MIKE VERTA, A Totally Awesome Radical Christmas

Mike Verta’s A Totally Awesome Radical Christmas arrives wrapped in the mischievous title and colorful visual swagger of a novelty record, but from the spirited opening funked out synth notes of the first track “Joy to the World,” it becomes obvious that the veteran composer, keyboardist and multidisciplinary creative force has delivered something far more ambitious: a fully realized cinematic pop/rock/funk experience that uses beloved Christmas melodies as the architectural foundation for a dazzling celebration of groove, musicianship, melodic storytelling and collective memory.

At a time when so much contemporary culture feels fragmented into isolated niches, algorithm-driven playlists and disposable digital noise, Verta has created a fascinating work designed almost defiantly around shared experience. Not merely shared holiday traditions, but shared sonic language - towering drums, blazing guitar solos, racing synth lines, bold vibrant choruses, saxophone breakdowns and hooks that resolve triumphantly instead of apologizing for themselves. The entire project radiates the widescreen optimism, craftsmanship and kinetic momentum of 1980s musical pop culture, yet never collapses into parody or self-conscious nostalgia. Verta understands this musical universe from the inside because he lived through it, absorbed it and genuinely embraced it.

“I wanted people to know, right from the first bar, that I was there in the ’80s, and remember it, and loved it,” he says. “The album is not cynical; I legitimately had fun writing it, the band had a blast playing it, and we felt like kids mixing it. It was like going back in time.”

That sincerity becomes the project’s secret weapon. Lesser retro-inspired recordings often rely on surface references or exaggerated imitation, but A Totally Awesome Radical Christmas succeeds because Verta deeply understands the structural DNA beneath the aesthetic surface. The influences are obvious enough to trigger smiles of recognition — Van Halen, The Cars, Huey Lewis, Bruce Hornsby, Vince DiCola, Go West, Level 42, Phil Collins-era arena production — yet the arrangements continuously evolve beyond quotation into something expansive, dynamic and distinctly his own.

One of the album’s greatest strengths is that, despite its dazzling production precision and richly layered sonic architecture, it never loses the feel of real musicians feeding off each other in the studio environment. Verta deliberately built the project around veteran live players rather than hyper-edited digital perfection, giving the record an organic pulse that constantly breathes beneath the glossy surfaces.

Drummers Jeff Falcone and Dan Needham anchor the material with grooves ranging from thunderous arena-rock bombast to sleek funk propulsion, while bassist Calvin Turner locks everything together with deep-pocket rhythmic authority. Guitarists Court Clement, Hayden Maringer and Snarky Puppy standout Mark Lettieri each bring distinct textures and personalities to the sessions — from blues-rock fire and Eddie Van Halen-inspired flamboyance to shimmering pop sophistication and fluid fusion phrasing.

Saxophonists Jesse McGinty and Mark Douthit become crucial melodic voices throughout the album, often elevating tracks into full-fledged cinematic celebrations, with trumpeters Steve Patrick and Tyler Jaeger and trombonist Barry Green injecting the brass arrangements with bold punch and colorful swagger. Brian Kilgore’s percussion work adds additional rhythmic depth throughout, as De Marco Johnson’s lively harmonica flourishes on “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” introduce a playful Americana spirit into the project’s otherwise synth-heavy universe. Strings recorded by the Budapest Scoring orchestra add grandeur and warmth, while even Verta’s son Draco contributes keyboard parts, reinforcing the deeply personal spirit behind the entire undertaking.

The album explodes open with “Joy to the World,” immediately announcing the project’s scale and ambition. Swirling synth textures and massive percussive energy — enhanced during mixing when Tom Lord-Alge famously pulled out classic Phil Collins tom samples to layer over Jeff Falcone’s drums — create an enormous sonic landscape before the arrangement races headlong into crunchy guitar riffs, tribal-leaning percussion and blazing saxophone interplay from Jesse McGinty. Mark Lettieri’s fiery guitar phrasing injects further adrenaline into the track as the familiar melody transforms into something resembling a lost montage cue from an imaginary 1985 action spectacular.

