It was Christmas in July when the record industry began rolling out its 2001 batch of carols and holiday faves back in midsummer. That light dusting has long since become a full-blown blizzard — everyone from B.B. King to Barbra Streisand has a new Yule release.

        Here's a look at some of the best, some of the biggest and some caveats regarding those pretty packages that contain musical coal lumps.

        A Christmas Celebration of Hope (MCA; $18.98 CD; 4 stars) is the best new Yule, as the King of the Blues and his guitar Lucille go riding with the Claus.

        With a sound that mixes his usual uptown blues with Southern soul and some tasteful orchestral backing, B.B. King reaches into the great R&B repertoire of Yule classics, leading off with Cincinnati's contribution to the canon, Charles Brown's “Please Come Home for Christmas,” a 1960 King Records hit.

        Christmas Memories (Columbia; $19.98 CD; 3 1/2). What's a nice Jewish girl from New York doing singing Christmas songs? Making the year's best classic-pop Yule disc, that's what.

        As Barbra Streisand's voice rises in pitch from the introduction to the chorus of the opening track, “I'll Be Home for Christmas,” you feel like you're shifting gears in a Ferrari.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to shop. All this week, we'll fuel your holiday gift imagination with some timely buying suggestions:    Today: Holiday CDs    Monday: Harry Potter-themed toys and games    Tuesday: New-tech gadgets    Wednesday: Gifts for the disabled    Thursday: Gifts that give back to a charity or cause    Friday: Patriotic holiday ornaments    Saturday: Christmas tree toppers

        You know you're in good hands and the feeling never lets up, as that big, supple voice fills this homey, occasionally corny (and this time of year, corny is good) collection of 12 songs.

Cold and modern

        The ladies of Destiny's Child are doing their best to pump up the economy on 8 Days of Christmas (Columbia; $18.98 CD; 2 1/2), as the material girls gleefully take inventory of their expensive gifts in the title song. It's funny, but wears thin fast, in a CD that's too cold and modern. Go back to the old Motown Christmas discs, or even better, the Atlantic soul sets.

        Toni Braxton looks beautiful on the cover, but her Snowflakes (Arista; $18.98 CD; 1 star) turns to slush with too many mediocre new songs, such as the title cut or her duet with Shaggy, “Christmas in Jamaica.”

        Saxophonist Dave Koz is the host of A Smooth Jazz Christmas (Capitol; $17.98 CD; 2 1/2 stars), a mellow, inoffensive set (except for the oppressively sappy Kenny Loggins) of the usual Yule tunes. Brenda Russell also sings. Other guests include keyboardist David Benoit, guitarist Peter White and trumpeter Rick Braun.

        With Father Christmas (Rounder; 3 stars) Deana Carter plays it straight (no “Did I Trim my Tree for This?” here. Instead, she and her session guitarist/dad Fred Carter do 11 songs, mostly standards in a spare guitar and vocal setting. There's also a cute interview by a grade school-age Deana with her dad.

        Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ($16.98; 3 1/2 stars) finds sweet-voiced country singer Suzy Bogguss in a low-key acoustic-driven set of tunes, “Sleigh Ride” and “Do You Hear What I Hear,” as well as a seasonal rewrite of “Mr. Sandman” as “Mr. Santa.” Guests include the late Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and Delbert McClinton, who duets “Baby It's Cold Outside.” A new country Christmas perennial.

        Joan Baez's classic 1966 LP, Noel (Vanguard; $16.98 CD; 4 stars) has been decked out with bonus tracks for a 23-song CD that brings that silvery soprano voice home for the holidays.

        A Wild-Eyed Christmas Night (Sanctuary; $17.98 CD; 3 stars) Last year it was Lynyrd Skynyrd; this year's Southern rock Yule is provided by .38 Special. Pour some more Jack Daniels in the eggnog and fire this one up.
       

Collections

        Martha Stewart Living: Home For the Holidays (Rhino; $11.98 CD; 3 1/2) is not the bland, beige Christmas one might have expected. Instead, it's an absolutely wonderful, generation/genre-spanning set that includes the Pretenders' “2000 Miles,” Charles Brown singing his “Merry Christmas Baby,” Judy Garland's “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and Loreena McKennit's “Good King Wenceslas.”

