Tag: Slam

Jeff Scott Soto – All The Albums Ranked Worst to First (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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It took me 20 months to get through Jeff Scott Soto’s catalog and have been through 89 reviews of items in my collection. That is an insane amount of albums, singles and collector’s pieces to have in a collection, let alone one artist. Jeff started way back in 1984 with Yngwie Malmsteen and has been on over 50 studio albums, numerous live albums, compilations and tribute albums, soundtracks and anything else you can think of and it was a personal goal of mine to visit every single one. I don’t think you will find any website with a more extensive collection of Jeff Scott Soto Reviews then right here at 2 Loud 2 Old Music.

Not every album he has done is good..not at all, but most of them for me are at least a 3 out of 5 or better. And the ones that aren’t, have at least a few songs to add to an already impressive playlist. Along this journey, I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeff twice after his shows and he has been so kind each time and signed numerous album covers for me. However, I was never able to get the interview I had hoped for, but I am not giving up hope as one day it will happen. Until then, let’s go through every studio album where Jeff is the main singer and rank them from the worst album to the best album and everything in between.

There are 53 studio albums that I have where Jeff is the featured singer and we touch them all. I hope you enjoy the walk though the albums and maybe find something you would like to hear. If you discovered at least one album as a result of this series, then my work is done. If not, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???”…kidding. Sorry, lost my head there. Enough of this chitchat, let’s get to the list.

Updated May 2025

First, the ones that scored 2 or less out of 5 Stars

THE WORST: Bakteria- ‘Defecate! Suffocate! Mutilate! Masturbate!’ (1992/2009)

Musically, it is pretty freaking heavy. Uptempo, speed metal vibes at time and as the sticker says, a mixture of Metal/Sludge/Crust/Punk. All I know is it sucks. Jeff sings in almost a growl, that is deep and completely unrecognizable as it is borderline guttural vocals at times. I listened to this in the car on the drive home from work one day and I thought to myself, “If I have a wreck and die, the police and my family are going to wonder what the hell I was in to with that crap playing in my car.” I was actually a little embarrassed to be listening to it. I am a little embarrassed to actually own this and have it in the collection, but my Soto Collection isn’t complete without it sadly. My Overall Score is a 0.0 out of 5.0 Stars! And that is being nice. It is the WORST ALBUM I HAVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!!!

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Slam – ‘Slam’ (2023) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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When I went to see Jeff Scott Soto and Jason Bieler live a few months back, this CD was in the Merch booth. I got real excited real fast. Slam is a band Jeff was in way back in 1991. Jeff received a call from former Beau Nasty guitarist, George Bernhardt, about doing a project. Jeff didn’t have a steady gig yet as Talisman wasn’t a full time band so he was up for doing some demos. George’s songs that he sent Jeff were full of funk and groove and that is exactly what Jeff loved so the two hit it off immediately. They did 7 songs together and the band was formed. Well, the name Slam was really all they had as there was no real band since it was just the two of them so far.

They found a drummer, in Boston, by the name of Mark Bistany and then through an ad found two more New Englanders with guitarist Craig Polivka and bassist Chris McCarvill. Craig & Chris replied with a demo of a song that would become “Dance the Body Elektrik” that appears on this disc. There was a problem as these three new guys were all on the East Coast and Jeff & George were on the West. Jeff actually drove to the East Coast and picked the boys up. Once back out west, they added a fifth member, rapper EOG (Eric Grinstead) and he rounded out the band. With this line-up the band had a rock, a rap, a soul, a funk and a whole lot of other cool sounds in their music.

But, it didn’t last. The boys from the East coast decided to go on their own and then EOG left as well. But they did bring on another guitarist that would become a regular fixture in Jeff’s life, Gary Schutt. Ricky Wolking would come in on bass, but again..it didn’t last. After 3 to 4 months, they scaled down to a 4 piece with Gary out now, but the band could not get a deal. And Slam would eventually go out with a thud. Now, 30 years later, we get the full set of songs they worked on and we have 16 choice cuts to ponder. Let’s go through them and see what they were up to 30 years ago.

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May 2023 Purchases – Vinyl, CDs & More

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If you had a 2 Loud 2 Old Music Mug, I’d tell you to sit back, fill it up with whatever you like and prepare yourself for what is to come. This was an interesting month and some incredible finds…for cheap!! And I mean cheap!! But before we get to the cheap stuff, let’s discuss what first showed up on our doorstep for May…well, it was actually April but it was the day I posted the April Purchases wrap-up so it missed that post. That is the boxset for the Whitesnake album ‘Good To Be Bad”…titled “Still…Good To Be Bad”. Another impressive boxset…or is it?…review to come.

And there was an album that came out months ago on CD and digital, but the album just showed up in May. It is for the lead singer of one of my favorite bands Needtobreathe. It is Bear Rinehart’s second solo album under the name Wilder Woods. It is different then NTB which it should be since he is the voice of NTB. If it sounded like NTB, it would be a NTB album…

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Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Beleive In Me’ E.P. (2004) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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2004 turned out to be a big year for Jeff Scott Soto. While at NAMM in January of 2002, he did a jam session with none other than Neal Schon and that turned in to a great little business relationship and would see the guys team up a couple times. But before we get to the first of the two projects for them, Jeff had a new solo album to put out on Frontiers Records, who had been really great to Jeff (proof in that partnership is still going strong today). Prior to the release of the solo album, an E.P. was issued for the lead off track & single on the album.

The E.P. was called the “Believe in Me” E.P. and contained only the one studio track from the album plus the video for that song. Then we get not 1, not 2, but 4 bonus tracks that are all previously unreleased demos from various projects of Jeff’s. As a collector, how cool is that!!! We will see how cool as we go through the tracks.

The first track and single is “Believe in Me”. It was co-written by Jeff along with Neal Schon. I told you they began a great relationship…fruitful already. And let me tell you, it could be a Journey song. Not a ballad either, one of the rocking tracks. The opening guitar riff is cool as Schon shreds it. Jeff’s vocals are so smooth and melodic and you know what, he would sound great singing Journey songs…maybe that will happen!! (maybe real soon). You had Glen Sobel on drums and Jeff on bass and everyone sounded tight and laid down a great rhythm. A totally stellar track and very radio friendly even though no radio around here played it!

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