Wintersong, Sarah McLachlan (Arista)

Sarah's had her Christmas feelers out for a while. Her version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Song For a Winter's Night" goes back to 1994, she doubled up with the Barenaked Ladies for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" at the turn of the decade, and now she's back for 2006 with a full album. The queen of Lilith Fair offers few surprises, as this fits snugly into her personal discography, which means there's a lot of mellow moments here, her piano and guitar set against Pierre Marchand's wall o' synths, and not much rocking out. She starts out strong with faithful covers of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "River," plus a good original, the title song. She reaches for a live string section on "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Her medley of "The First Noel/Mary Mary" is interesting, as she goes for some India-style riffing on strings against tabla percussion, and it's probably the most rocked-out thing here. She closes with a little help from Diana Krall on "Christmastime Is Here."