Classic Diamonds

Classic Diamonds
Studio album by Doro with the Classic Night Orchestra
Released	20 September 2004
Recorded	Studio 301, Major's Studio, Cologne, Germany December 2003 - August 2004
Genre	Symphonic rock, acoustic rock
Length	50:59
Label	AFM
Producer	Torsten Sickert, Chris Lietz
Doro chronology
Let Love Rain on Me (2004) Classic Diamonds (2004) In Liebe und Freundschaft (2005)
Deluxe edition CD cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Classic Diamonds is the ninth studio album of the German female hard rock singer Doro Pesch. It was released worldwide in 2004 by AFM Records. The album presents new acoustic and symphonic arrangements for songs of Doro’s repertoire, as well as some new compositions. The music is mostly played by the Classic Night Orchestra, an ensemble of young classical musicians that accompanied Doro in the following European tour.^[2]

Overview

Doro Pesch had already experienced mixing her powerful hard rock vocals with a symphonic orchestra in 2001 in a concert in Düsseldorf and later in 2003 in a benefit concert in Bochum. Excerpts from both shows are contained in the Für Immer DVD. The very good results of the two shows and the reaction of the fans prompted the German singer to plan a more organic approach to the symphonic facets of her songs, scheduling an album and a tour with an orchestra.^[3] The Classic Night Orchestra was recruited looking for young, open-minded and multi-ethnical classical musicians, reaching the number of 30 elements.^[3] With the help of the classically-trained band member Oliver Palotai and of producer Torsten Sickert, Doro arranged some old and new tracks for the orchestra and recorded them in Cologne. The album took almost eight months to be completed and is the most expensive recording produced by Doro.^[3] Besides eleven songs played with the orchestra, the album contains two tracks recorded live and acoustically in studio by Doro’s band and two other tracks played by Torsten Sickert with an emulator tuned to classical instruments.

The album was published at the same time of the European tour, where many elements of the Classic Night Orchestra played together with Doro’s usual live band in most venues. At Wacken Open Air festival on 6 August 2004, the full Classic Night Orchestra was on stage for the show.^[4] Various shows of the Classic Diamonds tour were filmed and later released on Classic Diamonds - The DVD.

The album was published in various formats by AFM Records, with and without bonus tracks and even as a deluxe 2 CD set, together with the Let Love Rain on Me EP.

"Breaking the Law" is a cover of the Judas Priest hit single, published on their 1980 album British Steel.

The album peaked at position No. 33 in the German Longplay chart.^[5]

Track listing

1. "I Rule the Ruins" (Doro Pesch , Joey Balin) - 4:02
2. "Metal Tango" (D. Pesch, J. Balin) - 3:57
3. "Breaking the Law" (K. K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton) - 4:22
4. "All We Are" (D. Pesch, J. Balin) - 2:56
5. "Für Immer" (D. Pesch, J. Balin) - 4:36
6. "Let Love Rain on Me" (D. Pesch, Gary Scruggs) - 3:52
7. "Burn It Up" (D. Pesch, Jürgen Engler, Chris Lietz) - 2:25
8. "Tausend Mal Gelebt" (D. Pesch, G. Scruggs) - 4:17
9. "I'm in Love with You" (D. Pesch, Reinhold Mack) - 4:44
10. "Always Live to Win" (D. Pesch, C. Lietz) bonus track - 3:00
11. "Undying" (D. Pesch, G. Scruggs) - 3:39
12. "Love Me in Black" (Jimmy Harry, D. Pesch) - 5:18
13. "She's Like Thunder" (D. Pesch, Nick Douglas, C. Lietz) bonus track - 3:51

Bonus tracks limited edition issue

14. "The Last Goodbye" (N. Douglas, T. Savalas) - 3:10
15. "The Final" (Torsten Sickert, Oliver Palotai) - 1:21

• "Let Love Rain on Me" Video clip

Personnel

• Doro Pesch - vocals

The Classic Night Orchestra

• Arnt Böhme – conductor, orchestral arrangements on tracks 1, 2, 5
• Hye-sin Tjo, Ardan Saguner, Nonna Parfenov, Elda Teqja, Marco Stankovic, Ingrid Illguth - first violins
• Carolin Kosa, Arhan Saguner, Emma Fridman, Jee-eun Lee, Alexander Schneider - second violins
• Wiebke Corssen, Urs Beckers, Kristina Iczque, Manuela Crespi - violas
• Lev Gordin (soloist), Martin Henneken, Jens Peter Jandausch, Luise Schroeter – violoncellos
• Milivoj Plavsic – contrabass
• Daniel Edelhoff, Jörg Brohm - first trumpets
• Wolfgang Mundt, Carsten Gronwald - second trumpets
• Andreas Roth, Peter Schatlo – trombones
• Jan Böhme – bass trombone
• Klaus 'Major' Heuser – acoustic guitars
• Wolf Simon – drums
• Mario Arrangonda – percussion

Additional musicians

• Udo Dirkschneider – lead vocals on track 3
• Oliver Palotai – piano, orchestral arrangements on tracks 6, 7, 12, 15
• Kai Hansen – guitars and bass on track 13, acoustic guitars, backing vocals
• Claus Fischer– bass on track 4
• Dirk Schoppen - bass on track 4, backing vocals
• Martin Wagemann – solo trumpet
• Oliver Best, Thomas Nathan, Klaus Vanscheidt - backing vocals

• Joe Taylor – acoustic guitar on tracks 10 and 14
• Nick Douglas - bass on tracks 10 and 14
• Johnny Dee – drums on tracks 10 and 14

• Torsten Sickert – producer, Midnight Orchestra on tracks 9 and 13, orchestral arrangements on tracks 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15

Production

• Chris Lietz – producer
• Thorsten Rentsch – engineer, mixing
• Wieland Reißmann – engineer, orchestral arrangements on track 9
• Mika Jussila - mastering

References

1. ^ Prato, Greg. "Doro Classic Diamonds". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/album/classic-diamonds-r795441/review. Retrieved 2011-06-25. 
2. ^ "Doro - Classic Diamonds". Encyclopaedia Metallum. http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=55203. Retrieved 10 August 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Cannella, Tony (2 June 2005). "Doro interview 2/6/05". Metal Maidens. DoroRocks.net. http://www.dororocks.net/doro_interview_2005.htm. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
4. ^ "Wacken Open Air 2004". Wacken Open Air. http://www.wacken.com/fr/woa2011/main-history/history/woa-2004/. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
5. ^ "Doro Classic Diamonds Zusammenfassung". Musicline.de. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/title/Doro/Classic+Diamonds/longplay. Retrieved 4 September 2010. 

External links

• American site
• "Let Love Rain on Me" video clip