Neal Schon has once again joined forces with other musicians to generate his idea "to create one of the coolest bands anyone's heard of in a long time".
Neal Schon has teamed up with
Jeff Scott Soto from
Talisman, but probably more known in the US for doing vocals in the movie "Rock Star" and also doing vocals for Yngwie Malmsteen. Playing drums on the album is former collaborator from
Hardline and now
Journey drummer Deen Castronovo plus
Thin Lizzy and
Whitesnake bass player Marco Mendoza.
Since Soul SirkUs is formed on the idea of the "baddest band anyone's ever seen or heard' I must admit I am a little bit disappointed in the outcome from these super musicians. "World Play" is too polished and I was hoping that Neal would use Soul SirkUs to display some of his more aggressive playing that doesn't fit in
Journey. Schon does play some great guitar on the album, but his guitar is too low in the mix and it doesn't stand out like on
Hardline's "Double Eclipse" - the guitar sound isn't as dominant as I would have wished for and the guitar sounds more alike
Journey than
Hardline.
The style on "World Play" is a mix between Hard Rock and
AOR. The opening song is riff based Hard Rock while the chorus is smooth
AOR.
The best tracks are the moody rockers on the album. The mid-tempo
Another World and my personal favorites
Peephole and
Periled Divide.
Peephole is song dated back to when the first version of Soul SirkUs was born. At the time Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony was involved, but they eventually returned to their roles in Van Halen. Hagar has co-written
Peephole and it sounds like Soul SirkUs didn't bother to change key for Jeff, since Jeff's vocals are resemblance of Sammy Hagar's on this track. Two thumbs up to
Jeff Scott Soto for being a much diversified vocalist.
Periled Divide is the melodic pearl of the album. The moody guitar creates a great emotion to the song, which changes pace a few times. Scott Soto and Schon really complement each other perfect on this song and the song adds new layer as it progresses. Marco Mendoza adds a great bass line on the second verse.
Overall the guitars should be more aggressive and more dominant in the mix, which would make the rocking
New Position a real killer tune and riff based
Highest Ground more interesting. The guitar needs more volume and more edge to differentiate from the
AOR standard. The up-tempo
Praise is a good tune and I am sure it's a killer live tune, but it's going nowhere on record.
The best example of Soul SirkUs rocking out is
My Sancturary. The song is ballsier and the great chorus makes it a standout track.
All in all I miss some more catchy and punchy tunes. No doubt that these guys are super musicians and Schon/Scott Soto are fine craftsmen in songwriting. However, songs like
Coming Home sounds like a
Journey leftover ballad with Jeff Scott Soot actually hitting notes sounding like Steve Perry and
Friends 2 Lovers has a great chorus but lacks punch.
This definitely is a good record, but with the prominent members I expected more and especially a more rocking release from this super group. Soul SirkUs beat around the bush sometimes because we know the capabilities of these musicians and they seem to be holding back several times throughout the record. A more raw and punchy approach would have made this more appetizing and more of a standout record.
Soul SirkUs is a crossover between
Hardline and
Journey and actually very alike
Jeff Scott Soto's solo albums mixing
AOR and Hard Rock.
Jeff Scott Soto has a very characteristic voice, which I always will connect with
Talisman and lately he has been a bit overexposed with
Talisman and several solo releases.
Since the release drummer Deen Castronovo has departed to concentrate solely on his duties with
Journey. Virgil Donati has replaced him and will re-record the drum tracks for an up-coming worldwide release.
Update on EU version:
Soul SirkUs "World Play" was originally released on
Soul SirkUS Records/Warner Music but sold only via Warner's online store. Just before the group's live debut, the band decided that drummer Deen Castronovo should depart & concentrate solely on his duties with
Journey. Deen's replacement Virgil Donati was brought in to re-record the drum tracks.
Bassist Marco Mendoza has also re-recorded his parts and the entire album has been remixed and re-mastered.
The production makes the sound comes alive and "World Play" does not sound so encapsulated as the first edition. Especially the drums are more visible in the new mix. The instruments are clearer and the listener discovers lots of new things on this new version, which was hidden on the original masters.
Furthermore Soul SirkuS has thrown in a new track called
Alive, which is a midtempo rocker with a cool guitar from Neal Schon.
Personally I wasn't expecting any major changes, but this is a visible and great improvement of World Play"
Written by
Michael Thursday, June 23, 2005
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