Customer Reviews

Lost in the Translation

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Good

Ah, the sounds of arena rock are alive and well in Europe. The instantly memorable opening track "Believe in Me" sounds like a long lost Journey track. I wonder if that has anything to do with Neal Schon's contributions to this album? You're sure to love the insane solo in the middle. "Soul Divine" has a little more crunch to it guitar wise. It's evident that Soto is one of the best rock voices out there, especially during the a capella breakdown. The defining guitar riff of "Drowning" will make you feel like you're behind the wheel of a race car, barreling down the track. This eighties soundtrack-style song has great dual vocal harmonies and a catchy chorus.

Soft, tender, yet powerful vocals command "If This Is the End". Clean guitar picking and a strong chorus section put this one over the top. You need to listen to the title track "Lost in the Translation" carefully. You'll be surprised that it's about a guy that likes to be dominated and disrespected. Ah, to be in love! "High Time" is another over-the-top arena rocker. Plenty of chugga-chugga riffing and single note picking helps set the tone for this tale of overcoming the impossible. Soto is at his melodic best on the power ballad "Beginning". As with all power ballads, there's a climatic ending. "On My Own" has some heavy dropped-D riffing with a great up-scale / down-scale lick. It's a `breaking-the-chains' arena rock anthem.

The Bad

Jeff, the derby has to go.

The Verdict

Jeff Scott Soto is one of the best rock vocalists out there. It's too bad that the U.S. has failed to notice. On his latest album, Soto displays his great talent for catchy, high-energy melodic rock anthems. Each track is just as memorable than the one that proceeded it. If you long for the days were musicians actually sang, played their own instruments, wrote catchy songs, and played in standard tuning; look no further then Jeff Scott Soto.

This soundtrack kicks serious ass. Jeff Scott Soto sounds real good on this cd. On the song "Believe In Me" Neal Schon plays on that song... Neal Schon fans can tell that however, based on his style of playing. "Find Our Way", is probably one of the catchiest songs I have ever heard really. See, I believe this soundtrack would be perfect for any movie, with a dramatic plot. It's a real hard cd, so it's not very poppy. I'm currently lost in this piece of music.. It's very astounding.

Jeff Scott Soto has worked with Yngwie Malmsteen, and Axel Rudi Pell (a German band), and other artists. He has sung some Queen fans, and even toured with them. His vocal range is very very breath taking, with Yngwie Malmsteen.

Bottom line, this is one ass-kicking soundtrack, that will take your breath away.

The Axe Man

Jeff Scott Soto, owner of one of the most powerful pair of pipes of heavy music EVER, released his best solo effort with this album. Assembling a fanastic line up (including Journey guitarist Neal Schon, this ialbum is just amazing. THere is a general eighties "feel" to it, but it does not soung dated at all. The songs are well crafted, the guitar solos will leave you breathless. There is the obligaory power ballad ("If This Is The End") but that's not a total waste, because is has weight int it.

This album is one of those albums that you will enjoy from the first listen.

As if Prism never happened Soto delivers a quality hard rock album, wrapping his pipes around worthy tunes. An extensive enough world tour accompanied this album and rightly so. The first few cuts, Believe in Me and Soul Divine are good rockers, while Soto's balladeering instincts don't take the record over.

I'm not going to go into a track by track thing here as there isn't much point, suffice to say that the guy has achieved a balance between rockers like the title cut and softer numbers that wasn't the case on Prism. Good production values, packaging and another disc with a bonus video track on it for a little added value. The continued presence of Gary Shutt is another plus for this relese and shared writing credits with Neil Schon, Gary Shutt and other guitarists perhaps show that Soto works best when he works with others.

Quality release and a good buy for fans of melodic rock especially and general music fans too.

Get this cd now. In an age where there is so much music being released with very little of it being of any significant quality this CD stands out as a real gem. This album has it all - awesome hard rock music with killer guitar playing and one of the best rock voices of all time. These songs are all very well written and most of them are extremely memorable. JSS always goes for great vocal melodies but this is definitely his best stuff. All rock musicians should have a copy. This really is a worthwile purchase that you will be listening to in high rotation, trust me!

