Jon Oliva: 'Raise The Curtain' Interview with BrooklynRocks, July 14, 2013

Three years ago, I reviewed Jon Oliva’s last outing, Festival, (released as Jon Oliva’s Pain) and compared the disc to Alice Cooper’s mid-70’s work. That same comparison still stands with the follow-up to that disc, Raise the Curtain, which was released earlier this month on AFM Records. This time out, in addition to the Alice Cooper influences, Raise the Curtain touches on 70’s prog rock (Yes comes immediately to mind), jazz/fusion and roots-rock of John Lennon. This is an eclectic disc but fans of Jon Oliva’s past work will surely enjoy it.

I had the pleasure of talking with Jon about the making of his debut solo disc, his recording plans with Jon Oliva's Pain and Trans-Siberian Orchestra and his upcoming 'storytellers' tour.

Check out the interview - the link is posted above.

Links:
Jon Oliva's Pain

Oliva - 'Raise The Curtain' CD Review (AFM Records) [Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra]

Three years ago, I reviewed Jon Oliva’s last outing, Festival, (released as Jon Oliva’s Pain) and compared the disc to Alice Cooper’s mid-70’s work. That same comparison still stands with the follow-up to that disc, Raise the Curtain, which was released earlier this month on AFM Records. This time out, in addition to the Alice Cooper influences, Raise the Curtain touches on 70’s prog rock (Yes comes immediately to mind), jazz/fusion and roots-rock of John Lennon. This is an eclectic disc but fans of Jon Oliva’s past work will surely enjoy it.

This new disc is being billed as Oliva’s first solo disc and the impetus behind the ‘hiatus’ of Jon Oliva’s Pain (JOP) was the death of JOP guitarist Matt LaPorte. In an interview with Dan Fasciano of Metalholic.com, Oliva said: "After the passing of my dear friend Matt LaPorte, I felt very confused about the future of Jon Oliva's Pain. A week or so after Matt's service, I was speaking to my friend Dan Fasciano about what I wanted to do. He suggested that I come by his home where he has a full studio and we just hang out and record whatever I had that I wanted to demo." Making this a real solo disc, Oliva plays most of the instruments (which includes playing drums on three tracks) and other musicians include Fasciano on keyboards and piano and Chris Kinder (JOP) on drums.

This new disc starts with the title track, “Raise The Curtain”, which sounds like a classic Yes (the band) number and Oliva’s guitar lines could easily be interchanged with Steve Howe’s. Completely shifting gears on the next number, “Soul Chaser”, has a similar sound to the melodic hard rock of JOP. Not staying in one place for too long, this is followed by “Ten Years”, which has a swinging roadhouse groove and a classic rock chorus. One of the standout numbers on the disc is “Father Time”, which combines jazz/fusion instrumentals with a memorable keyboard solo, proggy guitar riffs and clean vocals. In addition to these numbers, there are the expected power ballads (“Soldier” and the dark and uneasy “I Know”) and the disc wraps up with two ‘John Lennonish’ cuts (“Can’t Get Away” and “The Truth”).



Like the classic 70’s prog-rock albums, most of the songs are multi-layered and the multiple guitar parts, keyboard and piano (along with non-traditional rock instruments like flute and harpsichord) are all intertwined. The interplay between these instruments and Oliva’s vocals makes for great headphone listening.

Many of Oliva’s recent discs have included music recorded by Criss Oliva (Jon’s brother and Savatage guitarist, who passed away in a car accident 20 years ago) and Raise the Curtain includes the last of Criss’ music. Oliva pays an unspoken tribute to Criss by including his white guitar on the front of the album.

Links:
Jon Oliva

Jon Oliva's Pain: Festival CD Review (AFM Records)

As a long-time fan of Alice Cooper’s mid-70’s work, Jon Oliva’s newest disc struck a real positive chord with me. The ten tracks on Festival balance fist-pumping rockers with power ballads and it is hard not to think of “Only Women Bleed” when listening to the ballads. Strong production pushes to the front of the mix Oliva’s growling vocals along with the multi-faceted guitar work of Matt LaPorte and Tom McDyne, whose chops range from jazz licks to progressive breaks to shredding metal.

The CD cover is a ‘carnival of the damned’ picture and horror movies themes and sound effects run throughout the disc. The disc starts off strong and opens with creepy carnival sound effects before going into the driving and angry “Lies”. The power ballads are mostly guitar driven as Oliva says that he wrote most of this disc on the guitar.



Some of the stand-out cuts include the “big sounding” rockers: "The Evil Within", "Death Rides a Black Horse" (which has some cool symphonic keyboards) and "Living on the Edge of Time" (which is likely a remake of an old Savatage song). The ballads are up-tempo somewhat proggy affairs. “Afterglow” starts as an orchestral piano ballad before launching a metal attack and backs out of this mid-way for a jazz break, “Winter Haven” is a mellow, symphonic prog-rock tune and the contemplative “Now” ends the disc.

This disc clocks in at just under an hour and, while many of the above-mentioned musical themes are repeated across the different songs, this is a pleasant trip down a familiar road.

The band filmed a live DVD on their recent March/April European tour consisting of music from the four Jon Oliva's Pain CDs and a healthy dose of Savatage classics.

Commented Oliva: "This DVD is going to kick ass, and [it's] something that I have been looking forward to for many, many years. With the release of our new album in February and the vast back catalog of SAVATAGE material, we will have plenty of material to fill a two-plus-hour show... The band is great form and my voice is so ready for this. We're going to capture a great show with all the pyro, bells and whistles we can put on stage... and, of course, we will need all of you there to make it an over-the-top success."

Links:
Jon Oliva's Pain