Song For A Winter's Night
AllMusic; Discogs

This BMG compilation came out in 2006.

1. "Song for a Winter's Night", by Sarah McLachlan: The album's title track is a cover of a song by Gordon Lightfoot. I've never heard the original. The cover first appeared on the soundtrack of the 1994 movie "Miracle on 34th Street", and in 1996 on the Due South soundtrack volume II, and a 1996 compilation album by McLachlan, before appearing on her 2006 Christmas album "Wintersong". (Boy, this song sure gets around.) I didn't really care for it, because the background vocals make it feel too busy, to me. But I might not have liked it much even without them.

2. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", by Gavin DeGraw: This is from 2004. I felt sort of neutral about this rendition.

3. "Silent Night", by Destiny's Child: This is from 2001. It also sounds awfully busy. But it's not bad.

4. "Little Drummer Girl", by Alicia Keys: This is from 1996. It sounds nothing like "Little Drummer Boy". But after a little preamble it does get around to using some of the lyrics from that song. It's not bad, but I don't feel like it's very memorable. Indistinguishable from any average R&B song.

5. "The Christmas Song", by The Ravonettes: This is from 2003. The song was previously released on Maybe This Christmas Tree and Music from the O.C. mix 3, both in 2004, and later on the Raveonettes' compilation album "Rarities/B-Sides" in 2011. It's decent, but not really necessary because it's on other albums I've heard. (I kept one of them, but I think I donated the other to a thrift shop, as I expect I'll do with this album.)

6. "Winter Wonderland", by Phantom Planet: This is from 2002. I think it's nice. Shame I won't be keeping it.

7. "Do They Know It's Christmas?", by Pete Yorn: This is from 2004. It sounds decent, probably better (at least subtler) than the original, but I'm still not a fan of the song, for reasons.

8. "River", by Rachael Yamagata: This is from 2004. It's probably about as good as any rendition I've heard of the song, but I've never been particularly a fan of the song. I mean, I do like it, but just a little.

9. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", by Carly Simon: This is from 2005. It's decent, but not one of my favorite renditions.

10. "Sleigh Ride", by Play: This is from 2002. I'm not at all familiar with this group, but their rendition of the song is okay. It's kind of fun, but not a rendition I care a great deal about. I guess I kind of wish it were on a better album so I could keep it, but it's not good enough to make me want to keep this album.