Probably my favorite Savatage song, just have alot of personal history tied into this song. The guitarist that your lady friend is doting after is Criss Oliva. The singer is his older brother Jon. Criss was killed in a car accident in the early 90s by a drunk driver who hit Criss head on. His wife was with him, which I read somewhere that his wife is the lady in this video, not sure if that's true, but she survived the accident but was found dead in her home in 05'. She never really recovered from losing Criss. Which to me makes this song even more sad. Even though it's about a musician spending his entire life trying to write the perfect song and when he finally completes it, to much time has passed and he never got to live to see it's success. For me I can't help but think Criss didn't get to see how his music is still loved and appreciated. And how people even now like these two are watching these old video's and enjoying his playing and "other" things.. :)
Savatage were from Florida, started by brothers John (singer) and Chris (guitar). Chris died in a car accident and they brought in Al Pitrelli for their next couple of albums, including Dead Winter Dead, a concept album about the conflict in Sarajevo. It contained the song you mentioned, and spawned the birth of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Don't forget, before Pitrelli, Handful of Rain featured Alex Skolnick (former Testament Lead Guitarist) on ALL Guitars! Credit to the former Satriani student is deserved and due!
RIP Criss Oliva! The Dark Haired lead guitarist in the video who was killed by a Drunk Driver who had SEVEN previous DUI convictions. His wife Dawn Oliva(RIP) died a few years later due to injuries suffered in the same accident.
If you still want to check out more songs by them. Here's a good list for you: - Morphine Child - Gutter Ballet - Edge Of Thorns - Summer's Rain - Turns To Me - Legions - He Carves His Stone - Handful of Rain - Alone You Breathe - Chance - Hounds - Sirens
You will grow to love this band very dramatic they came out in the late 70s early 80s old school band hall of mounting King and 24 HRS to go as about 12 short solos you will love it thanks you rock
Jon stated in an interview within the past year he was looking at an early 2024 release. He also claimed he wanted to record enough music for multiple albums if he ever decided to release them. I hope it comes true, and if it is his last run in Savatage I hope the album will be a great sendoff.
"I need to hear more from these guys." Yes, you do! If you want to stick with the ballad-y sound & poignant lyrics, you *need* to check out another of their masterpieces, "Believe". Other standout tracks from this era of Savatage (before Criss's death & with Jon still handling all the vocal work) but with a harder edge would include "Gutter Ballet", "Hall of the Mountain King", "Jesus Saves", and "Tonight He Grins Again". In the years after Criss was killed & when Jon passed on the lead vocals role there were still tons of great tunes; "Edge of Thorns", "Chance", "This Is The Time", "Anymore", and "Alone You Breathe" being among my favorites (the last track being a tribute to Criss). As others have mentioned, the surviving members of Savatage would go on to found the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which is still active and packing arenas to this day. They sneak several old Savatage tunes into their performances, including some of songs I mentioned above. Also, just to clarify: _Criss_ Oliva was the band's lead guitarist; _Chris_ (topher) Caffery, who very awesomely commented on this video, had just joined the band as a second guitarist & also featured in the music video (and is still a core member of TSO).
Savatage is one of the most underrated bands ever. A friend of mine turned me on to them back in '87 and I was immediately hooked! The lead singer Jon Oliva and guitarist Criss Oliva founded the band out of Florida in '79. Sadly, Criss was killed in a car accident in '93 by a drunk driver. In "96 Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli went on to cofound Trans Siberian Orchestra. You definitely need to check out (Hall Of The Mountain King) (Gutter Ballet) (Streets: A Rock Opera) all great albums with no bad songs to be found! 🤘
I believe this song was written for the album Streets(a rock opera) and was borrowed along with Gutter Ballet for this album. Streets was originally to be titled Gutter Ballet and was based on a play the bands producer had written. That album was made later under the name Streets(a rock opera) without either of the above songs. I highly suggest you check out Streets but, if you can, get the narrated version. The album tells the story of a guy from the streets of NYC who becomes a rock star but he can't handle the fame and ends up falling hard.
I learned of them thru friends in the Army in Germany in 1987 and I'd play some of their music in the comms between tanks in Desert Storm. The amazing times I had with listening to them. Just awesome stuff.
IM 61 THIS BAND WAS MY LIFE, ALONG WITH THE BAND MANOWAR. SAVATAGE / TRANS SIBERIA ORCHESTA AMAZING WORKS. THE DEATH OF CHRIS WAS HEART WRENCHING BUT THEY CARRIED ON. LISTEN TO BELIEVE
CHRIS! We have met brother. This song is such a reflection of life. Life keeps moving and sometimes its awesome to stop and just reflect. And at the end smile and move on to the next iteration of your existance!
If you're gonna take the journey, then start at the beginning with Sirens-Holocaust & I Believe in a row. This will give you the perspective to see how far they came and how good they were ALL along the way. The hidden gem for me is St. Patrick on Streets. Always good to see you on here Chris
There are so many great Savatage classics. "When the Crowds are Gone", "Gutter Ballet", "Edge of Thorns", "Hall of the Mountain King", and "Morphine Child" just to name a few, but if I was going to recommend only one song by them it would have to be "Chance" from the "Handful of Rain" album. There are a lot of deep, meaningful songs in their roster, but that one is something special. It's about the efforts of Chiune Sugihara who took a chance on life in a world preoccupied with death.
I don't remember correctly. But I'm pretty sure this song is intended to be a continuation/conclusion to the story from the "Streets - A Rock Opera," album.
By the way I heard you mention the guitar may be an Ibanez, it's a Charvel. Charvel is the original "hot rod" or "super strat". A guitar based on the Fender Stratocaster built originally by Wayne Charvel in the late 70s who formerly worked for Fender. Guitarists like Eddie Van Halen came to Wayne to create an instrument with the playability of a Fender but with hot pickups and locking tremelo systems. Eventually he sold the company to Grover Jackson, and Ozzy's new Guitarist Randy Rhodes came to Grover with an idea for a V shaped guitar and the Jackson was born. Early charvel guitars used a fender style headstock, in the mid 80s they used similar pointy headstocks to Jackson guitars. Over the years Charvel and Jacksons production moved to various places including Japan at one point which changed to Caparison Guitars when Jackson left the Japanese facility. The original shop is still making custom guitars under the Jackson and Charvel names and some of the original luthiers still work there. Currently Jackson and Charvel are owned by Fender Musical Instrument company. Grover Jackson and his crew is also the primary luthier for Tosin Abasi's line of guitars with Abasi Concepts.
Another that we should still have with us; Criss Oliva. I just commented on a Nevermore vid of yours but didn't expect you to have a Savatage vid up! 2 massively underrated bands.
this whole album is great. this is also one of the last Olivia brothers albums. 12/24 is a different lineup that would become the tran-sibirian orchestra.
Hello, I just wanted you know that I'm a die hard savatage fan, I heard of them since mid 80s. I have All there albums seen them in concert early 90s. Jon Olivia did a tribute album ten years after cross tragic passing. If you like what you have heard you will love all there music also lot of there albums tell a story. I hope you check out more. Rocking Roger
Savatage was a band formed in Tampa Florida by brothers Jon (vocals & keyboards,) & Criss Oliva (guitars) in the late-70s/early-80s, but their original band name was Avatar. (See comments below for expanded synopsis/summary) :
1978-1993 : After a couple demos and finally preparing to drop their debut LP Sirens in 1983, which was literally mere hours away, the band gets a call from the label saying that another band came forward claiming rights to the name Avatar, and if they proceed with releasing Sirens under the name Avatar, there would be legal ramifications. So after much intense brainstorming, a lat-minute change to the name was made : an "S was put in front, and the "r" was change to a "ge" = SAVATAGE. (Which to me sounds like a mash-up of the words "savage" and "sabotage", and a MUCH better name!!) After Sirens, an EP was released, which was essentially the leftover material originally intended for Sirens, but due to the vinyl capacity limitations of the time, it would have had to be a double-LP, which the label refused to do, so, The Dungeons Are Calling was released in 1984. These two releases would later be re-released "in their combined entirety" as originally intended (as the start of the 2012 box set), under both titles separated by a forward-slash. After the 1985 release of Power Of The Night, bassist Keith Collins gets replaced by Johnny Lee Middleton, who remains with Savatage to the end, and even carries over to TSO. With the releases of Fight For The Rock (1986) and Hall Of The Mountain King (1987), the lineup of the Oliva brothers, Middleton, and drummer Steve "Dr Killdrums" (Doc) Wacholz, continued right up to 1993, with Chris Cafferey joining briefly for the recording (and touring?) of 1989's Gutter Ballet. Prior to the release of Hall of The Mountain King, producer Paul O'Neill joins the fold, and becomes a game changer for the band. Acting as co-songwriter as well as producer, O'Neill infused more progressive sounds which included classical and traditional compositions (from the greats like Beethovem, Mozart, and Edvard Grieg, whose own Hall of The Mountain King was used as an instrumental introduction for Savatage's track of the same name, with Grieg's work being re-titled "Prelude To Madness" ; TSO would later cover this in 2009 and simply call their rendition "The Mountain"). Following HOTMK, O'Neill had proposed a full-scale rock opera concept for the band, which was originally titled Gutter Ballet, but due to "reasons", that title and some of its tracks (When The Crowds Are Gone and the title track) were released ahead for the non-conceptual 1989 album Gutter Ballet, and the rock opera was renamed to Streets, and that album was released in 1991. While Streets bears the subtitle of "A Rock Opera", O'Neill stated that was never supposed to appear that way ; he merely made that notation on the pages containing track listing and other album information to the label, and Atlantic assumed "A Rock Opera" was part of the title, and so it went to press that way. (Sidenote : A year later, Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. released a "solo" album, but for consistency was released under the W.A.S.P. name, with a rock opera concept of his own, somewhat similar to Streets, called The Crimson Idol - but the similarities start and end with it being a "rock opera" concept album, about a rock star enduring hardships and struggles, including addiction. The events and endings are very different, and even the protagonists are very different in their origins and situations - but the two albums are fun to compare).
1993-2003 : 1993 saw the release of Edge Of Thorns, in which Jon would step back from vocal duty due to vocal problems, and focus on piano & keyboards. Zak Stevens would be brought in as the new frontman. Stevens vocals were a noticeable contrast to Oliva's ; where Oliva had a harsher,raspier "girtty" sound (though could "velvet it up" for the odd ballad), Stevens brought a smoother sound. By 1995, having recovered form his vocal issues, Oliva would emerge again providing vocals for some tracks, while Stevens remained the primary vocalist. However, the two styles prompted the collective reference of "The Poet & The Madman" to describe the contrast which actually worked very well. Edge of Thorns, however, would be the last album with Criss Oliva, as he would be tragically killed by a drunk driver that same year - on the way to a show, no less. he was driving with his wife at the time. Criss was killed instantly, his wife suffered serious injuries, but of course, the drunk driver - already SEVEN DUI convictions deep prior to the incident, walked away with minimal injury (WHERE is the justice??). With the demise of Savatage looming, it is eventually decided by the band that they would forge ahead, in honor of Criss, save for "Doc" Killdrums (Steve Wacholz) who was too devastated to continue and left the band, despite being credited on the 1994 release of Handful Of Rain. This lineup featured Alex Skolnick, and later, Al Pitrelli on lead guitar, with Jeff Plate on drums. While Jon Oliva provided some contributions to the band for keys/piano and songwriting, he was perhaps the most removed from the band during this time, contemplating his future with Savatage. Handful Of Rain would be eventually considered a "tribute" album to Criss, but an official tribute album would be released in 1995, in the form of a live compilation of Criss' best live performances (between 1987-1990) - depending on the region it was released, it may be under the title of Final Bell, or Ghost In The Ruins (the latter being a track title from Streets). The final track on HOR, Alone You Breathe, would officially become "Criss' song". Oliva elected to continue with the band, and by 1995, with the return of Chris Cafferey on guitars, another concept record penned by O'Neill was put forth, Dead Winter Dead, based around the conflict in the Middle East during the early 90s. One of the tracks on the album, an instrumental called Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), based on the popular holiday carol, Carol Of The Bells, was intended to be the album's first single. But when O'Neill took it to the radio stations, it was refused - the stations took one look at the name "Savatage" and said "We don't play metal" (some insisting that "metal was dead"). Not to be quelled, a year later O'Neill created another concept album with a full holiday theme, and it would include the Savatage track - only this time, releasing the project under the name "Trans-Siberian Orchestra", which was basically Savatage, backed up by an orchestra. When O'Neill took the SAME song, unaltered, unchanged, and still UNHEARD, back to the radio stations, they accepted it. And when it was played, their switchboards lit up - like a Christmas tree - with callers demanding to know the name of the song and the artist (proving what clueless whoors most commercial radio stations are!). Needless to say it was a hit. And the success of it prompted O'Neill to continue with the TSO project, which featured most of the Savatage lineup, with O'Neill, Oliva, and Robert Kinkel as the primary writers/composers. TSO released 2 more albums with a holiday concept - 1998's The Christmas Attic, and 2004's The Lost Christmas Eve. All 3 albums were tied-in to form an arcing trilogy, and is often referred to as "The Christmas Trilogy". The latter two releases were "interrupted" by a non-holiday concept album released in 2000, called Beethoven's Last Night, telling a fictional account of the great composer during his final hours, and his alleged Tenth Symphony. During this time, O'Neill continued to write another concept album for Savatage, 1998's Wake Of Magellan. This album also featured Oliva providing vocals on a couple of tracks, but it would ultimately be the last album with Stevens, before his departure. I found this most disappointing, especially since the next (and final) Savatage release in 2001, entitled Poets & Madmen, strongly suggested to me that a more balanced utilization of both Oliva and Stevens' vocals would be implemented. But alas, it actually showed an absent Zak with Oliva making a full return to vocal duty. Which in itself was good, cops it was like the "old Savatage" (1982-1992) again, but I guess I still feel that title was a missed opportunity that should have been explored before Zak left.
2003-2013 : With Savatage officially in hiatus following P&M, the Savatage lineup was initially absorbed into the TSO project, which was continuing on strong, with a huge gap since the last release in 2004. The double-LP release in 2009 called Night Castle came forth - another non-holiday concept effort by O'Neill, but some of the session recordings included a couple of holiday themes (i.e. Nutrocker), and a follow-up EP in 2012 featured some "leftover" recordings from the Night Castle sessions, which included 2 more holiday tracks, and a couple of Savatage covers (Believe and Stay, the latter being an unreleased track, but both from the Streets album). However, TSO would only see one more release, 2015's Letters From The Labyrinth (which also looks like a Night Castle sequel or another "leftovers" compilation - which may or may not be a concept album itself), before Paul O'Neill would succumb to a prescription overdose. TSO continues to tour, just about every year, and as far as I know, Savatage alum still tour and perform with them. Except for Jon Oliva. He stepped away from the TSO after the Beethoven album, to pursue his own project, Jon Oliva's Pain. Under this moniker, Oliva would continue the raw, crunchy sound of Savatage, but still retaining some progressive elements of piano/vocal compositions. It also became the home of all of his brothers unfinished works ; demos, unreleased & unrecorded samples, etc. Jon went through ALL of it and stitched it all together into completed works spanning nearly a decade as one final tribute to his brother's legacy. With the debut `Tage Mahal in 2004, followed by Maniacal Renderings in 2006, Global Warning in 2008, and Festival in 2010, the JOP project concluded with 2013's Raise The Curtain, which was released sans "Jon", "Pain", and possessive tense of "Oliva" - just simply, "Oliva". In 2012, the entire Savatage catalog was re-released (again), as components to a complete box set, but oddly enough, each album was released out of sequence (save for the aforementioned Sirens / The Dungeons Are Calling launching the set), and even in the complete prepacked box set, the titles are all mixed up (that bugs me). This edition, along with previous reissues - including the 2002 "Silver Anniversary" reissues of Sirens & The Dungeons Are Calling, and the 2007 catalog reissue of albums from 1983-1993 - all featured bonus tracks that consisted of "acoustic versions" of songs both previously released and NOT previously released. One of the gimmicks was Jon and Zak "swapping" songs - Jon would do the vocals for songs from albums with Zak, and vice versa. Overall, there were enough acoustic tracks to make a whole compilation, and I did that ; I gathered all of them from all the reissue eras between 2002-2012, and call it "Savacoustic". It is 79 minutes of all the acoustic versions (with Jon Oliva only*) under the JOP moniker. * (The acoustic tracks with Zak were only a few, and so I placed them with the EOT and HOR albums as "bonus tracks", and to keep the lion's share of acoustic recordings consistent as a JOP album.) Some say TSO _is_ Savatage re-branded, but this is not true, cos Savatage continued alongside the TSO between 1996 and 2001. If anything, TSO is a "spin-off" of Savatage (though it has always been its own entity from the get-go). One might say, TSO is to Savatage as Frasier is to Cheers (with the same level of popularity compared to its predecessor). JOP would be more fittingly considered the "Savatage 2.0", if one needed there to be a Savatage continuance ; or they could also consider it another "spin-off" of the original project. If I might hazard another TV analogy, JOP is to Savatage as Three's A Crowd is to Three's Company... except that JOP was actually very good and held its own quite well, and had the endurance to last as long as it did, lol... while both were intended to pick up where the previous left off, they may be good in and of themselves, but will never be the same as the original. I dunno if anyone bothered to read all this, but if you did, props and thanks to you - I hope it made sense. I was just spinning off this entire Savatage/TSO/JOP mini-bio off the top of my head as my rusty old memory could recall it, so I hope I got everything correct. I suspect I may have gotten something wrong, left something out, or admittedly glossed over anything I was not entirely sure about the details on. I'm far from being any kind of "One-Man Wiki", lol, but I try. At any rate, this was all intended to give any newbies an overview of the Savatage legacy AND its relationship to TSO and JOP. ~ BN
This band is responsible for the Christmas rock opera known as trans siberian orchestra. Listen to the song believe. I've attended all of tso concerts since 2010 when I watched them live for the beethoven's last night tour for the first time and every Christmas concert since.
Not a 80s band in the original, they started under the name Avatar in the late 70s, but the Band Avatar already existed so they changed name to Savatage.
Yeah some songs from around here haven't aged well but when you hear some of these a first time they're still good. Maybe not listen to all the time good, but still a good song.
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Thanks for this video. I’m one of the guitarists in the video. It is always awesome to see these classic songs get played again. 🙂
Wow! Awesome to see you here!! Thank you. Is there a song you would like us to do? We've enjoyed both Savatage songs we have done so far!!
@@AMusicianandaJerk Edge of Thorns by Savatage
Thank you for the music Chris. My favourite band of all times💕
Chris! Legends. All of ya.
mr. caffery, we need more from you, sir.
Savatage is CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED
Ditto
Absofuckinglutely
Probably my favorite Savatage song, just have alot of personal history tied into this song. The guitarist that your lady friend is doting after is Criss Oliva. The singer is his older brother Jon. Criss was killed in a car accident in the early 90s by a drunk driver who hit Criss head on. His wife was with him, which I read somewhere that his wife is the lady in this video, not sure if that's true, but she survived the accident but was found dead in her home in 05'. She never really recovered from losing Criss. Which to me makes this song even more sad. Even though it's about a musician spending his entire life trying to write the perfect song and when he finally completes it, to much time has passed and he never got to live to see it's success. For me I can't help but think Criss didn't get to see how his music is still loved and appreciated. And how people even now like these two are watching these old video's and enjoying his playing and "other" things.. :)
Wow that's crazy. Thanks for the info.
Savatage were from Florida, started by brothers John (singer) and Chris (guitar). Chris died in a car accident and they brought in Al Pitrelli for their next couple of albums, including Dead Winter Dead, a concept album about the conflict in Sarajevo. It contained the song you mentioned, and spawned the birth of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Don't forget, before Pitrelli, Handful of Rain featured Alex Skolnick (former Testament Lead Guitarist) on ALL Guitars! Credit to the former Satriani student is deserved and due!
RIP Criss Oliva! The Dark Haired lead guitarist in the video who was killed by a Drunk Driver who had SEVEN previous DUI convictions. His wife Dawn Oliva(RIP) died a few years later due to injuries suffered in the same accident.
Can't go wrong with savatage! Great band!!
If you still want to check out more songs by them. Here's a good list for you:
- Morphine Child
- Gutter Ballet
- Edge Of Thorns
- Summer's Rain
- Turns To Me
- Legions
- He Carves His Stone
- Handful of Rain
- Alone You Breathe
- Chance
- Hounds
- Sirens
Savatage seven türke bayılırım 😂🤣
You forgot Hall of the Mountain King.
You will grow to love this band very dramatic they came out in the late 70s early 80s old school band hall of mounting King and 24 HRS to go as about 12 short solos you will love it thanks you rock
This song gonna hit hard once Jon's is totally done with Savatage. Rumors there is a final album in the making, fingers cross.
Jon stated in an interview within the past year he was looking at an early 2024 release.
He also claimed he wanted to record enough music for multiple albums if he ever decided to release them.
I hope it comes true, and if it is his last run in Savatage I hope the album will be a great sendoff.
"I need to hear more from these guys."
Yes, you do! If you want to stick with the ballad-y sound & poignant lyrics, you *need* to check out another of their masterpieces, "Believe". Other standout tracks from this era of Savatage (before Criss's death & with Jon still handling all the vocal work) but with a harder edge would include "Gutter Ballet", "Hall of the Mountain King", "Jesus Saves", and "Tonight He Grins Again". In the years after Criss was killed & when Jon passed on the lead vocals role there were still tons of great tunes; "Edge of Thorns", "Chance", "This Is The Time", "Anymore", and "Alone You Breathe" being among my favorites (the last track being a tribute to Criss).
As others have mentioned, the surviving members of Savatage would go on to found the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which is still active and packing arenas to this day. They sneak several old Savatage tunes into their performances, including some of songs I mentioned above. Also, just to clarify: _Criss_ Oliva was the band's lead guitarist; _Chris_ (topher) Caffery, who very awesomely commented on this video, had just joined the band as a second guitarist & also featured in the music video (and is still a core member of TSO).
👆☝️👏👍🍻🥂
For me, the acoustic version of Handful of Rain with Jon on vocals also got into my favorites.
Savatage is one of the most underrated bands ever. A friend of mine turned me on to them back in '87 and I was immediately hooked! The lead singer Jon Oliva and guitarist Criss Oliva founded the band out of Florida in '79. Sadly, Criss was killed in a car accident in '93 by a drunk driver. In "96 Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli went on to cofound Trans Siberian Orchestra. You definitely need to check out (Hall Of The Mountain King) (Gutter Ballet) (Streets: A Rock Opera) all great albums with no bad songs to be found! 🤘
Probably the most underrated heavy metal band. Summer’s Rain is your next stop 😏👋
Listen to Hounds! One of their best. I believe John stated it is the song he and his brother Chris were the most proud of.
I believe this song was written for the album Streets(a rock opera) and was borrowed along with Gutter Ballet for this album. Streets was originally to be titled Gutter Ballet and was based on a play the bands producer had written. That album was made later under the name Streets(a rock opera) without either of the above songs. I highly suggest you check out Streets but, if you can, get the narrated version. The album tells the story of a guy from the streets of NYC who becomes a rock star but he can't handle the fame and ends up falling hard.
I learned of them thru friends in the Army in Germany in 1987 and I'd play some of their music in the comms between tanks in Desert Storm. The amazing times I had with listening to them. Just awesome stuff.
Wow.
Hall of the mountain King including the intro prelude to madness you won't be disappointed with savatage ever
The Savatage story is pretty interesting. Going from metal to melodic rock operas to TSO...
Alone You Breathe might be my favorite Savatage..
IM 61 THIS BAND WAS MY LIFE, ALONG WITH THE BAND MANOWAR.
SAVATAGE / TRANS SIBERIA ORCHESTA AMAZING WORKS.
THE DEATH OF CHRIS WAS HEART WRENCHING BUT THEY CARRIED ON.
LISTEN TO BELIEVE
"....in the dark, it's easier to see...."
CHRIS! We have met brother. This song is such a reflection of life. Life keeps moving and sometimes its awesome to stop and just reflect. And at the end smile and move on to the next iteration of your existance!
Rip Chris Olivia My favorite guitar player and writer from Tampa bay Florida I believe SAVATAGE is the best.. keep promoting them.. love the video
My lovely bimbo the guitarist you are looking was one of the greatest of all time
If you're gonna take the journey, then start at the beginning with Sirens-Holocaust & I Believe in a row. This will give you the perspective to see how far they came and how good they were ALL along the way. The hidden gem for me is St. Patrick on Streets. Always good to see you on here Chris
Savatage! The pride of Tampa, Florida! Cheers! Check out "Gutter Ballet" by Savatage.
Savatage, Death Angel, Metal Church, Testament, you can't go wrong. The.best ballads come from .metal Bands. I like your channel
Extremely underrated band. Suggestions to check out from them: "Gutter Ballet", "Edge of Thorns", "Alone You Breathe", "Chance".
There are so many great Savatage classics. "When the Crowds are Gone", "Gutter Ballet", "Edge of Thorns", "Hall of the Mountain King", and "Morphine Child" just to name a few, but if I was going to recommend only one song by them it would have to be "Chance" from the "Handful of Rain" album. There are a lot of deep, meaningful songs in their roster, but that one is something special. It's about the efforts of Chiune Sugihara who took a chance on life in a world preoccupied with death.
One of the most underrated bands from my day and the fact the are the nucleus of Transiberian Orchestra is awesome.
Most people don’t know Chris Olivia and the woman were married. They both were in car accident where he died. Then later his wife
I don't remember correctly. But I'm pretty sure this song is intended to be a continuation/conclusion to the story from the "Streets - A Rock Opera," album.
Please please please. Listen to "IF I GO AWAY" or "BELIEVE"
Hey guys, Savatage actually became Trans Siberian orchestra. Awesome set of muscians
Savatage started in early mid 80"s. From Tampa Florida. They were called Avatar then changed added and name evolved to Savatage.
By the way I heard you mention the guitar may be an Ibanez, it's a Charvel. Charvel is the original "hot rod" or "super strat". A guitar based on the Fender Stratocaster built originally by Wayne Charvel in the late 70s who formerly worked for Fender. Guitarists like Eddie Van Halen came to Wayne to create an instrument with the playability of a Fender but with hot pickups and locking tremelo systems. Eventually he sold the company to Grover Jackson, and Ozzy's new Guitarist Randy Rhodes came to Grover with an idea for a V shaped guitar and the Jackson was born. Early charvel guitars used a fender style headstock, in the mid 80s they used similar pointy headstocks to Jackson guitars. Over the years Charvel and Jacksons production moved to various places including Japan at one point which changed to Caparison Guitars when Jackson left the Japanese facility. The original shop is still making custom guitars under the Jackson and Charvel names and some of the original luthiers still work there. Currently Jackson and Charvel are owned by Fender Musical Instrument company.
Grover Jackson and his crew is also the primary luthier for Tosin Abasi's line of guitars with Abasi Concepts.
Another that we should still have with us; Criss Oliva. I just commented on a Nevermore vid of yours but didn't expect you to have a Savatage vid up! 2 massively underrated bands.
this whole album is great. this is also one of the last Olivia brothers albums. 12/24 is a different lineup that would become the tran-sibirian orchestra.
Hello, I just wanted you know that I'm a die hard savatage fan, I heard of them since mid 80s. I have All there albums seen them in concert early 90s. Jon Olivia did a tribute album ten years after cross tragic passing. If you like what you have heard you will love all there music also lot of there albums tell a story. I hope you check out more. Rocking Roger
the famous charvel
This was filmed in the USA right out side of Orlando Florida. Great band great album
Was actually filmed in Rockford, Il
Was actually filmed in Rockford, Il
If you TSO, you know Savatage.
Savatage was a band formed in Tampa Florida by brothers Jon (vocals & keyboards,) & Criss Oliva (guitars) in the late-70s/early-80s, but their original band name was Avatar.
(See comments below for expanded synopsis/summary) :
1978-1993 :
After a couple demos and finally preparing to drop their debut LP Sirens in 1983, which was literally mere hours away, the band gets a call from the label saying that another band came forward claiming rights to the name Avatar, and if they proceed with releasing Sirens under the name Avatar, there would be legal ramifications. So after much intense brainstorming, a lat-minute change to the name was made : an "S was put in front, and the "r" was change to a "ge" = SAVATAGE. (Which to me sounds like a mash-up of the words "savage" and "sabotage", and a MUCH better name!!)
After Sirens, an EP was released, which was essentially the leftover material originally intended for Sirens, but due to the vinyl capacity limitations of the time, it would have had to be a double-LP, which the label refused to do, so, The Dungeons Are Calling was released in 1984. These two releases would later be re-released "in their combined entirety" as originally intended (as the start of the 2012 box set), under both titles separated by a forward-slash.
After the 1985 release of Power Of The Night, bassist Keith Collins gets replaced by Johnny Lee Middleton, who remains with Savatage to the end, and even carries over to TSO.
With the releases of Fight For The Rock (1986) and Hall Of The Mountain King (1987), the lineup of the Oliva brothers, Middleton, and drummer Steve "Dr Killdrums" (Doc) Wacholz, continued right up to 1993, with Chris Cafferey joining briefly for the recording (and touring?) of 1989's Gutter Ballet.
Prior to the release of Hall of The Mountain King, producer Paul O'Neill joins the fold, and becomes a game changer for the band. Acting as co-songwriter as well as producer, O'Neill infused more progressive sounds which included classical and traditional compositions (from the greats like Beethovem, Mozart, and Edvard Grieg, whose own Hall of The Mountain King was used as an instrumental introduction for Savatage's track of the same name, with Grieg's work being re-titled "Prelude To Madness" ; TSO would later cover this in 2009 and simply call their rendition "The Mountain").
Following HOTMK, O'Neill had proposed a full-scale rock opera concept for the band, which was originally titled Gutter Ballet, but due to "reasons", that title and some of its tracks (When The Crowds Are Gone and the title track) were released ahead for the non-conceptual 1989 album Gutter Ballet, and the rock opera was renamed to Streets, and that album was released in 1991.
While Streets bears the subtitle of "A Rock Opera", O'Neill stated that was never supposed to appear that way ; he merely made that notation on the pages containing track listing and other album information to the label, and Atlantic assumed "A Rock Opera" was part of the title, and so it went to press that way.
(Sidenote : A year later, Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. released a "solo" album, but for consistency was released under the W.A.S.P. name, with a rock opera concept of his own, somewhat similar to Streets, called The Crimson Idol - but the similarities start and end with it being a "rock opera" concept album, about a rock star enduring hardships and struggles, including addiction. The events and endings are very different, and even the protagonists are very different in their origins and situations - but the two albums are fun to compare).
1993-2003 :
1993 saw the release of Edge Of Thorns, in which Jon would step back from vocal duty due to vocal problems, and focus on piano & keyboards. Zak Stevens would be brought in as the new frontman.
Stevens vocals were a noticeable contrast to Oliva's ; where Oliva had a harsher,raspier "girtty" sound (though could "velvet it up" for the odd ballad), Stevens brought a smoother sound. By 1995, having recovered form his vocal issues, Oliva would emerge again providing vocals for some tracks, while Stevens remained the primary vocalist. However, the two styles prompted the collective reference of "The Poet & The Madman" to describe the contrast which actually worked very well.
Edge of Thorns, however, would be the last album with Criss Oliva, as he would be tragically killed by a drunk driver that same year - on the way to a show, no less. he was driving with his wife at the time. Criss was killed instantly, his wife suffered serious injuries, but of course, the drunk driver - already SEVEN DUI convictions deep prior to the incident, walked away with minimal injury (WHERE is the justice??).
With the demise of Savatage looming, it is eventually decided by the band that they would forge ahead, in honor of Criss, save for "Doc" Killdrums (Steve Wacholz) who was too devastated to continue and left the band, despite being credited on the 1994 release of Handful Of Rain. This lineup featured Alex Skolnick, and later, Al Pitrelli on lead guitar, with Jeff Plate on drums. While Jon Oliva provided some contributions to the band for keys/piano and songwriting, he was perhaps the most removed from the band during this time, contemplating his future with Savatage.
Handful Of Rain would be eventually considered a "tribute" album to Criss, but an official tribute album would be released in 1995, in the form of a live compilation of Criss' best live performances (between 1987-1990) - depending on the region it was released, it may be under the title of Final Bell, or Ghost In The Ruins (the latter being a track title from Streets). The final track on HOR, Alone You Breathe, would officially become "Criss' song".
Oliva elected to continue with the band, and by 1995, with the return of Chris Cafferey on guitars, another concept record penned by O'Neill was put forth, Dead Winter Dead, based around the conflict in the Middle East during the early 90s. One of the tracks on the album, an instrumental called Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24), based on the popular holiday carol, Carol Of The Bells, was intended to be the album's first single. But when O'Neill took it to the radio stations, it was refused - the stations took one look at the name "Savatage" and said "We don't play metal" (some insisting that "metal was dead").
Not to be quelled, a year later O'Neill created another concept album with a full holiday theme, and it would include the Savatage track - only this time, releasing the project under the name "Trans-Siberian Orchestra", which was basically Savatage, backed up by an orchestra. When O'Neill took the SAME song, unaltered, unchanged, and still UNHEARD, back to the radio stations, they accepted it. And when it was played, their switchboards lit up - like a Christmas tree - with callers demanding to know the name of the song and the artist (proving what clueless whoors most commercial radio stations are!).
Needless to say it was a hit. And the success of it prompted O'Neill to continue with the TSO project, which featured most of the Savatage lineup, with O'Neill, Oliva, and Robert Kinkel as the primary writers/composers. TSO released 2 more albums with a holiday concept - 1998's The Christmas Attic, and 2004's The Lost Christmas Eve. All 3 albums were tied-in to form an arcing trilogy, and is often referred to as "The Christmas Trilogy". The latter two releases were "interrupted" by a non-holiday concept album released in 2000, called Beethoven's Last Night, telling a fictional account of the great composer during his final hours, and his alleged Tenth Symphony.
During this time, O'Neill continued to write another concept album for Savatage, 1998's Wake Of Magellan. This album also featured Oliva providing vocals on a couple of tracks, but it would ultimately be the last album with Stevens, before his departure. I found this most disappointing, especially since the next (and final) Savatage release in 2001, entitled Poets & Madmen, strongly suggested to me that a more balanced utilization of both Oliva and Stevens' vocals would be implemented. But alas, it actually showed an absent Zak with Oliva making a full return to vocal duty. Which in itself was good, cops it was like the "old Savatage" (1982-1992) again, but I guess I still feel that title was a missed opportunity that should have been explored before Zak left.
2003-2013 :
With Savatage officially in hiatus following P&M, the Savatage lineup was initially absorbed into the TSO project, which was continuing on strong, with a huge gap since the last release in 2004. The double-LP release in 2009 called Night Castle came forth - another non-holiday concept effort by O'Neill, but some of the session recordings included a couple of holiday themes (i.e. Nutrocker), and a follow-up EP in 2012 featured some "leftover" recordings from the Night Castle sessions, which included 2 more holiday tracks, and a couple of Savatage covers (Believe and Stay, the latter being an unreleased track, but both from the Streets album).
However, TSO would only see one more release, 2015's Letters From The Labyrinth (which also looks like a Night Castle sequel or another "leftovers" compilation - which may or may not be a concept album itself), before Paul O'Neill would succumb to a prescription overdose. TSO continues to tour, just about every year, and as far as I know, Savatage alum still tour and perform with them.
Except for Jon Oliva. He stepped away from the TSO after the Beethoven album, to pursue his own project, Jon Oliva's Pain. Under this moniker, Oliva would continue the raw, crunchy sound of Savatage, but still retaining some progressive elements of piano/vocal compositions. It also became the home of all of his brothers unfinished works ; demos, unreleased & unrecorded samples, etc. Jon went through ALL of it and stitched it all together into completed works spanning nearly a decade as one final tribute to his brother's legacy. With the debut `Tage Mahal in 2004, followed by Maniacal Renderings in 2006, Global Warning in 2008, and Festival in 2010, the JOP project concluded with 2013's Raise The Curtain, which was released sans "Jon", "Pain", and possessive tense of "Oliva" - just simply, "Oliva".
