Christmas Calling, various artists (Epic)

An excellent, though little-promoted, 2003 collection of the Sony-associated label's talent performing Christmas tunes. Macy Gray's third holiday tune, "What I Want For Christmas," is also her first original, and it's solid neo-soul. Brit-poppers Travis take a fairly straight shot at Joni Mitchell's "River," Fuel puts some acoustic crunch into "We Three Kings," Fiona Apple channels Burl Ives with her "Frosty the Snowman," and the Thorns do an impromptu "Silent Night." Tenacious D joins with Sum 41 to tear it up with their own "What I Want," which includes such lyrics as "I want all the Beatles' copyrights/I want to chop Florida right off the map." Phantom Planet does an instrumental "Carol of the Bells," Keb'Mo contributes the original "We Call it Christmas," Kaki King emotes on "O Holy Night" and teenage blues-rocker Shannon Curfman rips through "Please Come Home For Christmas." Rock fans will be happy to play this one all the way through, and there's something for just about everyone here. Out of print, but Amazon has cheap copies through 3rd parties.