Twisted Sister – A Twisted Christmas (2006, Razor & Tie)
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Oh Come All Ye Faithful
- White Christmas
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas (featuring Lita Ford)
- Silver Bells
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
- Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
- Deck The Halls
- The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
- Heavy Metal Christmas (The Twelve Days Of Christmas)
- We Wish You A Twisted Christmas (unlisted track)
Band Lineup:
Dee Snider – Vocals
Jay Jay French – Guitars
Eddie Ojeda – Guitars
Mark “The Animal” Mendoza – Bass
A.J. Pero – Drums/Percussion
Featured Musicians:
Lita Ford – Vocals and Guitar
Jim Gillette – Background Vocals
Brian Bunce – Trumpet
Total Time – 41:52
Twisted Sister official website
Twisted Sister on MySpace
If you go to Metal-Mixtape, you’ll read a post about this album. I added my comments on how this release was a sham, a sell-out, a disgrace and that I don’t think it’s the right move for Twisted Sister. Of course, I also mentioned that I would buy it if the price was right or I would get someone to buy it for me.
Last night, my wife and I stopped by the local record store and there it was for 10 bucks: A TWISTED CHRISTMAS. I refused to buy it, my Metal pride bursting through my Judas Priest tour shirt. So the wife did what I couldn’t bring myself to do…..she added it to our pile of plunder and took it to the register. At least I didn’t have to actually buy it myself but the clerk behind the counter (who I know well) did bust my chops for it.
This isn’t the most original project in the Music world, it seems that everyone puts out a Christmas album eventually (I’m sure Gene Simmons is pissed that TS beat him to the punch!). I will give TS some credit, they made it interesting for a couple of listens. Lita Ford guests on ‘I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ and that got my attention, is this really Lita’s first new recording since 1994′s BLACK?
Basically, the band took some old Christmas standards, added musical nods to the likes of The Ramones, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, and made a new type of Christmas album. It’s easy to spot The Ramones in the opener and ‘Silver Bells’ gets the AC/DC treatment. What I found interesting was ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ done to the music of Twisted Sister’s big hit, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’. Almost identical!
My two highlights on this album are “I’ll Be Home For Christmas’ with Lita and ‘Heavy Metal Christmas’. It was good to hear Lita again, I’d forgotten how much I really enjoyed her solo work. I thought the guys came up with a good rendition of ‘The Twelve Days Of Christmas’ adding some “Metal” to each day:
- A tattoo Of Ozzy
- 2 pairs of spandex pants
- 3 studded belts
- 4 quarts of Jack
- 5 skullhead rings
- 6 cans of hairspray
- 7 leather jackets
- 8 pentagrams
- 9 tatterred t-shirts
- 10 pairs of platforms
- 11 black mascaras
- 12 silver crosses
The band is touring this Fall to promote the album which, from what interviews I’ve read, is TS’s last. Seems that Dee wants to stop and “go out on top” but has left the door open to spot touring in the future. My biggest problem is that Twisted Sister is a good band that could have made a decent album of originals but they have gone with the “KISS-formula” of touring and releasing nothing new…..except this novelty record. I hope that this isn’t the actual end of Twisted Sister but, according to Dee, he doesn’t want to make a new album and he wants to focus on other projects.
As far as A TWISTED CHRISTMAS, well I guess this is the last gasp. It’s a novelty record that I will play a couple of times around the holidays but that’s it.
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UPDATE 12/12/06
After repeated listens, and seeing the video for ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ in heavy VH1 Classic rotation, I am starting to get into this record. For a holiday album, it’s pretty damn good. I guess I was looking at it as I would a TS studio album and not the actual vision. It’s still only a play at the holidays.
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UPDATE 12/12/07
I have to say that my initial review is wrong. If I had to do it all over again, I would give this a highly positive review. I have given this album a listen regularly for the last year and I’ve come to love it. It’s an instant holiday classic and a staple for my Christmas season. I’m keeping the original review up but I hope eveyone reads the updates.
Sounds interesting. I loved Dee Sniders Van Helsing’s Curse, but I’m a sucker for that kinda thing. I have a xmas called a brutal christmas released by Sound Of The Dead records and features some bone crushing renditions of traditional xmas carols. I love it. I’m afraid I’ll have to check this gem out. we’ll see if it’s worth the money.
It can’t be any worse than Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Christmas album,have only heard 2 tracks and that was 2 tracks to many.Absolute garbage
[...] Here is the review I wrote in October. The album is growing on me a little, probably because we are in the holiday season. I’m a sucker for Christmas music. [...]
I find this album hilarious.
[...] December 20, 2006Wednesday’s Wicked Music Selection: Twisted Sister For the second time in the past 2 months, Twisted Sister makes the weekly wicked music pick. Partly due to the fact that they’ve released a Christmas album, A Twisted Christmas (2006) and partly due to the fact that Dee Snider still knows how to throw down. While I didn’t write this review, I’m directing you to the person who brought it to my attention. [...]
[...] solo record. Ojeda released this album hot on the heels of Twisted Sister’s success with A TWISTED CHRISTMAS (2006) but I never bothered to grab it because the reviews I read were all bad. There has been a sealed [...]