Now That's What I Call Christmas, various artists (Virgin)

The ubiquitous series of chart-hit compilations turns its attention to Christmas with a budget-priced double disc set for 2001. But it's no rock Christmas landmark; this sucker goes all the way back to Bing Crosby and hits all the traditional touchstones along the way before it arrives in the rock era. Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Burl Ives and Tony Bennett predominate until we get to Bobby Helms, ending up with Elmo and Patsy and Bing and Bowie. The second disc is more in keeping, and it's got John and Yoko, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Band Aid, but it's also got Britney, N'Sync, Celine Dion and, ick, Mannheim Steamroller. About what you'd expect from an album in the "Now" series in terms of song selection. Subsequent entries in the series concentrated more on contemporary hit artists, which you can check out for yourself by clicking through to Amazon via the album art.