"Carol of the Bells"/"The Saracen Gift (Little Drummer Boy)," Pollo Del Mar (self-issued)

Don Vigeant steers us to this pair of holiday classics rendered in garage/surf style by the above-named Bay Area band. "Saracen" has a bit more of an Eastern percussion thing going alongside the surf guitar rather than the martial beat of the more familiar "Drummer Boy" versions. "Carol," while surfy-sounding, builds in a bit of the drama you might find in a Trans-Siberian Orchestra rendition -- just a bit -- and rocks it up toward the end, then cuts the tempo back once more. Good stuff. "Saracen Gift" originated on a 1999 CD called The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and I'm told both these cuts found their way to a long-gone compilation from 2000 called XmasY2K4U, but Don helpfully steered us toward downloads.