This album took me by surprise but from first listen it blew me away !. If you like a classic hard rock feel with big vocals and guitar you will not be dissapointed

This allbum is bang for buck. Play on 10 !

Amazon currently has the listings for Prism and Lost in the Translation linked. This review is for the Prism reissue.

When he's not working with Talisman, or Takara, or Soul Sirkus, or Journey (however briefly), or Human Clay, or...you get the idea, Jeff Scott Soto - a.k.a. the hardest working singer in rock - somehow manages to maintain a solo career. My theory is that he somehow managed to turn power ballads into a substitute for sleep. He probably saves a lot of time substituting "2" and "B" for "two" and "be" when he writes songs as well.

2003's Prism is Soto's second solo offering, and if you're an AOR fan it's an absolute winner. It's got an old school Journey/Foreigner vibe with plenty of dramatic love songs and soaring ballads. Soto, who also handles nearly all of the instrumentation, gives his usual fantastic vocal performance. If that isn't enough he is joined by the legendary Glenn Hughes on "I Want to Take You Higher" (a Sly & the Family Stone cover). Sure it's a bit less rocking than the average Talisman or Takara disc, but it's still a great melodic rock album.

If you're a fan of Jeff Scott Soto's other projects (all 1154 of them), chances are you'll love Prism as well. It's another first rate melodic rock album from a guy with a proven track record of releasing first rate melodic rock albums. What more can you ask for?

Edition Notes: Frontiers reissued Prism (along with 2005's Lost in the Translation) in 2009. The Special Edition of Prism comes in a digipack (a step down in quality, in my opinion) and includes six bonus tracks. The bonus tracks include the Japan-only bonus tracks "Good Love" and "2012," a cover of Journey's "Send Her My Love" (worth the price of the reissue right there), and live versions of "Again 2 Be Found," "Stand Up" and "4 U." Soto also provides some interesting info in the expanded liner notes.

"Prism" is the debut solo album by American AOR vocalist Jeff Scott Soto originally released in 2001. This particular version is a 2009 re-issue of the album by "Frontiers Records", the label through which it was released in the first place. Beyond its original eleven songs, this new version features six bonus tracks two of them being live versions of Jeff's hits "Stand up" and "4U". The release also features two pages worth of line notes from Soto going retrospective on the initiative and the making of "Prism".

It is important to note that Jeff verifies fans' initial suspicions that "Prism" comprised of songs the singer had collected over the years which were not necessarily addressed to AOR audiences. Indeed the album opens on the outstanding melodic rocker "Eyes of Love" but develops into an unexpectedly diverse collection bringing to font elements of funk, blues and soul music which, despite the rocking production, do not perfectly fit in the AOR/melodic rock genre.

Regardless of the above, "Prism" remains a landmark for AOR in the new millennium as well as a bright classic for the "Frontiers" label; If you are a fan of Jeff Scott Soto and his bands like "Eyes" and "Takara" you probably have "Prism" in your collection already.

I'm an old school metalist, and I've always enjoyed listening to early Malmsteen{Rising Force / Marching Out / Trilogy}, and I've always liked Jeff Scott Soto on vocals during those days. Once he left Malmsteen, I lost track of him just up until recently...

When I saw "Lost In The Translation" available, {to my surprise}, I was immediately interested, so I bought it without even thinking twice. Simply stated, "Lost In The Translation" is a classic rock masterpiece from start to finish. It's not metal, and although metal is my first love, I'm actually very pleased that it isn't. This is true "feel good" R&R at it's very finest, and some of the best I've ever heard. "Lost In The Translation" is packed full of catchy, uplifting music with great hooks / lyrics. If this would have come out in the 80's, it probably would have been considered a classic release by now, no question. This is one of the best, most underrated releases in rock history in my opinion. YOU ROCK GUYS!! KEEP IT UP!!!...

~MJ~

For those of you unfamiliar with JSS,he has been around for many years with Yngwie,Talisman,and most recently Journey. He is a very talented,yet underrated vocalist. This is an extremely impressive effort that any fan of the Melodic Rock scene would be glad to own. Give it a listen. You will be glad that you did.