It's Day 20 of the December Musical Gifstravaganza - and today we steer the sleigh into the world of power-pop. →[More:] Material Issue's "Merry Christmas Will Do" was recorded for a compilation of alternative pop Christmas songs called Yuletunes back in 1991. The comp was put together by power-pop legends Shoes and released on their own Black Vinyl Records. It's a Jim Ellison original, recorded between Material Issue's debut album, International Pop Overthrow, and the follow up, Destination Universe. When Yuletunes came out there weren't that many Christmas comps or albums of alternative music, so for a few years this was one of my most played holiday CDs.

POWER-POP GIFTSTRAVAGANZA BONUS: Here are two more songs from the Yuletunes comp: "This Christmaas" by Shoes and "It's About That Time" by the Idea.