''Japan Live '94'' (also known as ''Live in Japan'') is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and VHS by the American heavy metal band

Savatage Savatage () was an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album ''Sirens'' (1983), they changed thei ...

. The show that was recorded was held in

Kawasaki, Kanagawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama, and the List of cities in Japan, eight ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on November 12, 1994 and was the last show on the short ''

Handful of Rain ''Handful of Rain'' is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1994. This is the first album since the death of the band's founding member and lead guitarist Criss Oliva who in turn had contributed to writing o ...

'' tour. The show is noted for featuring

Jon Oliva John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva (born July 22, 1959) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Sinc ...

in a prominent role, his first since "leaving" the band in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. Oliva has an extended piano intro on "Gutter Ballet" and shares lead vocals with

Zachary Stevens Zachary Trussell (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circl ...

, making it his first performance as a lead vocalist with the band for two years. Oliva also performs rhythm guitar on "Hall of the Mountain King". The album was released in Japan in January 1995 by Zero Corporation and features a cover with singer Stevens wearing a T-shirt with a red and white circle and cross. In fact, Stevens wore a

Corrosion of Conformity Corrosion of Conformity (also known as COC) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 1982. The band has undergone multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with guitarist Woody Weatherman as the sole const ...

T-shirt at the concert, and it was likely "censored" due to label issues. Due to lack of time on the physical support, the entire show was not released onto CD. Missing songs on the CD include "Conversation Piece", "Stare into the Sun", "Damien" and "Hall of the Mountain King". However, these songs were included in the VHS footage of the concert, originally released in 1995 in Japan and in 1998 in North America. The album was released in the US by

Nuclear Blast America Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label move ...

in 2000 with a cover featuring both

Johnny Lee Middleton Johnny Lee Middleton (born May 7, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitar player for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Musical beginnings Middleton was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. His first experien ...

and Stevens and the title ''Live in Japan''. In 2000, plans were revealed for the show to be re-issued onto

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

with a possibility of bonus content. A release date of October 2000 was publicised by the band, but possibly due to Nuclear Blast being bought by

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

, Savatage were unable to release the DVD. Since then, there has not been an announcement of an official DVD release, although copies of the concert have been circulated on DVD. In March 2010, a greatest hit compilation called ''Still The Orchestra Plays: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2'' was released, with the 1994 concert included on a bonus DVD. The quality had not improved much from the VHS-version.

CD track listing

VHS/DVD track listing

# "Taunting Cobras" # "Edge of Thorns" # "Chance" # "Conversation Piece" # "Nothing Going On" # "He Carves His Stone" # "Jesus Saves" # "Watching You Fall" # "Castles Burning" # "All That I Bleed" # "Stare into the Sun" # "Damien" # "Handful of Rain" # "Sirens" # "Gutter Ballet" # "Hall of the Mountain King"

Personnel

;Savatage *

Zak Stevens Zachary Trussell (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circl ...

– lead vocals *

Alex Skolnick Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and one of the songwriters of the thrash metal band Testament and has played with several other bands, including The Alex Skolnick Trio, Tra ...

– lead guitar *

– piano, rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals *

– bass *

Jeff Plate Jeff Plate (born March 26, 1962) is an American professional hard rock/heavy metal drummer. He plays with the group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is best known as drummer for American heavy metal band Savatage on their albums since ''Japan Live '9 ...

– drums ;Production * Paul O'Neill – producer, mixing at Soundtrack Studios, New York *Zak – engineer *Toshiyuki Hayashi and the Sci Gang – assistant engineers *Ken Lewis Moren – mixing engineer *Ted Moren – mixing assistant *Brian Weber, Michael Ifversen – audio edit *Masao Nakazato – mastering at Onkio Haus, Tokyo

References

{{Authority control 1995 live albums 1995 video albums Live video albums Savatage albums SPV/Steamhammer video albums Albums produced by Paul O'Neill (rock producer)