Customer Reviews

Still The Orchestra Plays

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Savatage is one of those bands to which no best-of compilation can do justice. Each period, from the band's early era to their encounter with Paul O'Neill during their mid era where they produced their absolute masterpieces (Gutter Ballet - Streets - Edge of Thorns) to their more progressive and symphonic stuff, is vastly different and should be listened to in its entirity. It is virtually impossible to cover the Savatage sound in a double CD.

Therefore, this compilation is primarily recommended only to die-hard fans and completists. I doubt even they would actually prefer to listen to Still the Orchestra Plays, though. Listening to only two or three songs from an album is far from leaving a huge effect, especially if said songs are from concept albums such as Streets, Dead Winter Dead, The Wake of Magellan, or Poets & Madmen (which is represented with just one song -- blasphemy!).

When the band released the compilation From the Gutter to the Stage in 1995, they included some bonus material, of which "This Is Where You Should Be" and the acoustic version of "D.T. Jesus" were absolutely mindblowing. Still the Orchestra Plays also contains three bonus tunes: acoustic versions of "Anymore", "Not What You See", and "Out on the Streets". All of them were recorded in 2009 by Jon Oliva. I remember reading somewhere that Jon also plays the guitar on the songs, but the booklet won't confirm me. The songs sound okay, but nowhere near as powerful as the original versions, especially "Not What You See". I was looking forward to hearing this one in an acoustic setting and Jon's unique singing, but it sounds totally uninspired and it seems like they were recorded because they had to be recorded as bonus material for a compilation.

My point is get this package if you want to have a DVD copy of the band's Live in Japan disc (recorded at a club in Kawasaki on 11/12/1994). This has already been available on VHS tape for years, but having it on DVD is still great. For those of you who haven't heard/watched this show, the lineup consists of Zak Stevens on vocals, Alex Skolnick on lead guitars, Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Jeff Plate on drums, and Jon Oliva on keys. Given that this album came out shortly after Handful of Rain, the first album without Criss Oliva on lead guitars, it mostly contains songs off of this record to accommodate Skolnick's style of playing. Exceptions are songs like "Edge of Thorns", "Damian", and "Jesus Saves", but I've always felt the lead guitars on "Edge of Thorns" sound quite different even though I love Skolnick as a guitar player. Also, while Zak Stevens is an absolutely perfect singer, he doesn't capture the same intensity on the Jon Oliva pieces. Oliva also does some vocals at the end of the show, sharing vocals with Zak on "Gutter Ballet" and wrapping things up with "Hall of the Mountain King".

This is a digipack -- I've always favoured jewel cases, so I can't say I am thrilled by that. Also, there is nothing special in the booklet: no liner notes, no new pictures, or anything. The booklet contains lyrics and credits, and the cover art looks rather rushed compared to the band's studio releases. At least the SPV reissues that came out a few years ago had great liner notes, explaining the songs and how they were written and recorded. This one pales in comparison to it. The songs are arguably remastered, but Savatage has always been one of the greatest produced bands on the planet, so the original songs sounded perfect already. Maybe the ones on this compilation are slightly "louder" but honestly who cares about the loudness war?

Bottom line is get this if you want to have the DVD. For the music, go to their studio albums.

This is a nice collection of Savatage songs and the DVD live from Japan with 3 Acoustic bonuses in which Jon Oliva sings and they are nicely done by the Mountain king.
Savatage is an under-rated band that had no luck in the sales and radio but musically we all admit that they are one of the best IF NOT even better than most of the well known bands.
On the other hand, Trans-siberian Orchestra arises from Savatage and hits the market and the Billboards.

This collection can be used as an introduction to a non-Savatage fan to know the band and to a TSO fan who is interested in Savatage to know what he/she was missing from the origin of TSO.

I got into Savatage in the early days, and followed them through all their changes. I was glad to read that this was coming out, but when I got it, I'd hoped it would have been better.
I NEVER buy best of compilations. I only bought this for the DVD. However, I thought the song selection was a pretty fair one. I know some folks would rather it include this or that - But if you're a fan of the band, you most likely have all the CD's anyway. (That's why I never buy best of discs)

The three acoustic songs Jon did for this release aren't all that. He's so talented - In my opinion, it's effortless for him to sit down on any afternoon and bang out some old songs acoustically. I guess this is more of a personal thing for me. Because as much as I love all Jon's music, I get really tired of the piano & acoustic-laden ballads. I'd rather have more heavy rock. After all, isn't that what built their legions of Savafans?

