Handful of Rain

Handful of Rain, the eighth album, came out first in Japan, on 10 August 1994 from Zero Corporation (XRCN-1147); Atlantic's American release (82660-2) followed six days later. The official site says that after Criss Oliva's death Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill finished a song for him and decided that the best tribute was to keep Savatage going; that song is the closing "Alone You Breathe", and the album arrived less than a year after Criss died. Alex Skolnick of Testament played lead guitar. O'Neill produced it with Jon as co-producer, at Morrisound in Tampa. Johnny Lee Middleton and Steve "Doc" Wacholz are credited, but the old official FAQ says it was Jon who played the drums, the bass on seven songs, the rhythm guitars and the keyboards, with Zak Stevens singing and Skolnick playing the solos. Wacholz, Jon said in Minneapolis in October 1994, took part only in the photo session and the title song's video. "Chance" tells the story of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who kept issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees during the Second World War. O'Neill wrote the words, and in the single's notes quoted by the FAQ he called the closing five-part countermelody a first in rock; Prog magazine describes the overlapping voices as the diplomat's warring thoughts. The album reached number 31 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and number 85 in Germany. The American and Japanese tours that followed brought in Skolnick, the new drummer Jeff Plate and Jon back on keyboards and vocals, and the Japanese dates produced Live in Japan. The running order here is the original's as printed.