Jeff Scott Soto – ‘LA Rocks Demo / Vinnie Vincent Demo 1988’ Bootleg (2008) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

I was scouring eBay for a few of the remaining Soto albums I don’t have, and sadly, none were for sale at the time. However, I cam across something I had never seen before. It was a bootleg of Jeff Scott Soto demos. And to top it off, it was actually signed by Jeff Scott Soto. The person I bought it from lives in Germany and his name was Stefan. It turns out, Stefan is the lead singer of the band Speed Limit (check them out, they are pretty cool) and he had opened for Soto on a tour and actually met Jeff and got him to sign the CD. I thought all that was pretty cool and I love having a story behind my purchase.

LA ROCKS DEMOS:

So, what is this CD? It is a bootleg, mostly of demos from Jeff’s early years with LA Rocks and with Vinnie Vincent. We never got any albums out of those two projects, but at least we have some demos. The first set of songs say they are from his band LA Rocks. Back in 1986, Aldy Damian approached Jeff about joining the band. Jeff was busy with his own band called L’amour at the time and so he wasn’t really interested in joining LA Rocks. However, he did agree to do a couple demos for them and they paid him, so how could he say no. After Jeff, turned it down, they went after James Christian and he agreed. James became known for his other band House of Lords later.

The project didn’t end up going anywhere and the band later on became known as something you are more familiar with as we have discussed them in this series and that is the band Eyes of which Jeff sang on a couple of their albums. It all comes around full circle in the end. These set of songs here under the LA Rock Demos section, are a mixture of LA Rocks and Eyes demos and some aren’t even either band. The tracks “Hands of Time” and “Heart of the Fire” were demos for songs used on the movie ‘Rich Girl’. The songs “For You”, “Till the End of Time” and “Nobody Said it was Easy” are all demos for the band Eyes. And the song “Hold On”, not really sure where that is from but maybe it is from LA Rocks.

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You Pick It! – What Album to Review in January?

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are no longer rules for my selections, maybe themes.  I’m just picking albums in my collection and this time they are all from my favorite era of music…The 80’s. We’ve done one with the 80’s rock scene now let’s go to the 80’s Pop scene and what was riding the charts. What are the 5 albums you ask?  I have them right here…

   U2 – ‘The Joshua Tree’

   Prince – ‘Purple Rain’

   Genesis – ‘Invisible Touch’

   The Cars – ‘Heartbeat City’

   Bryan Adams – ‘Reckless’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in January, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

My Sunday Song – “Them Blues” by Collective Soul

For My Sunday Song #177, we are discussing a new song from Collective Soul called “Them Blues” from the 2019 album ‘Blood’.  The album finds the band still hitting on all cylinders even after over 25 years together.  “Them Blues” is a mature band with serious topics still showing they can pull brilliance out when most bands are passed their prime.

Musically, the song was inspired by Prince’s album “Purple Rain” as Ed Roland loved the chord progression and when he was tinkering around with it on the piano while listening to that song,  “Them Blues” developed from there. Lyrically, the theme is about life and what was going on in his families life as his wife was going through some hard times.  The song was for her and to let her know that this too shall pass and though it is hard now, it will get better.  A rather touching song.

The song turned into a piano-based song that is very blues influenced and takes a more serious tone.  I love the slow opening piano notes and then a really cool and short guitar riff.  Ed’s (or E as he likes to be called…WTF??) vocals are great, the style switch is a nice change of pace and it seems to take the band into a more serious realm as they captured the emotions nicely.  The best part is the super long guitar solo by Jesse Triplett to end the album…it is killer.  It lifts the song when it needing lifting and it made you feel all was going to be right with the world.  It is a time where lyrically and musically, everything that they wanted you to take away from the song comes across loud and clear.

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Tuesday’s Memes – Prince

I figured it was finally time to do a collection of Prince memes because he deserves it.  It was a shock when he died, but with all the music he has left behind it will be a long time he is ever forgotten.  So let’s not forget him.  Sit back and enjoy this collection of memes I found throughout the internet.  I laughed at times and I hope you will as well.  Enjoy!!!

These two just go together so perfectly…

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My Sunday Song – “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince

For My Sunday Song #73, I am going with “Let’s Go Crazy by Prince.  This is the first one of 2018, so let’s get a little crazy and start the year off with a legend. By the end of the year, I will be 50 so we need to go a little nuts this year in preparation for that milestone.  The song came out in 1984 and was off the album ‘Purple Rain’.  It was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and might be his most recognizable song.  I think everyone knows this song and if you don’t, shame on you.

The song opens with Prince giving a eulogy accompanied by an organ and it definitely makes it feel like a funeral.  That doesn’t last long and the song kicks in and rocks out.  The outro of the song is Prince showing that he was no slouch on the electric guitar.  It was one of the best guitar solos you will hear in a song.  A freakin’ masterpiece.  It was this song that made everyone fall in love with Prince.  He crossed over genres and even metal heads thought the man was amazing and damn he could play.

When reading the lyrics, the song seems to be about the battle of good and evil.  The devil will try and take you down the elevator, but you need to fight and punch a “higher floor” (God maybe?).  It also seems to be about finding that meaning in life and strive for that.  It seems to have a lot of different meanings.  Now, I am not sure what the “purple banana” is, but sounds like something we should all look for though.  I found this article that spoke about the Purple Banana and it was an interesting take on the song.  Give it a click and check it out.  They basically ask the questions…

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince”