TWISTED SISTER – A Twisted Christmas (2006 Razor & Tie)
One thing I love about Christmas time is the ability to knock out all these Christmas album reviews. I can only listen to this stuff seasonally, and I wouldn’t subject you to it otherwise. In my quest to Review Everything I Own and Then Some, we must occasionally delve into Christmas music.
Rock bands doing Christmas tunes is…well, I mean it worked out OK for Elvis, and then later on Twisted Sister and the guys from Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Each of those artists had success with Christmas music for good reasons, but I think Twisted Sister’s was purely the novelty value of it. The humour. The nudge-nudge-jokey-ness of it. It wasn’t that they made a Christmas album laden with integrity. It’s a joke album as the intro implies.
The album commences with Dee & company singing a traditional acoustic version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. They are then interrupted by someone saying “This isn’t Twisted Sister!” It then goes metal with a dash a punk. “Ho ho ho! Let’s go!”
The biggest joke is that, apparently, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was always just “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” in disguise. This was the big Christmas hit that put Twisted back in the spotlight, and it’s certainly the most enjoyable track on the CD.
Songs follow vague heavy metal blueprints. “White Christmas” is imbued with an Iron Maiden gallop and a couple chords from “SMF”. One thing is clear, and that is Dee Snider’s voice still has it. The guy is a hell of a singer, period. He’s joined by Lita Ford on “I’ll be Home for Christmas”, in the style of Twisted’s original epic ballad “The Price”. Unfortunately this one stinks like Christmas cheese that should have been thrown out last year. A shouty “Silver Bells” is done with a splash of AC/DC, but ends up sounding more like Poison. Bassist/producer Mark “The Animal” Mendoza has a pretty kickass bass solo, though.
Judas Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” is the foundation of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, and it is at this point that you realise a whole album of this stuff is a bit too much. “Let It Snow” is given the doomy treatment, as an amalgam with Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave”. I suppose the doomy direction does go better with lines like “The weather outside is frightful”. Maybe Dee & company are on to something here, but I’m not too sure about the Sabbathy version of “Deck the Halls” with echoes of “War Pigs” and “Never Say Die”.
“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” is a little dull, and “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is too long, as it often is. The only version of “Twelve Days of Christmas” anyone needs for a novelty is Bob & Doug McKenzie’s classic. That’ll make your party pop a lot better than Twisted’s version.
Let’s check some boxes. Is this album:
- Fun? ✓ (sometimes)
- Heavy? ✓
- Twisted? ✓
- Creative? ✓
All well and good. But will you:
- Listen to it more than once a year? ✘
- Enjoy as much as something else you could have played instead? ✘
- Be able to use more than one or two songs for your Christmas party? ✘
- Ever really look forward to hearing it again? ✘
It is good that A Twisted Christmas brought the band the kind of success they deserved, but it is truly a shame that it is the final Twisted studio album. They were always considered a joke to the critics, they shouldn’t have gone out on vinyl as a joke.
2/5 stars
I just got this on vinyl. Haven’t listened to it yet. This doesn’t exactly make me reach for it…
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Great review Mike, sounds like it would have made for a great 12” single.
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Not big on Christmas albums especially something like this. I could stomach a compilation album of various artists doing songs, but not a whole album by one artist. Somehow we haven’t started playing any Christmas music around the house yet. Yeah me!!
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I think a compilation, or an EP, works best.
I’ll be doing a Christmas single/EP next week of a band we both like.
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Ooh. Can’t wait.
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I’ve wondered about this release. May check out a song or two spotify but couldn’t see myself buying. Loved them back in the day though…
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You may know they recently did its first vinyl release on green vinyl. A lot of people seemed happy about that, but playing the CD is chore enough.
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Haha. I saw that vinyl release. Too much, too much.
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I have a hard time getting excited about vinyl reissues of mediocre albums that were never on vinyl in the first place.
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I know what you mean. Feels like big money record companies cashing in.
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I will check mark this to read on the 24th, when it is both legal and appropriate to use the c word.
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Cola?
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I have to second it Mike, this is a Christmas album only and they should not have made this their final studio album. Still, I’d rather listen to this than a lot of the other crap that comes out around Christmas. I’m looking at Wham here.
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Hahah, oh poor Wham :)
Our local radio station will play some Springsteen (I think he did Santa Claus is Coming to Town) and Bryan Adams for sure. Run Run Rudolph. I believe they will also be playing Lemmy’s version too.
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Yes Wham do get a lot of stick from me. That’s because they symbolize what mainstream media regards as “80s music” and why I had the blurb, “The 80’s weren’t just about Wham” put on the cover of “Rock and Roll Children.” Bruce did do a decent version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” but so did Michael Jackson. I never heard Bryan Adams and I’d love to hear Lemmy.
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Oh dear. Hardly Michael Bublé, eh?
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Mr. Buble has no competition here.
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You ever heard the Weiland Christmas album?
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No but I thought it was a brilliant idea.
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It’s pretty great. That and Dylan’s are Christmas staples in our house.
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O Come All Ye Faithful = We’re Not Going To Take it
Who knew?!
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Check it out man! They’re so similar it’s eerie!
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I remember this disc! My brother-in-law gave it to me for Christmas one year. Thought for sure I had written up, but apparently not. Anyway, I agree with the 2/5.
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I guess this one didn’t survive all the purges of the past! It’s here only “for the collection”. I believe iTunes has a bonus live “disc” but I didn’t bother to buy it.
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I either purged it or passed it on – did I give you this copy? Hahaha
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I don’t think so but anything is possible!
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Exit Stage Left is the Greatest Xmas Album of all time!
(Personal Preference)
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Hahaha! FUckin’ A man…BEST answer of all time.
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Haha…..Well for me it is the best Xmas Album as I got it in the year 1981 for Xmas and all these years later its my go to December album…
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Fair review. I forgot this existed.
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I wished I had.
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Just spinning mine. Kindly have to disagree with u lot. I’m digging this. Maybe it’s the season…Just remember to turn it loud enough!
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Well it had to sell all those copies for a reason right?
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Yeah… I remember hearing about this and was stoked. Then I heard it. I wish so much that it was better.
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