Talisman – ‘Best of’ (1996) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Sometime during 1996, Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacob were completely thrown for a loop when a best of album was released in Japan for their band Talisman. No one told them. The album was called “Besterious” and consisted of all songs that were previously released from the band. In response to this, Jeff and Marcel, along with Empire Records, decided they were going to release their own band approved version of a greatest hits compilation. It was called “Best of…” and it was chock full of hits plus a ton of previously unreleased tracks that any diehard fan would want to buy. I should know, I bought it!!

Two of the biggest treats were the first two tracks. These were both demos yet they had Goran Edman on vocals instead of Jeff Scott Soto. Goran was the singer for John Norum’s band and joined Talisman prior to Jeff. Goran left to join Yngwie’s band. The first of the demos is “Day By Day” and musically is no different than what ended up on the debut. It is a very Bon Jovi style song. Goran’s vocals are higher than Jeff’s but I’m not sure they have the power Jeff’s have. Regardless, it is still a stellar version of the song.

The second Goran demo is “Lightning Strike” seems a little more raw than the final Soto version, but all the elements are there. The chorus has some great harmonies and layers of vocals. Jeff sings it in this same style as Goran. I’m not sure which one I like better with this one. The rawness of this one adds a little to it.

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KISS-OPOLY

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Back on June 18, there was another small Record Store Day for those items that were delayed from the main one on April 23. I was on the hunt for the Collective Soul first vinyl release of ‘Disciplined Breakdown’ and the Halestorm Tomb-Shaped Single which I did get both. I wasn’t able to get up and be there when it started so I was worried I would miss out. Around Noon, my youngest daughter and I headed out to our first stop Repo. Repo had the Halestorm, but not the Collective Soul…dang it. And while we there, we figured we’d look around.

I decided to go over to the shelves and look for some Kiss (like there was any chance I was going to find one I didn’t have. The Kiss albums were on the bottom shelf and to properly go through them, you have to sit on the slimy, sticky floor…it wasn’t that bad. When my bones creaked and moaned and I finally got down there, I saw a box sitting across the top of the albums that was not visible from above. A factory sealed Monopoly game with Kiss as the theme!! Hell Yeah!! I had been looking for it for at least a decade or more. And it was factory sealed!! Hell Yeah Again!!

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Queensryche – “Jet City Woman” – Limited Edition Cut-To-Shape Picture Disc

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At the most recent Record Show in Charlotte back in May, I found a few really cool items. One of them was a Limited Edition Cut-To-Shape Picture Disc for the song “Jet City Woman” by Queensryche. The song was off their 1990 album ‘Empire’ and was one of the best songs on the album. It was the 4th and final single from the album and was released in May 1991. The song was played a lot on MTV and reached #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs. However, this is not the official single. This was released in the UK in August 1991.

The song was written by Geoff Tate and Chris DeGarmo and the title was taken from their hometown of Seattle which is known as the Jet City. The woman part was Geoff’s first wife who was a flight attendant. The song tells the story about after being out on the road and the longing for the ones you love. The loneliness that is felt without them and you can’t stop thinking about them. You want to get home and be with them, but can’t.

A-SIDE:

The A-Side is “Jet City Woman” of course. The sound is very industrial at times and very metallic, but overall, still a pop-rock song. Very melodic and Geoff’s vocals are quite stellar. They are slickly produced and the production on the whole song is done very well. There are still progressive metal elements as well and I like the added airplane sound effects to go with the song title. It is very mature sound unlike most bands of the time. Queensryche always sounded like a smarter band then their peers and this goes a long way to proving it.

B-SIDE:

The B-Side of the single is the title track from ‘Empire’ and it is a live version. I believe it is from the 1991 Wisconsin Show where Operation: Livecrime was recorded. That show was done in May 1991 and released in September of the same year. Now, “Empire” was not on that release as the release was Operation: Mindcrime full album live only. This was one of the other songs played that night and was previously unreleased. Geoff and Chris together live is lethal and these guys slayed it. I miss those two together. I don’t have a video to show you that has the song live. I am really surprised by that I will admit.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this cool Shaped Picture Disc.