The hard-rocking “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” follows with even greater aggression, channeling the swaggering spirit of vintage AC/DC and Van Halen. Hayden Maringer and Court Clement unleash crackling guitar runs across booming drums and blues-drenched keyboard textures while Verta constantly shifts the arrangement structurally rather than simply repeating melodic passages. The result feels kinetic and alive, balancing technical precision with loose, full-band excitement.

That collective spirit carries beautifully into “Good King Wenceslas,” which functions as the album’s sleek Cars-inspired synth-pop excursion. Playful synthesizer melodies bounce effortlessly against swirling guitar responses while Calvin Turner’s bass and Dan Needham’s crisp grooves maintain infectious forward momentum beneath the arrangement’s glossy textures.

“I Saw Three Ships” introduces one of the album’s most joyous rhythmic pivots, transforming the traditional melody into a vibrant funk-reggae celebration. Jesse McGinty’s passionate saxophone lines dance through blazing horn arrangements by Steve Patrick, Tyler Jaeger and Barry Green while Verta layers Hammond B-3 textures, wailing guitars and swaggering rhythmic interplay that feels simultaneously polished and loose enough to capture the spontaneous thrill of a live ensemble feeding off collective momentum.

That same chemistry powers “Jingle Bells,” one of the album’s most irresistibly groove-oriented tracks. Beginning with lively piano lines and light funk rhythms, the arrangement steadily intensifies as bluesy organ textures, scorching guitar solos and fiery horn punctuations push the familiar melody into increasingly adventurous territory. Throughout the performance, the musicians sound less like isolated session players and more like a road-tested touring band fully immersed in the joy of playing together.

Midway through the album, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” provides the project’s lone true ballad — and perhaps its most elegant emotional reset. Mixed separately by legendary engineer Bill Schnee, the piece arrives like a late-night exhale after the relentless kinetic energy elsewhere. Verta’s atmospheric piano work, symphonic textures and understated groove create a smoky after-hours ambiance while Jesse McGinty delivers one of the album’s most lyrical and soulful performances, his saxophone lines drifting gracefully between tenderness and celebration. “I almost didn’t include a ballad,” Verta admits. “But when you lay out the album structurally, you realize listeners need a reset. The ‘80s had incredible ballads too.”

 The second half of the album grows increasingly adventurous structurally and stylistically. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” balances playful synth-pop whimsy against grounded rock grooves, alternating between cosmic electronic atmospheres and fiery guitar-driven momentum. McGinty again emerges as a central melodic force, weaving soaring saxophone phrases through Verta’s layered keyboard textures and rhythmic propulsion.

“Oh Christmas Tree” may ultimately be the album’s boldest arrangement. Beginning with playful synth-funk grooves and dancing melodic fragments, the track gradually evolves through shifting keys, escalating rhythmic intensity and increasingly aggressive rock excursions before circling back toward recognizable melodic territory. The arrangement perfectly reflects Verta’s film-scoring instincts — motifs develop, textures mutate and the entire track unfolds like an evolving narrative sequence rather than a static cover tune.

The album’s lone original composition, “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” introduces another fascinating dimension to the project. Built around locomotive-like rhythms and buoyant piano motifs, the track allows De Marco Johnson’s colorful harmonica flourishes to trade phrases fluidly with Verta’s improvisational piano lines, bluesy guitar textures and rolling grooves. The arrangement evokes traces of Bruce Hornsby-style Americana while still remaining firmly grounded inside the album’s broader synth-pop and funk-rock aesthetic.

“The First Noel” and “We Three Kings” continue the project’s remarkable balancing act between polished studio craftsmanship and spontaneous groove-driven energy. Calvin Turner’s bass work becomes especially crucial throughout these arrangements, grounding the swirling synth textures and evolving horn harmonies with deep-pocket rhythmic authority while Verta layers vintage keyboard voicings, B-3 organ accents and constantly shifting tonal colors around him.

