Anyone know the release date of "Santamental"?

[Sunday Afternoon]

Anyone.... Anyone..... Beuller...... Beuller......

[Zahzoo]

Last word I heard was Oct or Nov of 2003... no kidding...

[Sunday Afternoon]

Now I understand I don't know shit about recording and mixing a record, but can it be THAT fucking hard?

[thinlineokc]

Steve Lukather & Friends - Santamental (2002/3, Bop City)

In June 2002 Lukather started the recordings for a solo album with jazz-rock style covers of classic Xmas songs, (re)arranged by Luke himself and Jeff Babko. The album (almost entirely instrumental) also will contain two new songs as a surprise gift. It's not the first time Luke recorded Xmas songs. In 1997 and 1998 Luke contributed to The carols of Christmas 2 and Merry Axemas 2 (produced by Steve Vai). Check out the covers section for the soundclips.

Lukather in June: "Well... I am starting June 17th for 7 days at the Steakhouse. It's tentatively titled A Lukey Xmas. The arrangements are awesome. Mostly instrumental stuff with a few vocals. I am having a few guests as well. Edgar Winter, Slash, Mike Landau. My son Trevor confirmed so far. There will be more and few big surprises. Elliot Scheiner is producing and engineering for the new label that he and Al Schmitt started and I think I am the first act on the label. The CD will be out late September for Xmas. A nice stocking stuffer for sure! Hahaha."

After the recordings Lukather decided to change the album title in Santamental. One of the special guests on the album is Eddie Van Halen. Lukather in July: "Ed and I have been friends for 24 years or so. I got him out of seclusion to come rip on one of the Xmas tunes." Van Halen joins Lukather on a rendition of the standard Joy to the world that Lukather tells will sound a bit different than what most people are used to: "I did a version of Joy to the world that sounds like it's Hot for teacher or Space boogie. It's that tempo, that groove, and we re-arranged the voicings around the melody. Me and him go back and forth on some solos."

Santamental is supposed to be the first album released by the new record label Bop City, started by Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt and Ed Cherney. Scheiner in August: "Four or five years ago, we got the idea to start an artist-friendly jazz label. We wanted to treat the artists more fairly than they've been treated before, like the original concept of United Artists, where artists share in the profits."
As for recording, Cherney looks forward to a traditional approach, with live musicians playing music together at the same time. "That's what we love to do most," he says. "Today a lot of music is done one instrument at a time on a computer. Our label can be a means for us to make music the way that inspires us the most, with live interplay."
More info about Bop City at the DH1 Studios website.

In the first week of September it became obvious that the original release date (September 2002) had to be postponed. Lukather in September: "My Xmas CD is being held till next year due to a distribution fuck up. I am bummed but you can't release a Xmas record in January, hahaha. There is no time left and no marketing plan etc... Everyone will have to wait till October next year to get it, but it will be worth the wait." Lukather about the essence of the album in Gitarre & Bass, November 2002: "Actually it's a pretty funny album, with traditional standards that we really mixed up. I sampled, for example, the vocals of Sammy Davis Jr. and made a duet with him (Jingle bells). The album sounds like a Big Band based on Weather Report, Frank Zappa and Van Halen."

Destined to become a classic, the album will be specially packaged in an 8-panel Digipak and feature behind the scenes CD-ROM video footage.

Tracks:
01. Jingle bells (featuring Sammy Davis Jr.)
02. Winter wonderland (featuring Edgar Winter)
03. Joy to the world
04. The Christmas song
05. Oh Tannenbaum

More info as soon as possible.

Musicians:
Steve Lukather: guitars, voacals
Trevor Lukather: guitar
Eddie Van Halen: guitar
Slash: guitar
Steve Vai: guitar
Mike Landau: guitar
Edgar Winter: keyboards
Jeff Babko: keyboards
John Pierce: bass
Scott Hamilton: sax
Greg Bissonette: drums
Lenny Castro: percussion

Produced by Elliot Scheiner
her.net

[ November 21, 2002, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: thinlineokc ]

[Zahzoo]

No details were given but it was things outta Steve's control was all that was posted on the web site... probably lawyers... who knows maybe even Ray Danniels for all we know...

[Sunday Afternoon]

Thanks for the info...

I hope we hear something (anything) else from Ed before October of next year...

My enthusiasm is fading........

[DA BIG D]

My question: How'd he manage to "dig up" Sammy Davis Jr.?

[Red-Diamond]

Howd he manage to dig up Eddie?
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