An All-Star Salute To Christmas, various artists (Purple Pyramid/Cleopatra)

"The most eclectic Christmas album ever!" shouts the cover blurb, and if that's not strictly true, it is fair to say this 2009 collection is a reasonably varied version of a rock 'n roll Christmas. It's two discs' worth (30 tunes) of rockin' Christmas goodies at a pretty cheap price, though it becomes clear that the price is dependent on the fact that few of the familiar rock classic titles on here are by the original artists. Apparently, Iggy Pop's version of "White Christmas" was recorded for this collection, and it's right in keeping with the style he's established for himself in his latter solo years. Some of the other selections that are unique to this release include Doors axeman Robbie Krieger's "Little Drummer Boy," which distinguishes itself with Krieger's Eastern-influenced guitar parts; Dweezil Zappa's version of "Wonderful Christmastime" -- yes, the Macca tune, which he plays straight, adding some fairly tasteful guitar heroics in the middle; and a couple of numbers from Dokken/Lynch Mob guitarist George Lynch, "Wizards In Winter" and a cover of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24." Several surprises surface here, including "Christmas Time Is Here Again" by the Flirtations -- actually the original B-side of their 60s megahit "Nothing But a Heartache"; Spanky and Our Gang's "Sleigh Bells," which sounds like it was recorded in the latter days of their existence; Musical Youth's cover of the Boney M medley "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord"; and the Motels doing Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You." James Brown is represented with two numbers, "Clean For Christmas" and "Funky Christmas," as is 70s country singer Donna Fargo (unnecessarily, in my opinion) with "Jingle Bells" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Other notable tracks include John Wetton's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Bay City Rollers' "Cuz It's Christmas," Leif Garrett covering Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," tribute band T.Rextasy contributing a second, Marc Bolan-ized version of "White Christmas," Tommy Tutone's retinseled "867-5309 (Christmas version)" and guitar hero Steve Morse covering U2's "New Year's Day." Price-wise it's hard to go wrong, especially at Amazon's download price, and there's enough unique stuff here to make it worthwhile.