Ah, it’s that time of the year for sounds of the season on CD, as well as sights, as in holiday DVDs. Here are just a few suggestions. And of course, there’s much more out there.

It’s a Wonderful Life
Two-Disc B&W and Color Edition
Paramount

Okay, this one’s not music, but it wouldn’t be Christmas-time without it. This special set collects the best black and white edition and the finest colorized version yet of the true holiday classic. Sentimental yet sturdy, the tale of dreamer George Bailey, kicked in the face by reality and ultimately realizing the love of his family and friends are everything one really needs, is still magic 60 years later. The black & white disc is similar to the 2006 edition and includes some fine special features and documentaries. For those who don’t get worked up over an “artificial” coloring, the other version is almost as good visually, though some of the nuances are lost. Either way, an angel gets its wings.

Johnny Cash Christmas 1976
Johnny Cash Christmas 1977
Shout! Factory

Some of today’s TV variety specials for the season are so bad, you’d like to retreat to the past. Here’s one place to head–the land of the “Man in Black.” The 1976 show has its great moments, such as Johnny and Roy Clark on “The Christmas Song,” and lots of cheese that includes appearances by Tony Orlando & Dawn and Barbara Mandrell. But that was ’70s TV. The 1977 edition is a lot cooler, as Cash is joined by guests Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins from the Sun Records days. Roy Clark is back again, and songs like “Silent Night” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” get reverent yet not squishy treatments from Cash, family and friends.

Raul Malo
Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites
New Door Records

No one can both swing and croon torchy like Malo, and he does it here with a great holiday set that includes superb treatments of “Santa’s Back in Town,” “Blue Christmas,” and “Jingle Bells,” as well as a hidden track of “Winter Wonderland”–easily one of the year’s best new seasonal release, and Malo’s on tour singing the songs too.

Aimee Mann
One More Drifter in the Snow
Superego Records

Mann offers up melancholy reflections that are also part of holiday time, as she draws on the style of 1950’s Peggy Lee somewhat. Stand-outs include the original “Christmastime” written by Jon Brian and Michael Penn, and thoughful renditions of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”(think Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis).

Also:

Joan Osborne
Christmas Means Love
Time Life

First released a couple of years ago, this is a slightly different version of the same album, as Osborne gets sexy-slinky for “What Do Bad Girls Get?”, and “Santa Claus Baby” turns on soul-gospel for the title track and is appropriately intimate for “Silent Night.”

Looney Tunes Singalong Christmas
Immergent

Merry melodies of the season from Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, and more cartoon faves from the Warner Bros. stable. Highlights include “Deck The Halls,” “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Jingle Bell Rock”–all very…uh…animated, shall we say?

Mindy Smith
My Holiday
Vanguard

It’s country-lounge for this set which mixes a touch of Christmas wonder with more religious-minded songs. Very nice on “Silver Bells” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” while Alison Krauss guests on “Away in a Manger.”

Whitney Wolanin
Christmasology
TopNotch Records

The teen pop-rock singer/guitarist mixed some okay originals with typical standards, done up in a very contemporary fashion that brings Disney to mind, though she’s not affiliated with the house of mouse. She kid-rocks for “Frosty the Snowman” and also turns in a cute “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

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