Are you iffy on which of the trazillion Christmas albums out there to buy for your holiday shindig? Well, make your own! Just please, for the love of St. Nick, step away from the Mannheim Steamroller.
Here’s a diverse array of yuletide faves old and new, all available for download at iTunes:
1. “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Mariah Carey (“Merry Christmas”): Put aside all the divaness and the woman can SING. Most people know the words to this more than “Silent Night” these days.
2. “Angels We Have Heard on High,” Brian Setzer Orchestra (“Dig That Crazy Christmas”): A rave-up of an arrangement from that starts out like a surf number with antiphonal trumpets, and moves to Setzer’s inimitable guitar-slinging.
3. “River,” Sarah McLachlan (“Wintersong”): Not exactly the happiest of all holiday tracks — the river is not exactly being used to connect with loved ones… — but the Canadian singer brings haunting emotion to the Joni Mitchell staple.
4. “Yule Shoot Your Eyes Out,” Fall Out Boy (“A Santa Cause — It’s a Punk Rock Christmas”): Well, let’s get the angst out of the way early, shall we? Christmas isn’t always the happiest of holidays, but hey — there are sleigh bells to be had!
5. “O Holy Night,” MercyMe (“Coming Home for Christmas”): You can’t really go wrong with the combination of classic Christian carol and popular Christian rockers. If this doesn’t do it for you, Mariah Carey’s is also superb. Did I mention she could sing?
6. “Coventry Carol,” Alison Moyet (“A Very Special Christmas, Vol. 1”): The synthesizers add style but the husky-voiced female half of the short-lived 1980s pop group Yaz lends vocal depth to this old-school carol.
7. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” U2 (“A Very Special Christmas, Vol. 1”): Bono puts saving the world on the backburner and focuses on decking the halls to plead for his sweetie’s return.
8. “My Grown Up Christmas List,” Jane Monheit (“The Season”): The sweet-voiced jazz singer uses a symbol of childhood innocence — a letter to Santa — to put the world’s issues in perspective.
