Choose Your Artist for the Season

Benefit albums are few this year, which means buyers’ choices in holiday releases largely hinge on how well the artists evoke the spirit shoppers are looking for, whether sincere or Grinchy.

** 1/2 BABYFACE “Christmas With Babyface,” Epic. This all-around talent plays it pretty safe, every song glistening bright as a shiny new tree ornament. His “Winter Wonderland” shows his musical kinship with Johnny Mathis, but his funky “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and reggae-tinged “Little Drummer Boy” bring out his famed production smarts.

*** BEACH BOYS, “Ultimate Christmas,” Capitol. The latest re-release of the Boys’ classic 1964 Christmas album is rounded out with nearly a dozen previously unreleased tracks, most of which were recorded for a scuttled 1977 holiday release.

*** 1/2 SHAWN COLVIN, “Holiday Songs and Lullabies,” Columbia. The singer-songwriter has largely avoided the Christmas chestnuts in selecting the traditional carols she renders so lovingly. An intimate, expressive, often deeply touching collection.

*** VINCE GILL, “Breath of Heaven,” MCA Nashville. Swelling Mantovani-like strings abound in the country kingpin’s collaboration with Patrick Williams and his orchestra. The tinge of sadness that inhabits even Gill’s sunniest vocals brings a complexity that prevents the lighter numbers from turning weightless and invests reflective material like “Blue Christmas” and “The Christmas Song” with real heft. A beautifully restrained reading of “O Holy Night” is the highlight and two recent-vintage tunes--Amy Grant’s title track and “A Cradle in Bethlehem”--spruce up the mix.

*** 1/2 CYNDI LAUPER “Merry Christmas . . . Have a Nice Life,” Epic. Leave it to Lauper to celebrate the yuletide by writing a heavy metal-meets-zydeco song like “Early Christmas Morning,” one of seven originals. The mood is typically spunky--check out her ska-bop reading of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”--and provides the perfect antidote to the sentimentality encrusting most holiday albums.

** 1/2 KENNY LOGGINS, “December,” Columbia. The veteran singer-songwriter blends reflective originals with some familiar carols in a generally somber outing. This one’s for a quiet Christmas Eve, not the day-of party.

** 1/2 TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, “The Christmas Attic,” Atlantic. Put this one in a stocking for guilty pleasures. There are some glorious excesses in this ad hoc group’s second Christmas rock opera, which revolves around--what else?--keeping faith in a cynical age.

** 1/2 VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Celebrate the Season,” Polymedia. Contributors to the annual all-star benefit album for the TJ Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer & AIDS Research include such varied artists as Bing Crosby, Luciano Pavarotti, Elton John, Toby Keith and John Tesh--which means nearly everyone will find something they like, but few will like everything.

*** VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Rhino Yuletide Soiree,” Rhino. This is the holiday package of the year: two CDs of great tunes from the archives--mostly familiar, with a few surprises (Booker T. & the MGs’ “Jingle Bells”) and a couple of sing-along medleys--assembled in a three-ring binder along with recipes, party tips and even store coupons.

** 1/2 VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Swingin’ Jingle Bells,” Daddy-O/Royalty. Inevitable. Of the six nouveau swing bands jazzing up 12 Christmas classics here, only three ever take off. That’s a better average than Squirrel Nut Zippers manage with their similarly retro-hip “Christmas Caravan” (Mammoth).

*** VARIOUS ARTISTS, “To Life! Chanukah and Other Jewish Celebrations,” Rhino. New recordings of Yiddish classics by Jay Levy share this generous 27-track, 77-minute CD with vintage recordings by the Weavers (“Tzena, Tzena, Tzena”) and others. The titular spirit is embodied in Theodore Bikel’s rendition of “Chanukah, Oh Chanukah,” and Mandy Patinkin’s all-stops-out take on “Rabbi Elimeylekh.”