A Foggy Holiday: Carols From the SF Scene, various artists (Talking House)

Released in 2007, this collection from Bay Area bands is intended to benefit MusiCares, which helps indigent musicians with their needs. It's a fairly professional bunch of local bands in the alt-rock vein. The set kicks off with a clattery "Holly Jolly Christmas" from Scissors For Lefty, Built For the Sea takes "Baby It's Cold Outside" out of the cocktail lounge and turns it into a rock anthem, The Trophy Fire builds an alt-folk arrangement around "White Christmas," and Bray gives up the white-boy funk for Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas." More funky beats from Austin Willacy back up "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," Kelly Gulbranson offers up Jackson Browne's "Rebel Jesus," and Mud (not the 70s British band, I'm sure) does an amped-up "Father Christmas," the Kinks song. Most imaginative choice of song goes to The Hundred Days with their version of "Walking In the Air," from the 1982 British short film "The Snowman." The song gets a bit of U2 in the arrangement, though the vocal is buried a bit. Poor Bailey rocks up "The Chipmunk Song," Push to Talk takes the tempo down on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and Elephone takes us out with "Auld Lang Syne." Plenty of mix disc candidates here and not too shabby to listen to all the way through.