Recently in Compilations Category

It's the third go-round for this series of rock Christmas collections -- actually the fourth if you count the fact that Volume 1 had to be reissued with a different track listing after a couple of songs flunked the rights clearance dance. As mentioned before, the "Garage Band" of the title is misleading, as there's not much of what we identify today as the garage sound. But as long as you're aware of the difference, this 2011 compilation isn't a bad collection. "Xxxxmas" by Harley Fine, the cover of "Father Christmas" by Garrigan and "Christmas In July" by Darling Czar are the songs that most live up to the album title, with Fine's tune a funny reference to X-rated entertainments on the holiday. The Human Beinz with Miss Angie contribute a power-poppy "Christmas Story," that band's Sal Crisafi offers a straight cover of John Mellencamp's version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and the band returns with Booker T's "Time Is Tight (Christmas version)," which appears to be accomplished with the aid of a bell solo near the end of the song. Paul James McHenry also goes a bit poppy with "Snap Your Fingers (If You Like Christmas)." Pat Horgan & Thunder Road offers the self-explanatory "Garage Band Christmas Blues," and Blue Road with Jimy Rogers also go to the blues with their version of "White Christmas" and "Merry Christmas Baby." If you liked the earlier entries in this series, you'll probably enjoy this one as well.

This is a charity compilation produced by Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers to raise money for the Vickie Honeycutt Foundation, a cancer-fighting organization. Bob's daughter Hallie is being treated for leukemia at St Jude's, which no doubt led to this benefit disc. It's a fairly mellow affair, featuring mostly covers like Nick and the Babes' "Christmas Time Is Here," Paleface's "Fairytale of New York" and the Wood Brothers' take on "Rebel Jesus." The Brothers themselves do "I Thank God," from a Sam Cooke album of spirituals but not a particularly holiday-oriented tune, and Jessica Lea Mayfield takes on Roger Miller's "Little Toy Trains." David Mayfield does John Hartford's "On Christmas Eve" and David Wax Museum (great band name) offers the traditional "La Rama." Originals include "Rambling Door to Door" by the Overmountain Men, Jim Avett's "The Brightest Star," and Mark Crozer's "Next Christmas." A nice array of Americana acts, though the whole project is more country than rock.

Like the previous edition, this is 18 hard rock/punk takes on the holiday for your 2011 delectation and playlisting. Among the familiar songs are the Chosen Ones' "White Christmas," in which a few unscheduled expletives and stimulants appear; The USM makes "The Little Drummer Boy" hammer out a boogie shuffle; The F.U.s' "Father Christmas" is a noisier but otherwise faithful cover of the Kinks; and Al and the Black Cats get thrashy with Elton John's "Step Into Christmas." Most of the tunes heard here are originals, kicking off with Evacuate's "Holidays With You," a fairly mainstream companionship song; the Keefs rail against lengthy Christmas preparations with "Christmas Crock," and Last Seen Laughing cover similar ground in "The Great Christmas Plot"; Cracks and Scars take aim at Santa with "Fake Beard Bastard"; and the Slotcars hijack surf music with their punkish "Surfin' For Christmas." Alcohol gets its holiday due via the Fisticuffs' "Santa Smells Like Whisky," Whisky Business' "A Whiskey Christmas," the Gestalts' "Cookies and Beer," Seek Revenge's "Kegnog," Red Alert's "Having a Drunken Christmas," and Angry Snowmans' "Drinkin' Rum & Egg Nog." That latter song, along with Missile Toads' "Reindeer In the Night," are billed as CD/download bonus tracks, which means if you go for the "splattered candycane vinyl," you'll have to download those last two tracks somehow. For the hard rockers and the punks out there, not to mention the vinyl fetishists (180-gram variety, of course).

We reviewed the previous two collections under this name favorably for their great assemblage of power pop Christmas tuneage, and 2011's addition to the series is solidly in the tradition. (Disclosure: this author made a small financial contribution to get the album to the pressing plant.) Lisa Mychols makes her third appearance in a row to kick off the album with "Joy Is In the Giving," a song I can't track to her previous discography; it's not on her classic Lost Winter's Dream Christmas album. Mistletunes regulars may recognize some of the songs on here; the Click Beetles' "Wonderful Christmas," Jim Babjak's Buzzed Meg's "It's Love on Christmas Day," Yule Logs' "Christmas Lights" and Jigsaw Seen's "What About Christmas" have all been mentioned here before. Sketch Middle rocks out on "Very Very Merry Merry," Jamie & Steve do a very Beatlesque "What Am I Gonna Get," the Sun Kings mine similar territory on "Santa's Calling," October Elsewhere gets introspective on the ballad "Bright New Day," as does 89 Mojo on "Wish," and Jeremy goes for the jangly guitars on "Now It's Christmas." Although these folks are mostly of the power pop realm, there are some left turns -- blues in the case of Tinsley Ellis' cover of "Santa Claus Wants Some Loving" and Ash Can School's "Christmas List Boogie," and antique pop-jazz in the "Winchester Cathedral" vein from The Brothers Figaro on "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." And Mari Pavelich, the reason for this seasonal tradition -- it was her case of Von Willebrand syndrome that led her dad, Dan, to produce this series of albums to benefit The Blood Center in Milwaukee -- provides us with a dramatic reading of "The Meaning of Christmas." A good album for a good cause, currently only available at Jam Records but hopefully will be in wider release soon.