It's nice to finally have the Japan show on DVD now. The video quality is good. Better than some other tape transfers I've seen. But the audio transfer to the DVD is terrible. The sound quality is muffled. Not crisp & clear. I've had the Live In Japan CD for years. It's from the same show (minus a few tracks) but sounds much better. I just don't understand why they didn't do a better job of mastering it. After seeing/hearing remastered footage of Led Zep from back in the 60's, and AC/DC from the early 70's, I know it must be possible.

Great compilation. The 3 acoustic jon oliva tracks ar a nice bonus. The only issue is that the dvd has european encoding and will not play on most players.The dvd was the whole reason i purchased this so needless to say i am very disappointed.

Dvd is just as awesome as the cd! Outstanding addition & a "must" for the Savatage fan. Only draw-back is Criss Olivia is not performing on the dvd. That was a let-down.

The remastering of the older songs is fantastic. I kind of wish they would have put some more older tunes on this release but it is great! After I watched the DVD I went out and bought some of the newer releases because I wasn't that familiar with the new Savatage. I have the complete collection now and just recently bought Hall of the Mountain King, Gutter Ballet, Wake of Magellan, Streets, Sirens, Power of the night all on Digipak 2010-2011 Remasters so look for those because the sound quality is of course greatly improved. Anyway I got the CD and DVD for 12 dollars and that was a deal!!! If your into similiar Savatage branches check out Circle to Circle by Zachary Stevens (2nd lead singer of Savatage). Also Jon Oliva's Pain, Trans Siberian Orchestra. Ronnie Munroe (Metal Church) now has one of Savatage's old guitar players Chris Caffery so I'm buying that CD next week because it rocks the house! Chris also has solo work out there. Rock on Savatage!!!

Is anyone else having issues with the DVD? I have tried 4 different DVD players, and it will not play on any of them. From an old one to a new 3D one, I just purchased! It plays fine on my laptop! My nothing on DVD players! Any help out there? I want to see it on the big screen!

It's great seeing this greatest hits collection, but as a die-hard fan I was disappointed. The packinging is nice, but has a couple major flaws.

First, there's no personnel listing so unless you're familiar with the band's personnel changes over the year you're not going to either learn who is in the band nor who plays on what song from this collection.

Second, Savatage had many great 'hits', but really hits here translates to 'fan favorites' as their radio play was minimal and never really had chart success ... until their release 'Dead Winter Dead' and the overnight success of the song "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)". Compared to the success of this song, which would lead to the creation of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the death of Savatage, they really never had any 'hits'. So, that being said, it's shocking to see a 2 CD collection of hits ... and the exclusion of "Christmas Eve..." Yes, that's right. The one song they are known for is missing.

I really don't want to to complain about the song selection, but outside of the missing "Christmas Eve" the song selection is odd. It's misses this key hit but includes three post-Savatage acoustic recordings. Further, this is not an overview for the band. Their debut album is missing, let alone some major later career (Al Pitrelli era) 'fan favorites'. It's nearly impossible to list all the great songs by Savatage though without a boxset so in some ways I forgive them.

I bought the 2 CD set not the CD/DVD set as I already have the Japanese concert on DVD. Though, what's interesting is that the concert features Alex Skolnick who never recorded with the band. What would be better is a DVD of numerous video clips from over the entire career, featuring Alex, yes, plus his replacement Al Pitrelli, plus earlier days with Criss Oliva along with the obscure final tour with Damond Jiniya and Al's successor Frank Frost (two other folks that didn't record with the band.)

If you want to discover Savatage I'd personally go for their individual albums starting with Power Of The Night, Gutter Ballet, Dead Winter Dead, The Wake Of Magellan

Instead of this greatest hits I wish they'd release some of the live concerts that some of us have only been able to get on bootleg DVD. There's nothing quite like hearing Zak Stevens duet with Jon Oliva on the old songs that didn't happen on the studio recordings.

awesome CD. a must have if you like TSO or Savatage. product arrived when promised. A+++++ seller!!!!

The DVD I received was a REGION "0" DVD which is good in all DVD players. The DVD is a direct copy of the VHS and the sound quality is below average, more like a bootleg. But the show is timeless and worth every penny! 5 STARS!.