Line Up: Jeff Scott Soto - Vocals , Marcel Jacob - Bass , Howie Simon and Freddie Åkesson - Guitars, Jamie Borger - Drums

Talisman celebrate their comeback with a double-CD live recording in support of their 2003 "reunion" record Cats and Dogs. The idea for a live CD (and DVD) got started when promoter Luk De Roover of De Lokerse Feesten asked Talisman to play his event. Says bassist Marcel Jacob: “The added incentive was that we would receive a beta of the show.

Along the way to Lokeren, things got added to the big plan: other shows, old videos plus bits and pieces from the past and present, making it a sort of documentary in brief of the 15 years or so the band exists.” Two complete shows were recorded for this set; one at Sweden Rock Festival in June 2003, the other at Club Mondo in Stockholm in August 2003.

Talisman was formed in 1990 by two former Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force members: Jacob and singer Jeff Scott Soto. Rounding out the line-up are guitarists Fredrik Åkesson and Howie Simon and ex-Treat drummer Jamie Borger. Talisman has done seven studio albums and two live albums (and they all have a zillion side projects).

Right off the bat on Disc One you can hear they got a solid recording at Club Mondo. I do have a couple of issues, though— the lead guitars are too low in the mix and I would like to hear the crowd a bit more (it doesn’t sound like more than 40 people!). The songs are pretty damn good — a blend of melodic power metal and pure hard rock.

Yeah, I know “Color My XTC” is pure bottled cheese, but I still think it rocks (although I never quite thought I’d hear Scott Soto rap!). The performances are solid, too, although Åkesson and Jacob’s back-up vocals are thin. “Fabricated War” could have come straight off Marching Out. And check out Jacob’s basswork! Amazing! Can you guess what “Skin On Skin” is about? Some of the bass running that Jacob does with the guitarists is truly great—exhibit A being “Tears In The Sky.” Yes, that is Seal’s “Crazy” they are covering on track seven.

On track ten, Scott Soto asks the chanting Swedish crowd outright, “What are you saying?” They sound excited anyway. The musicality of Talisman comes through on the song “Break It Down Again”, with its tremendous jamming, guitar leads, bass licks. I love after the song when the fans start singing a Talisman song as Scott Soto takes a break and talks about getting a Whopper. Midway through “I’ll Be Waiting”, the crowd is performing more than the band…OK, now this is starting to get annoying… Scott Soto gets them back by getting them to chant “Hey mother fucker,” “Arnold Schwarzenegger” and “I Love Howie Simon.” I’ll say this; this is a fun, unique show—not just a pre-canned collection of well-rehearsed songs.

Talisman leaves the stage after track 12 and return for their encore with a Jacob bass solo. Along with that, the encore is comprised of three more songs and a guitar solo by Åkesson. They then depart again, but return for a second encore with Ozzy’s “I Don’t Know.” This is red hot — the guitars sound VERY good and Jacob gives it a throbbing low end. The performance is so impassioned that the fans chant “TALISMAN” as the groups walks off the stage for the last time.

That first CD is wonderful, but as I put on CD 2 from the Sweden Rock Festival, I’m wondering what the hell is going on. Every song on this disc we already heard on Disc One. Do we really need to hear these songs again? Let me answer that for you: NO. Hell, there’s limited crowd interaction, no instrumental solos and no spontaneity in this set — it’s a downgrade from what we heard on Disc One.

I will admit that Scott Soto makes me laugh my ass off here during a break in songs when he invites the Swedes to come backstage with the band and eat cheeseburgers, smoke dope, pop pills, whatever. He has a lot of fun with the language barrier. Still, you’d have to get a hard-on when you hear the word “Talisman” to think this is worthwhile. For that reason, I can recommend this collection to only die-hard fans of the band. It’s a shame, but no casual fan is going to want to buy a double-disc set with repeat performances of songs (unless perhaps if you buy the CD used off Amazon for $15).

The double-DVD for this album, World’s Best Kept Secret, offers a great deal of bonus material, including a documentary (“Retrospect–The Movie”), clips from TV appearances, music videos and additional live footage. This makes the double-CD seem even more superfluous, because if you’re willing to buy multiple live versions of Talisman’s songs, why not just go and buy this DVD instead?