"Ring Out Solstice Bells"

Originally on Jethro Tull's "Songs From The Wood" LP, "Ring Out Solstice Bells" was later repackaged on a off-beat but remarkable Christmas record. Tull, maybe one of the few rock groups of the time or any time, that sleigh bells wouldn't sound out of place on non-Christmas tunes, without irony. They were the first major fusion band, bridging folk music with acid rock. It is the greatest oversight of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that this pivotal band is not included.

"Christmas Honeymoon"

via JohnLindberg.se

If you were lamenting that '50s rock pioneer Eddie Cochran never did a Christmas record, you may be sated by the John Lindberg Trio out of Sweden rocking a set of mostly originals like the rockabilly sprinkled "Christmas Honeymoon" off their consistently lively "Rock This Christmas" collection.

"Oh Holy Night"

via  NeilZaza.com

That Neil Zaza has toured as a representative of an amplifier company shouldn't hurt his credibility as a musician, and it hasn't hurt his chops on electric guitar in evidence here on his metalhead-friendly version of "Oh Holy Night" from the generally superb "A Night At The Palace," which is a 2 CD set from his regular Christmas concert at the Palace Theater in Cleveland with the Cleveland Rock Orchestra.

"Que Verdes Son" ("The First Noel")

"Que Verdes Son" is a mashup of tradition and reinvention of a holiday standard from the surf/latino-billy rebooted remakes from behind Mexican wrestlers' masks and out of Nashville, Los Straitjackets on their cool  Yuletide Beat Christmas record.

"We're a Couple of Misfits"

Originally written for the Rankin/Bass stop animation TV special "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, "We're a Couple of Misfits" is redone by alt-rockers Bowling For Soup on their "Merry Flippin Christmas" collection.

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