Jeff Scott Soto – Wide Awake (In my dreamland)

8/10

Jeff Scott Soto. One of my vocal heroes in rock is releasing his latest solo album. A productive man but far beyond his Sons Of Apollo bandmate Mike Portnoy, and I am glad he still is far behind. You don’t get tired of him

Of course it sounds (in my ears) much like Talisman and if it was to be released as a Talisman album it might sell a bit more. But who actually cares too much when you get the chance to enjoy well spent time with this man in any band collaboration or solo.
He has since long time ago found his formula of what he can do and can not do with his voice, he doesn’t challenge his vocal chords too much. “Someone To Love” kickstart this album, fast, catchy and just brilliant.
And yes, of course he can do a ballad. We all knew that, this is just a repetition of that when hearing ”Without You”,

Alessandro Del Veccio must have one of the greatest producer ears in modern rock, still working with Mr Soto must at the same time been quite easy.
“Paper Wings” and ”Love will find a way” is for me the top songs of the album. When “Between the lines” appears the albums second slower song I realise that the record will be ending soon and for once I wanted a longer record. I really have enjoyed this one.
”Livin in a dream” is the fastest track here without totally going out of the box.

The title track has kind of a fateful feeling to it. And going out with the song ”Desperate” is a perfect ending to the album

The hardest part for me here is not to pour too much superlative words upon him and this release. The more I listen, the harder it is to find a stand out track since they all got something special. A great album The only negative thing is that we dont get to see this live.

Artist: Jeff Scott Soto
Title: Wide Awake (in my dreamland)
Label: Frontiers
Playing Time: 44 minuter
Rating: 8/10
Land of origin: USA
Stand out track: “Paper Wings” & “Love Will Find A Way”