Maybe This Christmas

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Every holiday season produces at least one hip alternative rock Christmas CD. For 2002, it’s Maybe This Christmas. Most of the 13 tracks here lean more toward the mellower portion of the alternative spectrum. The title track–a tender and poignant plea for peace and understanding by the wonderful Ron Sexsmith–basically sets the pace for things. Coldplay’s Chris Martin proves he’s no Sinatra on the band’s fairly faithful, piano-driven “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” but there’s still something endearing about his occasionally off-key but totally sincere delivery. Jack Johnson puts an apt–and quite amusing–spin on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (in which Rudolph takes the other reindeers to task for ridiculing him), and Phantom Planet do their best Everly Brothers crossed with Weezer thing and come off entirely likable on the ancient “Winter Wonderland.” Most surprising, however, is Sense Field’s cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over).” It’s one of those songs that pretty much belongs to its creator, but the band’s take on this classic is, in its own way, as enjoyable as John and Yoko’s original. –Bill Holdship