Tag: Talisman

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

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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.

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The Collection: Ep. 80 – October 2025 Wrap-Up

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October draws to a close, so it is time for the monthly wrap-up so lets see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection this month. This is the October 2025 Wrap-Up and we have a little vinyl, a whole lot of CDs and even a book. Plus, I visited a record store…twice, ordered from Discogs, ordered from another record store online and went thrifting. So much to go through including a couple new Rock Candy CDs in the collection, Kiss and a Box Set rolled into one. Lots of great new and old stuff to go through and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it is live right now on YouTube. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

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The Collection: Ep. 71 – August 2025 Wrap-Up

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We are now into September, so it is time for the monthly wrap-up so lets see what 2 Loud 2 Old Music added to the collection this month. This is the August 2025 Wrap-Up and we have a little vinyl, a whole lot of CDs, a DVD and even some 8-Tracks. Plus, I finally obtained a Holy Grail item I’ve been searching for a very long time. So much to go through including a couple new Rock Candy CDs in the collection, some Kiss and even a couple Box Sets. Lots of great new and old stuff to go through and show for this month so I hope you enjoy the show!!

So go check it out as it will be live tonight, September 1, 2025 at 7pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.

And here is everything…

Talisman – ‘Besterious’ (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!! We have previously talked about “Best Of”, so now lets go through “Besterious”.

As I noted, this was released only in Japan and there is only one version and it is on CD. No other variants of this album exist. It was released on June 12, 1996 and I have the CD. It comes with the prized OBI Strip and has 17 previously released tracks. Sometimes, a simple greatest hits is all you really want and if that is what you are wanting, then this will nicely fit that bill. The songs range from their debut album all the way to their 1995 album, ‘Life’. I don’t believe there has ever been a compilation released that covers their entire career. I think one is definitely needed.

“Break Your Chains” kicks off the album like it did on the debut album. It is one of four songs taken from that album. Jeff’s voice is like velvet as he soars through the verses and that chorus is as catchy as they come. It is a heavy song almost a cross between Dokken and due to the keyboards, Europe. The guitar solo is great with a slight flamenco sound before total shredding begins. It has all the trappings of that era that any 80’s rock fan would love.

“Dangerous” is a pure rocker. The “yeah, yeah” to start is right out of the Joey Tempest playbook. A song about wanting revenge for having his heart broken doesn’t come across too scary as Soto’s voice is silky smooth and angelic it is hard to imagine he is really dangerous, but damn it is such a great song. The guitar solo is dangerous and rips through you as they shred the skin off their fingers as fast as they are going.

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W.E.T. – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

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As we now know as we have review five studio albums, W.E.T. is a culmination of some great artist including Robert Sall of the band Work of Art (The “W”); Erik Martensson of the band Eclipses (The “E”) and Jeff Scott Soto of the band Talisman (The “T”). All three bands are Swedish bands and all on Frontiers so it made it easy to bring these three guys together. Rounding out the current band are Magnus Henriksson (Eclipse); Jamie Borger (Talisman) and Andreas Passmark (Work of Art & Royal Hunt). All in some shape, form or fashion have been a small part of one of the three founding bands.

What started as a possible one-off project with Frontiers Records, the first album came out in 2009 and 16 years later we are now through 5 albums and one live album and a ton of great music. There is not a bad album in the bunch as ALL 5 scored a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars or better. Not many bands can do that in my book. So, which ones are better than the others, let’s take a look.

THE WORST (NOT REALLY) – ‘APEX’ (2025)

I can’t really say this is a bad album at all because it isn’t.  If I had any complaint it is the same as I usually give for any Eclipse album. And that is that the songs can be repetitive, the stylings are all similar with little variety, however, the songs are so catchy and hook-laden that you don’t mind in the end.  As I said earlier, this is the sweet spot for Jeff’s vocals and my favorite style for him to sing.  Erik Martensson’s fine song writing is on full display. How he can write so many great songs is beyond me with this and Eclipse.  The guitar playing, the keyboards, the bass and the drums are in perfect harmony on these releases and they don’t know how to make a bad album.  My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars.  This is a brand new album so it could be a grower, but it is here because it doesn’t really offer anything new from the first four.

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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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W.E.T. – ‘Retransmission’ (2021) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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As we now know as we are now on their fourth studio album, W.E.T. is a culmination of some great artist including Robert Sall of the band Work of Art (The “W”); Erik Martensson of the band Eclipses (The “E”) and Jeff Scott Soto of the band Talisman (The “T”). All three bands are Swedish bands and all on Frontiers so it made it easy to bring these three guys together. Rounding out the band are Magnus Henriksson and Robban Back both from the band Eclipse as well. And a new face to the band with Andreas Passmark (Royal Hunt) will handle the bass duties.

