Steve Lukather - Santamental

Somebody pour Steve Lukather another cup of eggnog. After orchestrating one of the most outrageous holiday albums of all time, this guy deserves a drink – or twelve. Lukather’s Santamental, which was reissued by Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label this fall two years after its original release, is probably the most superfluous exhibition of six string wizardry ever dedicated to the yuletide season. The former Toto axe man pulls out all the stops, even dragging guitar greats like Vai, Eddie Van Halen and Slash into the mix. You won’t find Bing Crosby on this shred fest, but guitar lovers might be surprised that the album does include a dubbed duet with Sammy Davis Jr. This album is at its best during its most classless moments, which is to be expected considering it was recorded in just a day. But there are a few instances of pure genius buried in all the finger tapping and string shredding. Van Halen rips a few classic solos on “Joy to the World,” and Slash, god bless him, throws all concepts of traditional holiday music out the window on “Broken Heart for Christmas.” Lukather’s only regret should be that he allowed his smooth jazz tendencies to creep on to this record. The lesson learned: Anytime you bring Slash onto a Christmas record, you just have to crank up the distortion and pour on as much testosterone as possible. So if you grow sick of Mariah Carey and Kenny Chesney’s Christmas albums by next year because you’re ready to kick some ass, you might want to give this one a shot. It might be a good idea to keep the album cover out of sight if there’s family around – Lukather’s Santa outfit is pretty disturbing. [www.stevelukather.net]