EDDIE VAN HALEN, SLASH, STEVE VAI Featured On STEVE LUKATHER's Christmas Album - Oct.
EDDIE VAN HALEN, SLASH, STEVE VAI Featured On STEVE LUKATHER's Christmas Album - Oct. 25, 2005
Traditional holiday music be damned, Steve Lukather & Friends' Favored Nations release, SantaMental shatters the staid perceptions of conventional holiday fare by playfully bending it on its ear, enjoining it with a delirious and demented sense of fun. Lukather is no stranger to the Favored Nations label. In 2001, his CD, No Substitutions-Live In Osaka, a collaboration with guitar giant, Larry Carlton, garnered a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Produced by Elliot Scheiner and Steve Lukather, the record's ten cuts craftily evoke the holiday spirit emboldened by tons o' guitar shredding and instrumental virtuosity. Adding to the record's sense of immediacy and organic flavor, SantaMental was cut in a whirlwind six days. "We had no time to get it done so we just jumped in on the deep end. We cut all the tracks for the whole record in a day and half," Lukather says. "No click tracks, no pro-tools, no bullshit, just two-inch analog tape. If it didn't fit on 24-track it didn't go on the record. I basically recorded everything live except for vocals. The remaining few days were spent doing overdubs, vocals, and recording the special guests. Everybody came to the party for me, I owe a lot of favors on this one."
According to Lukather, the idea behind doing a Xmas record came from colleagues, Elliot Scheiner and Al Schmitt. "They pitched me the idea of doing this Christmas album. I would not have come up with that myself (laughs). I took it as a challenge to make corny Christmas songs hip, to re-voice them in some way to make them sound weird (laughs). My partner on the project was keyboardist, Jeff Babko. He had brilliant ideas in terms of arrangements. I'd take a melody and make it sound like Weather Report rather than Captain Kangaroo and he had a lot to do with inspiring me."
As for the meaning of the CD title, SantaMental, Lukather reveals, ?My wife actually came up with the title. She has a way with words. I thought it was a brilliant title, we all cracked up when we heard it. So putting me in a straight jacket on the cover only makes sense. I'm a mental case (laughs). I'm a complete loony tune, ask anyone who knows me. The title relates to the music in the sense that we took really simple major scale songs and we kind of twisted them all up, groove wise and harmonically and just had fun with the concept. It's hard to record Christmas music in June but we did it (laughs). Gregg Bissonette, the drummer on the record, brought down all of his Christmas lights and a little plastic Santa Claus so we could get a vibe in the studio and it worked."
Joining Lukather on this spirited seasonal endeavor is a host of star-studded talent including Eddie Van Halen who provides mind-blowing guitar ferocity on "Joy to the World," Slash, Steve Vai, and sax legend Edgar Winter. "In choosing my guests who are all my very dear friends, I couldn't afford paying them what they were worth so I'll be taking their garbage out for the rest of my life (laughs). If I haven't paid them back already I owe all of them."
Lukather and Eddie Van Halen's blazing guitar duel on "Joy to the World" is a highlight. "When I wrote the arrangement with Jeff, I wrote it specifically with Eddie Van Halen in mind, coming up with a 'Hot for Teacher' groove," Lukather recalls. "At that point, Eddie had been retired for a few years and hadn't been playing that much. So he came in and heard it and goes, 'What are you trying to do, kill me? I haven't played in a while' and we all laughed. I chucked everybody out of the studio, Eddie sat down, did a few takes and it was done. His playing is raw and on fire. He doesn't play on anybody's records so it was a real honor for me and it lends a lot of credibility to the project. Just as everybody else guesting, people like Steve Vai, Slash, and Michael Landau. Getting all the 'A' guys doesn't happen very often. I'm deeply honored that they came to help a brother out. Like when Slash came in to play on 'Broken Heart for Christmas.' He was there for a half an hour. I set him up, he did two takes and I just let him blow. I thought that track would be perfect for the rootsier vibe of Slash and he nailed it."
