Customer Reviews

Beethoven's Last Night

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I looked forward to this album's release, especially after hearing TSO's treatment of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," on THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC, but I was disappointed by the final product. The instrumentals are still good but there are far too few of them. The choral numbers are identical to those in ATTIC and the soloist voices, except for Patti Russo, sound like good community theatre, at best.

The plot, while cute, has little substance and a too-cute plot "twist" at the end. The lyrics are simplistic and reminded me of some things written by friends in college, or maybe an improv song on "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

I had great hopes for this album. It's too bad that TSO got so wrapped up in wanting to be Broadway producers and forgot about making good music. I'll just program my CD player to play the good bits and leave the rest out.

If you don't end up crying by the end of this album, you have no heart! This CD is simply amazing! I love rock operas and concept albums, whether they be done by Savatage (who are pretty much the same guys that are in Trans-Siberian Orchestra but with one (and sometimes two) singers) Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Queensryche, Iced Earth, or the many other bands who have caught on to the idea. This has got to be The Rock Opera of all rock operas! I don't really feel like taking the time to tell you all what it's about, so I'll just say that it's about Beethoven's Last Night! The band intigrates a lot of Beethoven's music into the album wonderfully, though most of the music is original. Paul O'Neill is an extremely gifted lyricist and his lyrics shine on this album. This album is extremely moving and intelligent (which most music today lacks). There are very slow, emotional songs and some more upbeat ones, but this is a pretty steady album and really needs to be listened to from start to finish without interuptions. Highlights are: Mephistopheles, What Is Eternal, The Moment, The Dreams of Candlelight, Requiem (the Fifth), I'll Keep Your Secrets (my personal favorite on the album), Who Is This Child, and A Final Dream. This album is loaded with emotion, intelligence, and extreme talent. If you're into rock operas, progressive rock, or just thought-provoking music in general, I highly recommend this!

Let me start off by saying that this album blew me away from just the first listen. I have two other TSO albums, "The Christmas Attic" and "The Lost Christmas Eve", as well as one Savatage album, "Streets: A Rock Opera". I didn't know what to expect of this album. Since it's by TSO, I knew that it would be good, but I didn't know that it would be this good. If you are a fan of TSO, this album is a must have. Also, it doesn't revolve around Christmas which is nice.

If I had to pick any one musical recording to take with me to isolation (on an island or such) this would be the one! Even better than Christmas Eve & Other Stories, this album is musical perfection! The song What Is Eternal is one of the best songs ever recorded, but the whole album is fantastic. I have long been a fan of symphonic/orchestral/progressive rock (The Moody Blues is a longtime fave) and this album is absolute symphonic rock perfection! The only thing I need now is more music like it!

This CD is fantastic!!! It is very entertaining. I just can't say enough about it.... BUY IT!! You'll love it! This is great for at home listening but also great for highway/interstate travel.

About 4-5 cuts into this CD, I was wondering if I had made a mistake. By the time the end had come, I was completely hooked. Great story and terrific music. Make sure you read the notes before listening to the CD so you can follow the storyline through the songs. I especially like the instrumentals. No one does this kind of thing better than TSO.

I am a long time listener of classical music. What TSO has done with the music of Beethoven is outstanding. This is a masterpiece ! If you enjoyed Emerson, Lake, & Palmer's Pictures at an Exhibition then you'll like this. We enjoyed their Christmas concert a year ago. This one is a keeper.

What can I say... I have no words to describe the greatness of this last album of TSO so i'll do my best trying to review this one.
Beethoven's Last Night is a story about the night Beethoven dies. He deals with "Fate", "Twist", "Mephistopheles" and other characters who take part in this amazing metal opera. Like the other two albums, it does have te same structure: Story summmary & songs with fragments of the story before each song.
Maybe some people would say that I'm crazy but i think that this album is much much better than Avantasia wich is also a Metal Opera. BLN have great musicians and the singers... all of htem are stunning. This is by far the best album of Trans Siberian Orchestra. So if you have the other two, what the heck are you waiting for? buy it now!

REMEMBER: This album is from a band called Trans Siberian Orchestra wich is a side project of a Power Metal Band called Savatage so if you like power metal it's sure you love this piece of art BUT if you don't like power metal maybe you won't like this album 'cause they put their unique style in the whole album. Of course you don't need to be a metallian to hear this album, my mother like it and she is 52 years old.
So my final quote is: If you like power metal BUY IT, else Try Amazon's music sampler to hear song samples from this album.

... for the microwave, or under the short leg of your table, or as a shooting target. Tooth-rottingly sugary, pretentious, overblown, commercialized crap from a half-a$$ed sell-out 80's band.

As noted by quite a few others, this disc is one that has to grow on you. I wasn't sure on first listen, but each subsequent listen gets better. The "Broadway" vocal styles are not my favorite, the only thing that keeps this from a 5......