Tag: Scream of Anger

Talisman – ‘Live in Stockholm’ (2015) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic1 Comment

During the early 2000’s, Marcel Jacob came forward and revealed he was suffering from chronic rheumatism and it would limit his live shows. By 2003, he must have felt up to it because the band played several festivals during that Summer and thankfully for us, a lot of those were recorded. ‘Live in Stockholm’ is the 4th live recording released by the Swedish-American band Talisman. The show was recorded at Club Mondo in Stockholm, Sweden back to August 4th, 2003. You have heard most of this show before as it was previously released as ‘Five Men Live’ back in 2005 which we talked about previously. It was also on the Talisman DVD called ‘The World’s Best Kept Secret.

This reissue was first released only on Digital back on August 17, 2015 and then during 2016, the CD was finally released. What is different about this release is that it was remastered and now include all 18 tracks. A full set and for the very first time the show includes ‘Here 2day Gone 2day’ which was left off the original due to time constraints. The CD set also includes the show on DVD which is also a nice plus if you don’t have ‘The World’s Best Kept Secret’.

The Club Mondo show kicks off with no introduction, just a killer guitar riff…a pause…and the same riff. The band goes straight in to “Break your Chains”. They rock it out and to keep it going they go in to “Color My XTC” which is a massive bass heavy track thanks to Marcel Jacobs. You get a great guitar solo, but that bass is thumping the whole time. It is a massive song. Jeff is in his element and sounds great (although backing vocals are a little weak). And no time for a break, “Fabricated War” comes roaring in and the heavy continues as they totally rock it out. More Marcel high in the mix and you know, he has to be as the Talisman sound is that bass!! And again, no break, no talking to the crowd as the belt out “Mysterious”. It is one banger after another and as a fan, just give me music, no talking necessary.

Continue reading “Talisman – ‘Live in Stockholm’ (2015) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

Talisman – ‘World’s Best Kept Secret’ (2005) – DVD Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic48 Comments

Back in 2003, Talisman hit the Festival Circuit in Europe and a lot of those shows were recorded. Two shows in particular were captured and were finally released by Frontiers Records in 2005. We got a Live CD, which we reviewed last week, and then a DVD set. Today, we review the DVD set. The DVD set was called ‘World’s Best Kept Secret’ and was a 2DVD set. The first DVD giving us the two shows released on the CD and the 2nd DVD giving us a retrospective of Talisman and including all the videos from throughout the years plus pieces of several other live shows. It is magnificent set and a great time capsule of a band that was not know across the globe and is one of my favorite bands which is why I think the title to this set is more than appropriate. They were like a little secret that I had and I wish more people knew about them when they were around as I think they are awesome. I have tried to tell the world about them now with this Jeff Scott Soto Series so hopefully I make a few new fans from this series.

The two shows captured were at Club Mondo in Stockholm, Sweden in August 2003 and the second show was from the Sweden Rock Festival from June 2003. This would be the 2nd Sweden Rock Festival live show we’ve been given from the band. The line-up was interesting as the band was usually a 4-piece band. This time we have the return of the great axeman, Fredrik Akesson as Pontus Norgren had left. The other interesting was they added a fifth member with Howie Simon on guitar. Howie at the time was Soto’s solo band’s guitarist and friend.

If I had to pick to listening to the CD or watching the DVD for these two shows, I would pick the DVD any day of the week. The CD is fantastic and I rated it as such, but the DVD lets you see the action going on with this cast of characters on stage. Jeff Scott Soto is a mad man and his energy level is 110% the whole show. He starts off fully clothed but by the end he only has pants on as he sweated up enough to fill a kiddie pool. You get to see the great drumming by Jamie Borger, Howie Simon’s great playing and that fast finger work by Fredrik Akesson. And of course, you can watch Marcel Jacob pound on that bass like so few people can do. It is totally brilliant. You feel the energy feeding off the band and the crowd.

Continue reading “Talisman – ‘World’s Best Kept Secret’ (2005) – DVD Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

Talisman – ‘Five Men Live’ (2005) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic52 Comments

During the early 2000’s, Marcel Jacob came forward and revealed he was suffering from chronic rheumatism and it would limit his live shows. By 2003, he must have felt up to it because the band played several festivals during that Summer and thankfully for us, a lot of those were recorded. Two shows in particular were captured and were finally released by Frontiers Records in 2005. We got a Live CD and then a DVD set. Today, we are talking about the CD set. We’ll do the DVD next time because it has more than just the shows.

The two shows captured were at Club Mondo in Stockholm, Sweden in August 2003 and the second show was from the Sweden Rock Festival from June 2003. This would be the 2nd Sweden Rock Festival live show we’ve been given from the band. The line-up was interesting as the band was usually a 4-piece band. This time we have the return of the great axeman, Fredrik Akesson as Pontus Norgren had left. The other interesting was they added a fifth member with Howie Simon on guitar. Howie at the time was Soto’s solo band’s guitarist and friend. They really brought the music and delivered two great shows so let us get to them.

Continue reading “Talisman – ‘Five Men Live’ (2005) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)” →

Europe – ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ – Album Review

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic27 Comments

Europe came to fame with the album, and the song, ‘The Final Countdown’.  I mean , come on, who doesn’t know that song as it has been played to death.  Europe became lumped in to the “Hair Metal” title as they did all have big hair and they were MTV darlings for a few years.  However, before the major record deal and all the screaming women, Europe was this hard rock, close to metal band that know one really knew about (at least here in the states).  Their second album, and last released independently, was a gem called ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ which was released on February 24, 1984.

I was out doing some crate digging a couple years ago and I came across this album and thought what a beautiful cover and then I noticed that it said Europe.  I never went back and explore their early catalog before ‘Countdown’, so I thought now was a good time and at $8 for the vinyl, why not.  And I am glad I did as it is now one of my all time favorite Europe albums.

IMG_2347 Continue reading “Europe – ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ – Album Review” →