Trans X

What would happen if members of Savatage decided to write some Christmas songs? Easy: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This "supergroup" is the brainchild of Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill (respectively the leader-keyboardist and the producer of Savatage). They hired Al Pitrelli (Asia, Savatage) to play guitars, Robert Kinkel to help with keyboards, John Middleton (also a member of Savatage) on bass, and Jeff Plate on drums. Lead vocals are shared by six vocalists, while some of the backing vocals are handled by Savatage lead singer Zachary Stevens. Christmas Eve and Other Stories is a concept album: all the songs are built as chapters of a book, each telling part of a larger story. The plot here is of a young angel sent down to Earth to find and bring back to the Lord "the one thing that best represents everything good that has been done in the name of this day."

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Trans (1992) {Stockhausen-Verlag No. 19}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 114 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971-73, 1992 Stockhausen-Verlag | Stockhausen 19
Classical / Avant-Garde / Experimental / 20th Century

Since 1991, a complete edition of all recordings in which Karlheinz Stockhausen has personally participated is being released on compact discs. Each CD in this series is identified by Stockhausen's signature followed by an encircled number. The numbers indicate the general historical order of the works. Stockhausen realised the electronic music and participated in these recordings as conductor, performer, sound projectionist, and musical director. He personally mixed down the recordings, mastered them for CDs, wrote the texts and drew the covers.

For more than 20 years, progressive metal group Trans-Siberian Orchestra has cornered the market on holiday concept albums. The second installment in a trilogy, THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC tells the story of a little girl who spends nights in an attic filled with Yuletide reveries, a concept that TSO's sweeping soundscapes play to the hilt. Solo and choral vocals soar over the septet's rock orchestral backing across 16 tracks interweaving traditional and classical material with compositions by bandleader Paul O'Neill and cohorts. “Christmas Canon” would become a signature song for TSO, and this 1998 album and subsequent tour helped turn the group into a commercial juggernaut. The new 20th Anniversary Edition of THE CHRISTMAS ATTIC includes a previously unreleased on CD and vinyl version of “Christmas Jam (Live).” Merry Christmas from Rhino and Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

Aka Omega XIV and the first real studio album since Babylon in 1987. A kind of progressive pop that resembles most of all British band Camel. While being very melodic and well played, all songs are pretty same, medium tempo keyboard/guitar loaded epics sung in Hungarian language. While nothing is really bad, the album just drags on in the CD-age over length. Only for those deeply into this genre of stand-still-prog.
The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation…

Aka Omega XIV and the first real studio album since Babylon in 1987. A kind of progressive pop that resembles most of all British band Camel. While being very melodic and well played, all songs are pretty same, medium tempo keyboard/guitar loaded epics sung in Hungarian language. While nothing is really bad, the album just drags on in the CD-age over length. Only for those deeply into this genre of stand-still-prog.
The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega is one of the rare bands to have been known outside in his country. The legend has it that as albums were released in other countries it became necessary to brake the language barrier. Their music is a combination of Eastern European prog with a bit of symphonic and a bit of psyche prog. The result is a dark orchestrated sound combined with extended improvisation…

Don just completed a musical collaboration with Bill Sharpe of the great Shakatak band in the UK. Entitled Trans Atlantica, the CD is a musical travelogue - a collection of tracks produced and energized by two years of visiting one another’s studios from LA to London to Boulder, sending ideas and files back and forth over the Internet. It features players and singers including violinist Charlie Bisharat, flautist Elvis du Chez, singer Ashley Maher, and saxophonist Derek Nash.

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952) is among the most prominent names in contemporary music scene today. This new album by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu includes world première recordings of three works by Saariaho featuring bass-baritone Gerald Finley and harpist Xavier de Maistre as soloists. True Fire is a six-movement song cycle that was written to a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France, for baritone Gerald Finley with an original idea to explore the scope of the baritone voice. The texts conclusively determined what the vocal expression would be like and how the details in the musical material would shape up.