The indie-pop label has done three paid compilations in past years but for 2011 is giving away this four-song collection featuring the previously mentioned "Wombling Merry Christmas" by The Very Most; J. Catala's "Hey It's Christmas," in which the Andrews Sisters go indie; Adam and Darcie's gentle and lush take on "Silver Bells"; and Fotoshop's noise-poppy "Don't Beat Me Up, It's Christmas." To get it, you have to go to Indiecater's site and leave a comment on the proper thread, after which they'll send you a link.

This is an ongoing campaign to raise funds to fight pediatric cancer by compiling holiday songs performed by alt-rock-Americana performers. This is the 2011 version, and almost every band represented here has composed a song for the occasion. The buzz cut from this collection is definitely the Unmentionables' "Santa Looks a Lot Like Billly Gibbons," a ZZ Top tribute that has a rockin' Santa in a Model A hotrod sleigh who looks like, well, you know. Fried Goat kicks things off in rocking style with "Barn," an inventory of the manger scene, and Jaycee Ward follows with the countrified "It's Christmas Everywhere." The Vellotones stay in the Americana groove with "Best Things About Christmas," which are the usual: family, friends and love, things that are free. Sibling String asks you to "Smile For Me," and the Livingroom Legends muster a kind of Tom Petty groove on "The Christmas Men." Five's A Crowd want to just stay home with you on "Christmas Love," Radar Cinema get a little noisy on "Christmas Melody 5," and Third Shift breaks out the horns to fete a "Funky Santa." Joy Krueger supports the troops with the ballad "Soldier's Lullaby," The Wombats offer the pensive "Shadows and Whispers," and Jim Perkins' "Somebody Like You" is more of a conventional love song with no Christmas trappings. This is a decent collection by less familiar artists that could easily become your favorites, and all for a good cause.

This, as you can tell, is the second collection of alt-folk-pop-rockers from Brushfire Records, new for 2011. Led by surfin' singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, this collection benefits 1% For the Planet, which collects money for environmental protection causes. Jack provides two songs this time around, both originals, "In the Morning" and "Angel (Holiday)," the latter a re-do of a previous Johnson original. G.Love is back with two songs, "Christmas Blues," a blues outing with a debt to Charles Brown's "Please Come Home For Christmas," and "Christmas Cookies," an uptempo shuffle for those with a sweet tooth. ALO also pays tribute to Brown with its original "Let It Ride," which evokes, without copying, "Merry Christmas Baby." Zach Gill of ALO contributes a solo number, "Party Hard," which is actually pretty sedate for its title. Rogue Wave does a mellow "Jingle Bell Rock" and Bahamas covers the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight." Zee Avi was on the previous collection and is back with her version of "Frosty the Snowman, which has a minor-key approach that suggests an Eastern European vibe -- interesting choice for a woman born in Malaysia. Paula Fuga offers "Winter Swell Blues," which is as advertised. Money Mark's "Make Time" manages to evoke both Randy Newman and 70s white-boy funk, at least on the intro for the latter influence. Wrapping things up are Matt Costa with "I Bet on Flying High" and Neil Halstead with "Home For the Season." Not quite as good as the first volume, but eminently listenable.

Another holiday tradition appears to be XO Publicity's Christmas album featuring artists on its management roster. Number four turns up for 2011 with the usual selection of interesting alt-pop-rockers, though only a few bands in common with previous editions. Piney Gir kicks things off with "Christmas Time," a nice original bit of baroque pop about preparing for the holiday, and Climber gives us some electro-pop with shades of 8-bit video games in the instrumental "Holiday Hoopla." Pictures of Then throw a few doomy electronic trappings over "I Believe In Father Christmas," and the downtempo sounds continue with Magnuson's "O Come Emanuel." Rags & Ribbons get positively bombastic with their version of "Greensleeves"; TSO anybody? The Winter Sounds go 60s pop rock with their breezy "Stranded In Snowville," Jessie Torrisi takes the David Lynch approach with her ballad "I Lose a Little Bit of You," and Kulewa takes to the lounge for the standard "I'll Be Home For Christmas." That leaves Beneath Wind and Waves with holiday love song "The Gift" and Bradley Wik and the Charlatans to conclude with the bluesy ballad "Midwest Winters." Like all the previous years' volumes, this is a free download, but it would be worth paying for if you had to.