The album was released on January 22, 2021 right slap dab during the COVID pandemic. So, no touring sadly. However, at this point in the pandemic, band’s were still delaying albums and we are so grateful that W.E.T. did not. Their fourth studio album, ‘Retransmission’, sees Erik still at the helm and this time, the guitar is king a little more than it has in the past. But don’t worry, if you are expecting to hear W.E.T., you will in spades as you still get melodic rock, 80’s anthemic AOR and solid music throughout still drenched in keyboards and smothered with great melodies and vocals from the great Jeff Scott Soto. They have become AC/DC in a sort of way with the fact that all the albums sounds the same, but in a very good way. I think people might be upset if they changed their sound, thankfully, they did not. Just punched it up, polished it off and delivered another spectacular release. Let’s see how it holds up.

“Big Boys Don’t Cry” comes screaming out of the gates with its bombastic drums, ear-splitting guitars and as is usually the blueprint, you get both Erik and Jeff on vocals for this first song and it is a scorcher. The melodies and harmonies between the two are better than ever. The anthemic beast of a song shows that W.E.T. have not lost a step in the three years since their last release. They come out swinging with this one.

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Talisman – “Never Die (A Song for Marcel)” – 7″ Single (2020) – Single Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Talisman’s founder, bassist Marcel Jacob, took his own life back on July 21, 2009 and to commemorate their friends passing, Talisman got back together to pen this song, “Never Die”. Time restraints didn’t allow them to finish the song in time, but it did come out in digital format only on December 20, 2019, 10 years after his passing. So, I probably should’ve done this earlier than I have, but there is a reason. Because now there is actually a way to get his song physically. On March 6, 2020, Talisman released the song as a limited run vinyl 7″ Single. And when I say limited, I mean it as there are only 300 copies of the single. I have copy #121 as you can see below. And my copy came with a large black chip (I guess you’d call it) with the Talisman logo on it. I don’t know if this was with it or something the person I bought it from threw in…either way, cool piece (you can see down further).

The three main Talisman members in the band got back together to write the song. You have Jeff Scott Soto on vocals, guitarist Pontus Norgren and drummer Jamie Borger. Jamie gave Jeff some great melodies and Jeff’s wrote the lyrics pretty easily. And what is great about them, as there are some Talisman song title shout outs in the song.

“i’ll be waiting, mysterious, coloured xtc
just between us
tears from the sky fall again”

It is a touching tribute to their fallen brother and captain of Talisman as it was his dream they all helped make come true. And to help celebrate his life even more, the proceeds from this single were donated to the organization Suicide Zero to help increase knowledge about mental illness and I think they did a great thing to honor their friend.

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Jeff Scott Soto – ‘The Authorized Biography’ by Frank Tunney and Ronny Hahn’ (2014) – Book Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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Back in December 2021 when I announced I was doing a Jeff Scott Soto Series, I got a lot of response on the picture of my collection. One such person contacted me on Facebook and offered to send me a hard back edition of a biography on Jeff Scott Soto, so I quickly thanked him and agreed. He quickly mailed out this glorious copy of the book. His name was Sundeep Pooni and that book has been a massive reference guide for my review series up to this point. So, a big thank you to Sundeep and his very generous gift!! From here on out in the review series, we are past the date of the book so none of the albums I’ll be reviewing from ere on out are in the book, so I am on my own.

Before we get to the next review, let’s go through this book. It was originally written by Ronny Hahn and it was written in German and only an electronic book. For the 30th Anniversary of Jeff’s career, it was released thanks to Frank Tunney who took the original book and added more chapters and re-organized the structure. It is now a hard back book and chock full of the details of his career that all hardcore fans love to know. The book is called “Authorized” so it has the blessing of the man himself and that is good enough for me.

The book starts off with the original foreward written by Ronny Zahn and then there is a great dedication to the late Marcel Jacobs who played with Jeff in several bands and was a very close personal friend. It was a terrible loss, but thankfully he left behind a great legacy of music. Afterwards you get a brief biography of Jeff’s very early life, but the rest of the book is all Jeff’s music career.

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W.E.T. – ‘One Live – In Stockholm’ (2014) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)

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The band W.E.T. consisting of Robert Sall (Work of Art), Erik Martensson (Eclipse) and Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman) was originally going to be a one off project. However, the success of their debut and the fun had by the three main guys has turned in to a band. With two albums under their belt, the band hit the road and for only their second show ever as a band, it was captured in video and released as both a Live Double CD and a beautifully filmed DVD. What we get is ‘One Live – In Stockholm’!!

Recorded on January 17, 2013 at a really small club in Stockholm, Sweden called the Debaser Club and the reason behind the small venue is interesting. The guys only were expecting less than 100 people and so they figured a smaller venue would still look full on camera. What they got was hundreds of people and they had to delay the show by an hour to make sure everyone got in that wanted to (and hopefully legally could for fire codes and all). The band’s second album, ‘Rise Up’, hadn’t been released yet, but it was about too so the band had 2 full albums of material to now draw from plus they few in several surprises along the way. And to top it off, the CD version of the show has two bonus tracks of previously unreleased songs from the last album. Now, there is absolutely no reason a fan of this band wouldn’t want it. A live show on 2 CDs, two bonus studio tracks and a DVD of the show…DAMN!! What is not to like about this release.

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