Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire, Bob Rivers (Atlantic)

It just wouldn't be a new millennium without a new Bob Rivers Christmas album to ring it in, and so here we go for the year 2000. It's the usual laugh a minute, with the title song in its entirety plus another go at Alvin and his buds with "The Twisted Chipmunk Song." Highlights include those two plus "Decorations," based on "Good Vibrations," "Carol of the Bartenders," "Goin' Up to Bethlehem," based on Creedence's "Up Around the Bend," and a direct parody of a Bruce Springsteen holiday song called "Santa Claus is Foolin' Around." The Beatles meet William F. Buckley Jr. in a Christmas-themed "Money (That's What I Want)" and "Hello Dolly" becomes "He's So Jolly." Downsides are few; a bit based on the idea that the Christmas angel gets the Christmas tree jammed up his rear is flogged to death to the tune of "Who Put the Bomp," and "Homeless on the Holiday" is actually a pretty heartless bit of business. By the way, Bob makes many more parodies than appear on his Atlantic releases that are at his website; check out "Smells Like the Night Before Christmas," set to the Nirvana hit; "New Year's Resolution" set to the Beatles' "Revolution"; and a couple of now-dated items, "Jingle Bells '98" and "Little Hummer Girl," about somebody named Monica who doesn't appear on "Friends."