesome and solidly cool to hear. Seriously awesome music to listen to and enjoy. This is a short and sweet number to listen to. It ends with some glorious guitar playing that is top-notch. Worth hearing.

3. Sehnsucht begins with some violining guitar swells and piano in the background. This continues on this tune, which sounds really very Pink Floydian, in a way. Uli Jon Roth reveals himself to be a musician extraordinaire, and he plays nicely and brilliantly throughout. A very pretty and wonderful tune to hear, with some of the most unusual and different guitar work that you will ever hear. This four-minute-long listen itself is very amazing to hear. A very fluid and amazing listening experience, even if this is purely instrumental music. It has a unique and skilled depth to it all. The second half of this tune continues the Neo-Classical trend musically, reaching a loud, overdriven guitar climax that is a must-hear. Uli Jon Roth is certainly talented as a musician. This does sound really thoroughly great and amazing throughout. An awesome tune to hear, if you are up for unique guitar-centred music. The ending is dramatic.

4. Tuona E Fulmina is a three-minute-long piece that begins with overdubbed audience applause, and launches into a loud and glorious Neo-Classical mayhem at hand, complete with a string section to match it. Uli Jon Roth plays extremely well on this tune, pouring his creativity, efforts and energy into this amazing sounding tune throughout. A very awesome listen that deserves to be heard by more guitarists and music fans alike. The fast and frenetic Classical Music for shredders makes one want to become more musically talented. Indeed, this music is very amazing to listen to. A really cool track to hear, and a clear winner for the listener. The guitar shredding is awesome on this track. A very great instrumental with cheering and applause at the end, which fades out.

5. Baba Yaga begins with some wind sounds and other interesting electronic sounds as a build-up. It sounds exciting, intriguing and fantastic to listen to. This is awesome, leading eventually into a fantastic guitar section and drums entering. Some wacky and odd guitar leads play throughout, and this tune is a weird one, but a winner nonetheless. All in all, a truly great listening experience, firmly rooted in classical music of the past but updated for the 21st century. Soon enough, guitar swells emerge, which sound really great. The violining continues on nicely, matched with electronic sounds and other clever instrumentation to match it. This is a brilliantly bold and beautiful listening to hear. Guitar squeals emerge in the second half, with flourishes of additional instrumentation. Eventually, this leads into a faster section of music that simply sounds really cool. Uli Jon Roth and crew surprise and dazzle you upon listening. The guitar shredding in the second half is extremely impressive and enjoyable listening. A very good tune to hear. It gradually wraps up with some symphonic sounds and squeals that sound good. An awesome tune to hear and listen to. This ends with some quirky and clever guitar leads, before finishing with a load of drum rolls and a glorious finish.

6. Earthquake is a much longer piece, at nearly eight minutes long, beginning with spacey electronics and delayed guitars, which are awesome and deeply fascinating. This sounds tripped out and amazing throughout. This sonic montage is a very brilliant listening experience that sounds absolutely top. Drums eventually enter, and this tune becomes a more Rock Music styled listening experience. Eventually, it leads into a sweet and wonderful tune with a passionate groove to it all. Absolutely awesome to listen to. This music is a very original and imaginative listen throughout. The melodies and performances are sensationally good. The Classical Music motifs are super cool as well. This is definitely an underrated and underappreciated style of music to listen to. Uli Jon Roth is a guitar hero and is totally underrated for his brilliance as a musician. This continues on very nicely, and expresses its unique flavour and wonder as guitar-shredding nirvana. A really amazing listening experience, and one that sounds just great. One can certainly hear the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page throughout this listening experience. An absolutely awesome tune to listen to, time after time. The second half continues our explorative agenda, with some trippy keyboards and some clean guitar parts to match it. It sounds sublime, along with some impressive melodic work and progressions throughout. A really top listening experience, even for instrumental music such as this. Very much brilliantly wonderful to listen to. It begins to wrap up with some exciting guitar shredding and an awesome finale as a Rock tune. Top-notch music, and very, very awesome. It gets frenetic at the end, before concluding with some squealing guitar leads. Brilliant.

