From: "Chris Bollerer"
<>
Re: Trans-Siberian Orchestra: great project but its roots lay in heavy metal - a great
many of the participants are involved in the band Savatage, a kind of Maiden/Queensryche
approach to metal. Truth be told, I quite like them but their approach does take some
getting used to. Savatage does have three rock operas out - Streets, Dead Winter Dead and
In The Wake of Magellan. All three are pretty decent with prototypical rock opera anthems
and ballads strewn all over the place. Good stuff mainly because no one else seems to be
doing it.
From: Mike Flemmer <>
Did anyone see Trans-Siberian Orchestra appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brian
tonight? These superb prog rock musicians play Christmas tunes with excellent musical
craftsmanship and appeal. Very tasteful arragements that will anybody in a festive mood.
Having a xmas party? Perfect rock music for a xmas party. Three hot rock guitarists, 1
bass guitar, 2 classically trained keyboardists, a small string section and a
percussionist play inventive Chrismas arrangements that rock with a good beat. On Conan,
they played a rocking "Carol of the Bells" arragement that highlighted just
about everybody- strings,keyboards, guitar. I found this review at http://www.spank.com/squares/cd_trans.html:
"Trans-Siberian Orchestra has put together a collection of music that will put you in
the mood of holiday cheer and give your ears the pleasure of listening to some wonderful
sounds of joy." I think this is a European group? These musicians know what they are
doing. And they do it well. Two of their CD's (are there others?) are here with cover
shots: http://www.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw
From: David Kuznick <>
> On Conan, they played a rocking "Carol of the Bells" arrangement that
highlighted just about everybody- strings,keyboards, guitar.
The name of the song is actually Christmas Eve - Sarajevo 12/24 (see below).
But yes, it's really an arrangement of Carol of the Bells.
> I think this is a European group?
Bzzt. Thanks for playing. :) Trans-Siberian Orchestra is for all
intensive purposes the alter-ego of the power/prog-metal band Savatage (great band who use
lots of piano and orchestration) who are mostly from NY. Their fabulous album
"Dead Winter Dead" is a concept album about Sarajevo and is where the
"Christmas Eve" song first appeared. http://www.savatage.com
TSO's official website is http://www.trans-siberian.com/
Now if only they'd do Hanukkah songs... :) They have a third, non-Christmas album due out
in the spring called Beethoven's Last Night.