Released By : Self Released
Genre : Instrumental Hard Rock, Guitar Virtuoso, Christmas Music
Links : http://www.myspace.com/raimundburke
Tracklist:
1. Jingle Bells
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3. Morgan Kinder Wird’s Wes Gaben
4. White Christmas
5. Silent Night
6. Mele Kalikimaka
7. Oh Tannenbaum
8. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
9. Deck The Halls
10. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
So here we are with the first Christmas themed review for 2010, I’m sure there will me a fair few coming up over the next month, but let’s use this new album from RAIMUND BURKE as a starting point. For those unfamiliar with the name, BURKE is a guitar virtuoso in the vein of STEVE VAI and JOE SATRIANI, who releases instrumental hard rock albums similar to those contemporaries. Previous to this new album he has released two others, one in 2006 and then a follow up in 2008. Why you would wait two years to follow an album up and then have it be a Christmas one is an interesting decision but that’s what has happened and so we are left with CHRISTMAS CLASSICS.
There is a bit of simple fact to this album really, if you are a fan of instrumental hard rock music or guitar virtuoso music, there is no better way to spend Christmas than with this new album from RAIMUND BURKE in the background. Each song is treated with due respect but also offers plenty in the fretboard fireworks department. Maybe some of the big guns of the genre could have managed a slightly better effort, but as this is the only virtuoso Christmas album out at the moment it is definitely worth a purchase.
Traditional tunes like JINGLE BELLS, WHITE CHRISTMAS and SILENT NIGHT will stir memories from even the grinchiest of hearts and each of these songs would be great to wake up to on Christmas morning. There are a couple of tunes that I didn’t recognize which did take a little bit of the enjoyment out of this release in places, but all that was made up for with a great version of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, which actually starts with the sounds of a young boy trying to learn the guitar and then making a wish to Santa that he could play before BURKE’S playing kicks in and takes the song up to the skies.
If you are looking for something a little different to put on in the lead up to Christmas, the new album from RAIMUND BURKE is as worthy as anything else you can find and is certainly better than a lot of the seasonal pap that usually gets released around this time of year.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 7/10
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