I had no idea there was a Volume 1, but this 2010 sequel is a nicely subversive punk thrash through the holiday -- and a frequently explicit romp as well, so mothers hide your kiddies. The Sheckies go nuts with "Holly Jolly Christmas," but watch out what that guy does with his zipper. The 45 Adapters (do you have to be old like me to appreciate that name?) go anti-commercial with "This Xmas," in which we are exhorted to "don't buy sh-t." Dog Company wishes us a "Merry Christmas, Better New Year" in a punky reggae style, Doomed To Obscurity gets all jangly on "Yuletide Girl, and the Jukebox Zeros aver that "Christmas In the City (Ain't Too Pretty)." The Missile Toads rat out the jolly elf in "Santa's a Boozer," "White Christmas" goes explicit in the hands of the Antibodies, and you can imagine what a "Foul Mouthed Elf" might say in the hands of Nothing But Enemies/SCFF, who render the tune in a style reminiscent of the Buzzcocks. And what can we say about the Violent Society's "Merry Christmas, I [Cee-Lo'ed] Your Snowman?" I deleted the expletive myself, btw. All told, a profane noise spree you'll want to play for your friends. NSFW, but here's the 45 Adapters:

Once again the UK record label Cherryade draws Christmas songs from its artist roster and other associated indie bands to put together its latest compilation for 2010. Otalgia kicks things off nicely with the driving "Melting Friends," and then Doris and the Jumpers offer "Christmas Morning," a number with a debt to the sound of the Velvet Underground. "Christmas Day Alone" by Ginger Tom appears to be about getting dumped on Christmas, and Nathaniel Forrester gives us a nice acoustic rocker, "My Snowman." The Pocket Gods' "Phil Spector Christmas Album" is a mostly instrumental piece with talking pieces that appear to be quotes from interviews with or about Spector, making it more social commentary than sing-along. Love The Bobby McGee's for their song title "Dogs @ Xmas (99 Presents But a Bitch Ain't One)," although the song appears to be mostly in French, which lets me out at the curb. The Momeraths do a skiffle version of "Stop the Cavalry," Curly Hair's "8 Beat" features video game synths with xylophone backing lyrics about a holiday farewell, and HT & OJ also fire up synths to demand we "Just Say 'No' To Christmas." Another good one is the acoustic rocker "Christmas Song," an original, not the Mel Torme song, led by accordion. Model Village wraps things up with "Next Xmas," a jangle-pop look to the future. In the past you've had to order from the label, but this year you can get the download from Amazon.

Never let it be said that this indie label doesn't earn its name when it comes to Christmas samplers; once again, there's two CDs worth of stuff here, 48 tunes, and it would take me until Christmas to run down all of them for you. Since it's a free download (as are all the other previous samplers, which are easily accessed at the same link), you are risking only bandwidth to exercise your own independent judgment. In the interest of completeness, I'll note a handful of tracks on this 2010 collection should get the Parental Advisory sticker. I'll rattle off a few highlights to make this worth your reading time. "December Rain" by ChrisMas is what they used to call a "power ballad," and it seems to simulate the live concert experience with excessive echo on the drums and nearly continuous arena-sized audience cheering. "There's Always Tomorrow" by the Kickstand Band is a cute pop-rocker that could be played at times other than Christmas. Some synth-pop funk is applied to "This Christmas I'm Going To Florida" by Panic & Sharon, a clever kiss-off song. I think I like "Christmas at the Airport Bar" as much for its title and band name -- Cuban Mistletoe Crisis -- as for its power pop crunch. MC Ralz says "All I Want For Christmas Is a Rap Career," a good parody of that scene. A more straightforward hip-hop outing comes from PreciseHero with "I Can See My Breath." "Christmas Bummer" by Old Empire rhymes with "laid off since summer," and is a clever upbeat number about a downbeat subject. The Next Door Neighbors apparently got out pen and guitar during last year's TBS marathon to write the Sixties-ish "A Christmas Story," based entirely on the movie, and do I have to tell you what the chorus is? Hint: It's Red Ryder-related. "Christmas Creep" by From the Future sounds like a takeoff on "Walk on the Wild Side," with lyrics like "where mistletoe and camel toe meet." These aren't the only high points of the collection, but like I said, decide for yourself.

