1 	Joy To The World 	3:07
2 	Greensleeves 	6:58
3 	Jingle Bells 	2:19
4 	Carol Of The Bells 	4:42
5 	Broken Heart For Christmas 	4:09
6 	Angels We Have Heard On High 	4:55
7 	Winter Wonderland 	4:05
8 	Look Out For Angels 	5:19
9 	Silent Night 	4:33
	Bonus Cut
10 	The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) 	2:16

Musicians:
Steve Lukather: guitars, voacals
Trevor Lukather: guitar power chords (4)
Eddie Van Halen: guitar (1, 2nd & 4th solo)
Slash: guitar (5)
Steve Vai: guitar (4, 3rd solo)
Mike Landau: guitar (8, 1st solo)
Edgar Winter: vocals, sax(7)
Jeff Babko: keyboards, trombone, organ, rhodes, horns
John Pierce: bass
Scott Hamilton: sax
Walt Fowler: trumpet
George Shelby: sax
Greg Bissonette: drums, trumpet
Lenny Castro: percussion
Simon Phillips: tambourine (1)

In June 2002 Lukather started the recordings for a solo album with jazz-rock style covers of classic and brand new Xmas songs, (re)arranged by Luke himself and Jeff Babko. The album (almost entirely instrumental) also contains two new songs as a surprise gift. It's not the first time Luke recorded Xmas songs. In 1997 and 1998 Luke contributed to The carols of Christmas 2 and Merry Axemas 2 (produced by Steve Vai).

Lukather in June: "Well... I am starting June 17th for 7 days at the Steakhouse. It's tentatively titled A Lukey Xmas. The arrangements are awesome. Mostly instrumental stuff with a few vocals. I am having a few guests as well. Edgar Winter, Slash, Mike Landau. My son Trevor confirmed so far. There will be more and few big surprises. Elliot Scheiner is producing and engineering for the new label that he and Al Schmitt started and I think I am the first act on the label. The CD will be out late September for Xmas. A nice stocking stuffer for sure! Hahaha."

After the recordings Lukather decided to change the album title in Santamental. One of the special guests on the album is Eddie Van Halen. Lukather in July: "Ed and I have been friends for 24 years or so. I got him out of seclusion to come rip on one of the Xmas tunes." Van Halen joins Lukather on a rendition of the standard Joy to the world that Lukather tells will sound a bit different than what most people are used to: "I did a version of Joy to the world that sounds like it's Hot for teacher or Space boogie. It's that tempo, that groove, and we re-arranged the voicings around the melody. Me and him go back and forth on some solos."

Lukather in 2005: "I don't have any Christmas records. My next door neighbor is a lawyer. I walked over and said "hey man, you got any Christmas records?" He comes back with 25 of them. He lays them on me. Originally, they are all just major scale happy little songs; really cheesy. The challenge was how to retain what it is, so it's recognizable to people, but still try to hip it up musically. Then we wrote solo sections. We took a lot of liberties. As they were public domain, we were allowed to do that."

Santamental was originally released in October 2003 by the new record label Bop City, started by Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmitt and Ed Cherney. In 2005 it was re-released on Steve Vai's record label Favored Nations.

Lukather about the essence of the album in Gitarre & Bass, November 2002: "Actually it's a pretty funny album, with traditional standards that we really mixed up. I sampled, for example, the vocals of Sammy Davis Jr. and made a duet with him (Jingle bells). The album sounds like a Big Band based on Weather Report, Frank Zappa and Van Halen."

Lukather in December 2002: "I did my new Christmas record in six days - all analog on a 24-track, no click. Old school. Ninety percent of the solos were live, except for the guests who played on it."

Lukather about Van Halen (Toto99.com August 2003): "Eddie and I, and Alex for that matter, are very good pals. We hang and talk all the time. They have an amazing record in the can and they are still lookig for THE lead singer. I have sung backgrounds on a few of there records and yes, they asked me to help out on the new one at some point. I dont know WHEN that will be and they are candid about it all so I dont want to say too much but even IF they did ask me I don't think I am the right guy nor would I want the media heat and hate that would come my way IF such a thing actually happened. It is sometimes very difficult to mix business and friendship. I would rather stay friends. Ed and I play together on my Xmas record that is coming in Octobe, and I will always jam with the guys when asked and vice versa. I am a HUGE VH fan!" ---stevelukather.com

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1. Hero with a 1000 Eyes 
2. Freedom 
3. Extinction Blues 
4. Born Yesterday 
5. Never Walk Alone 
6. Party In Simon's Pants 
7. Borrowed Time 
8. Never Let Them See You Cry 
9. Froth 
10. The Bomber 
11. Song For Jeff

Backing Vocals – Fee Waybill, Kevin Curry, Richard Page
Bass – John Peña
Drums – Simon Phillips
Keyboards – David "Creatchy" Garfield
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitar, Producer – Steve Lukather
Organ – David Paich (tracks: 5)
Percussion – Chris Trujillo, Lenny Castro
Saxophone – Larry "Mooth" Klimas
Vocals – Paul Rodgers (tracks: 2)

Among guitarists, Steve Lukather takes a very special place for a number of reasons. On the one hand he is the guitarist and singer in one of the West Coast’s musically most polished bands, Toto, with which he has celebrated stellar successes in the past. On the other hand, Lukather has been featured on countless records of other artists as a session player over the years, including recordings by George Benson, America, Paul Anka, Michael Bolton, Cher, Chicago, and just about anyone who’s ever recorded a studio album. And the there’s Lukather’s third face as the singer and guitarist in his solo projects that he takes on tour with his band Los Lobotomys, playing music that shows a much rougher and harder side of the musician.

