Christmas Means Love, Joan Osborne (HyLo/Womanly Hips)

I don't often get the chance to tell people that Joan's first album, Relish, is one of the best albums of the 90s bar none. This 2005 collection doesn't quite hit those kinds of heights, but it's definitely a keeper. She casts a very selective eye over the holiday repertoire, limiting the traditional choices to a folk/gospel ballad treatment of "Angels We Have Heard On High," a blues waltz version of "Away in a Manger," and the usual stately "Silent Night." Like a lot of R'nB singers doing Christmas music, Joan leans toward the gospel side of things, with "Great Day in December" and a different version of "Children Go Where I Send Thee" than the one she recorded for A Home For the Holidays, less gritty but just as soulful. She also jumps into the blues with "What Do Bad Girls Get?" and gives a solid reading of Louis Armstrong's "Christmas in New Orleans." This was recorded exclusively for Barnes & Noble, but I wouldn't rule out a wider re-release in the future. UPDATE: As predicted, now more widely available, with different album art. Click the disc jacket to get it from Amazon.