Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)” EP (2012)

Label : Lava/Universal Republic Records

Review by Tony Cannella

Just in time for holidays comes the new EP from the traveling Christmas extravaganza known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, entitled “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)”. Two female singers (Erika Jerry and Georgia Napolitano) are used as well as the male vocalist Tim Hockenberry. It is not very long but this is the classic sound of TSO that the fans have come to know and love. “Dreams of Fireflies” opens with two instrumentals. The first being the piano and guitar driven “Winter Palace”. This is a huge bombastic sound to it and it is definitely what people have come to expect from TSO. Next we have the second instrumental “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)”. This track features a cool interplay between the heavy guitars and orchestration. Next is “I Had a Memory” featuring the vocals of Erika Jerry and a rich sounding choir as the song morphs into an up-tempo, bouncy hard rock number. Erika Jerry has a big sounding, impressive voice with a lot of soul and passion. “Someday” is next and is a heartfelt acoustic ballad sung by raspy voiced Tim Hockenberry. This is actually a pretty sentimental and relatable song about growing older and moving on. The EP is completed with the piano ballad “Time You Should Be Sleeping”, sung by Georgia Napolitano. All three singers featured here represent a different style from each other. Georgia’s is more classical than the other two. She’s got such a hugely expressive voice as “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)” comes to its conclusion. At only 5-songs and a length of 15-minutes, “Dreams of Fireflies” is a pretty short listen. This really isn’t a radical departure musically; it is simply the classic TSO sound. Listening to TSO will always put you in the holiday spirit and if you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out their Christmas tour – it is quite a spectacular experience.

Rating – 80/100

Tracklist

1. Winter Palace
2. Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)
3. I Had A Memory
4. Someday
5. Time You Should Be Sleeping

Line Up

• Erika Jerry – Vocals (on “I Had A Memory”)
• Tim Hockenberry – Vocals (on “Someday”)
• Georgia Napolitano – Vocals (on “Time You Should Be Sleeping”)
• Paul O’Neill – Guitars
• Jon Oliva – Keyboards
• Al Pitrelli – Lead, Rhythm Guitars
• Chris Caffery – Guitars
• Roddy Chong – Violin
• Angus Clark – Guitars
• Joel Hoekstra – Guitars
• Mee Eun Kim – Keyboards
• Vitalij Kuprij – Keyboards
• Jane Mangini – Keyboards
• Johnny Lee Middleton – Bass
• John O. Reilly – Drums
• Jeff Plate – Drums
• Derek Wieland – Keyboards
• David Zablidowsky – Bass

Links

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Night Castle” (2009)

Label : BMG Rights Management/Audioglobe

Review by Tony Cannella

By now everyone knows what to expect from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. A combination of Rock, Prog, Metal and Classical highlights this musical extravaganza.The band started out as a touring holiday troupe and their annual Christmas shows have become legendary. Now in recent years they have become a year round touring and recording entity. Their latest studio album, now released in Europe after 2 years from its original version, is the epic 2-disc, 28-song, over 2-hours long, “Night Castle”. As always, TSO has a great array of endless musical talent – from all backgrounds – at their disposal. The great Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie, Journey, solo, etc. etc.) adds his immense talents to “Night Castle” as well as three very talented female singers are on board. They are: Jennifer Cella, Alexa Goddard and Valentina Porter. All of which comes from a non-metal background but man can they ever sing! Not to mention some the great musicians who have participated. Alex Skolnick, Chris Caffrey, Al Pitrelli and Jon Oliva among many, many others are all on hand, even progressive rock legend Greg Lake (ELP) adds bass to the track “Nutrocker”. “Night Castle” is a complex concept album which you can read about on their web-site or CD booklet; suffice it to say there is a lot going on both musically and lyrically. The album kicks off with the choir dominated “Night Enchanted”. The 3rd track “Sparks” has an energetic classic rock feel to it, with a great guitar solo. Fans of Savatage will find the instrumental “The Mountain” to be familiar as it incorporates parts of “Prelude to Madness” from ‘Tage’s “The Hall of the Mountain King” album. The female singers don’t surface until the 2nd disc on the tracks “Father, Son & Holy Ghost” a hugely grandiose part ballad part mid-tempo track featuring some superb vocals from Jennifer Cella. The next track “Remnants of a Lullaby” also features Jennifer taking the lead on the acoustic ballad. “Child of the Night” features the duo of Alexa Goddard and Valentina Porter taking over the lead on this symphony laced track. One of my only complaints about “Night Castle” is the fact that the male singers tend to sound similar to one another so it would have been nice to give the female singers a bit more to do. That is just a mild complaint however, as the material more than stacks up to previous TSO recordings. TSO has delivered another grand, huge, monstrously, unapologetically epic masterpiece with “Night Castle”. TSO has continued to ascend to new heights, which I am sure they will continue to do.

