Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart
After the initial shock fades, the existence of Christmas in the Heart seems perhaps inevitable. After all, the thing Bob Dylan loves most of all are songs that are handed down from generation to generation, songs that are part of the American fabric, songs so common they never seem to have been written. These are the songs Dylan chooses to sing on Christmas in the Heart, a cheerfully old-fashioned holiday album from its Norman Rockwell-esque cover to its joyous backing vocals.

The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Christmas on Mars might be the Flaming Lips’ bona fide sci-fi epic, but Embryonic is the musical equivalent of the final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey: transformative chaos that results in a new start. From The Soft Bulletin onward, the Lips seemed focused on tidying the loose ends of their earlier work, almost to the point of constraining themselves. Their wilder side is unleashed on Embryonic’s 18 tracks, and the band sounds more off-the-cuff than it has in years — some tracks are barely longer than snippets, others are rangy epics, and it all holds together so organically that listeners might wonder just how much these songs were edited.

Hall & Oates - Do What You Want Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates
It’s telling that Do What You Want Be What You Are, Sony/Legacy’s comprehensive, career-spanning Daryl Hall and John Oates box set, takes its title from a moderately successful mid-’70s single from the duo, written and recorded just as the group was hitting their creative stride. The slow Philly groove of “Do What You Want Be Who You Are” may have hearkened back to the duo’s soul roots, side-stepping some of the outré pop experiments they had done just two years earlier on War Babies, but Hall & Oates took the title’s sentiment to heart, blurring boundaries between rock, pop, and soul in a way that wasn’t always easy to appreciate at the peak of their popularity in the ’80s.

Mario - D.N.A.
Go was the most satisfying of Mario’s first three albums, but it lacked a major crossover single on the level of “Let Me Love You.” Although the sensitive ballad “Crying Out for Me” was big on R&B stations, it did not break the Top 30 of the Hot 100. The minimal Sean Garrett and Shondrae production “Break Up,” however — D.N.A.’s lead single, issued weeks before the album — did not take long to become the singer’s biggest pop hit since his breakthrough. And it does turn out to be his fourth album’s greatest deviation from the back catalog, carrying a laggard and sparse pulse to back Mario’s whiny swagger.

Nellie McKay - Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day
If vocal fans were forced to predict the honoree for a Nellie McKay tribute album, most would have gone far down the list before eventually happening upon the winner, Doris Day. (Granted, McKay had penned her praise of Day two years earlier in a New York Times book review.) But even though her lyrics and attitude are another story (or another era), McKay has a pure but nuanced voice that was always a good match for Day’s, and her concern for animal rights is even closer (just check the liner notes for evidence). It’s clear to see also that she truly honors her subject; she arranged and selected nearly all of the songs on the album, and even plays all the instruments on the opener, “The Very Thought of You” (that would be vocals, piano, organ, and bells).

Ben Allison - Think Free
Gregg Allman - The Solo Years 1973-1997: One More Silver Dollar
David Archuleta - Christmas from the Heart
Joan Baez - How Sweet the Sound
Baroness - Blue Record
Beaten Awake - Thunder$troke
Bowling for Soup - Sorry for Partyin’
Jack Bruce - Seven Moons Live
Various Artists - Nick Cave’s Jukebox
Nels Cline/G.E. Stinson - Elevating Device
Charlie Daniels - Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas
Dead by Sunrise - Out of Ashes
Del the Funky Homosapien/Tame One - Parallel Uni-Verses
Ariana Delawari - Lion of Panjshir
The Destro - Harmony of Discord
Neil Diamond - A Cherry Cherry Christmas
Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart (Deluxe Version)
Linda Eder - Soundtrack
Five for Fighting - Slice
John Gorka - So Dark You See
Har Mar Superstar - Dark Touches
The Jackson 5 - Ultimate Christmas Collection
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (2 CD)
Kottonmouth Kings - Hidden Stash 4-20: Suburban Noize
Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins - Fascinating Fingers
Los Lonely Boys - 1969
Barry Manilow - In the Swing of Christmas
Erin McKeown - Hundreds of Lions
James McMurtry - Live in Europe
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster
1997 - Notes from Underground
Grant Lee Phillips - Little Moon
Piano Magic - Ovations
The Righteous Brothers - The Definitive Collection
A Rocket to the Moon - On Your Side
Linda Ronstadt - Hand Sown… Home Grown/Silk Purse
Brian Setzer - Songs from Lonely Avenue
Harper Simon - Harper Simon
Nick Swardson - Seriously, Who Farted?
The Temper Trap - Conditions
Thomas Function - In The Valley Of Sickness
Jonny Trunk - Scrapbook
Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Live at Hampton Court Palace
Andy Williams - Moon River: The Very Best of Andy Williams
Original Soundtrack - 90210
Original TV Soundtrack - The Best of Ally McBeal - The Songs of Vonda Shepard
Various Artists - Disco Discharge: Classic Disco
Various Artists - Disco Discharge: Disco Ladies
Various Artists - Look Out! We Got Soul: Sweet Soul Music
Various Artists - Sherman Brothers Songbook
Various Artists - Sweet Soul Music: 1966
Various Artists - Sweet Soul Music: 1967
Various Artists - Sweet Soul Music: 1968
Various Artists - Sweet Soul Music: 1969
Various Artists - Sweet Soul Music: 1970
Various Artists - The Ultimate Motown Christmas Collection