Christmas Discoveries

Nothing sets the holiday mood like the musical ornaments you hang from your speakers, by which we mean your tuneage. Everybody has their time-honoured favourites, and we wouldn't deny you the perverse pleasure of playing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" again, but we'd also suggest — for your guests' sake, if not your own — you might want to spice up your holiday playlist with our Santafied stocking-stuffer discoveries. Like Elvis, the season's other King, who rolls in from Bluestown for a 12-bar salute to the Man in Red, "Santa Claus Is Back In Town." Then there's Isaac Hayes crooning his way through "The Mistletoe and Me," and Martha Wainwright bidding the world "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" in big, joyous, folkish fashion. In Next Steps, we'll hear from three women with very different takes on the sounds of the season.

Our Next Steps features a trio of ladies making a (mostly) joyful noise. Country legend Emmylou Harris sings like the angel of grace descending on Bethlehem in "Light of the Stable," the sweetly unadorned, heartfelt title track to her 1992 Xmas collection. On One More Drifter In the Snow, alt-rocker Aimee Mann sticks mostly to standards, but the self-penned present closing the disc, "Calling On Mary," blankets you in the multi-hued moodiness of dreamy Christmas contemplation. And Motown's best-kept secret, Kim Weston, lays a little slow-dancin' soul on us — complete with a spoken-word greeting during the break — in "Wish You a Merry Christmas." And just for kicks, Helix tears through "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" like the only worthy present is a bottle of hooch. In Deep Cuts, Xmas rocks, Xmas swings, Xmas sobs, and Xmas hits the bottle one too many times.

Our Deep Cuts feature a secret Santa surprise package ranging from delighted to dejected, mirthful to melancholy, and high-spirited to heartbroken — the perfect complement for every emotional "gift" you and yours might receive. Phil Spector's famed Wall of Sound gets a Brit-style update in Electric Light Orchestra founder Roy Wood & Wizzard's "Rock and Roll Winter." Royal Crown Revue honks out a jumpin', jivin', and wailin' bundle of zoot-suited swing in "Hey Santa." And what would our Merry Christmas be without a little misery in the mix? To that end, the Decemberists decant a little Johnnie Walker wisdom, alt-country-style, to their version of John Denver's plea, "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)."

Before you know it, the holiday season is going to be all over us like a big, red, fuzzy suit, and you'll definitely wanna sprinkle in a few new tunes while chestnuts are roasting on the open fire and visions of sugar plums dance in your head. We've sifted through the approximately 13,586,754 Christmas albums currently on release to find some unexpected gifts — the audio gold, frankincense, and myrrh, as it were — that will make you the star everyone follows this year. From Bing Crosby & David Bowie to My Morning Jacket, from Stevie Wonder to Sufjan Stevens, we've got a sleighful of delightful little musical presents, all wrapped up in one big playlist marked "Be Sure To Open BEFORE Christmas!"