Jon Oliva at Progpower?

YtseJammer

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It was mentioned in another thread, but I was thinking the same thing myself. Will the Mountain King show up at Progpower to perform a song or two with Circle II Circle? He played with them down in Florida, and practically wrote the entire debut album...

Just a thought...:headbang:
 
I was in on that discussion some. I suppose it would depend on what Savatage is doing at the time. If they're on tour, they'd obviously have to be somewhat near Atlanta for Jon to make an appearance.
 
so, does anyone else think that it doesn't make sense that Zak left Savatage (at the time stated for personal reasons ie; spend time with family - which is perfectly ok) but THEN start a new band and write all the material WITH Savatage members?

ummmmmm

Why not just stay in Savatage? :)

heheh

Don't get me wrong, I did LOVE hearing Jon singing almost all the material on Poets.. he was after all the singer when I first got into them, but that kinda seems silly...

or is it just me?
 
I don't think he could have gone back since Savatage had found a talented singer in Damond Jiniya. I think Zak would have felt funny asking for his old job back. Besides, Savatage endured plenty of criticism when they fired Jack Frost after Al Pitrelli became available to re-join the band.
 
Zak left because he just had a child and wanted to spend more time with his family. From what I had read, all the touring just wasn't for him, and the band pretty much knew it was coming. He remains on good terms with Savatage. I think he also wanted more control over the music.

With is new band, he can tour less, and write more. Since he is still friends with Savatage, he can work with them on songwriting.

I think it's great to see band splits that don't result in in bitter public feuds.

Steve
 
Force10 said:
I don't think he could have gone back since Savatage had found a talented singer in Damond Jiniya. I think Zak would have felt funny asking for his old job back. Besides, Savatage endured plenty of criticism when they fired Jack Frost after Al Pitrelli became available to re-join the band.

Well, plus there's the fact that Damond Jiniya is, well, a better singer than Zak. Zak sings what Zak sings reasonably well, but I was blown away by the range of intonations and pitch that Jiniya managed during Savatage's live set in San Francisco...he nailed everything he sang on, old and new.
 
Geo said:
Well, plus there's the fact that Damond Jiniya is, well, a better singer than Zak. Zak sings what Zak sings reasonably well, but I was blown away by the range of intonations and pitch that Jiniya managed during Savatage's live set in San Francisco...he nailed everything he sang on, old and new.

I agree. I think Zak is a great singer who sings with lots of emotion, but Damond was very very talented. He should be on Broadway or something of that nature.
 
Force10 said:
I agree. I think Zak is a great singer who sings with lots of emotion, but Damond was very very talented. He should be on Broadway or something of that nature.


Damond is extremely talented; I thought he was fantastic on the "Poets" tour. The only thing I didn't like was the way they opened with Damond just singing background vocals on the first song (or two, I forget). When Damond finally got to sing lead on a song, he really ripped! Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic that Jon was doing so much of the singing; it just seemed strange to see a guy come out, take center stage, and only sing during the chorus for the first few minutes (at least they didn't hand him a tambourine). They should have left him off stage until it was time for him to sing lead (just my opinion). I am definitely looking forward to hearing Damond on the next Savatage disc.

When Zak first joined Savatage, I couldn't get into him. I thought he had a very good voice, but I was EXTREMELY pissed that somebody besides Jon was singing. I finally broke down, gave Zak a chance, and I have been a fan ever since (in fact, I actually count "Edge of Thorns" among my favorite Savatage albums these days). I'm glad Zak has his own band now...what's the old adage, "now we will have TWO great bands to listen to, instead of just one"...
 
Same here. I really didn't like -Streets- much (yeah, I know, blasphemy, but Jon's voice was going at that point) and then -Edge of Thorns- rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't pick up Savatage again until -Dead Winter Dead-, and ended up going back for the rest. Now I love all those albums.

Jiniya still kicked all kinds of ass, though. :D I wish he'd sang more too.
 
Same thing here.. when someone else started singing Savatage I refused to buy any albums...

Then one day while working at a radio station I obtained a free copy of handful of rain... so I gave it a chance.. it grew on me.. especially -chance-

After that, I got Wake of Magellan and to this day stands as one of the best albums of all time on my personal list. All the others shortly followed after that.

Poets and Madmen is an incredible album too .. I still dig Jon's voice.. no problems here :)
 
YtseJammer said:
Poets and Madmen = TIGHT

With the exception of Morphine Child and Comissar. Give me Wake of Magellan or Dead Winter Dead any day of the week....

I agree, tight on Poets. Give me Dead Winter Dead, Edge of Thorns, or Streets! Tight on Wake also; never got into that album.
 
I dug P&M...Oliva's voice still sorta sucks (technically speaking), but they're using it well. Wake was a weak version of DWD. I still like it, but it's probably my least favorite Savatage album since Streets.