This 2010 British punk-pop compilation is actually billed "The Pocket Gods and Friends," as six tunes on here are by that band, including an all-hands-on-deck version of "Auld Lang Syne" that closes the album. (Their song "The Phil Spector Christmas Album" isn't on here, but it is on the 2010 Cherryade compilation, about which more later.) The hosts have a take-no-prisoners view of the holiday, with such titles as "Wanking For Christmas," "It's Christmas and You're Still a C--t," and the angry sound collage "The Queen's Speech Impediment," based on the tradition of the monarch speaking at holiday time. They also thrash through "Silent Night" and take a lo-fi but poppy approach to "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." Other guests here include The Low Countries, whose "Carry On Christmas" appears to have double meanings in regard to the bishop's activities; "Supernatural Bread" by Eddie's Brother seems to be a request for money in lieu of gifts; Grae J Wall and the Young Trash Lovers lament that "They Cancelled Christmas," then Grae himself returns with a folk ballad "Acadia Avenue," about holiday verities; Martin Bradford Gago renders a straight reading of "We Three Kings"; Uber Dramm offers a noisy admission, "I KIlled My Parents on Christmas Day"; the Electric Pheromones offer an instrumental with the provocative title "All I Got For Christmas Was This Clockwork Orange"; Bert M D'hooge also goes instrumental with "Last of Summer, Burned in Midwinter Fire"; and Kirk performs "Xmas Blues," which is exactly what the title says it is. A fair amount of variety here, but mostly in the lo-fi punk vein.

The European indie label is back with another compilation of its own artists taking on the holiday. It's a little thinner than the two previous collections, just 11 songs, but if you've heard the previous ones you know what to expect -- lo-fi indie pop-rock. Adam and Darcie kick things off with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River," Alli Millstein offers "White White Christmas," a ballad with just a taste of old doo-wop touches, Kate and After's "Snow Angel" reappears here, Boca Chica goes country with "Not On Christmas Eve," the Gorgeous Colors rush the kids to bed with "Hurry Up Children, Santa's Coming," Natalie Prass gets jazzy with "No Better Time," Sixties pop comes to the fore with "Snow Blitz" by Paisley and Charlie, and the Very Most return with "Christmas In July Comes Earlier Each Year," a keyboard-and-melodic-percussion instrumental that ramps up into a righteous noise with faint vocals toward the end. An interesting collection you should look into. Only available for purchase from the website for now, but the 2008 and 2009 collections are at Amazon.

We've always been happy to highlight particular businesses' special Christmas albums on this site, although we tend to be a little picky in that regard, looking for something unique. Well, we are remiss in not bringing this news to you earlier: Target not only has an excellent rock 'n pop Christmas compilation available for 2010, it's free of charge. Just go to the website and download the zip file and open into iTunes or whatever your listening/ripping application is. There's even liner notes at the site, though I'd recommend archiving those if you want them. Guster kicks things off with a new tune, "Tiny Tree Christmas," Crystal Antlers pays garage-rock tribute to Christmas light displays with "10,000 Watts," Blackalicious brings the hip-hop with "Toy Jackpot," Bishop Allen gives us some clangorous alt-pop with "You'll Never Find My Christmas" and Jenny O wants to "Get Down For the Holidays," but in that gentle acoustic pop manner. Classic R'nB makes two appearances with Little Isadore's "Party Hard" and Little Jackie's "Mrs. Claus Got Nothing On Me," both guaranteed to populate the dance floor, the latter already in use in a Target ad. Blazer Force goes electro-pop with "Electronic Santa," Natalie Hemby takes a Secret Sisters approach to seeking her "Perfect Gift," and the collection closes with two Spanish-language pop-rock recordings, The Pinker Tones with "Super Mama" and Ceci Bastida with "Un Regalo Para Mi (A Present For Me)." This collection is good enough to pay for, thank goodness you don't have to. Just for giggles, here's Guster's video.

Last year saw the first of Warners' download-only compilations under this title, and this is the second for 2010, this one done up as an "iTunes LP," a special format by that store that recreates the liner notes experience in a way that looks a lot like the special features screens on a movie DVD. This collection is 21 songs plus a video for $9.99, a reasonably good deal, although the entire package takes a lot longer to download than just a standard album's worth of tunes. The selections appear to be a troll through the vaults, although there's a fair number of tunes I haven't encountered before. The version of Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" done here by Oasis hasn't been widely available in the past, nor has Devo's "Merry Something To You," the video of which is included along with the separate song-only file. Tegan and Sara goof around with "The Chipmunk Song," Flaming Lips' "Little Drummer Boy" sounds like a soundcheck throwaway, House of Heroes' previously released "O Come Emanuel" is here, and an acoustic version of Goo Goo Dolls' "Better Days" is part of this package. Foxy Shazam's hard rocker "Heaven On Their Minds" is a good change of pace, and Franklin provides the Hanukkah Alert with a brief "Hanukkah O Hanukkah." MOR sensibilities are catered to with David Foster's "Carol of the Bells," Ben Keith's countrified "Les Trois Cloches" featuring Neil Young and his wife Pegi from Keith's long-ago album, and a duet by Kara DioGuardi and Jason Reeves, "Wintertime in New York." The Dirt Drifters put a country twang on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," Rachel Yamagata offers the ballad "Baby Come Find Me at Christmas," American Bang's "Christmas Song" is an interesting midtempo rocker, as is Cavo's "Home For Christmas." Two tunes on here that didn't do much for me are Stardeath and White Dwarf's dirge-y "Last Christmas" and Regina Spektor's "December," which sounds like a homeless person declaiming in front of a piano store. (I may be overstating this a bit...) Pity, as I rather liked her New Year's song from a couple years ago. I suspect a lot of folks will graze this collection for just those songs they want.

