Jeff Scott Soto - 'The Duets Collection – Volume 1'

As we know, Jeff has a ridiculously good and expansive body of work to his name and also a spectacular number of good friends and co-workers in the industry. This album combines the two to produce a first volume of ‘greatest hits’, with songs selected from the various bands and projects that Jeff has been involved with over the years, like Humanimal, Eyes, and Soul SirkUS – all performed in duet with great artists like Eric Martin, Johnny Gioeli and Deen Castronovo, plus Nathan James from Inglorious and others.

“Livin’ the Life” from the soundtrack of the film “Rock Star” is fast out of the blocks in conjunction with W.E.T. band-mate and Eclipse singer, Erik Martensson and is one of the heavier tracks – it’s a really good full-on gonzo rendition.

There are three Talisman songs on show, including the funky “Mysterious” with Eric Martin, the brilliant “I Will Be Waiting” is entrusted to the less well-known but impressive, Alirio Netto and Renan Zonta features on “Colour My XTC”.

Russell Allen performs on the sexy but of-its-time lyrically “Callin’ All Girls” from the “Eyes” album and then Jeff goes back further to 1985 on “Don’t Let it End” from the Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force album “Marching Out”. There’s no doubt that Jeff’s pipes are still in very fine nick indeed but it’s a great move to bring in one of his young mentees, Dino Jelusick, to share the vocal gymnastics on this one and the rest of the band perform superbly too, including some superb guitar work.

There are many songs on here that deserve to be much better known. My only slight issue comes with the songs where I know the original very well from repeated plays, such as the near-perfect AOR of “Believe in Me” from the classic JSS album, “Lost in the Translation”. This version with Nathan James is very good, excellent even, and does add something, but it sounds like a cover version compared to the original that I love. It’s not a problem though – you can enjoy this album and also use it as a launch pad for a deep dive into Jeff’s extensive back catalogue.

Since it’s been tagged as “Volume 1” there is hopefully a “Volume 2” already in the works and we know Jeff’s got enough quality songs to rival the “Now That’s What I Call Music” series for longevity.