Do you hear what I hear? Innovative holiday CDs

With a crop of almost 50 new entries this year, we’ll skip reviews of solid but conventional holiday projects from many of the big names (Barry Manilow, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Johnny Mathis, Kenny G, Jo Dee Messina) that are exactly what you’d expect. Instead, we’ll focus on the albums with the most inventive or offbeat approaches, which demonstrate that even such thoroughly trod turf as holiday music can sound fresh if the musical spirit behind it is willing.

Various Artists

“Maybe This Christmas”

(Nettwerk America)

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Have yourself a moody little Christmas with this compilation of introspective, deeply personalized takes on the holidays. No “maybe” about it, this year’s most inspired compilation blends thoughtful holiday originals from Ron Sexsmith, Neil Finn, Ben Folds and Jimmy Eat World with inventive treatments of standards by Jack Johnson, Coldplay, Bright Eyes, Phantom Planet, Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan and others.

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The Fab Four

“A Fab Four Christmas” (Delta)

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“Have Yourself a Fab-Ulous Little Christmas” (Delta)

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Think Big Daddy meets the Rutles in this pair of cleverly conceived and astutely executed Beatles tribute discs. This Fab Faux recasts Beatles tunes as holiday songs -- “Norwegian Wood” becomes “Silent Night,” “Help!” is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” -- giving Beatlemaniacs fresh listens to both. They divvy up 20 songs chronologically, with early Beatles references on the first volume and “Rubber Soul” through “Abbey Road” versions on the second. They pass the audition.

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Ellen Kushner & The Shirim Klezmer Orchestra

“The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ ” (Ryko)

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Kushner, the host of Public Radio International’s “Sound & Spirit” program, recasts the Christmas chestnut as a charming, if sometimes too low-key, Hanukkah fable. The Shirim group’s brilliant reinvention of Tchaikovsky’s familiar music is the main attraction, but Kushner’s story, in which little Clara becomes Sarah and King Solomon is, among other things, a TV repairman, deftly weaves in key elements of Jewish tradition.

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John Bradley

“Bradley’s Bagpipe Christmas”

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This works better than you might imagine, in large part because the pipes are so well-suited to the mostly Gaelic, Celtic and old English tunes this New Yorker plays. And just when you think it’s going to turn into one pipe number too many, Bradley slips in a guitar, fiddle or vocal. Visit www.nycbagpipe.com.

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The Christmas Jug Band

“Uncorked” (Globe)

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Country-jazz-folkie Dan Hicks and a bunch of his Bay Area musician cronies assembled this lively session of freewheeling riffing on holiday-themed originals, plus appropriate oldies including “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus.” Trot it out after the eggnog starts flowing.

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Los Straitjackets

“ ‘Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets” (Yep Roc)

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This surf-cum-roots rock outfit teeters on the brink of novelty with its instrumental renditions of Yuletide chestnuts roasting in a heavy surf. “Feliz Navidad” as a surf cha-cha? For the most part, the skewed take is fun, not silly or forced. Consider this the successor to 1965’s classic “The Ventures’ Christmas Album.”

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Patty Loveless

“Bluegrass and White Snow: A Mountain Christmas” (Sony)

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Loveless’ model seems to be “Light of the Stable,” the 1980 Christmas album from country sweetheart Emmylou Harris (one of Loveless’ many guest harmonizers here). The arrangements of traditional songs are often inspired.

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Brian Setzer & His Orchestra

“Boogie Woogie Christmas” (Phantom)

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The stocking is overflowing with swinging rhythms, jumping guitar solos, hot horn breaks and spirited vocals from the retro-rocker. Setzer keeps things as cool, quick and breezy as a sleigh ride to Grandma’s house, but even this rockabilly cat (who headlines the Universal Amphitheatre on Saturday) can’t resist turning sentimental at the end for a reverent but ordinary rendition of “O Holy Night.”

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Lee Ann Womack

“The Season for Romance” (MCA Nashville)

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Between the title and the slinky scarlet gown that drapes the country singer on the CD cover, you know this one’s not aimed at the tiny tots with their eyes all aglow. Womack turns up the heat with sultry arrangements of nine holiday standards and the new title track. When not hoping you’ll dance, Womack proves herself a formidable torch singer.

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Carly Simon

“Christmas Is Almost Here” (Rhino)

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Family figures prominently at this time of year, and Simon’s first holiday effort features songs she wrote with sister Lucy and performed with son Ben Taylor, plus a title track by ex-brother-in-law Livingston Taylor and a duet with everyone’s favorite country uncle, Willie Nelson.

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Various Artists

“Christmas Grass: A Celebration of Christmas, Bluegrass Style” (Audium)

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“Christmas on the Mountain (A Bluegrass Christmas)” (Universal South)

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Yes, Virginia, this year’s bumper crop of bluegrass-tinted holiday albums is being referred to as “O Santa, Where Art Thou?” Of these two, you’d expect the disc trumpeting the names of top bluegrass acts including Del McCoury, Doc Watson, Mac Wisemen and the Osborne Brothers to trump the generic-looking “Christmas Grass” package. But “Christmas Grass” shines with straightforward, impeccably played instrumentals by no less than Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie McCoury and Stuart Duncan. “Christmas on the Mountain” is more for fans of the acts, who’ll be more entertained by the corny humor and quasi-novelty numbers, than for the average music fan looking for new twists on old holiday tunes.

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Various Artists

“School’s Out Christmas” (St. Nicholas Music)

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Teen pop acts sing a lot about what a downer it is without a boy/girlfriend during the holidays. Most use the ‘N Sync-Britney-Backstreet blueprint, which may appeal to the junior high and high school sets, but would-be new idols, including Myra, Dream Street’s Chris Trousdale, Raven, Taylor Momsen and Evan Rachel Wood, don’t find much to smile about in this season of joy. Remember kids: You’d better not pout.

Noteworthy among the numerous new offerings of previously released holiday music: “Christmas With the Rat Pack,” a collection featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.; “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town/Frosty the Snowman,” the full soundtracks from the animated holiday TV specials; “The Time-Life Treasury of Christmas,” a two-CD set of postwar pop and rock classics; and “Winter Wonderland” and “Santa’s Greatest Hits,” two collections of V-Disc recordings by various singers and big bands originally made for the Armed Forces Radio Network.