Label : Lava/Universal Republic Records
Review by Tony Cannella
Just in time for holidays comes the new EP from the traveling Christmas extravaganza known as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, entitled “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)”. Two female singers (Erika Jerry and Georgia Napolitano) are used as well as the male vocalist Tim Hockenberry. It is not very long but this is the classic sound of TSO that the fans have come to know and love. “Dreams of Fireflies” opens with two instrumentals. The first being the piano and guitar driven “Winter Palace”. This is a huge bombastic sound to it and it is definitely what people have come to expect from TSO. Next we have the second instrumental “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)”. This track features a cool interplay between the heavy guitars and orchestration. Next is “I Had a Memory” featuring the vocals of Erika Jerry and a rich sounding choir as the song morphs into an up-tempo, bouncy hard rock number. Erika Jerry has a big sounding, impressive voice with a lot of soul and passion. “Someday” is next and is a heartfelt acoustic ballad sung by raspy voiced Tim Hockenberry. This is actually a pretty sentimental and relatable song about growing older and moving on. The EP is completed with the piano ballad “Time You Should Be Sleeping”, sung by Georgia Napolitano. All three singers featured here represent a different style from each other. Georgia’s is more classical than the other two. She’s got such a hugely expressive voice as “Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)” comes to its conclusion. At only 5-songs and a length of 15-minutes, “Dreams of Fireflies” is a pretty short listen. This really isn’t a radical departure musically; it is simply the classic TSO sound. Listening to TSO will always put you in the holiday spirit and if you haven’t done so already, be sure to check out their Christmas tour – it is quite a spectacular experience.
Rating – 80/100
Tracklist
- Winter Palace
- Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night)
- I Had A Memory
- Someday
- Time You Should Be Sleeping
Line Up
- Erika Jerry – Vocals (on “I Had A Memory”)
- Tim Hockenberry – Vocals (on “Someday”)
- Georgia Napolitano – Vocals (on “Time You Should Be Sleeping”)
- Paul O’Neill – Guitars
- Jon Oliva – Keyboards
- Al Pitrelli – Lead, Rhythm Guitars
- Chris Caffery – Guitars
- Roddy Chong – Violin
- Angus Clark – Guitars
- Joel Hoekstra – Guitars
- Mee Eun Kim – Keyboards
- Vitalij Kuprij – Keyboards
- Jane Mangini – Keyboards
- Johnny Lee Middleton – Bass
- John O. Reilly – Drums
- Jeff Plate – Drums
- Derek Wieland – Keyboards
- David Zablidowsky – Bass
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