Several years back, this DIY label released Volume 1, and 2010 sees the second in the series featuring independent acts it distributes. The company works with artists from across genres, so like the first one there are country, folk, classical and jazz cuts among the 20 songs here, but the majority of songs are in the rock and pop realms. That said, there are three repeats from Volume 1 on here, "Santa's Bag" and "Glad To Be Home For Christmas" by Rick Bell of It's About Roy and "Sing For Christmas" by Andy Pratt, though if you didn't grab that volume they're still the good songs they were, particularly "Santa's Bag," a note-perfect Beach Boys homage. The latter-day version of The Buckinghams, the 60s band with hits like "Kind of a Drag," "Susan" and a vocal version of "Mercy Mercy Mercy," show up here with the midtempo "Christmas 12 Months a Year." Greg Roz goes R'nB ballad speed with "First Real Christmas," Michael Sembello (the very same) does a straight pop ballad, "I Really Don't Want Much For Christmas," now-defunct Harrisburg, Pa. band Bravetheday offers a folky "O Come Emanuel," and Pittsburgh's B.E. Taylor puts down a rocking "Feel the Love of Christmas," propelled equally by horns and accordion. Cleveland's long-running Michael Stanley Band hard-rocks "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," Ben Arnold plays an easy-going "Reindeer Game," Jake Holmes brings us a sillly "Chinese Christmas," and more ballads issue from Brian McDade with "The Christmas Snow and Tricia O'Keefe's "Christmas With You." Those with a low tolerance for Fox News-derived verities will want to dodge James Cain's "Christ Out of Christmas," a country complaint about issues that were mostly adjudicated 40 years ago. A reasonably good compilation like the first one, and since it's downloadable you can pick and choose songs if you feel it's necessary.

Rumblefish is a music licensing company, and this 2007 collection features indie artists they've contracted to have their music placed in video productions, TV shows, and so on. It's fairly listenable in an eclectic alt-indie way. Things kick off with "Christmas on the Moon" by Slink Moss Explosion, a country-inflected rocker about actually celebrating on the moon. Mike Schmid offers "Full House," a midtempo reflection on having all the relatives and friends over that will fit. Hot Tin Roof's "A Christmas Wish" rocks things up nicely, and then Josh Jesty does a mash-up style arrangement of "Silent Night" in which the typical slow rendition is dressed up with various bits of electronic soundscaping. "I Saw Three Ships" gets a folk-rock arrangement from Rye Hollow, and "We Three Kings" is done in an electro-pop arrangement by Heathersong. Jeff Saltzman does a spaghetti-Western instrumental version of "Jingle Bells," and then Supersuckers rock the house with "Call It Christmas Time," and Ron Rogers and Deborah Giles go 60s pop with "Hey Santa Claus." Trashcan Joe caps things off with a novelty, a bunch of little kids telling Santa to "Bring Me Some Bling."

Fans of the Double Crown label are already up to speed with the first two volumes, so here's another one for 2010. As in the past, the artists featured are from the label, mostly in the early 60's guitar combo sound that stretches from Duane Eddy to the surf music scene. Much of this is instrumentals, kicking off with The Razorblades' "Morgen Kinder Wirds Was Geben," as you might expect from a German band. The Excelsiors take a lot of delightful liberties with "Good King Wenceslas" and The Frankie Handwax Experience superimposes "We Three Kings" over Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression." Previously released items from the label show up here, like "Greensleeves" from King of Hawaii's Chrismas disc and The Barbary Coasters' "Secret Santa." Burt Rocket gets a little Joe Meek/Telestar on us with "Santa's Hot Rod," The Balboas throw in a vocal with "This Is Santa Claus," and also resorting to the microphone are The Polkaholics with "Sausage and Sauerkraut For Santa," a rock/polka hybrid. Tiki Joe's Ocean goes exotica on us with their version of "Jingle Bells," and OJ Watson and the Ludlow Ramblers do "We'll Be Home With Bells On," which is straight old-school country, and Peter Curry and Dick Chiclet wrap things up with a twangy "Old Anxiety," better known as "Auld Lang Syne." This is right in line with the previous two collections, and if you grab it from the mothership (assuming your local record store doesn't have the hard copy, that's the only place online that has it) there's an additional song downloadable from the site, "Silent Night Twist" by The Beechwoods, which is just a little sedate for twisting but more uptempo than the song is usually performed. The Balboas did a video, like to see it? Here we go:

