I like to find Promo CDs. I’m not sure why as usually there is nothing new on them, but I think it is for the fact the cover is usually not the same as the album and it is a cool piece that was used to promote the upcoming albums and/or songs. So, when I saw this I had to have it. It is a Promotional CD for the upcoming Soto album in 2009 of ‘Beautiful Mess’. The top corner of the sleeve says it is from Promotional Use Only and This CD Cannot be Sold…well…it was…to me!
The CD contains two songs from the album, “21st Century” and “Gin & Tonic Sky”. Not only that, it has the two promotional videos that were shot for those songs as well. If you have the 2 CD version of the album, like I do, you already have these videos, but if you don’t, then this is cool to have as well. Let’s talk through the two songs.
The album kick off with “21st Century” which is a rocking, guitar driven track, however, Jeff’s vocals are more funky and there are modern electronic elements as well. The chorus though is as catchy as you’d expect as he knows how to have a little hook to make you sing along. It isn’t a typical Soto sound as that album saw Jeff stretch his wings a little and try other things. The song is a little left of center and yet it works and is a great start to the album with its high energy and all around fun sound. Sometimes its okay to try new things.
We are here with yet another Jeff Scott Soto release and this one is quite unique. It is called ‘B-Sides’ and consists of unreleased tracks, bonus tracks, duets as well as songs used for Tribute albums. It shows as it is an official release from Frontiers Records, but it is very cheap looking. The CDs themselves do say these are “Not For Sale, For Promo Use Only”, but they seem like bootlegs. However, discogs has them on their site and they do not list it as ‘Unofficial’ so everything actually leads me to believe this is a real Frontiers Records release. And yet, the mix of it is not that great as the volume between songs has not been equalized as some songs are louder than others. I don’t know what to think, but I have a copy and I am pretty stoked about it. I am curious as to why the reason behind this product though, so if anyone knows, please let me know in the comments below.
The main reason I’m stoked is that it saves me a ton of money from going and buying all the albums that these songs are on. Most are on an album from another artist that Jeff appears on or Tribute albums where this is probably the only song I would want any way. To have them all in one compilation I would say is big win. One thing that sort of stinks about this is the liner notes on the CD booklet. As you can see from a picture further down the post, there is a fantastic Track List of CD 2 and where the songs originated from, but the left side of the picture does not have the track list for CD 1 and where the songs originated. That is actually a misprint because I have seen pictures of the inner sleeve that have the CD 1 track list breakdown. If the list is there or not, this is still a pretty cool piece in the Soto collection.
The first song was a cassette only bonus track from Jeff’s first band, Panther. “Set Me Free” one of my favorite songs on that album. Soto attacks it with a deeper tone and yet still soars with some high notes. The drumming on it is immense with some great fills. The guitar solo is typical for the time to see how fast he can go, but its great. It definitely takes me back to the 80’s with this one. The next three tracks,”Act of Sympathy”, “Highway to Nowhere” and “Mental Ward” were demos from Jeff’s work with is buddy Gary Schutt on his album ‘Sentimetal’ that Jeff sang lead on. “Act” is pure metal, heavy, dark and Jeff sounds great but a lot of echo…again, this is a demo so not fully polished. Same with “Highway” except it is a little more speed metal, some kickass double bass drum, a real killer track. “Mental Ward” comes off feeling like a leftover track from Jeff’s worker with Biker Mice From Mars soundtrack. It has that same campy, cartoony feel to it.
The final of the four Promotional Items I had for ‘Crazy World’ is the amazing ballad “Send Me An Angel”. It was released as a single on September 17th, 1991 and it did really great going to Top 10 in 7 countries, Top 30 in 3 more and #44 on the US charts. The song was written by Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine one of the few songs on the album to be written by two people as most of the others were more a team effort.
My copy is the U.S. promotional copy and it was really, really basic. It was a CD case with no cover and no backing, only the CD. Can’t get more cheap than that. And since there was no artwork, here is what the cover to the 7″ Single looked like.
