Theodore Xouridas from Rocking.Gr recently spoke with SCORPIONS vocalist Klaus Meine about why his band's MTV Unplugged live release was recorded in Athens, Greece; an excerpt follows:

Now that the MTV Unplugged In Athens is out, how do you feel about it?

"It feels great! We had a wonderful time in Athens in September and the fans were just amazing. From the very beginning we wanted to go to Greece for this project. ?ll those years, in the long history of MTV Unplugged, they always recorded it in studios with a rather small audience, so we convinced them that we wanna take this to Athens with the Greek fans and the beautiful amphitheater, it turned out to be a historic event, because it was the very first MTV Unplugged under the open sky, it was at the right position and the fans were just amazing. Great memories on the week we spent in Athens doing those shows. It was very exciting and it was fantastic to see our fans be so happy for the fact that we came back to Greece for this project and also for the songs we played! We went all the way back to the Scorpions history."

Comparing it to Acoustica, do you think that this is a step forward or just something different?

"Both! I think it is a step forward and it’s very different at the same time. Knowing the way we produced Acoustica in 2001, this time we had with us our Swedish producers and the whole Swedish 'gang' musicians around us, especially in the arrangements of the songs. We were focused from the very beginning not to repeat ourselves, we wanted to surprise our audience we songs we never performed before and for the classics there was completely new arrangements. In songs like 'Hit Between The Eyes' or 'Speedy’s Coming', 'In Trance' with these strings in those arrangements, it feels there is a little bit like an Arabian touch there. ?t varies from the way that we put instruments there, from accordion to steel guitar, harmonica and all these. Many of those songs like the ones we never played before like 'Born To Touch Your Feelings' and 'Where The River Flows', have ever a western kind of feel, because of the accordion and the harmonica. It’s Scorpions music on a new dimension, I think it’s very much a step forward."

To read the interview in its entirety, visit this location.

Check out the official EPK (electronic press kit) for the Scorpions' new offering, MTV Unplugged, which is out now in Europe on 2CD, DVD, Blu-ray and in various other digital and physical configurations. The release is due out in Canada via Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc. on January 21st. A US release date is pending.

An additional trailer can be seen below: