Hollywood Drunks Christmas, The Hollywood Drunks (self-issued)

The Drunks, aka Winzenried, as in Eric Winzenried, are a sharp modern rock/pop band with a couple of albums to their credit and soundtrack placements on some TV shows. This holiday offering from 2009 should whet your appetite for their off-season sounds as well. They open up strong with a single original tune, "Looks Like Christmas," in which Santa appears to have passed over the singer's house in previous years. These guys like to throw a little funk into their rock, and you hear that on this song as well as on their versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear." On "We Need a Little Christmas," the Johnny Mathis/"Mame" chestnut, they put a light Caribbean sheen over the proceedings, and "Let It Snow" is a straight reggae reading. "We Three Kings" swings over into a more metallic realm, and "Here Comes Santa Claus" is a bit more bluesy boogie. And "Carol of the Bells" gets livened up with a bit of Latin percussion. This is one you can throw on at your Christmas party and let run all the way through.