In 2012, the entire Savatage catalog was re-released (again), as components to a complete box set, but oddly enough, each album was released out of sequence (save for the aforementioned Sirens / The Dungeons Are Calling launching the set), and even in the complete prepacked box set, the titles are all mixed up (that bugs me). This edition, along with previous reissues - including the 2002 "Silver Anniversary" reissues of Sirens & The Dungeons Are Calling, and the 2007 catalog reissue of albums from 1983-1993 - all featured bonus tracks that consisted of "acoustic versions" of songs both previously released and NOT previously released. One of the gimmicks was Jon and Zak "swapping" songs - Jon would do the vocals for songs from albums with Zak, and vice versa. Overall, there were enough acoustic tracks to make a whole compilation, and I did that ; I gathered all of them from all the reissue eras between 2002-2012, and call it "Savacoustic". It is 79 minutes of all the acoustic versions (with Jon Oliva only*) under the JOP moniker.
* (The acoustic tracks with Zak were only a few, and so I placed them with the EOT and HOR albums as "bonus tracks", and to keep the lion's share of acoustic recordings consistent as a JOP album.)
Some say TSO _is_ Savatage re-branded, but this is not true, cos Savatage continued alongside the TSO between 1996 and 2001. If anything, TSO is a "spin-off" of Savatage (though it has always been its own entity from the get-go). One might say, TSO is to Savatage as Frasier is to Cheers (with the same level of popularity compared to its predecessor).
JOP would be more fittingly considered the "Savatage 2.0", if one needed there to be a Savatage continuance ; or they could also consider it another "spin-off" of the original project. If I might hazard another TV analogy, JOP is to Savatage as Three's A Crowd is to Three's Company... except that JOP was actually very good and held its own quite well, and had the endurance to last as long as it did, lol... while both were intended to pick up where the previous left off, they may be good in and of themselves, but will never be the same as the original.
I dunno if anyone bothered to read all this, but if you did, props and thanks to you - I hope it made sense. I was just spinning off this entire Savatage/TSO/JOP mini-bio off the top of my head as my rusty old memory could recall it, so I hope I got everything correct. I suspect I may have gotten something wrong, left something out, or admittedly glossed over anything I was not entirely sure about the details on. I'm far from being any kind of "One-Man Wiki", lol, but I try.
At any rate, this was all intended to give any newbies an overview of the Savatage legacy AND its relationship to TSO and JOP.
~ BN
You can def hear the Tran Siberian orchestra in them
"where are these guys from?"
florida.
Here's how I start my morning. Yes. I'm awake now. (So are the neighbors....)
This band is responsible for the Christmas rock opera known as trans siberian orchestra. Listen to the song believe. I've attended all of tso concerts since 2010 when I watched them live for the beethoven's last night tour for the first time and every Christmas concert since.
Greatest Band Ever!
Do " Summers Rain " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
React to savatage, hand full of rain music video
Chris...RIP
They are from Tampa area florida
Not a 80s band in the original, they started under the name Avatar in the late 70s, but the Band Avatar already existed so they changed name to Savatage.
They've been around since 1979. They are the foundation for the musical phenomenon known as Trans Siberian Orchestra
Savatage so cool band in the 80'...
A loira ficou de cara com savatage, acho que se ela ouviu mais ela virou uma fã da banda, pois esta banda é surreal de boa
John and Chris were brothers , they sing a lot more amazing music
Abandoned concert hall
lot of tso here 😃👍
Jon oliva was one of the founding members of trans Siberian orchestera
John and Chris were brothers
Summer's Rain is a great song from them
Gutter Ballet is a MUST!!
criss oliva legend guitar player the best ever RIP CRISS
interesting thing the chorus at 5:10 is used in a song on every album after this. They merge to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
I believe (pun intended) that only believe and alone you breathe use the chorus too but maybe I’m wrong
Savatage is nothing, other than the greatest rock band ever
listen BELIEVE
there from florida !!!!
🤘
They were later the basis of Transiberian Orchestra...
Which one is the jerk?
quando guardate Criss Oliva e ridete, vuol dire che dovete cambiare mestiere
they would go on to form trans siberian orchestra
Watch the video at 6:12. LOL
Trans-Siberian orchestra came from savatage just not Jon oliva
Ok. You two talk too much during the video.
Jesus saves
Cassie u got an IG
Down atrociously
Good for its time, so-so today.
Yeah some songs from around here haven't aged well but when you hear some of these a first time they're still good. Maybe not listen to all the time good, but still a good song.
Can't watch it: you talk TOO MUCH ! Juste shut up and listen, talk after, you're not really listening
your laughter and poor reaction is disrespectful .
From florida, USA
Jon Oliva...Our John Lennon...
You turned this serious video into a comedy show..bllabla the whole video and inappropriate giggles..
These two are the worst at doing reactions, I can't even understand what he's saying and they talk to much during the video.
You should of done HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING .!!!
We did that after!
John and Chris were brothers
John and Chris were brothers