7. Meditation is a short tune at four minutes in length. It begins with some glorious piano and guitar work, simply sounding really amazing to hear. Indeed, this is a tune that Rock Gods can meditate to. It sounds extremely awesome with searing guitar leads and original sounds that are both pretty and unique to hear. An absolute wonder of a gem to listen to and to experience. The guitar soloing is extremely cool and grand to listen to. All in all, a really sweet and inspired listen throughout. The second half continues the piano work and the guitar soloing very nicely to match it all. Very, very cool. A lively and pretty tune that is extremely wonderful to hear. This is instrumental Rock Music for those of you who need someone to continue in the spirit of Jimi Hendrix. It wraps up with some neat guitar parts that are cleaner, along with piano. Sweet.

8. Paganini Paraphrase is a reference to the famous Classical composer. It begins with some ascending/descending guitar work that sounds absolutely awesome. It sounds very, very majestic, with some crowd cheering dubbed onto the track. An awesome and majestic listen, with Uli Jon Roth shredding away nicely. A short, sweet and interesting listening throughout. Definitely worth your time to hear. Amazing.

9. Fairy Dance begins with some sweet and clean guitar leads, alongside a string section. This is a moodier-sounding tune that is unusual for this album. Nonetheless, a fairly short and sweet listen. It then has a glorious horn section mixing in with the guitars and strings throughout. An extremely wonderful tune to hear, with shredding galore by Uli Jon Roth. This is guitar music for those of you who already are guitarists and want to hear something inspiring. A very, very cool listening experience throughout. It leads into a second half with searing guitar playing and strings galore. A very awesome listen that certainly deserves your time. Top-notch music. Worth every moment of listening. It ends with some clean and clear leads, seguing into the next track.

10. Beethoven Paraphrase is a reference to another Classical musician, and arguably the father of modern music today. It begins with some awesome and powerful electric guitar leads, which sound really fantastic and interesting throughout. This launches into a memorable rendition of Beethoven that sounds really appropriate for postmodern audiences. An extremely cool listening experience that sounds top. The guitar shredding throughout is extremely cool as well, and is a unique take on Beethoven himself. Uli Jon Roth obviously knew his musical mojo. The second half has some awesome guitar shredding that reaches a solo-based climax with awesome sounds galore. The string section present matches it nicely, and this tune concludes with a ton of noisy sounds, and crowd cheering and talking is here to finish, followed by a fade out.

11. Recuerdos De La Alhambra begins with some Black Sabbath style clean guitar arpeggios and sounds gorgeous and awesome to listen to. An awesome tune with a melodic emphasis, Uli Jon Roth does not fail once on this extended release. This sounds moving and soothing simultaneously. A very simple and pretty listening experience that has character, style and flair to hear. Absolutely awesome music to hear, and a very memorable piece of music from this album. A very sweet listen from start to finish. The guitar playing on this tune is excellent.

12. Air De Aranjuez is another short piece which begins with some unusual string instrumentation, and launches into a melancholy guitar tune that sounds extremely wonderful to listen to. This is a smooth, delightful and sweet tune that sounds extremely good. Ulli Jon Roth is definitely a talented guitarist who can play extremely nicely on this tune. His own unique guitar playing and tone are absolutely awesome to hear, and it works a real treat for your ears. A sensationally good listen that has an original sound and performance to it all, this is extremely nice to listen to. A majestic listen, this is definitely music that Jimi Hendrix himself would be proud of hearing today. It builds up to a finale with string sections that sound gorgeous. Awesome to listen to from start to finish. A wonderful piece of music. Superb to listen to.

13. Hiroshima is much longer, at over six minutes in length. This is the same city that was bombed with a nuclear weapon by the USA onto Japan at the end of WWII. It begins with wind sounds and other spacey electronic sounds, and launches into a good tune with some gorgeous female singing throughout. This is very different to anything else on this album, and sounds absolutely tragically beautiful. It is a sensational music experience that sounds moody and sad to listen to. The piano and keyboards match this tune perfectly as well. This eventually launches into a dark yet glorious tune with some killer electric guitars and playing by Uli Jon Roth that sounds super good to listen to. Eventually, this Rock tune gets into action very nicely, and it sounds brilliant for what it is. This music is very much in an 1980s Metal sounding edge, minus the guitar distortion on it all. Uli Jon Roth plays like a madman on this tune, with some awesome soloing and tremolo picking throughout. An exciting and enlightening listen throughout. Uli Jon Roth shows us that in the world of music, one can make a definite difference in a sense. The second half of this tune continues his characteristic guitar work, which sounds mournful and deep. Some wah-wah is applied to the guitar soloing, and this sounds extremely cool to listen to. It begins more subdued as we approach the end of it all, except for the wailing guitar solo present. Eventually, this gets a bit softer and more controlled, before launching into some heavy music that sounds inspired and inspiring. This finishes up very nicely with a ton of multitracked sounds and playing, before fading out.

