The Twelve Days of Reviewmas: Day 8: The Lost Christmas Eve by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Welcome to day 8 of the Twelve Days of Reviewmas, in today's post i will be reviewing the 3rd and final album in The Christmas Trilogy by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The Lost Christmas Eve is the 4th full length album by Trans-Siberian Orchestra it was their 3rd and final album in their Christmas Trilogy which contains Christmas Eve and the Other Stories and The Christmas Attic. The album was released on October 12th, 2004.

The story of the album taken from Wikipedia is:

The story starts with a teardrop of infinite sorrow falling from the heavens towards a business man who forty years prior had abandoned his newborn son to a state run institution, and how there is something about Christmas Eve that allows humans to correct mistakes we have made in our lives.
In this symphonic tale, God's youngest angel is once again sent on a mission to bring his Lord the name of the person who best continued his Son's work on Earth. However, unlike his other journeys, the angel could only use his wings twice, once when he descended to Earth and once more when he left. Looking for a likely place to search, the angel decided to land in New York City.
As soon as he touched the ground, he notices a street performer weaving a story about the Imperial Wizards Ball of Winter to a group of children. He then entered a hotel, and as he enters the ballroom, he encounters inhabitants from the future and the past. Then he leaves and walks into a blues club, where a jazz band is playing music, eventually the whole bar gets together and starts singing along with the band, except for one man who leaves without a word refusing to be involved in this yule tide cheer.
The angel noticed that the man left a trail of blood. The blood came from a wound in the man's soul combined with unwept tears that only an angel could see. As he followed the man, who had been the walking home from work, the angel peered into the man's heart to find the reason behind the man's wounded soul.
As the angel delved into the man's past, he saw that he had not always hated Christmas and in fact loved it like any other child. His family was a good Christian one, and he had been taught that all men are created in God's image. He eventually got married, and his wife became pregnant. On the night of the birth, things were going as planned and normal. However, the man then noticed that there were many doctors rushing to his wife's room, but there were none leaving. The doctor told him that during the birth, she had hemorrhaged and that, unfortunately, they were unable to save her. When a nurse, in an effort to console him, gave him his son who had survived, the infant appeared sickly. The doctor explained that because the mother had hemorrhaged blood so badly, the baby had been cut from oxygen for so long that he suffered permanent brain damage; he would be unable to function as a normal person in adulthood and would be lucky if he learned to walk. Enraged by this outcome, the man screams towards heaven, that if man is made in God's image that he saw nothing of God in his son. The man gave the baby back to the nurse and asked if the child could be placed into a state facility.
After seeing this, the angel let go of the man, who did not notice the angel peering into him. He later encountered a young girl, dressed in a Russian Imperial style winter coat, in front of a toy store. The girl claimed to be staying with her parents on a twelfth floor room of the hotel across the street. She asked him if he had any children. The man responded with a short and gruff "No," but he knew that he lied, and for the first time in decades he thinks about him and the son. The man told the girl to go back to her room in a nearby hotel, where she claimed she was staying on the twelfth floor room twenty four, then called a cab and set off to find his son.
Eventually, he arrived at a hospital, similar to the one where his son was born, and asked about his son. A nurse took him to a room where the son, now a grown man, was rocking babies born to crack cocaine addicted mothers to sleep. When the man asked if his son could talk, the nurse, realizing that it had been a while since they had met, said, "No, but he's a good listener." After so many years, father and son are reunited.
The father asked his son to move out of the complex he lived in to stay with him, to which he agreed. They then took a cab to the hotel near the toy store to find the girl and asked for the girl's room. However, strangely enough, there was no twelfth floor to the hotel, nor had there even been any children there the entire week. Confused, the man returned to the cab with his son. The man then took out his briefcase and spilled its contents out on the sidewalk including a folder containing his son's possessions including a picture of his wife as a little girl that he had never seen before. The son gave a puzzled look, to which the man explained that he was going to quit his job to get a job at the hospital where his son worked. The son gleefully smiled.
When the angel returned to Heaven, to report to his Lord the angel at first gave the name of the man's son, but then after a moment of hesitation added the name of the story teller, the jazz player, and all of the other people he had seen, even the father. It was at this point that the angel realized that everyone continues the work of his Son when they, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

Anyway with so much story behind this album let's get on to reviewing the tracks also note this maybe split into two parts.