This 2010 release is fifth in the series of Christmas collections of Christian-market rock groups that started at BEC Recordings and has since migrated to Tooth & Nail. As in the past, rock fans can choose to be cheerfully oblivious to the religious aspect, as there's no overt proselytizing here, just strong performances of Christmas-oriented songs. (No Hanukkah Alerts, though.) The majority of these performances are uptempo hard rock workouts, though Hawk Nelson's "Chipmunk Song" throws in some ska rhythms, Emery takes the ballad tack to their "Jesus Gave Us Christmas," Bon Voyage does "The Little Christmas Tree" Phil Spector-style, FM Static does a pop-rock "Snow Miser" with orchestral touches, and Surrogate does a slow, swingy semi-acoustic version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." August Burns Red and Family Force 5 contribute tunes they've previously released, and Copeland does a solo piano version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Oh, by the way, if you've missed out on the previous installments of the Happy Christmas series, volumes 1-3 are now packaged together for 2010. 

Alternate Root is a magazine dedicated to Americana, roots and alt-country performers, and for 2009 they issued a holiday compilation with a twist -- it's 25 songs contributed by the magazine's readers. Sort of a multimedia letters section for the magazine, if you will. It's a free download as well. Of course, many of the readers are pro musicians, so this isn't exactly the local high school production of "American Idol" we're dealing with. It's a lot more country than we normally get into at Mistletunes, but since it's free you can pick and choose the tunes as you will. Grub Dog Mitchell's "Rockin' In My Stockin'" is as advertised, a solid rootsy rocker; Carolyn Sills goes 60s girl-group on a tribute to "George Bailey"; Penny Jo Pullus contributes a new version of her "Silent Night, Lonely Night" she did with the Muddpuppies on the Here Comes Another Christmas: Greetings from the Salt City album from around a decade ago; and Lance Norris' "Santa Copped a 'Tude" is a Bob Dylan parody originally heard on the holiday disc by The Stools. Jaime Michaels goes a little more acoustic pop with his "Winter Song" and Steve Fisher puts a bluegrass backing to "Hoovertown," a Depression-era story of sharing strength and woe at Christmastime. Because country is a big part of this, we get cry-in-your-beer tunes like "Jon's Silent Night" by Jon Byrd and "Mommy, Why Was Santa Crying?" by T. Edwin Doss. A little more fun is available from Chief Greenbud's "Let's Get Blazed For the Holidaze," Cody Prevost's "Santa's Got a New Ride" and Candye Kane's "Put the X Back in Xmas," and she discovers "Santa Is a Swinger Now" to a Western swing backing. You'll want to at least sort through this collection, although if you're a regular Alternate Root reader you probably will love this without reservation.

I've been a little slow getting to this, and with good reason -- this is a free download album with 53 songs on it. Count 'em, 53. As a result, in my last few bouts of posting I kept telling myself, "Oh, I'll get to that when I have a little more time to deal." Well, you know how that goes. So I said it's time to get it posted. Suburban Sprawl is an alt-rock-indie label, and not a very big one, though one might assume the exact opposite with 53 artists involved. So I won't bother unpacking all of that and just get to the music, which in overall quality is pretty darn good across the entire collection. Things kick off with "Twas the Night Before Christmas" done to the tune of "Chopsticks" by The Barrettes and continue in fine style with such tunes as Love Axe's original "Baby, I Wish It Was Cold Outside," Panic & Sharon's electro-pop "Christmastime Is Here," ChrisMas' dance-floor-ready "S.A.N.T.A.," Daniel Zott's Claus lament "Look What You Did, You Little Jerk," Buffay's hip-hop takeoff "Merri Chrissmiss 2 My Dik," which requires a Parental Advisory (ya think?), Coach Mahler's "Hanukkah Blues," Bethlehem Girls Choir's unique medley of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey and "Here Comes Your Man" by The Pixies, and so on through all 53 selections. Suburban Sprawl has done this for multiple years, and they're all at the free download site, so do a little discovering of your own.

I haven't been down with Putumayo's prodigious output of Christmas discs in the past, but they sent this one along and I noticed that most of the playlist has already been reviewed on this site, so I figured it was worth mentioning. Among the cuts from Mistletunes history are Leon Redbone's "Let It Snow," Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's version of "Zat You, Santa Claus," Brave Combo's "Jolly Old St. Nick," Christmas Jug Band's "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus," and Martin Sexton's "Holly Jolly Christmas." Add to that Johnny Bregar and his ukelele on "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," Deana Carter's swingy "Winter Wonderland," Sam Bush taking a "Sleigh Ride" with banjo, Debbie Davis and Matt Perrine bringing back the ukelele and adding accordion to "Mele Kalikimaka," Kate Rusby's "Here We Come A-Wassailing," and Lars Edegran with Big Al Carson doing "Frosty the Snowman" Dixieland style. The emphasis is on American roots music on this collection, with a bias toward making the playlist kid-friendly, and on that score it succeeds. And while it's not exactly balls-out rock 'n roll, it does have that hint of irreverence we're looking for here.

