The Smithereens

"Christmas with The Smithereens” is more than a Christmas-time cover album. This quartet does an impressive job of channeling the spirt of 1960s rock, and solidly interpreting each memorable tune. The band's originals add a nice twist to the disc and are written with such '60s-savviness that without prior knowledge it would almost be difficult to decide which songs were covers and which were originals. Lead singer Pat DiNizio wraps his husky voice around a smartly selected collection of classic seasonal rockers such as "Run Rudolph Run" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," along with more obscure fare. It's the latter that makes this such a delight, as the band tears into rugged re-workings of the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)," the Who's crunchy "Christmas" (from Tommy) and even a rare Beatles track grabbed from the Liverpool band's '60s fan club only discs.