One of music's most innovative and inventive guitarists, Steve Lukather is best known as a founding member of the internationally successful five-time Grammy Award winning rock practitioners, Toto. Beyond his seminal work in Toto, Lukather is also renowned for his storied session work shredding the six-string for such artists as Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Don Henley, Randy Newman, Cheap Trick and many more.
Lukather's innate versatility, meticulous chops, and seamless stylistic mastery of a wide swath of musical genres truly comes to the fore on SantaMental. Demonstrating a wacky artistic sensibility that befits the artist formerly known as Kris Kringle, the record provides a rockin' winter wonderland of beautifully interpreted songs powered by incendiary guitar firepower, forward-thinking experimentalism and impeccably crafted arrangements.
And don't be fooled, this isn't yet another in a long line of safe as milk, traditional holiday fare. SantaMental is a stirring epiphany of fun and frolic, comprising eight traditional holiday favorites and two original compositions, "Broken Heart for Christmas" (a song inspired by Lenny Kravitz) and "Look Out for Angels," all capturing a zanier side of the holidays. "This is the kind of record that if you put it on at Christmas time or any other time it'll piss off your grandparents (laughs) because they won't understand why the songs sound that way. How many cheesy Christmas records have been released? We wanted to do songs that people knew but do them in such a way that they're fun and experimental."
One track, "Jingle Bells," showcases Lukather's idol, the late Sammy Davis on sampled vocals purloined from a remix of the artist's original Reprise recording. "I'm a Sammy fanatic," admits Lukather. "I collect all of his stuff. I have his Candy Man golf clubs, some serious memorabilia. I didn't want to make fun of Sammy because I have too much respect for him. The thought of me harmonizing with Sammy big-band style just cracked me up. Anybody who's heard it died laughing but we pulled it off with the family's blessing. It's a fun track. I do everything with a little wink in my eye."
Meanwhile, "Carol of the Bells" is particularly close to Lukather's heart as it features his son, Trevor, enthusiastically slamming out the power chords on his first recording session. "For him it was a kick, he was still in school then. I had him come in and play some power chords. The song was in a 5/4 time signature and Trevor came in and did it in one take. He's become a pro level player. You gotta dig it, my son's first recording session is on a track with his old man and Steve Vai. How many kids can say that that was their first recording session? (laughs)." Luke further enthuses about Vai?s extraordinary guitar playing on the song. "I love and owe Steve Vai a lot and there isn?t anything I wouldn?t do for him...and he was there for me as always, awesome as ever!"
Another favorite cut of Lukather's is "Winter Wonderland." "Just singing 'in an Edgar Winter Wonderland? on the song is funny in itself," says Lukather. "It's a duet between me and Edgar. He was a childhood hero of mine and now a very dear friend. It was fantastic to have him play and sing on the song. We did the song in a Jimmy Smith style shuffle and I said, "Winter Wonderland?" Hmmm? Who should I have play on this? Edgar Winter. Perfect. I wrote the arrangement with him in mind and he came in and just wailed on it".
On "Greensleeves", the revered seasonal chestnut is reinvented into a sultry jazz wonder. Seducing the listener, Lukather's extraordinary guitar work establishes the original melody before blasting off into unexpected six-string terrain, fully exploring his fluid improvisational chops.
"Silent Night" is dedicated to guitar giant, Jeff Beck. "Jeff Beck is one of the greatest guitarists to ever play the instrument," asserts Lukather. "Vibe wise and arrangement wise the track was very much like Beck's Blow By Blow album. Jeff is an old dear friend and how could I not nod my hat to Beck? That track was cut one hundred percent live. It was done in one take, solos and everything, no overdubs. When you've got a good band and good arrangements that happens."
It doesn't matter whether it's the deep dark of winter or a sizzling summer day, SantaMental is a new holiday record for all to enjoy year after year. So sit back, pour yourself some eggnog or reach for a cold one, and crank up the gift that keeps on giving.
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