Christmas Eve and Other Stories

Christmas Eve and Other Stories
Studio album by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Released October 15, 1996
Recorded 1995-1996
Length 62:03
Label Lava Records
Producer Paul O'Neill and Robert Kinkel
Trans-Siberian Orchestra chronology
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
(1996)		 The Christmas Attic
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Christmas Eve and Other Stories is the debut album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

It was released on October 15, 1996, and is the first album in their "Christmas trilogy", with The Christmas Attic (1998) and The Lost Christmas Eve (2004) coming after it. All three albums, as well as their The Ghosts of Christmas Eve DVD, were featured in the The Christmas Trilogy box set.

The story is about a young man who wanders into a bar on Christmas Eve where he encounters a mysterious old man who tells him a tale about the magical effect of Christmas Day on the human race. The album takes familiar classical pieces and adds to them new songs and arrangements from both classic and progressive rock influences for which the group is known. The album also contains a mix of vocal and instrumental songs. The primary musicians on the album are all members of the progressive metal band Savatage (Paul O'Neill, the producer of the album, is Savatage's longtime producer). Jon Oliva, one of the principal songwriters on the album, is also a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and original vocalist in Savatage. (Oliva is also the voice of Mephistopheles on Beethoven's Last Night.) Cover art created by Edgar Jerins.[2]

As of November 2014, Christmas Eve and Other Stories was the ninth best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the United States during the Nielsen SoundScan era of music sales tracking (1991 – present), with sales of 3,430,000 copies according to SoundScan.[3]

On November 28, 2011, Christmas Eve and Other Stories was certified Triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of three million copies in the United States.[4]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "An Angel Came Down"  Franz Gruber, Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva 3:52
2. "O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night" (instrumental)John Francis Wade, Frederick Oakeley, John Reading, Adolphe Adam, John Sullivan Dwight, O'Neill, Robert Kinkel 4:19
3. "A Star to Follow"  O'Neill 3:49
4. "First Snow" (instrumental)O'Neill 3:53
5. "The Silent Nutcracker" (instrumental)O'Neill 2:22
6. "A Mad Russian's Christmas" (instrumental)Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Kinkel, Oliva 4:42
7. "The Prince of Peace"  Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Wesley, O'Neill 3:33
8. "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" (same recording released in 1995 by Savatage; instrumental)O'Neill, Kinkel, Oliva 3:25
9. "Good King Joy (Instrumental)"  Lowell Mason, Kinkel, O'Neill 6:36
10. "Ornament"  O'Neill, Oliva 3:37
11. "The First Noel" (instrumental)Traditional, O'Neill 0:55
12. "Old City Bar"  O'Neill 6:18
13. "Promises to Keep"  O'Neill, Kinkel, Oliva 2:41
14. "This Christmas Day"  O'Neill, Oliva 4:20
15. "An Angel Returned"  O'Neill, Oliva 3:52
Bonus tracks
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
16. "O Holy Night" (instrumental)Adam, Dwight 2:39
17. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (instrumental)Traditional 1:16
Target bonus tracks
No. Title Length
18. "Whoville Medley (Perfect Christmas Night/Grinch)"   2:38
19. "The World That He Sees"   4:43

There is a 2 CD version of Christmas Eve and Other Stories with one CD containing a Special Narrated Version Of Christmas Eve and Other Stories. The narrated CD contains one continuous track of music, with narration by Russell Horton between songs. This special edit was done by Robert Kinkel and was produced by Taro Meyer.

Personnel

Performers

Vocals

Solos:

Back-Ups:

Child choir

Conductor:

Choir:

Instrumental

Solos

Orchestra

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Interview with Edgar Jerins
  3. ↑ "The Gifts That Keep on Giving: Biggest Radio and Album Hits of the Holidays". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 1, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ "RIAA Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2011-12-01.

External links

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