Generation X – ‘Demos 1977’ – Album Review (The Billy Idol Series)

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At the record show here in Charlotte back in May of 2022, I found a Generation X album on vinyl I didn’t know existed. It is ‘Demos 1977’ and was actually only released back in 2020 and with Covid going on, probably the reason I missed it. It is also a German release which adds to why I didn’t see it. It says these demos were recorded back in 1977 on February 16th presumable for Chiswick Records. The band at the time was Billy Idol, Tony James, Bob ‘Derwood’ Andrews and John Towe and the demos were recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley, North London.

Here’s the problem I have with this saying these are the demos for Chiswick Records. They actually only recorded 5 songs for Chiswick and there are 13 songs here. Plus only 4 of those 5 are on this recording. The other 9 songs are from other recording sessions between 1977 and 1980 I believe based on the songs.

SIDE 1:

The first four songs on the album appear to be the Chiswick demos, but it is missing “Kleenex” which is a shame as that is a great one to have as it has different lyrics than the final product for the debut album. It kicks off with “Your Generation” which would’ve been their first single they released independently with the original pressing only 250 copies and later they would go back and do another 500. The B-Side of that single was “Listen” also from these sessions. “Listen” would wind up on the debut album, however, it was omitted from the U.S. release of the album and “Your Generation” take its place as it did not make it on the UK debut.

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My Sunday Song – “Toys in the Attic” by Aerosmith

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For My Sunday Song #309, we are working through “Toys in the Attic” by Aerosmith which is off their 1975 album of the same name. It is the lead off track, but was not a single. Instead it was the B-Side to the single “You See Me Crying”. The album was their third studio album and is one of their biggest selling albums with over 9 million sold as it chock full of Classic Aerosmith tracks including this one.

The song was written by Joe Perry & Steven Tyler and the phrase “Toys in the Attic” is a euphemism for insanity and that is what the song is all about. It talks of a guy that is hearing voices and seeing things yet nothing is real. He is losing his mind and we get to watch it happen in all its glory.

“Toys In the Attic” is rich with the guitar riffs of Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton’s bass groove will get the juices flowing. It is fast-paced, a bluesy and gritty rocker that is almost punk, but so not at the same time. It is a fun-filled pack of goodness and the band just explodes. Steven Tyler’s vocals are on edge, tilting towards the edge of insanity and fits with the them of the song perfectly. You have to listen to the bass as it is front & center and some of Tom’s best work. Really brilliant!!

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Matt Nathanson – ‘When Everything Meant Everything E.P.’ – Album Review

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It had been three years since Matt had released a full studio album, and in November 2002, he finally released a 5 song E.P. titled ‘When Everything Meant Everything’ on an indie label called Acrobat. Within a year, Matt would finally sign his first major label record contract and he would release ‘Beneath the Fireworks’ on Universal. Three of the five songs on this E.P. would appear on that album, however, they would be completely different mixes which makes this E.P. really cool for fans as 2 songs were never released on an album and the other 3 are previously unreleased original mixes. Yes please, I’ll take a copy!! All the song were written by Matt Nathanson and his writing partner at the time Mark Weinberg.

The first track is “Pretty the World” which would be on ‘Beneath the Fireworks’ but this version is over 30 seconds longer due in part to a soft acoustic opening that is omitted from the album version which is to its detriment because I like that part. And the end of the song fades out more and again I think makes a better version. The song is a high energy pop song about him being with a woman that sees life through a beautiful perspective and he wants to see the world through her eyes. It is a contagious song that sees Matt developing in to a great singer/songwriter as his confidence as certainly grown since his last studio album 3 year prior.

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Friday New Releases – July 22, 2022

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Is it hot enough out there for you? Probably so as it definitely is for me. What else is hot is this week’s batch of new releases. We have over 30 for you so hopefully you can find something to listen to over this fine weekend. I have one I’m eager to spin and it is first in the list. Let me know what you want to hear this week and if we missed anything. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

  • A1-DRmWmYEL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  ZZ Top – Raw: That Little Ol’ Band From Texas Soundtrack – (Tower Top Tours / Shelter Music Group / BMG): The ZZ Top documentary was awesome. One of the best I’ve seen in a long while. I think it stopped way too early and would’ve been more informational if it would have continued on until more recent times rather than stop at their MTV Peak. Regardless, they are finally getting around to a soundtrack for the album so get ready to crank this baby out!