Fresh off their first compilation from last year. the Indiecater label is back with a new collection of alt-indie-rock-pop Christmas tunes from acts on their roster and from elsewhere. Adam and Darcie kick things off with a dreamy "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," Allo Darlin', fresh off Cherryade's compilation, keep a candle burning for ukelele music with this solo strum of what is normally a duet song, "Baby It's Cold Outside," and Betty and the Cavaleros go lounge with "Hey! I'm Your Gift Today." Loxly gives us an unspeakably tragic take on the life of "Mrs. Kris Kringle," in which she shaves his beard in his sleep, unpacks the sleigh and burns the kids' letters. I Hate You Just Kidding pick up the duet baton from Allo Darlin' with their own "It's Fun To Do Bad Things" for Christmas, The Garlands grab a little of that Pet Sounds magic for their original "Christmas Song," and Candyclaws gins up a kind of slapdash wall of sound for their tune "Snowdrift Wish." The band Sweet Jane puts "Silent Night" to a Velvet Underground-like backing, and Standard Fare does a kind of talk-sing on "Tinsel Politics," in which the family battles about where to go and what to do on Christmas are aired out. Not a lot of uptempo stuff on this collection, but at least these folks are being mopey about some thought-provoking topics. Get it from Indiecater's website.

The Damaged Goods label remains a mainstay of the British punk scene, and their artists have had a fairly active Christmas life -- indeed, a number of the label's holiday works have featured on Mistletunes in the past. For those who haven't been following the Damaged saga, this collection, a paid download from the label's site, will bring you up to speed quickly -- and enjoyably. The site has previously reviewed such items as Holly Golightly's "Christmas Tree On Fire," Wild Billy Childish's "Christmas 1979," TV Smith's "Xmas, Bloody Xmas," Goldblade's "City of Christmas Ghosts" featuring Poly Styrene, and Severe's version of "Stop the Cavalry." Add to that the Singing Loins' "Ding Dong Merrily On High," an almost skiffle-like tune that cops from traditional carols; Helen Love's much poppier take on the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)"; another Holly Golightly song, the sweet ballad "Little Stars," done with the Greenhornes; Cuckooland's punked-out "Silver Bells"; Monkhouse's thrashy "Guinness and Wine," necessary holiday beverages for many; and Buff Medways wraps things up with "Merry Christmas Fritz." Thee Headcoatees are billed as providing their version of the Sonics' "Santa Claus," but my copy came with a different song by the band that has X-rated lyrics and is not about Christmas. I've tipped the label.

The folks at Warner Bros. dipped into the vaults for a quickie compilation that is, according to their press release, a digital-only offering for 2009. It's wildly eclectic, comprising everything from Michael Buble to Randy Travis, but the 20 songs do include some entries of interest to Mistletunes denizens. The first-ever general market release of R.E.M.'s "Deck the Halls" is here, formerly a fan-club offering; it's kind of slapdash, but the mere fact that it's here to satisfy curious minds is probably enough.  My Chemical Romance's rendition of the Mariah Carey hit "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is on the playlist, billed as the 2005 version. The song appears a second time in the rather conventional pop-rock performance by country singer Whitney Duncan (remind me to do my what's up with country-that-isn't-country rant sometime). Some items on here previously reviewed at Mistletunes include Regina Spektor's "My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year)," Flaming Lips' "A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)," Never Shout Never's "30 Days," Brian Setzer Orchestra's "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," Reliant K's "Merry Christmas, Here's to Many More" and Jeremy Lister's "Santa Lost His Mojo" from the Ten Out Of Tenn compilation. The Used show up with "Alone This Holiday," a hard rock ballad that you have to download the whole album to get, and Jack's Mannequin offers "The Lights and Buzz," a pensive rocker about Christmas in California. R'nb is represented by Nikki & Rich's "This Time of Year," a gospelly mid-tempo number with secular lyrics, and Meaghan Smith applies her retro-chic approach to "Silver Bells." Finally, we get a Hanukkah Alert from Melée, "(When Is) Hanukkah This Year?," a snarky power-pop number reminiscent of The Leevees. Feel free to download this one a la carte unless you want The Used.

