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

This one is a real no-brainer. 27 tracks, 2 gigs, 5 rock stars, 2CDs…you do the math! Value for money and an utterly essential purchase for all Soto and Talisman fans. And those few that have an unhealthy love of Jeff's guitarist Howie Simon can also rejoice, as he joined Talisman on the 2003 tour as a second guitarist.

A great move actually, as he really is a phenomenal guitarist and his contribution to the Talisman material should not be under-sold.

Five Men Live features 2 CDs – Live At Club Mondo in Stockholm and Live At Sweden Rock Festival 2003.

Both CDs are the audio partners to the DVD release – another essential purchase.

This is as live as it gets – nice, raw, in your face recordings featuring pro-musicians with energetic performances of some killer tunes.

Club Mondo is the band's full set, covering 17 tracks, while Sweden Rock sees the guys limited by time a little, hence only 10 tracks.

All the band staples are here – I'll Be Waiting (complete with obligatory sing-along), Break Your Chains, Color My XTC, Mysterious, Crazy, Tears In The Sky, plus a few new tracks from the Cats & Dogs album which the guys were promoting at the time – Skin On Skin, In Make Believe and Outta My Way.

The sound quality of both is not flawless, it's more an official bootleg – but both shows have been pro-recorded and sound fine. I tend to prefer recordings like this as they show the artist in their true element – which with rock n roll should always be a little rough around the edges.

Club Mondo has the better sound overall, which is excellent, as it is the longer show.

Talisman really are a fabulous talented bunch of musicians. The bass playing of Marcel Jacob is some of the best you will hear and together with drummer Jamie Borger the rhythm section holds the band together.

Guitarists Fredrik Åkesson and Howie Simon provide the energy and Soto guides the ship like few frontmen can.

Before I continue preaching to the converted I will wrap up by stating that this is a great value release for all Talisman and Soto fans, with all bases covered and 2 different shows to choose from depending on the listeners mood. A DVD review will follow shortly.