Album: Various artists, Maybe This Christmas Too (Nettwerk)

Christmas is no time for messing with the formula, but just because that happens to be the case doesn't mean you have to start reaching for the Cliff Richard records.

Give seasonal thanks, then, for this follow-up to 2002's Maybe This Christmas, a charity record from the Nettwerk music group that teamed Bright Eyes, Jack Johnson and Coldplay. This time out, we get Rufus, Avril, Badly Drawn Boy and the strangest version of "White Christmas" ever, run through the psychedelic ringer by Flaming Lips. Good will to alt men, etc.