14. Villanova Gem is a shorter tune, beginning with a Latin American music feel to it all. Except that this is a Uli Jon Roth Rock Music tune to listen to. This does sound different throughout, with some absolutely amazing and enjoyably listenable guitar work. This tune is very, very brilliant to hear. A catchy, pretty and unique tune in the history of guitar-based music, this simply works incredibly well. A straightforward and top listen by Uli Jon Roth and friends, this music is on a higher level of consciousness in an instrumental. Towards the midsection, things gradually become more subtle, and this tune continues on its sweet and enjoyable sounds to hear. Utilising a variety of guitar tones and skills, Uli Jon Roth is indeed very underrated. This continues on nicely in the second half of the tune, sounding really very cool. Some squealing guitar leads push the band along, as they play catch-up. This tune eventually progresses in a sweet and melodic fashion. The shredding towards the end on the guitar is fantastic. A really cool tune to listen to, well worth your ears. Awesome and amazing music to hear. It ends with some squealing guitars and a quick conclusion. Excellent.

15. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is, of course, a Jimi Hendrix cover of the amazing original from his own Electric Ladyland (1968) album. It goes on for nine minutes. It begins with the wah-wah guitar sounds emulating Jimi Hendrix, but at a much slower tempo. Drums lead in, and this tune sounds like an interesting and exciting rendition of the original song. Uli Jon Roth certainly packs a punch in his music. This isn’t as good as the Jimi Hendrix original, especially with the singing at hand. However, having said that, it still sounds miraculous throughout. A good listen, but a bit too slow and not as musically impressive as the original song. Still, there is no doubt that Uli Jon Roth is a guitar great himself. It leads into a more subtle section of guitar playing that has character and finesse about it. Still, this is a little too slow and extended to be truly appreciated, despite the fact that Uli Jon Roth puts his unique take on Jimi Hendrix throughout. The midsection is very different, with a decent and different-sounding section of music to listen to. Drumrolls galore are present, as this tune mixes the two different songs of a voodoo nature from the Electric Ladyland (1968) album by Jimi Hendrix. This is quite different, and still sounds really good for what it is, even if this goes on for far too long. A lengthy tune with its moments, although it is very lengthy to listen to. This is a bit much at this stage, and although one can see the music sensibilities and inspiration throughout, the length of this tune kills it all. Many signature Jimi Hendrix licks are thrown into the mix, and this sounds different throughout with the wah-wah guitar playing. Eventually, it returns to the song section at hand and builds up to a decent climax at the end. A good but flawed listening experience for those who dig Jimi Hendrix and want to hear someone else take on the spirit of Jimi himself. It ends with an erratic outro and a decent finish. Not the best; this could have been shortened for sure. It ends with cheering and applause from an audience.

16. Stormy Passage is fortunately much shorter. It is a rather discordant and off-sounding piece of music. Goodness knows why this was added to this release. Even so, it’s not totally horrid, just unpleasant to listen to throughout. Still, one cannot deny the originality and artistry of such a tune as this one. The lone electric guitar playing is certainly interesting to listen to. Uli Jon Roth may be an acquired music taste for many, but he is a real guitarist extraordinaire and plays that instrument very, very well indeed. He plays like a real great in any case. This wraps up after three minutes in length and has some unique shredding on it at the end. A good listen after all, but not perfect.

17. Gypsy Czardas is another short piece of music that begins with a string section, followed by a tune with an electric guitar being played with a violin bow. All in all, this is a good neo-Classical Music sort of tune. It sounds different, but this album is a bit long overall and difficult to get through by this point in time. Soon enough, this launches into a weird and wonderful Thrash Metal meets Classical Music tune at hand. It is one of the wackiest pieces of music that you will ever hear. A weird and strange mixture, but something interesting and exciting to listen to, all the same. This does sound quirky, yet enjoyable enough. The guitar shredding and violins are fantastic to listen to, and just sound awesome in that respect. Nice to hear.

