LOUDNESS: 30th-Anniversary Expanded Edition Of 'Soldier Of Fortune' Due Next Week

The 30th-anniversary edition of LOUDNESS's "Soldier Of Fortune" album will be made available in Japan on September 23. The expanded version of the LP will include rough-mix recordings from the "Soldier" sessions, previously unreleased demos, the "You Shook Me" music video, footage of a Japanese TV show performance and video of LOUDNESS's 2015 reunion with singer Michael Vescera at the Loud Park festival in Japan. Billed as SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, the group performed material from Vescera's time in LOUDNESS (see video below).

"Soldier Of Fortune" 30th-anniversary edition track listing:

Disc 1

01. Soldier Of Fortune
02. You Shook Me
03. Danger Of Love
04. Twenty-Five Days From Home
05. Red Light Shooter
06. Running For Cover
07. Lost Without Your Love
08. Faces In The Fire
09. Long After Midnight
10. Demon Disease

Remastered by Chris Bellman at Burnie Grundman, Los Angeles

Disc 2

01. Soldier Of Fortune (Rough Mix)
02. You Shook Me (Rough Mix)
03. Danger Of Love (Rough Mix)
04. Twenty-Five Days From Home (Rough Mix)
05. Red Light Shooter (Rough Mix)
06. Running For Cover (Rough Mix)
07. Lost Without Your Love (Rough Mix)
08. Faces In The Fire (Rough Mix)
09. Long After Midnight (Rough Mix)
10. Demon Disease (Rough Mix)
11. Soldier Of Fortune (Karaoke)
12. You Shook Me (Karaoke)
13. Running For Cover (Karaoke)
14. Lost Without Your Love (Karaoke)
15. Long After Midnight (Karaoke)

Mastered by Ryuichi Tanaka at Warner Music Mastering, Tokyo

Disc 3 - Unreleased Demos

01. Faces In The Fire (Unreleased Demo)
02. Lost Without Your Love (Unreleased Demo)
03. Love Toys (Unreleased Demo)
04. Un-Released 3 (Unreleased Demo)
05. Twenty-Five Days From Home (Unreleased Demo)
06. Soldier Of Fortune (Unreleased Demo)
07. Un-Released 4 (Unreleased Demo)
08. Red Light Shooter (Unreleased Demo)
09. Un-Released 3-Pre Production (Drums By Ampan) (Unreleased Demo)
10. Un-Released 4-Pre Production (Drums by Dragon) (Unreleased Demo)

Mastered by Ryuichi Tanaka at Warner Music Mastering, Tokyo

Disc 4

01. You Shook Me (Music Video）
02. You Shook Me (1989 Appearance On NHK's "Just Pop Up" Television Show)
03. Faces In The Fire (1989 Appearance On NHK's "Just Pop Up" Television Show)
04. Never Again (Live At Loud Park 2015 Festival)
05. Soldier Of Fortune (Live At Loud Park 2015 Festival)

Vescera joined LOUDNESS in 1988 following the firing of the band's original frontman Minoru Niihara, who remains LOUDNESS's official vocalist after having rejoined the group in 2001. In pursuit of greater commercial success with English-speaking audiences, Vescera and the rest of LOUDNESS recorded two albums, "Soldier Of Fortune" (1989) and "On The Prowl" (1991). However, the pairing did little to improve the band's status in America and also took its toll on LOUDNESS's Japanese fan base. Vescera exited LOUDNESS (and joined Yngwie J. Malmsteen in 1993) during the group's American tour in 1991 and was eventually replaced by EZO vocalist Masaki Yamada.

Vescera rose to metal popularity at the age of 18 years old as the legendary vocalist of the band OBSESSION. A classically trained pianist, Mike chose the path of a metal frontman instead of Julliard.

In recent years, Mike Vescera has gained a reputation in the business as being a masterful producer and engineer working from his studio The Toy Room, which was located in the hills of Connecticut just outside of New York. A number of years ago, the studio moved to Nashville, where Mike now makes his home.

Mike continues to front OBSESSION and ANIMETAL USA, the American counterpart to ANIMETAL, the Japanese heavy metal band which specialized in metal covers of popular Japanese anime/tokusatsu theme songs.