“Gutter Ballet” by Savatage

"Gutter Ballet", the title track of Savatage's fifth album, was born on Broadway. Late in the sessions, with Criss Oliva busy tracking guitar solos, producer Paul O'Neill handed Jon Oliva tickets to The Phantom of the Opera, and Jon came out so fired up that he headed from the theater straight to the studio and composed the music on the spot.

The song marks the American metal band's turn toward a more progressive sound, and Metal Hammer later heard the album as "power metal on a Broadway scale", with this track's orchestral sweep as the prime example. Jon sings lead and plays piano, Criss plays guitar, Johnny Lee Middleton bass and Steve Wacholz drums, with Robert Kinkel on extra keyboards. O'Neill, on his second album with the band, shares the writing credit with both Olivas, and James A. Ball engineered.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.