2012 CD Reviews - Doro - Under My Skin: A Fine Selection of Doro Classics

Doro
Under My Skin - A Fine Selection of Doro Classics
AFM Records - 2012
http://www.dororocks.net

The AFM best of collection for Doro Pesch collects material from her time with the label as well as live or re-recorded versions of other classic tracks.

The 32 track, 2 disc album comes with handwritten notes and observations about the tracks from Doro herself. There are 3 videos ("Warrior Soul", "Let Love Rain On Me" and "Herzblut") included as well.

A lot of the live version and re-recorded versions of the tracks leave something to be desired for me. Her biggest song "All We Are" (recorded when she was still with the band Warlock) was redone in 2007 and while it is still a powerful anthem, the original is still the best.

There are 8 tracks that were re-recorded with the Classic Night Orchestra. With the exception of "Strangers Yesterday", the original versions were all better. "Metal Tango" and "Love Me In Black" came out well but still left me desiring those original tracks.

There are four German language tracks on the album and "Fur Immer" fares the best to my ears.

The ballad "Walking With The Angels" features a duet with ex-Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen.

On Disc 1, you also want to check out "Above The Ashes" and "Always Live To Win". The second disc features an acoustic version of "Rare Diamond", which is one of my favorite Doro songs. The song "1999" actually rings no bells with me from past albums, but it was an excellent song. The song "Wildfire" is on the disc and it is one of the songs she has never performed live.

Doro wrote 3 songs for world boxing champion Regina Halmich to use as entrance music. "She's Like Thunder" is decent, but I didn't like "The Queen".

A couple of issues with the CD. The track listing is fine for what it is, but it leaves out a lot of her better songs. I don't know if it is a rights issue or what, but this could be considered Volume 1 of a series if she decided to do another release.

While I am a huge Doro fan, I don't always remember what song comes from what album. It would've been nice if the album credits had included that information. Oh, and there really was no need to include 2 versions of the song "Celebrate" on the same release.

Overall, this compilation serves its intended purpose of being a cross section of Doro's catalog. she's a hugely important artist in the metal world. But for longtime fans, this release is more a tease with all the alternate versions of the songs we know and love.

GRADE: B MINUS

The track listing:

01. All We Are (Version 2007)
02. You're My Family
03. I Rule The Ruins
04. Celebrate
05. The Night Of The Warlock
06. Strangers Yesterday
07. Walking With The Angels
08. Metal Tango
09. Thunderspell
10. Herzblut
11. Warrior Soul
12. My Majesty
13. Für Immer
14. Love Me In Black
15. Always Live To Win
16. Running From The Devil
17. Above The Ashes
18. Let Love Rain On Me

CD2

01. Celebrate (Full Metal Female Version)
02. Rescue Me
03. Rare Diamond (Acoustic Version)
04. Angel In The Dark
05. 1999
06. In Liebe Und Freundschaft
07. I Lay My Head Upon My Sword
08. Tausend Mal Gelebt
09. Wildfire
10. Breaking The Law
11. She's Like Thunder (Version 2005)
12. The Queen
13. You Won My Love
14. Lonely Wolf

Multimedia Bonus

* Warrior Soul (Video)
* Let Love Rain On Me (Video)
* Herzblut (Video)