New Wave Xmas: Just Can't Get Enough

This seasonal adjunct to Rhino's 15-volume proto-alternative series of '80s favorites is characterized as much by sweetness as wigginess: check out XTC's "Thanks for Christmas" and Squeeze's "Christmas Day," the latter of which name-checks everything from tree lights to British comedy team Morecambe and Wise. Closest to true new-wave sound and spirit is They Might Be Giants' Farfisa-driven "Santa's Beard," but this eclectic mix's stretches generally succeed. Still, a couple of complaints: why a dreary "Little Drummer Boy" by Miracle Legion instead of the turbocharged one from Joan Jett's I Love Rock n' Roll? But it's churlish to complain about a record so well-meaning that it stacks up a blindingly good "Rudolph" by Los Lobos, a vintage single by Matthew Sweet's early Buzz of Delight, and "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl--what a tearjerker. --Rickey Wright