"Christmas With the Kranks," original soundtrack (Hollywood)

I haven't made a big effort with holiday movie soundtracks because the vast majority of them consist of either background music or they rely mainly on stuff you've heard a thousand times before, from Bing and Frank right up through the present day. This one isn't necessarily a stop-the-presses release, but it is notable for the attempt the music supervisors made to use more unique tunes like The Raveonettes' "Christmas Song," The Charms' "Frosty the Snowman" in the Phil Spector arrangement, The Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)," Davie Allan and the Arrows' "Feliz Navidad," The Chesterfield Kings' Chuck Berry-ized "Hey Santa Claus" and Jean Beauvoir's "Merry Christmas to All the World." The Butties do "Joy to the World" in an arrangement they apparently nicked off the Fab Four's CD. Update: Mark Humble of The Butties writes to tell us their song dates back to 2000 and was first released on an EP in 2001, a year before the Fab Four's version. It's also on the compilation Ho Ho Ho Spice. He's willing to mark up the coincidence to great minds thinking alike. Also on this CD, Dan Aykroyd gets a couple of cuts and Joey Ramone reappears with his solo "What a Wonderful World." The producers throw in Brenda Lee and Elvis Presley, along with some background music. Most of this stuff is available elsewhere, but not all of it as far as I know.

The Santa Clause 2, various artists (Walt Disney)

A decent soundtrack to the 2002 sequel that has been described as an improvement on the original movie. There aren't any great surprises, starting with the presence of "Lizzie McGuire" star Hilary Duff, a Disney Channel star at the time this movie was made. But her "Santa Claus Lane" actually isn't bad, although kid voices do tend to creep some people out. An impressive outing from SHeDAISY on "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag," but if this is country music then I'm Arlen Specter. Brian Setzer and the Orchestra's "Jingle Bells" makes another appearance here, as does Eddie Money's duet with Ronnie Spector, "Everybody Loves Christmas." Evergreens like Brenda Lee's "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus," Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" and Louie Armstrong's "Zat You, Santa Claus" are always welcome, along with a classic by Smokey and the Miracles, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." That carol is reprised in a straight lounge reading by Steve Tyrell. A comparative rarity is "Blue Holiday" by The Shirelles (I've never heard it before this, anyway), and it's a bluesy belter. Unwritten Law joins Sum 41 for "Unwritten Christmas," a solid contemporary rock ballad with lots of crunch. Not bad, especially for a soundtrack album.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, soundtrack (Interscope)

The 2000 live-action movie got mixed reviews, but the soundtrack does all right by me. It contains a large helping of the movie's instrumental score, but there are as many songs on the album as there are on most song-only soundtracks. Needless to say, there are two versions of the Grinch's signature song, a rap version with Busta Rhymes that Jim Carrey tags with "I wanna give a shout out to the west side of Whoville," and later Carrey does a more conventional version. Gems include the Barenaked Ladies with their own "Green Christmas," not the Stan Freberg song; Little Isidore and the Inquisitors with "Christmas of Love"; Ben Folds with "Lonely Christmas Eve"; "Better Do It Right" by Smash Mouth; and "Christmas Is Going to the Dogs" by the Eels. There's also a surprising "Perfect Christmas Night" from Trans-Siberian Orchestra, although it segues into an overture-like tune called just "Grinch" that is more like their usual fare. Tunes by N'Sync and Faith Hill are just there to snag casual shoppers, in my opinion.

A Very Ally Christmas, cast of "Ally McBeal" (Sony 550)

I've got a bone to pick with the producers of this album. In the first season of the show, Vonda Shepherd did a cool slow version of "Christmas Time is Here" aka "The Chipmunk Song." They recorded additional tunes to fill out this album but they couldn't find room for that? OK, maybe the rights weren't available, too expensive, etc. Having said this, I give this album a conditional OK, in that fans of the show will love it and even Ally-haters should find a few tracks on here to enjoy, especially Macy Gray's "Winter Wonderland." Vonda does credible versions of "This Christmas," "The Man with the Bag," "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," and "Please Come Home for Christmas," but her torchy "Let It Snow" is just slow. Jane Krakowski does serviceable versions of "Run Run Rudolph" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and Lisa Nicole Carson is good on "Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney." Calista Flockhart takes a risk doing "Santa Baby," as Eartha Kitt casts a long shadow, but she just manages to get away with it. The real revelation here is Robert Downey Jr., who acquits himself well on Joni Mitchell's "River," sounding somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, original soundtrack (Walt Disney)

Before Danny Elfman became a soundtrack music maven, he was involved with Oingo Boingo, a new wave outfit that sounded like Devo crossed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. This 1993 outing, written and produced as the soul of Tim Burton's stop-animation extravaganza, puts a nice twist on the holiday -- and isn't bad as Halloween music, either. Danny and fellow cast members Catherine O'Hara and Paul Reubens (SCTV and Pee Wee, respectively) do a knockout job on "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and "Oogie Boogie's Song" with Ken Page and Ed Ivory is a bluesy romp. However, soundtracks do suffer from songs that don't travel well away from the movie or play, and this one's no exception. But the two songs above are almost worth the whole album. Update: For 2007, in conjunction with the re-release of the film in IMAX 3D, there's a "Special Edition" of this album with a second disc of bonus cuts featuring versions of the soundtrack's songs from Marilyn Manson, Panic at the Disco, Fiona Apple, Fall Out Boy and She Wants Revenge, plus some of Danny Elfman's demos of those songs.

Ren and Stimpy's Crock of Christmas, original soundtrack (Nickelodeon/Sony Wonder/Epic)

People either love Ren and Stimpy or hug the toilet when they come on, and this album, the soundtrack to their holiday special, is a Christmas gross-out par excellence. There's no plot, they just wander around, bumping into recurring characters like Muddy Mudskipper, Stinky Wizzleteats and Wilbur J. Cobb and singing about something called Yaksmas, and Yak Shaving Day, and so on. There are some originals and others are new lyrics set to old familiar favorites with that Ren and Stimpy, er, flair. "What Is Christmas," "We're Going Shopping" and "I Hate Christmas" are cuts that stand alone if you're making a mix tape; taken all together, it's a hoot on its own terms.

Jingle All the Way, original soundtrack (TVT)

However you may have felt about the 1996 holiday movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad (?), the producers made a fairly good stab at providing listenable incidental music, although it skews a bit toward lounge music and away from rock 'n roll. Still, there are some bonafide classics like Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run," Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby," Clarence Carter's "Back Door Santa," Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock," along with pop standards like Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" and Johnny Mathis' "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." To round out the show, they brought in the Brian Setzer Orchestra and guest vocalists Darlene Love and Lou Rawls. Lou croons Setzer's own "So They Say It's Christmas," while Darlene rocks "Sleigh Ride" in a different arrangement than on the Phil Spector album and shows an affinity for jazz-pop on Sammy Hagar's "Deep in the Heart of Xmas." Setzer kicks off the album singing "Jingle Bells" and the rest of the album features non-holiday music from the soundtrack's composer, David Newman. It's not a bad album overall, but if you already have the classic tunes here it's up to you whether to buy it for the Setzer Orchestra's performances.