Britain's Cherryade label keeps its Christmas streak alive at five for 2009, presenting acts from its label roster and elsewhere who keep poking and prodding at the various ways to express the sounds and emotions of the holiday through the medium of independent alternative rock 'n roll. School kicks things off with "Let Me Be the Fairy on Your Christmas Tree Tonight," a solid slice of girl-group pop-rock to get you in the spirit. Das Wonderlust takes a chamber-pop approach to "Someone to Pull Crackers With," an art-rocker with just a tiny taste of Sparks and a premise that I'm quite certain is an expression of romance among the Brits. I can just hear Barry White, rest his soul, saying, "Oooh, let's pull some crackers tonight baby...." Persil's "Dear Santa" is a nice bit of electro-pop meeting spaghetti Western guitar in a plea to the jolly elf: "I want you for Christmas...." Shrag plays things for laughs with a takeoff on Jona Lewie, "Stop the Revelry," in which the cavalry is ignored and the holiday fun is aggravating the singers. Mistletoe is a source of holiday intrigue, as The Gresham Flyers describe a "Mistletoe Misadventure" involving multiple lovers to horns, strings and acoustic guitars, while Doris and the Jumpers investigate via synths and drum machines the likely outcome, a "Murder Under the Mistletoe." The 10p Mixs worry about "too much carbon in the atmosphere," but vow not to let that bother their holiday in "Christmas Number One," which is not about Will Riker. 'Allo Darling whips out a ukelele and chimes to sing about a "Space Christmas," one achieved by the singer first seducing a rich man to pay for the sojourn (shades of "Indecent Proposal!"). Humousexual takes a page from Billy Bragg with "Come Take My Hand In Winter," Rebecca Wilmott's "A Christmas Echo" and Everett True's "A Christmas Tale" give a shout-out to the spoken word, and the obligatory New Year's wishes come from Detox Cute and the Beauty Junkies, who mope a bit, boy-girl style, about an "Unhappy New Year." Four tunes on this are repeats from previous discs in the series, but there's still 21 other tunes, all fresh for this year. Clicking on the album cover will take you to iTunes, but if Cherryade is just your flavor, you might want to follow this link to the label's website, where through the magic of international post you can get a special deal that will put hardcopy versions of all five Cherryade Christmas discs under your tree.

Ken Kessler is a friend of the Mistletunes site, having contributed many tips about hot rocking Christmas tunes over the years, and we've also posted some of his questions about obscure recordings over the years. He's taken his Christmas obsession to the Web with an Internet radio station, The Sounds of Christmas, and for 2009 he's moved on to curate his very own Christmas compilation, proceeds from which will benefit the Hollywood Charity Horse Show. Not surprisingly, he named the collection after his radio station, and it's 15 selections from off the beaten path. Among the highlights is the first-ever CD release of the doo-wop a capella "Winter Wonderland" by Huey Lewis and the News, which was originally released to the fan club only back in 1984; a strong rocking version of "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" from Richard Marx; Stephen Bishop's "Rock Little Reindeer"; the Jimmy Buffett-styled "Christmastime on the Beach" by Roy Holliday; Hayseed Dixie's fabulous rock/bluegrass fusion "Misty Wonderland Hop," combining "Winter Wonderland" with the Led Zeppelin classic; Pete Hopkins' modern r'nb take on "(I'll Be) Home For Christmas"; and a cute, if a bit dated, novelty, DJ Ice Z Ice and the Fresh Elf doing an old-school rap in chipmunk voices with "The Night Before Christmas." William Shatner's "Good King Wenceslas" is his usual overly portentious dramatic reading over a musical bed, something that might get old fast if you're not a Denny Crane fan. The remaining songs on this album track much closer to middle of the road, including former Styx-man Dennis DeYoung's "When I Hear a Christmas Song," but as the album's for charity I assume Ken made his picks to attract a wider audience. Nevertheless, there are some good rocking reasons to go with this collection. For a deeper look at this disc, visit Ken's MySpace page.

Free, fresh original Christmas rock 'n roll, anybody? You've come to the right post. Just click the album cover. XO Publicity of Portland, Ore., is back for 2009 with their second such collection of free holiday rock music. Their previous collection was a few years ago, so there are some different faces on this collection, but also a few repeat performers with new tunes. Most of these tunes appear to be originals, though Piney Gir offers "You Make Me Feel So Young," an old Frank Sinatra staple that doesn't have much to do with Christmas. Caravan of Theves does a string-band version of "The Grinch," and Jessie Torrisi's version of "Christmas Don't Be Late" gets a less commercialized rewrite in which she asks us to forego the toys and gifts in favor of someone to hold. Blue Skies For Black Hearts kicks things off with the poppy "Wishin' You a Merry Christmas, in which Hanukkah and Kwanzaa get shout-outs; The Backsliders aver that "Christmas (Doesn't Have To Be So Bad)" in a 70s pop-rock vein; and The Very Foundation offer "All Lit Up (For Christmas)," which starts off sounding like a travel advisory and ends up marveling at the holiday lighting displays. "Snowed In" by Sleepwalk Kid is a rock-boogie shuffle about letting the snow pile up; The Winter Sounds give us "The Anthem Is a Gift," a mid-tempo ballad about being separated for the holidays; Drew Grow gives us a David Lynch-ish meditation on a "Tennessee Christmas," in a slow tempo with portentious slide guitars setting the mood; and "New Year's Eve" by Team Five is a mostly guitar-based instrumental, not particularly festive considering the title. I'd recommend you pay money for this, so grab it while it's free. Vol. 1 is also at this link.