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SANTA MENTAL
(Bop City)
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Here’s a metal-jazz-lounge-fusion Christmas greeting from Toto/LA session ace guitarist Steve Lukather. It also bears the signatures of Eddie Van Halen, who spars with Lukather at super speed on a daft spin through "Joy to the World"; Steve Vai, whose melodic excursion on "Carol of the Bells" is one of this chops-heavy disc’s highlights; and Slash, who adds licks to the lame original "Broken Heart for Christmas." If this disc captures anything besides Lukather’s trademark fat tone perfectly, it’s his twisted sense of humor, which booms through the over-the-top playing and a swingin’ Rat Pack reading of "Jingle Bells" that has a sampled Sammy Davis Jr. as lead vocalist. There’s also a lyric twist in "Winter Wonderland" — sung in ring-a-ding-ding mode by Lukather and Edgar Winter (whose mere presence is part of the joke) — that suggests Frosty was made from the kind of snow that rock stars put up their nostrils. Nonetheless, there’s space for beauty here. Lukather applies his softest touch to a solo jazz rendition of "The Christmas Song," which he arranged with Larry Carlton. And he offers "Silent Night" as a tribute to Jeff Beck, mimicking Beck’s rich Blow by Blow–era tone and band, with Jeff Babko on Fender Rhodes keyboard. Rounding out the line-up is drummer Gregg Bissonette, an LA veteran who’s toured with Maynard Ferguson and David Lee Roth.
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