The Music of Christmas – Day 8: “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”

“Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”
By Trans-Siberian OrchestraSavatage

I remember being instantly mesmerized by this song the first time I heard it in 1995. The rock group Savatage, having produced one rock album already (“Streets”), decided to give it another go on their album “Dead Winter Dead”. After looking at that album in Best Buy, I thought to myself, “I really don’t want to buy this album. But man, that song is so good….”

Producer/songwriter Paul O’Neil and guitarist/vocalist/pianist Jon Oliva were the brains behind both operas. A year later their non-Savatage plans came to fruition with their new group, the one you definitely know better — Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This song was reissued on TSO’s debut album “Christmas Eve and Other Stories”. As part of an entire album telling one story, this one song stands out as being almost too energetic. It melds two familiar Christmas songs — “Carol of the Bells” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” — by combining orchestral instruments with synthesizers, guitars, and drums fitting a rock band. The result is rather violent Christmas Eve in the war-torn city of Sarajevo.

I love this piece because it’s so loud and in-your-face with the synthesizers and keyboards. I grew up listening to heavy-synth music, so this just falls right into my particular musical sensibilities. But there’s also a bit of jealousy with this song. You see, for some time prior to this, I had wanted to do a Christmas medley. Two of the songs I had chosen were, you guessed it, “Carol of the Bells” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

Great minds think alike, but Savatage wins, not because they actually produced the song, but the fact that they did it so well. I was a big fan of TSO’s debut Christmas album, but not as much as their followup albums, although “Wizard of Winter” is still a dang good piece. If you like progressive rock operas, well, TSO is just right for you.

TSO would go on to tour the country heavily each holiday season for over two decades, eventually creating two separate orchestras to meet demand. Millions of concert tickets and albums sold means TSO is a part of the holiday music lexicon. But Savatage isn’t — case in point, the official YouTube video linked above goes to the TSO channel, not Savatage. That’s a shame, as without that group and “Streets”, there would be no TSO.

Tomorrow — let’s get metal. Let’s get GLAM metal.