Streets: A Rock Opera

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Streets: A Rock Opera
Studio album by Savatage
Released	1991
Recorded	January–July, 1991 321 Studios, New York
Genre	Progressive Metal
Length	68:33
Label	Steamhammer
Producer(s)	Paul O'Neill
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Jim Gordon (Favorable) link
Savatage chronology
Gutter Ballet (1989)	Streets: A Rock Opera (1991)	Edge of Thorns (1993)

Streets: A Rock Opera is a concept album by Savatage, dealing with the rise and fall of the musician DT Jesus. It was released in 1991 on Steamhammer. The album took almost a year to record.

The story features a fallen rock star called DT Jesus, who has hit hard times. He is a drug dealer as the story begins. DT Jesus is just another lowlife on the streets of New York City. Streets explains the story behind DT Jesus and his rise to fame again and his second fall.

The concept of Streets is based on a book written by Paul O'Neill that was written many years prior to Paul's involvement with the band. Streets was never meant be an autobiography. ^[1] In fact, it was written in 1979 as a Broadway play and stored in a drawer at Paul O'Neill's home until Criss Oliva found it and suggested it be Savatage's next album. It is considered coincidental that the life of lead vocalist Jon Oliva mirrored that of the main character DT Jesus at the time.

Songs like Jesus Saves and Ghost in the Ruins were "rocked up", said O'Neill, while many others, including Believe, Heal My Soul, and A Little Too Far, all appear in the same version intended for their Broadway performances. Other tracks like Streets and Strange Reality were written expressly for the rock opera.

Had the title track of their previous album not been completed in time, Savatage would have liked to call the record Gutter Ballet, but its inclusion on their previous record meant this was not going to happen. Instead, the band wanted to call the album Ghost in the Ruins. Eventually, an album entitled Ghost in the Ruins was released in 1995 as a tribute to Criss Oliva.

The album was originally due to be a double CD record, but record label Atlantic Records did not like the idea, so some songs were dropped from the record, whilst others were re-written over the years and eventually formed parts of songs on Edge of Thorns. Among the songs that were dropped were "DT Jesus". That song was later released on the From the Gutter to the Stage compilation; "Larry Elbows" (referred to by some as "the 17th track"), "Desiree" (which was later released on the 1997 Edel re-release of the album), "Stay", which involves the otherwise unknown character of Duke; "Tonight I Would Be King", "Sanctuary" (itself a rework of the Gutter Ballet out-take "Target"), and "Beyond Broadway". Originally the album would contain more spoken tracks than the one used for the introduction for Jesus Saves (which was a reworking of DT Jesus after Atlantic did not like the original version, and was recorded with only Jon and Criss in the studio, much like Gutter Ballet). The band has expressed no desire to re-release the album as a double CD as originally intended, partly because the only recordings that remain are on audio cassette of the master tapes, and partly because most of the original ideas for the songs were used in later works.

The band recorded a music video for the song Jesus Saves which received some airplay on MTV, and also recorded a video for New York City Don't Mean Nothing, but that video has been "lost" and was never aired.

Contrary to popular belief, Paul O'Neill did not write all the lyrics to the songs. Songs such as Tonight He Grins Again, Agony and Ecstasy and If I Go Away are songs that Jon wrote the words and most of the music to.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 1997 Edel Re-Release Tracks 1.2 2002 SPV Re-Release Tracks 2 Line-Up 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Track listing

1. "Streets" – 6:50
2. "Jesus Saves" – 5:13
3. "Tonight He Grins Again" – 3:28
4. "Strange Reality" – 4:56
5. "A Little Too Far" – 3:25
6. "You're Alive" – 1:51
7. "Sammy And Tex" – 3:07
8. "St. Patrick's" – 4:17
9. "Can You Hear Me Now" – 5:11
10. "New York City Don't Mean Nothing" – 4:01
11. "Ghost In The Ruins" – 5:32
12. "If I Go Away" – 5:17
13. "Agony And Ecstasy" – 3:33
14. "Heal My Soul" – 2:35
15. "Somewhere In Time" – 3:17
16. "Believe" – 5:42

[edit] 1997 Edel Re-Release Tracks

• 17. "Desiree" 3:54

[edit] 2002 SPV Re-Release Tracks

• 17. "Ghost in the Ruins" (live) 5:20
• 18. "Jesus Saves" (live) 4:02

[edit] Line-Up

• Vocals: Jon Oliva
• Guitar: Criss Oliva
• Bass: Johnny Lee Middleton
• Drums: Steve Wacholz
• Keys: John Zahner (Touring Member Only)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Art and Faith Online: an analysis of the religious elements of Streets
• Lyrics

Savatage
Jon Oliva | Damond Jiniya | Chris Caffery | Al Pitrelli | Johnny Lee Middleton | Jeff Plate | Paul O'Neill
Criss Oliva | Keith Collins | Steve "Doc" Wacholz | Zak Stevens | Alex Skolnick | Jack Frost
Discography
Studio Albums: Sirens | Power of the Night | Fight for the Rock | Hall of the Mountain King | Gutter Ballet | Streets: A Rock Opera | Edge of Thorns | Handful of Rain | Dead Winter Dead | The Wake of Magellan | Poets and Madmen
Extended Plays: The Dungeons Are Calling | Chance EP | Doesn't Matter Anyway EP
Live Albums: Japan Live '94 | Final Bell / Ghost in the Ruins
Compilation Albums: From the Gutter to the Stage | The Best and the Rest | Believe
Related articles
Doctor Butcher | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | Jon Oliva's Pain | Circle II Circle | Seven Witches | Megadeth | Testament | Annihilator
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