TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

As per usual Paul writes the words and composes the music. Once again the story centers around an angel who is sent to earth with a quest. This time to pick one person who can continue the work God's son did when down here. So we get the listen to the story of the angel's travels and experiences as he seeks to find this person. Going back to heaven to reveal to his Lord who he thinks this person is he realizes that anyone can be that person if they "Do unto others as they would have done unto them".

Once again we get members and former members of SAVATAGE helping out like Oliva, Middleton, Pitrelli and Caffery. I like the middle section where we get the jazzy "Christmas Jazz" followed by "Christmas Jam" and "Siberian Sleigh Ride". The latter has some energetic guitar in it.

This cd came with thick liner notes detailing the story along with lots of other info.

It turns out the gift that was left behind was a gift of "belief" to this one particular child who with the angel's help (unknown to the child) realizes that the Earth is a magical place and as such this child could make this world a better place. Hey it's Christmas and like the debut this can be an emotional ride if you let it be. Like the first album it's the instrumentals that really standout for me. Again we get the same six members or former members of SAVATAGE helping out. Once a year i'd much rather play something from this band than any other Christmas music that i've heard. 3 stars.

The first album they put out under Paul's guidance was "Hall Of The Mountain King" which is my favourite from them. Anyway one of the songs they did was called "Prelude To Madness" which the band really hesitated in doing because it was classical and symphomic neither of which the band had done before. It was based on Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite". The band relented and it is significant because it led them years later to do "Sarajevo" on the "Dead Winter Dead" record which was of the same style. Well that song took off over Christmas that year and the label didn't have enough albums printed for the demand. That song is the center-piece of the first TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA record i'm reviewing here. That song spawned this band. Here it's called "Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24".

Lets just say this project which contains many members of SAVATAGE has made them a commercial success and i'm sure they've been doing many shows this month. This first album is a concept album about a young angel who has been sent to earth to find and bring back to God the one thing that best represents everything good that has been done in the name of that day. This quest takes the angel all over the world and these songs tell us the story. So SAVATGE fans will recognize names like Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva, John Middleton, Chris Caffery and Zak Stevens.Certainly this is extremely well done and well played and if you are into Christmas songs and Progressive Rock I don't know how you can't be impressed.

This is the debut album from this very succesful US band. A band with at least three Christmas albums and one more normal album. Which says it all really. This band is tapping into the US desire for naff culture. Someone would say: the Americans lack of culture. But I would not say that, would I ? Anyway, this band, consisting of members from Savatage and other heavy metal bands, has made a small fortune on their bestselling albums and tours. If anyone had tried this in the UK or Europe, they would had been laughed out of the business and their albums sold a dozen albums, Christmas gifts to the band members cats and dogs included. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is as patriotic American as Route 66 and the American flag itself.

That is why I am a bit surprised how good this album is. Yes, it is overladen with cheese in the form of children choir and heavy metal arrangements of well known Christmas carols. Arrangements in the Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman street. But the arrangements are not bad at all and there are some really great instrumentals here too.

Listening to this album is a mix of cringing and approving smiles. And this album is one of the better Christmas themed albums out there. I am a happy owner of this album and will play it next Christmas too.

3 stars

I am trying to get the final decorations sorted out when trying to get into the mood by listening to this album. This is my annual deep dive into the cheesy world of Christmas albums. An annual punishment, if feels. Although last year's descent into hell was pretty good. Jethro Tull's Christmas Album, that is.

I am not sure who is the vocalist here. But Jon Oliva from Savatage is the usual suspect and I guess it is him again. Trans-Siberian Orchestra has become a pretty massive band in the USA where all sorts of cultural naffness is sure winners. All of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's albums falls into this category. But in particular this album. All cliches are on display here. Choirs, electric guitar molestations of Christmas carols and a general rampage through Christmas carols which is good enough in their own right. What does Trans-Siberian Orchestra adds to this ? Well, they take out good paychecks from this band and their albums. Far more than they ever earned on their regular bands. So employments are secured. But the music in this album is overblowned, molested Christmas carols which is almost as bad as Justin Bieber's own Christmas album.

This is an album for fat greasy US truckers on highway nine and for those who thinks Christmas carols is best with a heavy rock sound to them. So why one more star than I am describing here ? Well, the arrangements are quite good. Cheesy as heck, but still pretty good. There are some good melody lines on this album. That inbetween cringe worthy melody lines. Some human intelligence has been applied to good effect throughout this album. That aside, this is not a Christmas album I will ever lend my ears to ever again. I am not that fond of cheese.

