What was the working title of the Gutter Ballet album?
“Temptation Revelation” and later “Hounds of Zaroff.” It was a Steve Wacholz idea that made most people ask, “Huh?!” Jon and Criss wrote “Gutter Ballet” literally at the last minute in the studio as they were searching for an album title, since using an instrumental song as the title of the album seemed silly. Said Jon Oliva, ‘Gutter Ballet’ was written very late in the recording process. We were doing overdubs in the studio, finishing up the album. I had gone to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ one night, and walked back into the studio at 3:00 a.m. I wrote the song on the patio, and when I finished it, I played it for the band. They loved it, so we decided to do it. If I had written it two weeks later, it would never have been on the album.
