Garage Band Christmas Vols. 1 and 2, various artists (Collectibles)

Garage rock has a long and fondly remembered pedigree in the rock 'n roll pantheon, going back to the Pacific Northwest bands of the early to mid 60s, continuing through the Nuggets bands in the later part of the decade, only to be revived by younger acolytes to that rough and ready sound in the 1980s and again in the early part of this decade. What we have here is a bunch of music biz veterans, some of whom go back to those halcyon 60s days, who have been brought together to record fresh Christmas songs for 2008 release. Up front, I should warn you that avid garage rock fans won't hear much of the garage ethos on these two discs, they're too cleanly produced. But you'll hear plenty of above average rock 'n roll Christmas music, and that's why we're here, right? Volume 1 kicks off with iconic garagers The Shadows of Knight, assisted by Henry Gross, he of "Shannon" and Sha Na Na, on the original "Rudolph's Off His Rocker," in which the famous reindeer is spurned by Santa in favor of a shiny new airplane. Gross returns later with another original, the adult pop-rocker "What a Christmas." Tommy Frenzy of Tuff Darts offers another original, "Cocktails With Santa," featuring the jolly elf with a snootful. Glen Burtnik, formerly of Styx, takes on the classic "Must Be Santa" with a crunchy arrangement that might well fit on Metal Xmas, and here it should be mentioned that Burtnik is quite the Christmas rock freak. Pat Horgan and Thunder Road do Foghat's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and the Albert Carey Project offer the old blues tune "Trim Your Tree." John Wicks and the Records -- yeah, the New Wave-era British pop-rockers, but Wicks is the only one left -- offer the original "Star of Bethlehem," something that might fit better on the Moody Blues holiday disc. On Volume 2, the Shadows of Knight return with "Celebrate Chicago (The Christmas Version)," with a taste of cheap organ for the garage fans, Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge does an original, "Bronx Christmas Blues," which is as advertised, and Badfinger's Joey Molland offers his own "King of Kings," a low-key ballad. Nazz featuring Stewkey (original singer of the band that launched Todd Rundgren) goes Caribbean with "Rasta Santa," Burtnik returns with a live hard-rocking "Winter Wonderland," and Lee Brovitz's ballad "That's Why They Call It EXmas" tells a story of lost love over the holidays. Wooden Hobo goes country with a version of "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk For Christmas)" and the Albert Carey Project rocks the house with "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)," a tough blues that isn't the Elvis tune. The title of these two discs probably qualifies as false advertising, but classic rock fans will still get their money's worth from either or both.