2 stars

It seems like a good idea to turn some of Beethoven's best known music, and turn it into power prog. But sometghing insidious must have happened between this band and the memory of lovely lovely Ludwig Van in the course of creating this album. Something bad enough to have the poor composer's remains spinning so fast in his grave that he could generate enough power to send an army of Marty McFlys hurtling through time every minute.

Okay, in the band's favor, there are a few pieces that almost live up to expectations. Mozart / Figaro and Requiem (The fifth) have the bombastic sound we expect from this group, and towards the end of the album, they even make a (all too quick) attempt at the fabulous second movement of the ninth symphony.

The tragedy of the album comes mainly from the vocals. The singing is mostly gruff, not quite accurate, but over the top theatrical ravings that are unlistenable from start to finish. They make Für Elise into Füry Elise. It doesn't help that most of the vocals are not sung over Beethoven's music, but pieces that make Andrew Lloyd-Webber sound interesting.

Why? Just why?

This is when a group like Trans-Siberian Orchestra comes in handy.

TSO sound pretty much like Savatage with an orchestra, although the singing and musical style is a nice mixture of different genres and artists, from full-on Metal to Jazz, Choir music to Pop and everything in-between. Essentially they take famous Christmas carols and classical pieces and arrange them into their own Christmas rock operas.

As great and unique as TSO are, sadly this is far from a brilliant album. The musicianship is top notch, and some of the pieces are so beautiful and emotional that it easily makes it worth buying, but unfortunately there are quite a few totally boring and uninspiring songs on here. Most notably for me would be 'Old City Bar'. I'm sure there's meant to be an inspirational message about good will and faith in there somewhere, but it's really just one of a few boring tracks the album has to offer.

On the other hand there is still some truly epic music here as well. Most obvious is probably 'Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24' and 'A Mad Russians Christmas'. Fans of Savatage will surely enjoy these.

In conclusion, I'd say this is a good album, especially if you like Savatage. It's definitely not TSO's best album, but it sure beats whatever they play on the radio every year.

Not super good, not really bad, this record is a story well told with a mix of classical and metal. Unfortunately, it's not my first excursion into that genre; I already heard many artists doing the same thing. Ayreon with The Human Equation and foremost Nolan and Wakeman with their Hounds of Baskersvilles is approx. the very same recipe. But, to experience TSO into a live scene is something; it bursts with fireworks, lasers, vari-lite shows and spectacular interpretation. A sight to be seen, worth your pennies!

I encourage anyone who liked the Hounds of Baskersville to try it. If it's your first approach into that category, this could be a good start. You'll know very soon if you're fond or not.

I personnally had gone through that musical phase once...and not keen to plunge again.

The story is very well constructed and there is a nice balance between the music and the vocals with a few instrumentals that merge into the story without disrupting it. The piano interludes are very beautiful and help to induce the feeling of Beethoven's work by quoting some of his melodies as a part of the composition + the string section gives a more organic atmosphere to the metalish sound....

Highlights:

The Dark and A Last Illusion (The Flight of the Bumble Bee) feature great electric guitar solos worth listening....

The amazing vocals (both male and female).

The piano performances throughout the album.

The storyline.

This is a very fluent record but I would have preferred something more symphonic with less metal + the metal adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth is not a very original idea (ELO, Yngwie Malmsteen).

The overall sound of the album is really good, the musicians are very skilled and the concept is very well presented but there is a lack of experimentation and risk taking (things that I love) to make this album a masterpiece.

TOTAL Rating: 3.58

Now I have to round.....I think that this is a good album and almost excellent so I'll rate it with a three (almost 4).

Take your listeners serious.

The first TSO Christmas album was actually very good, a lot of different styls, great guitar playing, great vocalists and some great compostions. It made me interested to see them playing it live, that's why I got this dvd.

THIS IS NO LIVE CONCERT

Is it not? What is it then? It is a stupid story about a little girl lost from home with the typical dramatic American way of filming it, combined with the coco-cola-christmastcommercials-like backgrounds. And there are some tracks of TSO played in the background. After the much to long intro the bands does appear on stage. The songs are however the precise albumversion and TSO is playbacking. I'll stop writing here.

Conclusion. One of the worst concepts ever, suitable for little children and low-IQ families. They should have at least shown some live material of the band! One star for this painfull experience, instead try their cd's if you want to give TSO a real change.