18. Spanish Fantasy is a five and a half minute tune with some interesting electric/acoustic guitar work that follows Spanish influences. Surprisingly, this still sounds very much like Uli Jon Roth, but in a very different way. It sounds pretty, mellow and melodic throughout. A good listen, but again, by this point in the album, some editing of the material could have benefited the listening experience overall. Still, one can acknowledge that Uli Jon Roth is a decent guitar player with some unique and fresh chops to match. He plays with expert precision and finesse throughout. A good listen but perhaps not a great one. He does play very nicely on these songs. A very solid piece of music, all the same. Some of the playing on this tune is very great, even if the material is not. A really interesting and listenable tune that is chock full of surprises throughout. Again, this is a bit lengthy, but guitarists and guitar fans alike will appreciate all this. Some of the playing on this album is spot on, and this is a case in point for the album itself. A really cool listen which, towards the end, gets a tad more subtle, before soloing away nicely to a great conclusion. Not bad to hear. It ends with some mellow guitar riffs to conclude with.

19. Freeflow Gem is a seven-minute-long instrumental. It sounds a bit odd and out of place from the start. It has a punchy, rhythmic, and a Jazz Music styled feel to it all. It doesn’t sound overly impressive musically, however. It is just a meandering sort of tune that doesn’t really have any direction at all. It’s not outright bad, but leaves much to be desired. It just sounds like an intelligent but random-sounding music jam that anyone can make up in a garage, albeit with some studio polish. It’s not bad at all, but by this stage of the album, the promise of this wears thin. Potentially, you can skip ahead, but only fans of guitar itself will really appreciate this, all the same. It is a bit more of a miss than an actual hit, and this tune suffers for it. In any case, this could be a lot better done. A bit of a missed opportunity on this song. It does have a good groove to it all, having said all of this. Anyway, this is good, but it lacks serious quality control to it all. Most musicians seem to understand this when recording albums. Uli Jon Roth doesn’t seem to do so. This is okay, but not fantastic to hear. It eventually gets a little more subtle in the second half with some awesome and unique guitar licks that sound extremely cool. This eventually marches on to a very good solo section towards the end, which sounds really great to hear. Eventually, this concludes with some mad guitar work and a nice fade out of punchy drumming and guitars, with organ thrown in as well. Good to hear.

20. Scherzo Alla Paganini begins with some loud and direct guitar shredding in the left channel. This three-minute piece is definitely inspired by the legendary Classical Music composer, and it all sounds mindblowingly great. An absolutely energetic and wonderfully powerful listen, even if it is just a guitar solo playing. A really cool tune to listen to, all the same. It sounds completely different to most kinds of music out there. A magically punchy and powerful listen, although this does lack a consistent music agenda and seems like fairly mindless guitar shredding, yet impressively so. In any case, Uli Jon Roth does play some neat pinch harmonic guitar playing towards the end. Sweet to hear. A very strong listen overall.

21. Atlantis is a reference to the mythical underwater civilisation. It sounds rather ordinary from the start, with some awfully distorted guitars that do not sound really nice to listen to at all. A powerful and interesting-sounding piece, but quite dreadful musically. Goodness knows what Uli Jon Roth was thinking on this album. This sounds very average throughout. It launches into a more subtle section with similarly overdriven guitars to match it all. This sounds fairly ordinary, and nothing can seemingly disguise all that. There is some nice guitar playing throughout, although it sounds really unimpressive. You can skip ahead if you really want. This isn’t terrible, but it is disappointing and far from being a great listen. Still, it certainly has its musical moments throughout. This needs a bit of a rethink in a musical sense. It’s okay, but it’s quite difficult to get through musically. In any case, this five-minute-long listening experience ends with guitars galore and a rhythm section that is classy. It ends well with some good, suspenseful guitar.

