Have a Twilley Christmas, Dwight Twilley (Digital MusicWorks)

One of the godfathers of power pop, going back to the late '70s with his own Dwight Twilley Band, I hadn't heard about him much lately until I stumbled over this new for 2004 EP on iTunes. UPDATE: It has been expanded into a full album for 2005. The album kicks off with "Snowman Magic" and segues into the jangly guitars of "Chrismas Stars," swings the poppy "Santa Claus' Favorite" and throws in some horns on the stomper "Rockabilly Christmas Ball." "Christmas Night" mashes up bits of "Pink Cadillac" and "Bang a Gong" into a dance-rock holiday classic while "Christmas Love" takes it down to ballad speed. The expanded album also adds the ballad "Christmas Lullaby," the poppy "Almost Christmas Time" and the holiday stomper "Santa Claus Walk." Topping it off, a little friendly competition with the Flaming Lips on "Christmas With the Martians," listed as a "remix" on the expanded CD. FURTHER UPDATE: In 2009 the disc was expanded to 16 songs, but they're mostly live and remixed versions of the songs already on the disc, except for "Help Me Jesus." All of the hardcopy editions appear to be out of print, so clicking on the album art will take you to a download of the 16-track edition.