All this versatility gave him the reputation of one of the most sophisticated guitar players in the music industry, a wunderkind of sorts, who can play anything anytime without hesitation, and after experiencing Lukather live on a couple of occasions myself – including an impromptu jam session during a Spinal Tap concert a few years ago – I am tempted to agree. Whether he’s playing 2/4 beats or goes way out in 5/4 7/8 or 11/12 beats, Lukather makes it all look so easy and sound so cool like no one else does. His way of melding rock, jazz and soul is a beautiful testimony to all the influences he’s working into his music. ---dvdreview.com

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1. Ever Changing Times 
2. The Letting Go 
3. New World 
4. Tell Me What You Want From Me 
5. I Am 
6. Jammin' With Jesus 
7. Stab In the Back 
8. Never Ending Nights 
9. Ice Bound 
10. How Many Zeros 
11. The Truth

Steve Lukather - Guitar, Vocals
Trev Lukather - Guitars, Backing Vocals
Abe Laborial jr. - Drums
John Pierce, Leland Sklar, Phil Soussan - Bass
Jeff Babko - Keyboards
Steve Porcaro - Keys
Greg Mathieson - Hammond organ
Steve Weingart, Randy Goodrum, Steve MacMillan, Olle Romo, Jyro Xhan - Synths
Tina Lukather, Joseph Williams, Bill Champlin, Bernard Fowler, Sharolette Gibson - Backing Vocals
Lenny Castro - Percussion

What it feels like to participate in over 800 number one albums as a producer, composer, and guitarist and singer is a feeling that many people only dream off in their I want to be a millionaire rockstar dreams. For Steve Lukather that is a reality that came with a price. In 1976, in the age of 19, Steve was brought in a band called TOTO by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro and since then he has worked as a session guitarist and producer in many projects and albums. Lukather's hearing damaged throughout the years of touring and the endless hours in the studio came with a price. But this hearing problem cannot stand in the way of an artist thirsty for music even after all this success.

Steve Lukather created with TOTO mainly Pop Rock music in the 70's and 80's but his solo work mixes styles such as Fazz, Fusion, Prog, Rock and Funk. Ever Changing Times is Lukather's fifth solo studio album and all these music influences come too life once more.

The album begins with 'pop' Rock music songs that can stand easily in the music scene of 2008. Songs like the album's self titled Ever Changing Times and New World have heavy sound and catchy melodic choruses. Tell Me What You Want From Me starts like the PINK FLOYD song Us And Them and gets really Seattle heavy in the chorus. The variation of music styles continue with the mellow ballad I Am and the gospel-blues jam Jammin' With Jesus. After Stab In The Back and Never Ending Night - two pop songs that show the unique songwriting ability of Steve Lukather - Ice Bound comes with a wave of Fusion Jazz and inspiring soloing of guitar and keyboards. Ever Changing Times closes with the emotional instrumental piece Truth where Lukather unfolds his amazing guitar work and keyboard chord progression.

Steve Lukather with Ever Changing Times is trying to touch as many people as possible with a variety of musical styles and sounds. I bet that you are one of them. ---Yiannis Zervos, metal-temple.com

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01. The Real Truth
02. Broken Machine               play
03. Tears Of My Own Shame   play
04. Love The Things You Hate
05. Hate Everything About U
06. Reservations To Live (The Way It Is)
07. Don’t Hang Me On
08. Always Be There For Me
09. Open Your Heart
10. Bag O’ Tales
11. Bluebird

Personnel: 
Steve Lukather (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, electric sitar, harmonica,
 Wulitzer piano, Mellotron, keyboards); 
J.D. Maness (pedal steel guitar); 
Jim Cox (Fender Rhodes & Wurlitzer pianos, Hammond organ); 
David Paich (Wurlitzer piano); 
Brett Tuggle (keyboards); 
Phil Soussan (bass, background vocals); 
John Pierce, Pino Palladino (bass); 
Gregg Bissonette (drums, percussion); 
Maxie Anderson, Alfie Silas Duno (background vocals).

"Welcome to the 3rd installment. You will find this record to be a bit of a departure from my other two because I really wanted to do something different. Maybe because my life is just different now and when I began writing and recording for this record I was in a rather introspective, life-evaluating space. Consequently, my approach to the whole reord, musically and sonically, just seemed to take another direction. I was inspired by all the music I grew up listening to and how it has influenced and chronicled different phases of my life and it came out liberally and deliberately on the record. In fact, I think this record is the closest amalgamation of all the different facets of me than anything I have recorded in the past, thus the original title. I experimented with some different instrumentation and recording techniques this time. All the tracks were recorded live except for vocals and a few other oddities. The solos that I do have on the record like Tears of my own shame and Blue bird were kept intact with all their imperfections as to keep the approach REAL and honest. I decided to focus on other aspects of my music this time. You hear sounds like pedal steel guitar, harmonicas, Mellotrons and some different guitar tones and rawer-sounding bass and drum parts. I mixed all this in with some modern recording techniques. I even purposefully distorted the vocals on some occasions... so there is nothing wrong with your system (haha). I think we captured the spirit of where I seem to be coming from at this time. I want to thank ALL of the musicians and Tom for their input and keeping me from myself when it was necessary, for making me keep things I would normally "fix" and maybe "fix" the edge right out of. I also want to thank Elliot Scheiner for coming in and mixing my album and putting some fresh ears on it.

See ya on the road!!" (Luke) ---stevelukather.com

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