22. Turn The Time is a five-minute-long piece with wind whooshing and guitars galore to begin with. It leads into some spacey sounds and delayed guitars to match it all. This, quite frankly, is not good. It seems that as the album progresses, this music becomes more and more uninspired as it goes on. It is certainly missing a magic and musical sensibility, and just seems like random guitar soloing throughout. A sad and rather off-sounding listen, this is not what music legends are made of. It continues the electronic sounds, nimble bass guitar playing and hi-hats, before launching into singing about returning to Mother Earth and other Hippie mystical concepts. A picturesque tune, Pink Floyd has done much better than this track in exploring LSD inspired inner/outer space travel. This is just not good enough. It is missing consistency, rhythm and a solid magic to it all. A very disappointing tune, to be fair. Very much random guitar work that sounds like noodling, for the most part. It gradually reaches a conclusion with some sound effects galore, followed by a spacey conclusion of guitar and keyboards.

23. Event Horizon is another long piece at over eight minutes in length. It sounds awful from the start, with some unfocused dark electronic sounds and some unorthodox guitar playing. This continues on for some time, sounding different. This quickly launches into a powerful and interesting tune with some pianos, keyboards, random guitar parts and a build-up of suspenseful sound throughout. Some Spanish American styled guitars are played, followed by some deep and interesting electronic sounds. This is not good to hear, however. It is much more miss than hit, quite frankly. Eventually, this progresses on, but sounds awkward and awful in the process. Uli Jon Roth does have his moments, but definitely not on this tune. It then leads into a dark and freaky-sounding piece of music, which isn’t good. This is difficult to listen to and appreciate. The sounds aren’t that inspired, and the guitar parts are quite awful to listen to. This is a missed opportunity by Uli Jon Roth, and it sounds horrid enough to want to turn off the album by this point. In any case, this music is definitely an acquired taste, and it sounds disappointing as well. This is a waste of time to listen to for most listeners. It does not have any worthwhile music moments throughout. In the second half are some interesting keyboards, which sound out of place with the awful guitar work. Seriously, this is just not very good. A missed opportunity for most music listeners, and a real drag to hear. This gradually approaches the end of the tune and sounds like a piece of guitar noodling more than anything else. A bit dreary and dull to hear. It wraps up with more of the same, before concluding. A disappointment.

24. Mighty Wing Cadenza is fortunately much shorter as a piece of music. It begins with some better guitar playing that is more representative of Uli Jon Roth. It eventually leads into a symphonic Rock tune that is again, heavily Classical Music influenced. Some of the guitar playing on this is really incredible, even if it is musically a missed opportunity, for the most part. This is the best description for a kind of guitar music described in profane terms, if you get that point. Still, a really ordinary and unpleasant listen is present, even if Uli Jon Roth can play the guitar very well. Towards the middle is some unique and tasty shredding on clean guitar, before launching back into the main section of music at hand. It does seem rather pointless to listen to this music. Yngwie Malmsteen is a better bet for Classical Music inspired Rock. Still, some of the sounds and tones by Uli Jon Roth do sound incredibly great on this album. A really cool piece of music emerges, showing that for all the blah nature of this guitar-based music, Uli Jon Roth certainly can play guitar well. Some awesome guitar work is on the second half of this track. Eventually, this tune wraps up and closes in a frenzy of guitar playing. It launches into a Classical Music based Rock tune. It finishes up well.

25. Air De Bach is the final track on this long album. It is actually a very pleasant listen to conclude the album with, even if a lot of the album does not make sense. Bach was a Classical Music composer of legend, and Uli Jon Roth plays some great Bach-style licks in a Rock Music context. This does sound quite sweet, all the same. The music and the performances are really top-notch on this tune. Uli Jon Roth does have some good musical vision, even if it is lacking at times. A good conclusion to a long album. This is one of the better pieces on it by far. The album concludes with Uli Jon Roth and friends finishing up nicely with a pleasant outro.

This album should not be anywhere near as long as it is, although it is essentially a double album release. Much of the material, although very good in itself, could have been edited down if Uli Jon Roth allowed it to be so. Unfortunately, the lack of editing on this album means that the listening experience is very mixed. Still, Uli Jon Roth is definitely talented as a guitarist, but one can clearly hear this album as a difficult and egotistical-sounding album release. Should you listen to this album? Only if you love guitar-based instrumentals, and even then, you may wish to skip a lot of this album.

Promising, but an LP of sheer boredom.

6/10