This album grapples with 'Black Sabbath' and 'Led Zeppelin' for #2 Behind 'Jimi Hendrix' in the best debut category. 1972 was quite a year for first albums: Roxy Music, America, Captain Beyond released 3 of the greatest debut records. As unbeleivable as it may seem this album not only beats those 3 it's 72s' best album and mabye the most sofisticated album made up to that point! (O.K. Wolf City is still my personal fave from '72) These guys raised the bar then sadly they imploded. You will hear some of the best electric guitar ever recorded including the best delay pedal sound effects ever. I can picture this album being recorded in my mind, as a musician who lives for improv. jams I can see whats happening. The song Lonesome Crow plays like a live in the studio, no holds barred, musical relay. The Magicians Birthday is sponge cake and kool-aid by comparison and I think Mick Box and Lee Kerslake are great. This is the best album Uriah Heep never made! It seems Scorpions were searching for their identity, you can hear the 'Salisbury', 'Look At Yourself' influence. Especially the first track which starts with percusion (refer to the 'Osibisa' percusionists on Look At Yourself). There's also a nod to Amon Duul 2 on 'Leave Me': compare the back-up vocal chant to C.I.D. In Uruk from 'Carnival In Babylon'. Then there's 'Action', how did this song not become a hit? This is a top ten for the year single! Easily! I've been listening to head music since 1971 when I was three and I would lay on my sisters bed hearing E.L.P. with head-phones and somehow this album has eluded me until recently, oh, I've heard it before, I remember hearing it back in the 80s, I remember asking: Who is this? I remember them telling me...but I forget who it was and I forgot what they said. Thats my strange luck for this album fits my life now more than ever. I aquired Black Out in late '82 (a Columbia house tape) it soon died, I liked it but I was discovering so much music that the Scorpions never established themselves in my sphere (they seemed to commercial for my tastes). Here Klaus Meine sounds like the next mega star singer, the guitar work bass, rhythm, and lead is cutting edge from the first to last note (meaning no one in the world was doing anything more creative) the drums are killer, just one tiny fill missed at the end of track 2. And the keyboards...Vait vee don't need no zilly keyboards our guitars vil grab your head like Zcorpion claws zen inject delay pedal strait to brain, better notify next of kin. Here's the rub this album must be heard at high volume and is best in the dark. I've been burning braincells to this nearly every night for weeks, goose bumps I tell you! My CD was published in 2002 by Hip-o records it has nice sound, though it's not remastered, I have no complaints. And for the record Are You Expirenced is the greatest debut ever because 10 of the 11 songs could have been singles, hit singles, Purple Haze is larger than life "THE" anthem of the times. This album is on par with Dark Side Of The Moon...2112...Wolf City as one of the most inovative musical works, what more can I say?