XO For the Holidays, various artists (XO)

XO is a management group, and it compiled this freely downloadable holiday disc for 2004 from among the indie rock artists it was representing at the time. Things get off to a promising start with a cover of Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Service Group, then Master Slash Slave offers a rocked-up "All I Want For Christmas" that isn't the Mariah Carey song, but a plea to "get the band back together." Romeo Spike's "Christmas Diablo" adds a sinister synth line over top of a strong pop-rock arrangement while the singer "eats candy corn and watches spooky movies." "Ragtime Manifesto" by the Winter Sounds appears to be neither, just a good holiday love song. Blue Skies For Black Hearts appears twice, once with their own "It Never Snows On Christmas," a kind of choral chant leading into the chorus -- a global warming warning, perhaps? -- and they return to cover "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" in a more lo-fi rendition than the original. The Backsliders hold a rave-up with the song "That's How We Do Christmas," and that's how a lot of us will want to do it. Play> caps off the collections with a sparsely arranged "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." This is probably worth paying money for, but you won't have to.