An Alternative Christmas, various artists (Alternative Addiction)

This 2008 collection is tapped to benefit some undefined charity and it's a download-only piece. Many of the songs on here have been out before, like Lifehouse's "Silent Night," Thriving Ivory's "Our December," "Merry Christmas Eve" by Better Than Ezra, "She's a Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas" by Patent Pending and Negative Space's "I'll Be Home," but I haven't seen the other tunes anywhere. Ernie Halter does a nice simple two-voice version of "Angels We Have Heard On High," Safetysuit's "Anywhere But Here" is an original miss-you song in that mid-tempo arena-rock flavor, and Honor By August does a downcast ballad with the deceptive title "Happy Holidays." Needtobreathe does a kind of U2-sincere take on "Go Tell It on the Mountain," Honeyhoney offers "The Naughtiness of Me," a jazzy original featuring a 60s-style chanteuse confessing her failures, Schaefer and Ryan Star offer predictable versions of "Last Christmas" and "River," respectively, and Shinedown filters "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" through a 21st-century rock band prism. Evans Blue does a doomy "O Holy Night," and if you download this from the distributor you get a 16th track, "For Christmas" by 16 Frames, a ballad about being with the one you love most. Good collection if you don't have the majority of the tunes already.