Track Listing

1. Angel Came Down
2. O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
3. Star to Follow
4. First Snow
5. Silent Nutcracker
6. Mad Russian's Christmas
7. Prince of Peace
8. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24
9. Good King Joy
10. Ornament
11. First Noel
12. Old City Bar
13. Promises to Keep
14. This Christmas Day
15. Angel Returned
16. O Holy Night
17. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3735 in Music
• Released on: 1996-10-15
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve and Other Stories a holiday rock opera? Or perhaps just a holiday prog-rock disc? Or maybe it's New Age? Whatever the case may be, this isn't your typical Christmas album. Filled with electric guitar solos, plenty of synthesized keyboards, a children's choir, and lively drumming, Christmas Eve can only be compared to one other record, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's other holiday disc, The Christmas Attic. On this CD, angelic vocal solos (on numbers such as "The Prince of Peace") are interspersed with driving instrumentals. Sentimental, occasionally bombastic, but as high-concept as holiday albums can be. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

CLASSIC
This is a classic cd that you will not tire of! I actually removed it from my Christmas storage this year in October (couldn't wait for Thanksgiving). There are several qualities to this cd. First, the arrangements are incredible. They are agressive and powerful and often combine themes from several songs into 1 (Carol of the Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen form Christmas Eve/Sarajevo). To pull this off, T.S.O. incorporates phenomenal musicianship to back these arrangements.

There is more to this cd than just great music. There is a Christmas tale which weaves the songs together into one work. The section of this story that always gets to me is from 'The Ornament' to 'This Christmas Day'.

Finally, what brings it all together is the choice of vocalists throughout the story - all fantastic. The emotion that is heard in these songs relating to the part of the story they are telling is as if they are living the story and we are observing it. Just listen to the vocalist of 'This Christmas Day' and I believe you will understand. I literally get chills at the end of this song.

All in all, this will be a favorite for years to come. Enjoy!

A Christmas album with year-round appeal
Well, usually around December sometime this album and its worthy successor become my two favorites to listen to - not to say you won't find me listening to it throughout the rest of the year, either. The album's 17 tracks, every single one of them excellent, are divided nearly equally between instrumental and non-instrumental tracks. The songs tell the story of an angel's quest and a runaway returned home for the holidays in an implied rock opera style. In doing so, Paul O'Neill and company are able to somehow capture the magic and spirit of the season with incredible accuracy. The style of the music varies greatly, from light to heavy and everything in between. Here you'll find piano / vocal driven Broadway moments, string filled symphonic moments, solo-guitar laden heavy metal moments, not to mention the tasteful inclusion of a children's choir and a song each to touch on folk and blues. Many of the album's melodies are borrowed from Christmas favorites, meaning plenty of the tunes will be very familiar to even the first time listener, and the original material on the album is just as spectacular as the reworkings of the classics. With at least six different lead singers, the album is both a musical and vocal treat. A definite essential.

Best of their Christmas Albums!
I originally bought this just for the Christmas Eve/Sarajevo piece, but I fell in love with the rest of it as well. The music varies from quiet guitar pieces to stuff that would belong in the wildest rock concert. This is no ordinary Christmas CD, that's for sure!

One of the neatest things about it is that the music tells the story of an angel sent on a mission, looking for something that best represents all the good people do one another for Christmas. The listener travels with the angel and listens in as he does on the lives of various characters until at last he comes across a father's prayer for a daughter that had run away from home. He follows the prayer to where the daughter is, and in helping her return home, finds what he is looking for and returns to heaven.

I have also listened to "The Christmas Attic", and that album is also nice, but the music just isn't as catchy as "Christmas Eve and Other Stories".