I Wanna Be Santa Claus

Forget that Ringo was the funny Beatle.

For our purposes, he's the Christmas Beatle.

Ringo is the only member of the Fab Four to release an album of holiday music and, if this 12-song collection is any indication, Richard Starkey has certainly found his niche.

This elegantly sparse production finds Ringo re-roasting old chestnuts such as "Winter Wonderland" and "White Christmas" with his zany, playful, rollicking sense of humor.

Jazzy flourishes, rockabilly piano, and Scottish bagpipes go a long way toward lifting these classics out of mothballs.

And the skinbeater in him makes "The Little Drummer Boy" irresistible.

Even better are the six songs he and Mark Hudson (of the Hudson Brothers) penned for the disc, especially the sophisticated "Christmas Eve," which conjures up the ghost of Cole Porter.