Thats a good point. I guess if the albums were more metal, it would turn off a great deal of the public. But by getting them to the live show, they can turn it up many notches and people won't be turned off because of the spectacle in front of them. I just listened to their Christmas triology box set and even though it's enjoyable, it can be somewhat of a chore to get through.
Totally. I very rarely listen to the Christmas albums in their entirety and, truth be told, I rarely listen to the Christmas albums outside of November and December. There are just not enough dynamics, drama or variety on those records for me to be able to comfortably listen to them from top to bottom on a regular basis. I really think the main reasons they did
three Christmas albums was because a) their first big hit was a Christmas song, so they decided to cash in on what they knew would make money, and b) their Christmas shows are their single largest source of income, and I am certain they wanted a wide selection of Christmas tracks to perform at those shows (remember, TSO did not start touring until 1999, after the second Christmas album had been released.)
Releasing Beethoven's Last Night between the second and third x-mas records was probably a strategic decision to prevent the band from becoming
merely a Christmas act in the eyes of the public, and to show that they had musical ambitions outside of the holiday season. I really think records like BLN, Night Castle and the upcoming Romanov and Gutter Ballet are in all likelihood the kind of albums Paul, Bob and Jon
really wanted to make (Romanov was written back in 1993, and the original Gutter Ballet was written in the late 70's) but they first wanted to build up a lot of cash first so that they could have the freedom to do what really mattered to them on their own terms.