Talisman celebrate their comeback with a fine live recording in support of their "reunion" record "Cats and Dogs".
Talisman's backbone is the two former Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force members; vocalist
Jeff Scott Soto and monster bassist Marcel Jacob. On the last record Fredrik Akesson returned to the band and along with former
Treat drummer Jamie Borger
Talisman sounds stronger than ever
With a back-catalogue of seven albums and two live albums plus various side projects these guys are experienced musicians and have always been well-known for their abilities on their instruments.
CD 1 features the complete show recorded at Mondo Club, Stockholm. The sound is clear and
Talisman plays like a well-oiled machine. The addition of Howie Simon as extra guitarist really puts more body to the songs.
Howie Simon also sings backing vocals and while the backing vocals for
Color My XTC are a bit rusty, the guys quickly gets warmed up and the backing for
Skin on Skin is superb. In general the new material sounds amazing.
Break it Down Again and
In Make Believe from "Cats and Dogs" is among the highlights on this disc along with the crowd pleaser
I'll Be Waiting.
The setlist from both performances is pretty similar, since all songs from the Sweden Rock festival gig is also played at Club Mondo. That makes the double CD lose a grade. The groovy
If Only You Would Be My Friend from
Talisman's "Genesis" album is only performed at Club Mondo.
Talisman also celebrates the local heroes
Europe by playing one of their heaviest tracks
Scream of Anger. Talisman ends the Club Mondo performance with a very odd choice, namely Ozzy Osbourne's
I Don't Know. You almost doubt if its
Jeff Scott Soto singing? His range is so unbelievable that it's sometimes hard to tell.
CD 2 is
Talisman live at Sweden Rock Festival 2003. The sound is a tiny bit weaker on this disc. No need to go into details since
RevelationZ Magazine was present at the show - so check out the concert review at
this link. Please note that I mention
Outta my Way in my live review, which WAS played at Sweden Rock 2003. However, something happened during the recording of the show cutting the encore
Outta my way in the middle and therefore it is left out of the live CD.
You can't go wrong with this release if you like
Talisman. This is an honest live recording showing talented musicians in their right element. Both performances can be found on
Talisman's DVD "World Best kept Secret" as well.
Written by
Michael Thursday, April 28, 2005
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