Cool Yule, various artists (Optional Art) 

Finally got my hands on this often-asked-about underground classic from 1996. A squib on the back cover indicates the artists and record company took their inspiration from the 1991 compilation Yuletunes, and indeed The Spongetones cross over from that compilation to this one with their tune "Christmas Boy," a mid-tempo folk-rocker with lush vocals. Inviting comparisons is always a tricky business, but Cool Yule more than lives up to its role model. Like Yuletunes, it's a collection of power-poppers putting their chops into an array of original Christmas songs, no covers, and definitely no filler. Monsters Under the Bed give us "Christmas at the Cabin," a snappy album opener about getting away for the holidays. Squires of the Subterrain sneak up on the dBs with "Christmas Time." John T. Baker contributes two songs, "On Saturdays," which has just a tiny taste of Television to it, and "The Night Before," a nice uptempo look at Christmas Eve anticipation. The Whirligigs go semi-unplugged on "Bless the Less," highlighted by some nice slide guitar work. "Unto Us" by Cool Blue Halo is an upbeat Biblical history with lots of guitars and vocal harmonies. "Song for the Christ Child" by Bill Retoff also takes us into church, complete with a brief Latin hymn interval and lots of cheesy electronic chimes, but the song still oozes with pop sensibility. Rich Arithmetic kicks off the upbeat, jangly "Seeds in Snow" with a nod to "Andy Partridge in a pear tree," then closes the album with "A Shepherd's Reminiscence (Yeshua, I Love You)," a pop-psych song cycle with a lengthy instrumental coda reminiscent of something the later 10cc might have done. Arithmetic Monsters, which is Rich with Monsters Under the Bed, do "It's Christmastime," a poppy number with cello that evokes ELO and snatches a few sounds from "I Am the Walrus" as well. Long out of print, of course, but Optional Art is on Facebook, where it offers a link for listeners to stream the album via ReverbNation.