Rating – 85/100

Tracklist

Disc 1

1. Night Enchanted
2. Childhood Dreams
3. Sparks
4. The Mountain
5. Night Castle
6. The Safest Way Into Tomorrow
7. Mozart and Memories
8. Another Way You Can Die
9. Toccata – Carpimus Noctem
10. The Lion’s Roar
11. Dreams We Conceive
12. Mother and Son
13. There Was A Life

Disc 2

1. Moonlight and Madness
2. Time Floats On
3. Epiphany
4. Bach Lullaby
5. Father, Son and Holy Ghost
6. Remnants of a Lullaby
7. The Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)
8. Embers
9. Child of the Night (Bonus Track)
10. Believe (Bonus Track)
11. Nutrocker (Bonus Track)
12. Carmina Burana (Bonus Track)
13. Tracers (Bonus Track)
14. Requiem (Live 2010) (Bonus Track)
15. Toccata – Carpimus Noctem (Live 2010) (Bonus Track) 

Line Up

• Paul O’Neill – Guitars
• Robert Kinkel – Keyboards
• Jon Oliva – Keyboards
• Al Pitrelli – Lead, rhythm guitars
• Chris Altenhoff – Bass
• Luci Butler – Keyboards
• Chris Caffery – Guitars
• Shih-yi Chiang – Keyboards
• Roddy Chong – Violin
• Angus Clark – Guitars
• Jane Mangini – Keyboards
• Johnny Lee Middleton – Bass
• John O.Reilly – Drums
• Anna Phoebe – Strings
• Jeff Plate – Drums
• Alex Skolnick – Guitars
• Derek Wieland – Keyboards
• Dave Wittman – Drum, guitar and bass

Lead Vocalists :

• Jay Pierce (“Childhood Dreams”, “The Safest Way Into Tomorrow”)
• Tim Hockenberry (“Sparks”, “Believe”)
• Jeff Scott Soto (“Night Castle”, “Another Way You Can Die”, “Dreams We Conceive”, “Time Floats On”, “Safest Way Into Tomorrow (Reprise)”)
• Rob Evan (“There Was a Life”, “Epiphany”)
• Jennifer Cella (“Father, Son & Holy Ghost”, “Remnants of a Lullaby”)
• Alexa Goddard (“Child of the Night”)
• Valentina Porter (“Child of the Night”)   

Links

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Beethoven’s Last Night” (2000)

Label : BMG Rights Management/Audioglobe

Review by Tony Cannella

Trans-Siberian Orchestra has been spreading their Holiday cheer in the U.S. for close to 15-years. In 2000 TSO released their first album of non-Holiday music titled “Beethoven’s Last Night” and in honor of the bands first European jaunt this album has finally been released in Europe. As with all of their albums, “Beethoven’s Last Night” features a virtual who’s who of some of the best talent you will find. “Beethoven’s Last Night” is an involved concept album that features over 70-minutes worth of music. TSO offers the listener a wonderful mix of epic metal combined with Classical music to present the listener with a soaring musical experience. Some truly talented singers such as Savatage alums Jon Oliva and Zak Stevens add their talents to some of the characters. Female vocals do not show up until track 10 when Patti Russo takes the helm as the character Theresa on the track “The Dreams of Candlelight”. She can also be heard on various other tracks including “After the Fall”. Sylvia Tosun as Fate is allowed to shine on the closing number “A Final Dream”. More highlights – of which there are many – include: “What Good This Deafness”, “Mephistopheles”, “The Dark” and “Mephistopheles’ Return”. Enough good can’t be said about this great array of talented musicians that makes up TSO. There is a reason that they have amassed a huge following among metal and non-metal fans alike.“Beethoven’s Last Night” is a perfect example of the genius of TSO.

Rating – 90/100

Tracklist

1. Overture
2. Midnight
3. Fate
4. What Good This Deafness
5. Mephistopheles
6. What Is Eternal
7. This Moment
8. Vienna
9. Mozart/Figaro
10. The Dreams of Candlelight
11. Requiem (The Fifth)
12. I’ll Keep Your Secrets
13. The Dark
14. Fur Elise
15. After The Fall
16. A Last Illusion
17. This Is Who You Are
18. Beethoven
19. Mephistopheles’ Return
20. Misery
21. Who Is This Child
22. A Final Dream

Line Up

• Jody Ashworth – Beethoven
• Patti Russo – Theresa
• Jon Oliva- Mephistopheles
• Guy Lemonnier – Young Beethoven
• Jamie Torcellini – Twist
• Sylvia Tosun – Fate
• Zak Stevens – The Muses
• Dave Diamonds – The Muses
• Doug Thoms – The Muses
• Robert Kinkel – Piano And Keyboards
• Jon Oliva – Piano, Keyboards & Bass
• Al Pitrelli – Lead, Rhythm & Bass Guitars 
• Paul O’Neill- Rhythm & Acoustic Guitars
• Chris Caffery – Guitars
• Jeff Plate – Drums
• Johnny Lee Middlenton – Bass
• Dave Wittman – Drums, Guitars & Bass Inserts

Links

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