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Sure, Surf Dog’s pushing Setzer’s 2005 holiday blaster, Dig That Crazy Christmas, again this year, but the real action has more to do with Old Nick than St. Nick. That’s because Setzer plays like the damned Devil on his new disc, a drag strip-hot tribute to the mighty roar of the Gretsch hollow-body guitar called 13. Which turns out to be a lucky number for fans of the former Stray Cats frontman and for lovers of great rock-and-roll fretwork. As Setzer explains, these baker’s dozen ditties are “all about getting loud and playing hard.” Very hard. Girls, guzzling, gambling, and gettin’ one’s game on are also given their due as Setzer croons and his Gretsches roar. Highlights of this big-bottomed riff fest include the hot-rod blow-up of “Take a Chance on Love” and the chrome-plated and customized garage rock of “Broken Down Piece of Junk.” Setzer’s not a fancy lyricist, but his fretboards speak the unrefined language of blues, boogie, and ’billy with a brass-balled accent — especially on “Back Streets of Tokyo,” a challenge with Tokyo guitar star Tomoyasu Hotei that ends in a dead heat. Make no mistake: this is another jewel in the crown of the king of retro six-string.