Scorpions end ‘Crazy World with a ballad and we end our promo run with the same ballad. And I think it is one of their best ballads ever. “Send Me An Angel” sees Klaus give his best vocal performance as he conveys both a melancholy vibe yet there is still a shimmering light of hope. There is such a pure and honest feel to his vocals which is why I think it connects with me so much. The keyboards add to the sadness and they are handled by Jim Vallance who actually co-wrote 7 of the tracks on the album as well, but not this one.
We are now on the third promotional item I have for the Scorpions album ‘Crazy World’. This time around we have the Promotional CD Single for the song “Don’t Believe Her”. It was released as a single in December 1990 and was written by Herman Rarebell, Klaus Meine, Jim Vallance and Rudolf Schenker. The song went to #13 in the U.S. on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and it did go to #77 on the UK Singles Chart. A little better than the first single on the album as that only charted in the U.S.
My copy is the US Promotional Copy of the Single on CD. There was no cover for it, it only showed the CD, but it did have a back cover. It also has the now infamous words “For Promotional Use Only…Not For Sale” on the back cover and at the bottom of the CD. I do like that the CD is a picture disc considering we had no cover for it.
We are now to the 2nd of the 4 Promo pieces I have in my Scorpions Collection from the album ‘Crazy World’. The song this time is the opening album track, “Tease Me Please Me”. It was released in November 1990 and was written by Klaus Meine, Mathias Jabs, Herman Rarebell and Jim Vallance. It did go to #8 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Track Chart, but didn’t chart anywhere else.
My version is the U.S. edition and it is a cheap little cardboard box with a sliding CD sleeve out the side of the packaging. At the bottom of the CD, it does say those famous words…”For Promotional Use Only…Not For Sale”. Oh, I love those words.
In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for the song “Suspended” off his 2003 album and major label debut called ‘Beneath these Fireworks’. The song didn’t chart, no surprise as he’s never been a big radio hits guy (even though his stuff is better than radio). The album didn’t do well either and shortly after releasing his first major label debut on Universal, Universal dropped him. Such is the story of so many artists and bands.
The song was written by Matt Nathanson, Mark Weinberg and Eric Bazillion who you know as a founding member of the band The Hooters. The song is about being in a relationship that might not be the best relationship, but man, the sex is so good you are willing to accept anything to stay in it. You suspend belief and think that is all is great just to stay for sex despite how lost and miserable you might be. Better for some human contact than nothing at all. Now, that is one way to look at it, the other is that he is fully committed and in love, but she’s not quite there. The line, “When you pretend that I’m all that you waited for”, shows that he knows she’s not in to it anymore, just pretending. But he’s okay…he loves her and wants to stay and be together.
If you remember the ‘American Pie’ films, you know how raunchy they were and a song that was linked to the film as sort of a theme song was the song “Laid” by the band James. The song was written by Tim Booth, Larry Gott and Jim Glennie, however, never appeared in the movies only in the first two films movie trailers. It wasn’t until the 2003 film, ‘American Pie: The Wedding’, that it appeared, but it wasn’t the James version of the song. Instead it was a cover by Matt Nathanson. I guess James wanted too much money for it and the film could only afford a cover version of that. And why not Matt as he has the chops to do a faithful rendition of the song.
The song is just as raunchy as the movies, but Matt stays true to the James version and really delivers a stellar performance. This is probably the first time I ever heard anything by Matt and now 20 years later, I am still collecting his stuff and a massive fan. And in my hunts for Matt Nathanson product, I found a Promo CD from Europe for the song and only that song. My copy was bought from Austria thanks to Discogs. There is another version out there that is the US Promo and it has the Soundtrack album cover as the cover of the Promo (and yes, I am on the hunt for it and will get it soon and when I do, I’ll update this post to show it). You can get the song on the ‘American Pie: The Wedding’ Soundtrack, but I don’t think it is on any studio album from Matt so you either get the promo or the movie soundtrack.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 