A Christmas Present For You, various artists (Zero Hour)

More indie-alternative angst from 1995, about half original, half covers. The Dirt Merchants do a kickin' arrangement of "Jingle Bells," very high octane, but Grover with Kevin Salem settle for a straight cover of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," complete with Shane MacGowan impression. Nicole Blackman kills with a piece of performance art called "What I Want For Christmas," 22 Brides does a doomy "Coventry Carol" and Boyracer does a rare "Boxing Day" song, a fairly downtempo one at that. Best title on the album goes to Cucumbers' "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum," in which Santa meets Terry and the Pirates, or something like that. The Black Watch put "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" to a very Cure-like arrangement, but without the vocal gymnastics. Kind of uneven, but I'd buy it again just for the Nicole Blackman piece. Long out of print, but 3rd parties at Amazon have really cheap copies of it if you're interested.