Your Christmas Songs

It's December, which means that - according to 64% of those polled - it's now officially acceptable to listen to Christmas music. As ever, this watershed has prompted a flurry of 'Best Christmas Song' lists; not just the Wizzard 'n' Mariah countdowns you used to watch on VH1, but also the now-obligatory 'alternative' Christmas playlists so beloved of indie rock websites.

Oddly, those cool, hip, left-of-the-dial lists are fast becoming just as predictable as the Top 100 video marathons. Just as every Now That's What I Call Christmas! compilation is obliged to feature Slade, Shakin' Stevens et al, so the likes of Low, Sufjan and The Killers have made every 'alt. Xmas' playlist an exercise in going through the motions.

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas

What do you picture when you picture Las Vegas? Glitz and glamour? Bright lights and big wins? Roman-themed gambling palaces? If so, Brandon Flowers has news for you...

I bought Hot Fuss, the first Killers album, shortly after its release in June 2005. By December, I had grown tired of it, and so I sold it to D'Vinyl Records (along with Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head) in exchange for a copy of Mogwai's Come On Die Young. A good upgrade, you might think, and you'd be right.

But I quickly realised that I missed Hot Fuss. I saw dozens of cool music people telling the internet how rubbish The Killers were, and I missed Hot Fuss all the same. I missed Hot Fuss right up until the day when I purchased a second-hand copy of Hot Fuss and re-added it to my collection, refilled the gap that had opened up in my heart when I sold my original copy to Mr D'Vinyl for £3 off a Mogwai CD.

Your Favourite Covers

In case the whole 69 Love Songs thing hasn't made it clear, I'm a big fan of cover songs. Actually, I'll amend that: I'm a big fan of cover songs IF they do something new with the source material. Playing a note-for-note cover can be fun at live shows, but there's really no need to record it unless you're bringing something original to the table.

For the last couple of days, I've been asking people on Twitter and Facebook what they consider to be the best cover of all time. Here are 20 of the songs that were suggested - let's see how inventive these reinventions are, shall we?

I'm Shakin' by Jack White
Original Artist: Little Willie John

Suggested by Amy Wise

Reinvention Rating: 2/5 - Jack adds a whole lot of attitude and (if I'm not mistaken) a couple of extra verses, but in spite of the added vim and vigour, it's still essentially the same track.