Various Artists

ALL-STAR CHRISTMAS

(Epic)

Christmas time may be about remembering, but this shameless Yuletide shuffle asks us to forget how awful everything Cyndi Lauper's done since 1984 has been, how Gloria Estefan suffers in the absence of a good rhythm track, and how objectionable those ubiquitous brats Charlotte Church and Billy Gilman are any time. If you can pull that off, then you're free to enjoy the way all 17 tracks on All-Star Christmas fuse into a reasonably pleasant experience, and to marvel at the audacity of placing bluesman Keb' Mo' next to Wham! or allowing Al Green to pave the way for that classic holiday annoyance "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Celine Dion gets a smoky uptown lounge arrangement on "The Christmas Song" instead of the usual schlocky bombast. Donna Summer sings her own "(I Long To Feel the) Christmas Spirit" as if she were still hoping to find the recipe for that "MacArthur Park" cake. And topping them all is Luther Vandross's heartbreaking, self-penned "Every Year, Every Christmas." The song is about his lover, but he spins the tale so generically that it might also be that rare Christmas song driven by the painful imperative of having to spend time with estranged families. It deserves to be a standard.

-- Kevin John