As Bob Dylan releases Christmas In The Heart, Leah Pritchard looks at other less traditional takes on the genre.

With each year that passes, it becomes harder and harder to distinguish between Bob Dylan's rasp and that of say, Tom Waits or Louis Armstrong. And so it seems only natural that he lend this to an album full of Christmas classics such as 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Little Drummer Boy'. In fact, knowing Dylan and his chameleon-like personality, it would have been a downright waste not to record this album at this point, as he'll probably be singing with the buttery smooth stylings of Jeff Buckley come next year.

Unlike other periods in Dylan's history, such as the moment he went electric on 'Bringing It All Back Home' or his born-again Christian years with 'Saved' and 'Shot of Love', this is not an album which needs context in order to be appreciated. This album would sit more happily on the Christmas music shelf at Sainsbury's than amongst the majority of Dylan's discography. That's not to say it belongs in a place where the most artistic creation on show is the latest chronicle of Katie Price's biography, just that this is most certainly a Christmas album, and does not necessarily bring anything new to the immense palette Dylan has presented us with over the years.

With the American tradition rooted so heavily in religion, it's no surprise that so many folk musicians have taken on some of the season's classic songs. Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, an atheist who references Christianity a lot in his music, released 'A Christmas Album' back in 2002. "I went to a Catholic school, that kind of thing, so that was my childhood for sure. And not that I’m an expert on all these religions, but all the other major religions just fall a little flat in their narrowmindedness. I feel like there’s something much more basic than what all these people are worried about. And dogma and all that stuff, to me it’s anti- whatever I would consider god-like. Which is, I think, a connectedness and an all-encompassing sort of love for things." Oberst's beliefs are evident on the album which - whilst remaining reasonably true to the originals - exists for those who wish to participate in the Christmas traditions our modern culture insists are necessary, without having to listen to any Wham! songs. "You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white, but I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas."

And then there's Sufjan Stevens, a deeply religious anti-consumerist, who admits, "Sometimes, I don't even celebrate Christmas." Stevens began experimenting with Christmas songs in 2001 and has released eight EPs to date. "It's a sacred form and yet it's also incredibly annoying and profane because it's the soundtrack in shopping malls across the country." Amongst 'O Holy Night', and 'Jingle Bells', Stevens has original songs like 'Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)' ("Did I make you cry, like every other day?") and 'That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!', which put a refreshing spin on a subject which is so often assumed to be synonymous with goodwill and compassion, "Our Father yells, throwing the gifts in the wood stove, wood stove."

Whilst Dylan's intentions might not be as true as Oberst or Stevens' - the subject of this album being a tenuous link to its main purpose of raising money for Feeding America - if you buy into the shopping mall/Hollywood soundtrack version of this "celebration of mankind" we like to call Christmas, this album will easily receive some heavy rotation come Christmas day.