Track 1: First Noel:

A nice way to start of the album with a Metal version of the English Christmas Carol.
Rating 10/10

Track 2: The Lost Christmas Eve

Ah this is a great opener to the story, I like the fact they were able to make the instrumental sound like a Christmas Carol and also then turns into the Rock/Metal sound they are known for. This song is deserving of being the title track.
Rating 10/10

Track 3: Christmas Dreams

Here's a song in their typical Rock Opera style and as always TSO does a good job at it.
Rating 10/10

Track 4: Wizards in Winter

Oh boy now this song is perfection, it perfectly combines Metal with X-Mas music and the end result is my 2nd favorite X-mas and TSO song. This song is a masterpiece the guitar work is fantastic and without a doubt is the best song from this album Oh and watch the music video for an amazing X-mas light show.
Rating 10/10

Track 5: Remember

Since Wizards in Winter was a such a great song none of the other songs will be able to top it,but that doesn't mean the songs
are bad and this song is not bad at all.
Rating 10/10

Track 6: Anno Domine

This song is named after the calendar changed after the birth of Jesus Christ and it's done very good choir style.
Rating 10/10

Track 7: Christmas Concerto

This is the weakest song from this album it's only about 40 seconds long and it's just a trumpet being played.

Rating 8/10

Track 8: Queen of the Winter Night

Now this song is very good in fact it was chosen along with Wizards in Winter to be a single from this album and honestly they pick the right songs although i think one other song should have been a single but this one is very good two it's a nice Metal instrumental song just like Wizards in Winter this is my 2nd favorite song from this album.
Rating 10/10

Track 9: Christmas Nights in Blue

This song is done in a very unique style done in a style not typical of TSO i'm not exactly sure what it is but what ever it is it's done very well.
Rating 10/10

Track 10: Christmas Jazz

Ah a very nice Jazzy song done very well.
Rating 10/10

Track 11: Christmas Jam

Wow 3 songs in a row start with the word Christmas not to mention the other songs before it that have Christmas as the 1st word in the title at least there is no mistaking that this album is a Christmas album. Anyway as the title suggests this is a Christmas Jam the instrumental here is done very well. and so is the solo.
Rating 10/10

Track 12: Siberian Sleigh Ride

Ah another great Instrumental track with another great Metal riff. Another one of my favorite songs fro this album.

Track 13: What is Christmas?

To answer the song title Christmas is a celebration celebrated on December 25th and usually on that day you get gifts from family and loved ones. Once again this is another great song from this album done in the Rock Opera style.

Track 14: For the Sake of Our Brother

A song done well once again in TSO's Rock Opera Style it references O Come, All Ye Faithful.
Rating 10/10

Track 15: The Wisdom of Snow

a beautiful instrumental
Rating 10/10

Track 16: Wish Liszt (Toy Shop Madness)

Yes the song is spelled like that, anyway another great instrumental track and it does sound like a toy shop gone into madness.
Rating 10/10

Track 17: Back to a Reason (Part II)

This is a part 2 of a Savatage song called Back to a Reason from the 2001 album they made Poets and Madman, anyway this song is very good once again done well in their style. It's also better than the first song.
Rating 10/10

Track 18: Christmas Bells, Carousels & Time

A nice Instrumental to lead into the next song.
Rating 10/10

Track 19: What Child Is This?

This is the longest song from the album, It's exactly 6 minutes long and for what it is it's wonderful song done very well in their style once again and overall one of the best songs from the album.
Rating 10/10

Track 20: O’ Come All Ye Faithful

No this is not the same song from Christmas Eve and Other Stories this one is much shorter and doesn't include O Holy Night in it as well anyway it's a good acoustic version of the classic song but it's not better than the version i previously mentioned.
Rating 10/10

Track 21: Christmas Canon Rock

Remember the song Christmas Canon from the The Christmas Attic? That was the best song from that album however this version is much better it's a rock version of that song and everything about this song is much superior to that version the guitar work done in this song is wonderful and the vocals are done very well, Overall this is one of the best songs from this album.
Rating 10/10

Track 22: Different Wings

A beautiful acoustic song.
Rating 10/10

Track 23: Midnight Clear

A nice acoustic song to end the album.
Rating 10/10

This album is very good ending to the trilogy it has many of TSOs best songs i'm not going to add up the tracks because i only need to deduct 2 points from the final score anyway i recommend this album for people who loved Chirstmas Eve and Other Stories it's not as good as that album was but it comes close.

Album Rating 98/100

The Album Ranking Chart.

1. Christmas Eve and Other Stories
2. Wintersun
3. Beethoven's Last Night
4. The Lost Christmas Eve
5. We Wish You a Metal Xmas
6. Twisted Christmas
7. I Am Santa Claus
8. A Twisted Christmas
9. The Christmas Attic

Next Post: The Beach Boys and Elvis's Christmas Albums

Comments

Yes, this album is also a must listen. And I agree the rocked out version of Christmas Canon is better.
My favorite song on this album is Wizards in Winter. - Metal_Treasure