Much as I hate to step on the Joe Jefrey piece (do me a favor and check it out, OK?), this qualifies as "Breaking News" in the world of Christmas music. OK, the die-hard fans probably heard about it a month or so ago, but it was news to me.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cats and kittens, buckaroos and buckerettes, prepare yourselves for a Cheap Trick Christmas.
Over the July 4th weekend, as the group prepared for a tour in support of their latest album release, "We're All Alright", Cheap Trick bassist Tom Peterson couldn't stop talking about the Christmas album the band just finished which is scheduled to drop around Halloween this year. "[I]t came out great!" he told Ella Stormark of otangeamps.com. "We did one standard, and then all sorts of different songs on there, it’s really cool."
But never mind all that. What's on the Christmas album? The only song specifically mentioned by Peterson is a cover of Roy Wood's immortal "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". But he did confirm that there will be Cheap Trick originals (rumor is there are three of those and everyone is crossing fingers that these won't be re-worked Christmas versions of other Cheap Trick songs...you know....not that there's anything wrong with that). No specific word on which standard will be included. As for covers...in addition to Roy Wood's, speculation has focused on songs by the late Chuck Berry, Slade and the Ramones. That still leaves plenty of room for surprises.
Rock fans have often felt burned by Christmas albums from aging rockers. But I'd point out that Cheap Trick isn't doing this as a bucket list reunion deal. They've been playing pretty much continuously for over 40 years and their output to date has always been top notch. So count me an optimist on this one (don't burn me, guys). Fingers crossed.