So it's the jolliest, most miserably suicidal, commercial time of the year, and all you want to do is get your Rock on. But, you're surrounded by a bunch of old school facsists, and it looks like the suffering will only get worse. My answer for you is Merry Axemas. It's eleven tracks of guitar happy Christmas jamming, that even my born again conservative mother was able to enjoy. Before I introduced her TSO, but that's another story.
The first track on the album is a rockin' rendition of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, provided courtesy of Kenny Wayne Shepherd. It's exactly what Rudolph should be, fun, playful, energetic, and a delight to behold. Also the jamming/solo in the middle is really cool, if you're into guitar.
Eric Johnson's The First Nowell follows that up, and it's fantastic. It's spiritually faithful to the original. Sure it's guitar masterbation, but you can clearly tell that it's the song that it is. A song I normally don't care for, but this version makes it all cool.
I love the song Amazing Grace. It's a beautiful, timeless classic. End of mother fuckin' story. So when I read that Jeff Beck is performing it on this album you know that I'm already wet in my pants. He uses a Hawaiin sounding guitar mixed with an Ahhh chorus, which was actually sung, so you know it's going to be pretty. The Brian Setzer Orchestra performs Jingle Bells and it sounds exactly as you would imagine, which is perfectly fantastic.
We get Silent Night/Holy Night Jam from Joe Satriani, which is very faithful and authentic to the original. That's great for the people that need it. I like when the Jam part breaks out. The music stays within the flavour of the original song, and even has a Middle Eastern vibe relevant to what one may have heard in Bethlehem. Other than that, this is six minutes of major guitar masterbation surrounded by a minute and twenty of boring Christmas religious standard.
Steve Morse is one of those guys you really only know if you are a guitar guy. He's a guitaist's guitarist as it were. His version of Joy To The World is very well done and interpreted, which is cool, but on the whole I'm just not a fan of the song. Christmas Time Is Here follows that. I'm not sure why Steve Vai opted to take a Jazz lounge approach to the song, but it works in it's way. If I'm not in the right mood I often consider this a weak performance, given the name attached. However, when I'm in the right frame of mind I see it for the song that it really is. As I'm writing this, I'm in the right mood.
I love the fact that Joe Perry contributed Blue Christmas to this album. I love that is sounds so faithful to the original. I love that there's a "modern" song on here. This is a great track, and the best part is, like the rest of this album, there's no real vocals. This song has a chorus of males doing the Ahhhs, but that's it. I also love that those points only make up the first two minutes. The second half of the song is a great upbeat danceable number that would have had Elvis shaking his hips. Thank you Joe Perry!
One of my favourite jokes about this album, and there have been made many made over the years, is that The Little Drummer Boy is on here. If you need that explained to you, please go ask someone else, I'd just want to smack the stupid out of you. Now, once you've stopped laughing, you can understand the humour, if you know anything about Alex Lifeson. His performance of this song is top notch, and I am so glad he's included on here.
Ritchie Sambora is one of those guitarists that I will agree is under rated. The man understands how to make a guitar sing. His version of Cantique De Noel (O' Holy Night) is fantastic, beautiful, and makes me think of how Christmas Eve mass should have sounded.
I will admit that I don't know Hotei, except by read reputation. However, his version of Happy Xmas (War Is Over) is awesome. I love that there is no real singing, and that he is very faithful to the original, while still letting the guitar do it's thing, and sounding uber pretty the entire time. It's almost enough to make you forget how many times you have heard this song, on those commercials for the starving children.
If you want Christmas music that's actually enjoyable for everyone, but especially your bad ass rockin' self, I suggest you get this album. If you are tired of the same boring versions of these songs, that just make you want to pull the trigger on the gun next to your head, put on this album instead. This album was meant to be played in every house, but you can still enjoy it yourself.
The biggest thing to remember is that this is a serious album, by serious musicians.
8/10 - content
7/10 - production
8/10 - personal bias
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