Every band seems to have its soft side. Linkin Park definitely has become more introspective over the last few years; the hair band Poison's ballad, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", may be their most popular song to date; and recently, rocker Iggy Pop has replaced his loud caterwauling with an album dedicated to covers of French songs. And as you might have already guessed, Scooter can also show a different side than high-energy rave music. First came Break It Up in 1996, and then later in 2000 came "She's The Sun", a downtempo new wave song that differentiates significantly from their usual fare. And you know what? It's not that bad.
We start out with the Radio Edit, as usual. Sampling the forceful yet natural-sounding drum beats from "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, frontman H.P. Baxxter exudes a new type of lyric. It's no longer here to pump up the crowd; instead, they're solemn words that we rarely hear and are a breath of fresh air from a normally outrageous fellow. The melody is very simple and soft-spoken in the background, using subtle pads and even some native cries. A few extra plucks during the chorus also help to add a relaxing vibe. All in all, a very impressive piece from a group that normally causes stadium speakers to smoke. The Extended mix somehow manages to stretch the instrumental parts a bit longer, but really, it wasn't all that necessary in the first place.
Fans are also treated to a B-Side in the form of Sunrise (Ratty's Inferno). This song is very interesting because it later served as the inspirational basis for the first single of their side project, Ratty, entitled Sunrise (Here I Am), which was also pretty good and managed to shut up some anti-Scooter critics. It's a gritty tech-trance number with an angelic trance break right in the middle before moving ahead with some rough computeresque synths and hard beats once again. Definitely a solid effort from Scooter. And if you were lucky enough to get your hands on the Limited Edition of this single, you would also get two additional tracks called H.P. for your Answering Machine, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 -- the first being in German, the second in English. If you want a brief clip of H.P. Baxxter on your answering machine, there you go.
"She's The Sun" is a great change of pace if you tire of their seemingly boundless energy. If you love Scooter but simply want to kick back and chill out, this track is definitely one way to help improve your experience. You can find this song by itself or on their 2000 album, "Sheffield", though the latter isn't quite as robust as the single version.