        Season's Greetings: The Millennium Collection (Hip-O; $29.98 CDs; 3 1/2). Three discs, 36 songs — from Bing Crosby's ""White Christmas” to Boyz II Men's “Let It Snow” to Burl Ives' “Holly Jolly Christmas” to the Isley Brothers' “Special Gift.” No other set covers so much ground.

        MTV: TRL Christmas (Lava/Atlantic; $18.98 CD; 3 stars). With 'NSync, Blink-182, TLC, Christina Aguilera and Smash Mouth on hand, this is the hot modern pop and rock Christmas party this year. As Blink-182 sings, “It's Christmas time, again. It's time to be nice to the people you can't stand all year.” Not your grandma's Yuletide.

        Now That's What I Call Christmas (Universal; $19.98 CDs; 3 1/2). This two-CD collection comes pretty close to Season's Greetings, right down to song selection, though this one goes for the stars over the songs. Bing's here, and so are the Isley Brothers, as well as Elmo & Patsy, 'NSync, Britney Spears, Harry Connick Jr., Bruce Springtseen, Celine Dion and Diana Krall.

        A Very Special Christmas 5 (A&M; $18.98; 2 1/2 stars), is a pretty down-home Yule, as B.B. King and John Popper do the risque “Back Door Santa” (which is on B.B.'s own disc without Mr. Popper); Stevie Nicks bewitches “Silent Night”; Sheryl Crow rocks out on “Run Rudolph Run,”; Macy Gray rasps “This Christmas (Hang All the Mistletoe)”; Dido croons “Christmas Day”; and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers squeeze some Christmas cheer out of Willie Dixon's bluesy “Little Red Roster.”

        Christmas: The Big 80s (Rhino; $17.98 CD; 3 stars) Part of its VH1 series, this is a Ghost of Christmas Past with 15 songs by Squeeze, the Pretenders, Los Lobos, the Ramones, Hall & Oates and SCTV's Bob & Doug McKenzie.

        Swingin' Christmas (Rhino; $17.98 CD; 3 1/2) goes back still further, with jumpin', jivin' tunes by the Louies — Armstrong and Prima, as well as Tex Beneke, Eddie ""Lockjaw'' Davis and Kay Starr.

        For a gentle respite from holiday insanity, take solace in A Winter's Solistice (Windham Hill; $17.98; 2 1/2). The label is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and this set ranges from the semi-classical oboe stylings of Paul McCandless to Ozzie Kotani's lilting Hawaiian slack-key guitar to former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud. But it's a bit too gentle — fine for wrapping presents, but please don't try operating heavy machinery.
       

The truly different
        The Campbell Brothers' Sacred Steel for the Holidays (Arhoolie; $17.98 CD; 4 stars) is the CD that, out of this year's Yule crop, will be played long after Dec. 25. A musical style that came out of Southern churches, it mixes black gospel with electric steel guitar, creating an emotionally powerful, infectiously jazzy sound unlike anything you've ever heard.

        Sounds Like Christmas (Magna Carta; $16.98 CD; 4 stars) is the gift for the prog-rock fan on your list. Faceless cover band December People creates a '70s prog Yule, doing ""Silent Night” as if it were Pink Floyd and “What Child is This” like early Genesis.

        Led Zep and early King Crimson are both represented and, keeping things authentically prog, the current incarnation of Kansas is on hand. It's the most fun of any Yule set this year, and a great Christmas party game for rock savants, as they try to decipher influences.

        Playboy's Latin Jazz Christmas: A Not So Silent Night (Playboy Jazz; $16.98 CD; 3 1/2 stars) With such Latin luminaries as Poncho Sanchez and Arturo Sandoval, this set works as both seasonal fare and irresistibly rhythmic jazz.

        If you want some real twang for Christmas, pick up Dale Watson's Christmas in Texas (Audium; $18.98 CD; 3 1/2). The hard-core traditionalist serves it straight up, from “Honky Tonk Christmas” to “Santa and My Semi” to “Christmas in Vegas.” Throw in a few standards, and you've got just the thing when Merle Haggard comes over for some eggnog.

        A Christmas Spanking (Bloodshot/Spanks-a-Lot; $15.98 CD; 3 1/2) is the Asylum Street Spankers holiday set. It's a rootsy, eclectic live set by Austin's premier acoustic band, blending hot jazz, blues, Hawaiian music (“Mele Kalikimaka”) and even some Dr. Seuss (“You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”).
       

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Get to it