ALBUM REVIEW: ‘TWAS – Paul Gilbert
As we gear up for the festive season, many of us are bracing for the cringe of people relentlessly playing Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey, and of course the dreaded Whamageddon. If you’re looking to still get into the Christmas spirit, but with a much more rock and roll sensibility, PAUL GILBERT’s ‘TWAS has you covered.
If there’s ever a time to ham it up and play with all the bells and whistles, it’s got to be on a Christmas record. A flurry of guitar melodies that often veer into new, possibly over the top territory is what’s on the menu here, as with the intro to Frosty The Snowman, which turns into a mysterious and oddly tense tune.
Most of this is just solid, good fun, and you can tell that the whole production has been a really entertaining time to put together, like the swinging Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, which has so much to play around with and incorporates Carol Of The Bells into its composition before kicking right back into the jaunt of the titled classic. Just like discovering a new and exciting 카지노 사이트, tunes like Every Christmas Has Love, an original on this record, stand out because of their clear, fluid ideas as one complete song rather than reimagining something that already exists. Likewise, Three Strings For Christmas is pretty awesome, its blistering arpeggio runs sure to warm the cold heart of the most anti-Christmas guitar enthusiast this season.
I Saw Three Ships feels like it’s going to be a bit of a drag at the start due to the plonky nature of the original tune, but as it rolls along in southern rock style its runtime goes pretty quickly and becomes a lot more enjoyable than you’d expect. That tends to be the main feeling for a good portion of this record, an initial eye rolling at another cheesy classic. However, by the end of nearly track there’s been a distinct shift into top class showmanship and playing that makes you take back your prejudged ideas. In the same vein, songs like Hark! The Herald Angels Sing do feel pretty silly when first introduced, and it’s only when Gilbert veers off dramatically that it feels like this record has some genuine love poured into it; not to make easy, cheap covers of well known tracks, but to bring that Christmas spirit into rock and roll.
If you feel you want a little more down time after all the big classic blues rock inspired tunes, swooning songs like Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas feel pretty cosy and warm, even adding a little brushed drumming that gives a vinyl crackle feel to this more laid back track. Likewise Winter Wonderland and Silver Bells feel fairly chilled before becoming consistently more swung and theatrical. Before you know it, you’ll be up air guitaring along with the blues infused rendition. The final tune, another original, Down The Chimney Blues is a big end to a very well put together record. As mentioned, the fact this is completely original means that there’s lots of scope to be completely in control of the track, making that guitar really sing.
Much like instrumental band GALACTIC EMPIRE, what PAUL GILBERT has done here is make some classic, well-loved tunes feel fresh and fun again. Turning clichéd Christmas classics into blinding good rock and roll tunes is a hard task, but ‘TWAS is clearly such a well-intentioned, beautifully played record you can’t help but get on board.
Rating: 7/10
‘TWAS is set for release on November 26th via The Players Club / Mascot Label Group.
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