Streets: A Rock Opera

The story features a fallen rock star called DT Jesus (DT is short for either De-Tox or Down-Town), who has hit hard times. He is a drug dealer as the story begins and just another lowlife on the streets of New York City. Streets recounts 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 in 1979 as a Broadway play and stored in a drawer at O'Neill's home until guitarist Criss Oliva found it and suggested it be Savatage's next album.[1] It was never meant to be an autobiography and it is considered coincidental that the life of lead vocalist Jon Oliva mirrored that of the main character DT Jesus at the time.[1][2]

Savatage had thought about writing a rock opera after their successful collaboration with O'Neill in recording Hall of the Mountain King. During the recording of its follow-up in 1989, Criss Oliva found a play and accompanying music written by O'Neill, which the band intended to use on their album. Soon after, however, the band felt they were not ready yet, and postponed the idea for their next record.[2] The record they were working on still received the name of the play, Gutter Ballet, and the song from the play "When the Crowds Are Gone" was recorded for the album. The band then decided that their next album would be based on the play and started pre-production in October 1990, entering the studio to record what would become Streets at the beginning of 1991.[2][3]

After the tour supporting Gutter Ballet however, rhythm guitarist Chris Caffery left Savatage on friendly terms to rejoin his brother's band, where he could play lead guitar instead of rhythm guitar.[2] He would later rejoin Savatage in 1995 for the recording of Dead Winter Dead and has remained a member ever since.

Songs like "Jesus Saves" and "Ghost in the Ruins" were "rocked up", said O'Neill, while many others, including "Believe", "Heal My Soul" (which is based on a traditional Welsh lullaby, "Suo Gân"), 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. Originally the album would contain more spoken tracks than the one used for the introduction for "Jesus Saves". This track was a reworking of the song "DT Jesus" after Atlantic Records executives did not like the original version, and was recorded along with "Can You Hear Me Now" with only Jon and Criss Oliva in the studio.[1]

Savatage would have liked to call the record Gutter Ballet as the original play written by O'Neill, but the inclusion of the song on their previous record made it impossible. In retrospect, the band wanted to have called the album Ghost in the Ruins.[3] O'Neill said that "Streets was OK too", but Jon Oliva disliked the fact that A Rock Opera was tagged onto the title. Oliva has said he has only introduced any performance of the album simply as Streets.[3] Eventually, an album entitled Ghost in the Ruins was released in 1995 as a tribute to Criss Oliva.

On September 27, 2013, EarMusic Records released a 31-track narrated version of the album, which also includes the previously unreleased song "Larry Elbows" and the original version of "Jesus Saves", making it the most complete version ever released.[4]

The band recorded a music video for the song "Jesus Saves" which received some airplay on MTV, and featured long time Savatage cover artist Gary Smith playing the role of DT Jesus.[3] A video was filmed for "New York City Don't Mean Nothing", but that video has been "lost" and as of 2015 has never been aired.

"Heal My Soul" was re-recorded by Savatage's offshoot musical project, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, on a 2007 Wal-Mart CD sampler. "Believe" was re-recorded with Tim Hockenberry on vocals by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on their 2009 album Night Castle.

During their 2007 tour, Jon Oliva's new project, Jon Oliva's Pain performed some of the album, in album running order, as a special surprise to audiences. Oliva himself noted on stage that some of the songs performed had never been performed live to an audience before.

Jon Oliva's Pain performed the album in its entirety at the 2014 edition of the ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, GA.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10[6]
Metal Hammer (GER)	7/7[7]
Rock Hard	9.5/10[8]

In 2005, Streets: A Rock Opera was ranked number 310 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[9]

All music composed by Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva and Criss Oliva. All lyrics written by Paul O'Neill and Jon Oliva, based on a book written by Paul O'Neill.

Savatage

• Jon Oliva – vocals, piano, keyboard, drums on "Jesus Saves" and "Can You Hear me Now"
• Criss Oliva – guitar, backing vocals, bass on "Jesus Saves" and "Can You Hear me Now"
• Johnny Lee Middleton – bass, backing vocals
• Steve "Doc" Wacholz – drums

Additional musicians

• Robert Kinkel – keyboards, Children's Choir conductor
• Children's Choir – intro (Mozart's Magic Flute) and background vocals on "Streets"
• Elena Doria – Children's Choir director
• Abi Reid – female background vocals
• John Zahner – keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (touring member)

Production

• Paul O'Neill – producer
• John Kayne, James A. Ball – engineers
• Scott Burns, Judd Packer, Noah Baron, Tim Hatfield – additional engineering
• Joe Daley, Scott Pizzo, J'Kael Trstram, Jay DeVito – assistant engineers
• Greg Calbi – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York
• Chris Fountain, Kurt Johnson – technical assistants
• Bob Defrin - cover design
• Tory Chartier – cover development
• William Hames – photography
• Gary Smith – back cover illustration