Doro – Doro Live
Doro – Doro Live
Rare Diamonds
Release date: 03/07/26
Review by: Jon Deaux
7/10
It’s been four decades since Doro Pesch was branded The Metal Queen by hundreds of thousands of loyal fans who have witnessed her defiance from a rebellious girl who grew up in Düsseldorf, saying no to those who tried to stop her. I’ve heard some crazy backstories, but few end like hers.
Thirty-three years is quite a long time to wait for the re-release of an album. At any rate, it is certainly longer than anyone might have expected that Für Immer would keep haunting his/her headspace — and yet here we go, both facts being quite true. DORO – Live is back again, arriving in the same breathless style of a PR release as if somebody had rediscovered the cassettes in their attic and was absolutely sure you need to know about it as soon as possible. “A cult classic!” “A masterpiece!” “Finally!” The mere presence of these exclamation marks indicates that somebody in marketing has seen the album and made a decision that no material could carry this load by itself. They were wrong, but that is another topic.
The album in question comes from October 1993, Germany. Doro Pesch — the singer who came from Düsseldorf and became famous during the whole 1980s through her efforts to drag her band Warlock to worldwide prominence — has spent two years of her solo career performing in Hamburg and Cologne during the Angels Never Die tour. There is some 48-track Sony Digital recorder carried to the show by truck. Not a single overdub was used in the recording. That is what the liner notes mention in a conspicuous manner, as if they had been asked whether they had cheated. Well, we now know the answer. Anyway, here is the seventeen-track record lasting 73 minutes for the CD version and 90 minutes for the DVD.
‘I Rule The Ruins’ — the cover of a Warlock song that, curiously enough, was written by Doro herself before the dissolution of the band — sets the tone straight away. The singer’s unique voice manages that usual combination: enormous and human at the same time, warm and ferocious, like a blast furnace that managed to develop its emotional dimension. The crowd goes crazy at the very beginning of the concert. Obviously, nobody got into it accidentally. These people are the faithful ones, and Doro is definitely their worthy object of devotion.
The setlist reflects two different career periods of this singer. On the one hand, we see the highlights from her time with the band — ‘Hellbound,’ ‘All We Are,’ ‘Metal Tango,’ and the grandiose ‘Für Immer.’ On the other hand, there are the singles from the solo period as well — such tracks as ‘Bad Blood,’ ‘Enough For You,’ ‘So Alone Together,’ and the songs from Angels Never Die. The surprising feature of this setlist is that we do not even notice its seams, as we would normally observe while listening to any live albums. Either Doro trained her fans with exceptional accuracy, or it is the material itself that works fine regardless of its age.
The only KISS cover, ‘Only You,’ appears to be the most unusual and, at the same time, the most interesting track in the collection. Doro covers the song in the same sincere manner typical for the band KISS; however, the singer is fully aware that it is indeed a wonderful song rather than a hilarious one. The difference between ‘I Rule The Ruins’ and ‘Only You’ lies in quite a daring tonal shift; still, Doro managed to make it successfully. This album as a whole presents the artist’s self-confidence that transfers its magic into anything she sings.
For example, ‘Metal Tango’ is still an absurd song; nevertheless, it becomes more powerful in its one-minute twenty-second length. ‘Let’s Rock Forever’ is a mere two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of crowd singing that would feel like cynically brief if the crowd itself were not delighted with such a wonderful arrangement. ‘Children Of The Night’ seems to be slightly slowed down compared with its neighbours. It creates a peculiar pause within the composition. Finally, ‘Burning The Witches’ ends the main part of the concert in such an impressive fashion, full of grim determination.
The DVD provides two additional tracks — ‘The Fortuneteller’ and ‘East Meets West.’ They may be worth mentioning, but not really important at all. The remastered edition of the album maintains the necessary balance between a clean, wide sound and some of the live grime without distorting the record beyond recognition. The person doing the job had a good idea of what needed to be achieved.
As far as the packaging of the new edition is concerned, it is relatively generous as far as the reissue industry standards are concerned. In particular, the album is offered in the form of a CD/DVD digipack, a jewel case CD, and even 500 pieces of the limited picture vinyl (some of which come with a hand-signed art print). The latter is issued by Universal, and it was absolutely right to offer Doro herself the opportunity to do that. After all, the real power of the album rests in her personal contribution to it. As the artist, she deserves all the credit in the world.
This live album is not a perfect one for sure. A couple of songs performed in this period seem to drag down the concert rather than raise its energy level, ‘Fall For Me Again’ being especially disappointing in this regard. ‘Alles ist Gut’ sounds either touching or even slightly embarrassing, but then again, it depends largely on your attitude towards the sentiment as the key feature of cathartic heavy metal music. However, we cannot say much bad about the record as such since it achieves the very goal of its existence: it puts us in the room and makes us understand why people struggled to get there.
Thus, the Metal Queen nickname has become hers due to the reason of grace. Doro never claimed it for herself. She just kept appearing on stage and proved her superiority in every respect.
TRACKLISTING:
CD:
01. I Rule The Ruins
02. Hellbound
03. Only You
04. Bad Blood
05. So Alone Together
06. Eye On You
07. Metal Tango
08. Fall For Me Again
09. Für Immer
10. Let’s Rock Forever
11. All We Are
12. Enough For You
13. I Am What I Am
14. Whenever I Think Of You
15. Children Of The Night
16. Burning The Witches
17. Alles ist Gut
DVD:
01. I Rule The Ruins
02. Hellbound
03. Only You
04. Bad Blood
05. So Alone Together
06. Eye On You
07. Metal Tango
08. Fall For Me Again
09. Für Immer
10. Let’s Rock Forever
11. All We Are
12. Enough For You
13. The Fortuneteller
14. I Am What I Am
15. East Meets West
16. Whenever I Think Of You
17. Children Of The Night
18. Burning The Witches
19. Alles ist Gut
LINKS:
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