Let's Have a Rockin' Christmas, Vol. 6, various artists (Bongo Boy)

A while back, we covered a compilation from Bongo Boy Records with the same name and an earlier volume number. Hadn't realized the series had continued, but I stumbled onto this 2021 compilation while looking for something else. The album title is a tad misleading as there is far more than rock being offered here, but we'll start with the rockers. "When We Were Kids At Christmas" by 42nd St. Singers featuring Alyssa Young is a nice 60s girl-group number, and they come back later with a similar take on "Let's Go to Toyland." Studeo offers the nicely midtempo "It's Christmas Time," Tammi T & Keith Hines Production give us some modern synth-pop with "Christmas Cheer," See Your Shadow Songwriting goes somewhere between Southern rock and country with "Christmas on Cellblock 9," no relation to the great Coasters classic, and Jackie Kringle and the Elves offer the collection's title song. (If this sounds familiar, apparently this song has appeared on every one of these Bongo Boy compilations.) My two favorite tunes on here are the ballad "Snowman" by Hannyta, which will remind you strongly of Amy Winehouse, and The New Bardots' rocker "Santa Don't Like Politics," in which they both-sides the issues "Meet the Press" style, though they ultimately come down on the side of kindness and holiday joy. (Which means they picked a side after all.) Kate Magdalena gets three entries here, traditional pop rendtions of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "The Holly and the Ivy," and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Opening and closing the collection are versions of "Mary Did You Know" and "I Wonder as I Wander" by Jeralyn Glass & Dr. Sue Morter, in which the performances are bracketed with seriously sappy spoken-word parts; if hip-hop had been invented by the women's studies department of a small rural liberal arts college, this is what it would sound like.