Customer Reviews

Night Enchanted

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Oddly, there seem to be two pages for this actually single mp3. Therefore, this review is merely a copy of my other review.

I've been an incredible fan of TSO, not having missed a concert in four years, owning all of their albums. Additionally, I own every Savatage album, and some of Jon Oliva's side project too. So, with an extensive history in TSO, 'tage and O'Neill, I say: This is amazing?

Beethoven's Last Night is incredible. The pacing of songs is well done. This song, however, is merely a chorus. There are no catchy riffs, no emotional buildups... I'm not saying that talent-wise, this track is poor. The vocals are impressive, especially the beautiful female singer. However, there is more to music than technical talent. This song is just plain boring. It has no builds, no crescendo. It fluctuates, sure, but the song as a whole builds to nothing. I find the chorus more obnoxious than well-utilized here - there is simply too much of it. The chorus works so well in Beethoven's Last Night because it is used sparsely and wisely, at excellent moments of crescendo or power. In that album, the chorus is my favorite aspect. Here, however, the chorus dominates the entire song here. Additionally, the overproduction is just painful. The song is so clean, it's sterile. I truly wish that this song had more soul - it SHOULD.

By utilizing a chorus, the song attempts to be "epic", surely. But the fact is that the song hardly achieves that goal, because it fails to build to a climax. There are many small ones, but they only serve to make the song disjointed. There was a level of majesty that could have been reached in "Night Enchanted" that was not. This is disappointing because their rendition of Carmina Burana is truly marvelous. I have high hopes for this album and certainly I will buy it the minute it's released. If it mirrors this track, however, it will be a disappointing purchase. Too much of a good thing is a time-tested adage, and it proves true here as well. Perhaps in the context of the album this song will be better. At least it tells us something - they've actually written more than one song, so maybe this album does exist and will be released one day.

I have not purchased the full mp3 but there is enough substance here to make an assessment. The most striking thing about this track is that it sounds eerily like a Danny Elfman composition (Composer: almost all Tim Burton's films, Beetlejuice, Spiderman); and more specifically it sounds like something out of Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Pitch bending the choir, slamming the kick drum and overplaying the same guitar riffs do not make a great album. There is a nice melodic structure here and some decent harmony, but TSO seems to want to add flourish to the composition when substance is what is needed most. One thing that could really save this album is the quality of the songs that Rob Evan sings. He brought immense life to some rather dull composing on the Lost Christmas Eve album. I credit Bob Kinkel with the lyrics for all their albums, he's quite the lyricist and can sometimes give Sir Tim Rice a run for his money. But the music never lives up to the lyrics. Beethoven's Last Night was them at their best and even that was somewhat lackluster due to the fact that they borrowed half of the music on the album from one of the greatest and well-known composers rather than pursue more compositions in the style that Mephistopheles's songs were written. Paul O'Neil was supposedly holding this album in the studio to perfect it, let's hope his efforts are not wasted despite that this track makes me believe so.

Now we've heard TSO's rendition of both O Fortuna and Dies Irae, two of my favorite choral songs. Seeing as how choral music is some of my favorite, if they plan to do other choral songs on their new album, it may become their best yet.

TSO fans have been waiting for years for the release of "Night Castle." So, here is our first studio glance at the work we've been awaiting. Immediately, we have some things working against us...

1. The only other glimpses we've gotten have been live tracks, be it "O Fortuna" or ther Untitled live track floating around YouTube. The live element of TSO gives them a power that can't be captured on CD. It's bigger, louder, and much more intense. So we go from the Live experience to a Studio experience, and there is a certain loss to the music. I'm not sure it can be helped.

2. We have no storyline to place the music into. While songs like Christmas Eve Sarajevo and even Christmas Canon are played on the radio and work as individual tunes, they pick up an extra dose of wonder by knowing the story to which the song is attached. We (well, at least I)have no idea what the story behind Night Castle is. This song is, most likely, a plrelude or Overture of some sort. We have two pieces here--Dies Irae and Aria (my apologies I do not know Aria's true name...though I know the melody immediately from Yanni's version). Two melodies. Do they figure into the rest of the score, like the Overture to Beethoven's Last Night? Hard to say, but I'm thinking they will. And maybe then it'll make more sense and give a broader sense of what we're hearing.

Many listeners comment on the "overdone" choir. The original Dies Irae on which that part is based IS overdone and huge and dramatic. So, TSO capturted that beautifully. What upsets me is the guitar/drum call and answer, in the orchestral version, is a huge symphonic chord followed by a massive drum hit (Whee! BOOM!). Here we get a simple bass drum kick. WHAT?!? We want the big, boomy sound. But, again, in a live version, we'd probably get big. This is studio--smaller. Guess we'll have to live with that.

So, 2 good melodies, 2 drastically different parts, with us wanting MORE. Maybe TSO did ythe perfect teaser...a free MP3 that leaves us goingk, "Wait...that's it? Where's the rest? I want more!" So we go seeking more. Could be a brilliant move.

Let's hope their bordering-on-ridiculous perfectionism that has kept us waiting pays off. Bring on the rest, Mr. O'Neill. We're ready and hoping.

the song is great. i've heard it in concert, which i think is better, but the album version is great too. like previously said, it's about the whole album, and this song is most likely placed exactly where it needs to be to make the movement of the album perfect. i know that most people are just cranky that it has taken so long to put out this project. but frankly, i'm sure it takes a lot to get things just right for them to tell the story they tell. plus, there's a lot of refining to be done, and with their new songs, they have to do not just guitar/keys/drums like most bands, but orchestral parts and such. and they're not going to put the best song from the album out for free before the release date - then the rest of the album would be a disappointment from creating such a high standard. give TSO a break. wait for the whole album before dissing them on this project. i'll just put the song in my mp3 rotation and enjoy :)

Sorry never used this item, believe it was a free music download for one of the Freebie websites or Coupon websites that I visit often

I am a totally addicted TSO fan so perhaps my review is not objective but I love this CD as I like all their music and also have never missed one of their concerts - if you are not familiar with TSO then you should give this a try.

I love this album. TSO's performance is amazing and watching them play is so captivating you find yourself holding your breath! I hope they return to Portland Oregon soon.

Another great TSO CD.
Not as good as Beethovan, but still good. Several good/great songs, a few so so songs, and a few songs I don't need to hear again.

This is by far their worst album. TSO needs to stay away from opera, stop remixing their current songs, and come up with fresh and new material. The East Coast tour has bigger guest stars at their concerts, so perhaps a live album based off of recordings from the East Coast tour would have done much better. In the end, my family and I just could not get into this album. Disappointing because their concert is a yearly tradition. Better luck next album. Maybe.