By the time the album reaches its exhilarating finale “Deck the Halls,” Verta fully embraces the cinematic excess at the heart of the project. Swirling ambient synthesizers, racing grooves, blazing saxophone solos, fiery guitars and dazzling keyboard runs continuously build and evolve around the familiar melody until the arrangement feels less like a reinterpretation of a Christmas standard than a full-scale celebration of movement, memory and musical joy itself.

Beneath all the virtuosity, however, lies something surprisingly sincere. Verta repeatedly returns to the idea that the album was created not simply as entertainment, but as a small act of resistance against cultural fragmentation and disconnection. “Christmas matters,” he says. “Shared traditions create family, memory, identity and community. I think people need more of that right now.”

Part of what makes the album so compelling is how naturally it folds together the many creative identities Verta has cultivated across an unusually expansive career. Though he first emerged in the 1990s smooth jazz world with albums like The Phoenix, his path later expanded into film scoring, trailer editing, visual effects, sound design, themed entertainment, immersive experiential design and architectural visualization. Rather than fragmenting his artistry, those disciplines now seem to converge organically within this project’s richly cinematic framework.

“Composing an image, in many ways, is exactly like composing a melody,” Verta says. “The disciplines inform and inspire each other. In the end, composing an effective melody is very like composing an effective image; it is only the medium which is different.”

That perspective helps explain why A Totally Awesome Radical Christmas feels so vividly visual. The arrangements move with the pacing of cinematic sequences. Instrumental textures arrive like changing environments. Transitions feel edited with a trailer composer’s instinct for anticipation and payoff. Even quieter passages retain motion and narrative flow. Significantly, the album also represents something of a creative full circle after decades during which Verta deliberately protected his relationship with music itself. Following the success of his early recordings, difficult industry experiences left him disillusioned by outside attempts to control his artistry and creative process.

Ironically, the same detours that once appeared to move him away from music ultimately deepened his understanding of storytelling, pacing and audience connection. Now, after decades moving fluidly between disciplines, Verta sounds utterly liberated here — joyful not only in the material itself but in the act of creation.

What began as a playful inside joke with his cinematographer wife Laura Beth Love eventually snowballed into a major production involving legendary mixers Tom Lord-Alge and Bill Schnee, mastering engineer Ted Jensen, veteran session players, orchestral recordings in Budapest and meticulous attention to period-authentic sonic detail. “She planted the seed,” Verta says. “As soon as she heard the original demo versions, she began encouraging me to do it ‘for real.’” Once Verta committed fully, the project rapidly escalated.

Beneath all the nostalgia and technical craftsmanship lies a surprisingly thoughtful philosophical core. Verta repeatedly returns to the idea that Christmas — regardless of religious perspective — remains one of the few cultural traditions still capable of bringing people together across generations and backgrounds. That larger intention never feels forced because the music itself embodies exactly the optimism he’s describing. The album radiates celebration, generosity, movement and collective joy. It believes unapologetically in melody, in musicianship, in excitement and in the idea that music can still unify people without irony.

“I wrote this Christmas album because Christmas matters,” he says. “Shared traditions create connection, identity, family, memory and community. This album was written as a small stand against fragmentation. There is an audience for virtually everything. But my instinct, as a man, when surrounded by low spirits is to brace them up, encourage them, remind them everything’s going to be okay. Because it is.”

The result is not merely one of the most inventive Christmas albums in recent memory, but a vivid reminder that sincerity, optimism and musical adventure still possess tremendous power when pursued with genuine craft and conviction. More than nostalgia, A Totally Awesome Radical Christmas feels like a celebration of possibility itself — the sound of an artist reconnecting fully with the wonder that made him fall in love with music in the first place.