And then all the rest…

  • download-1  Jack White – Entering Heaven Alive – (Third Man)
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Human Clay – ‘Human Clay’ (1996) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Series)

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After the disappointment of the last Talisman album ‘Life’, Talisman went on an indefinite hiatus. They technically weren’t broken up, just doing separate things…sort of. Guitarist extraordinaire, Frederik Akesson, did leave the band to pursue something more heavy with a band called Eyeball. Jeff Scott Soto and Marcel Jacobs thought stuck together. They wanted to put something out that would hold over the Talisman fans until they could decide what was going to happen with Talisman.

Out of that came the band Human Clay. You would ask, why not continue Talisman. The answer was simple. Jeff was needing a steady income and reforming Talisman at the time was not a viable option as he had committed to doing his 70’s tribute band Boogie Knights. This wouldn’t allow for touring. So, they stuck with the Human Clay idea and recorded between December 18th, 1995 and January 10th, 1996. They decided to grab a bunch of old material that they never released with Talisman and put together an album. They didn’t have a drummer so they used a drum machine instead (which I don’t usually like) and then Marcel handled all the other instruments with some minor exceptions. The production on the debut album is not that great as they didn’t have much of a budget, but I will try to focus on the songs and not the production value…much.

If you are curious as to how they got the name Human Clay, well, I will tell you what I know. They liked the name Human as part of the band name as Jeff’s a fan of Human League and they tried a bunch of different combinations and each one seemed to already be used by another band. Soto says he also liked Andrew Dice Clay so they took the clay part. The Human Clay name wasn’t being used by another band so they went with it. Not very exciting of a story and I am not sure how much of it is true or just the Soto trying to be funny.

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Queensryche – ‘Unplugged And Other Stories’ – Album Review (Bootleg Series)

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At the May 2022 Record Show here in Charlotte, I found a couple bootlegs on CD that I had to grab. The first was from Extreme which we discussed recently and this one is from Queensryche. I don’t know much about it but I do know that it had to come out sometime after 1992 as the most current songs on here were recorded around that time. There are 3 different versions of this bootleg according to Discogs and all three have the same track listing. The other two were from Italy and released in 1992 and the other 1994. This one has no date or country of origin so all is unknown. If you do know, please comment below.

The first 5 tracks are taken from MTV Unplugged which were recorded on April 27, 1992. I don’t think there has ever been an official MTV Unplugged release for this show…at least not that I can find. Tracks 6-9 and 11-14 are all recorded around 1983 in New York which is very early Queensryche. Pre the release of ‘The Warning’ which is really cool. They would’ve only had out the Queensryche E.P. at this point. Song 10 comes from Tokyo and Budokan in 1985.

And like any good bootleg, there are mistakes in both song titles and track orders. First, the song “Take Hold of the Flame” is actually “Take Hold of My Flame”. Track 7 is listed as “Blinded” but is actually “Queen of the Reich”. Track 8 is listed as “The Lady Wore Black (Electric)” but is actually “Blinded” and as a result, Track 9 is listed as “Queen of the Reich” but is “Blinded”. Okay, I think that is all that I can find.

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Night Ranger – “Wasted Time” / “Free” – 7″ Single (Record Store Day – April 23, 2022)

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For Record Store Day, April 23, 2022, Night Ranger and Frontiers Records released an RSD “First Release” of two previously unreleased songs recorded during the recording sessions for their latest album ATBPO (And the Band Played On). That is right, two never before released tracks. Now that my friends, is a single worth picking up.

According to the back cover and the stickers on the vinyl, the A-Side is “Wasted Time” and the B-Side is called “Free”. However, that is not what you get. The A-Side of “Wasted Time” is actually the song “Free”. Which naturally means, the B-Side of “Free” is actually “Wasted Time”. Talk about a screw up. The Stickers are on the wrong sides. Oops. I find that pretty cool though, as I love little mistakes like that. The one thing that is not a mistake is the pretty Green Vinyl!! I like colored vinyl!

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