Let’s face it there have been very few classic Christmas songs and even fewer classic Christmas song collections in the rock arena over the years. Can I just spoil all that humbug by saying to my complete surprise I really like what L.A.Guns have done here.
After the inexplicable ‘voicemail’ opening by William Shatner that has you wondering whether L.A.Guns do actually do seasonal eggnog with captain Kirk down the Rainbow Bar and Grill,and the segue into a short cover of Billy Squier’s ‘Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You‘ it’s foot to the floor…
The greatest X-Mas song of all time is of course Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ a stone cold fact that all outside of the US know,(within the US of course Slade are just the band that launched Quiet Riot’s career). The problem with That song though of course its that it’s that iconic that no one ha ever covered it well,until now that is. I love this version as it takes the essence of the song keeps that magical beat and runs away with it quite beautifully.
The clincher here though is that the other tracks selected are all great too! If you like a punky edge to your festivities then there are faithful and rather cool takes on The Damned’s ‘There Ain’t No Sanity Clause’ (get it?) and The Ramones’ classic yuletide ditty ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight).’
Brilliant! And a Merry Christmas to you all!
Tracklisting:
1. The Bills/Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You (feat. William Shatner / Billy Squier cover)
2. Merry Xmas Everybody (Slade cover)
3. Dreidel
4. There Ain’t No Sanity Clause (The Damned cover)
5. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) (Ramones cover)
