Great sounds for the shopping cart

It is that time of year again when we can go shopping to our heart’s content and not feel guilty about it. And like I enjoy saying year after year, music is one of the best gifts you can give. CDs do not cost much. They are easy to get and music shops are not as subject to crowds where you run the risk of getting robbed or pawed or whatever during the season. Then because of their shape and packaging, CDs are easy to wrap.

Then just like what that old adage or slogan says, music keeps on giving. You can play a CD every day and everywhere. You can lend it or give it away. And no matter what happens as it goes from user to user, the music keeps on playing. And again just like what happens year after year now is the time when we get the best releases by major artists. Here are a few that any music lover would love to get and that you might want to keep for yourself.

My Love The Ultimate Essential Collection, a two-disc set by Celine Dion.  This is not Celine’s first greatest hits compilation but it has the most cuts, 26 in all. I missed When I Fall in Love with Cliv Griffin from Sleepless in Seattle but it has her popular duets, Beauty and the Beast with Peabo Bryson; Tell Him with Barbra Streisand; I’m Your Angel with R. Kelly; and The Prayer with Andrea Bocelli. It has something from her early days when she recorded only in French Pour Que Tu M’aimes Encore; a new song My Love; a lovely Dance with My Father; the 1996 Olympics theme, Power of the Dream; and whether you like it or not, My Heart Will Go On from Titanic.

The Ballads by Mariah Carey. She is a great R&B artist but what Pinoys love most about Mariah is that she does beautiful ballads. So a lot of us will love the CD. The songs are from her time with Sony Music and are her early hits. It does not include Love Takes Time or Fantasy which I like. But it has the big sellers Hero; One Sweet Day with Boyz II Men; Open Arms; My All; Dreamlover; I’ll Be There featuring Trey Lorenz; and Vision of Love. The duet with Luther Vandross of Endless Love is quite a gem and it is great to hear Always Be My Baby again and admire how American Idol David Cook made it his own.

Keeps Getting Better A Decade of Hits by Christina Aguilera. Now this one is a true greatest hits collection. I do not think she missed out on any of her big ones except for the Mulan theme Reflection. There are Genie in a Bottle; What a Girl Wants; I Turn to You; Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You); Nobody Wants to be Lonely with Ricky Martin; Lady Marmalade with Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack; Dirty featuring Redman; Fighter; Beautiful; Ain’t No Other Man; Candyman; Hurt; Genie 20; and You Are What You Are (Beautiful). She added two new songs which are great single materials, Keeps Getting Better and Dynamite and threw in a bonus DVD with a decade of music videos of her biggest hits.

Closer, The Best of Sarah McLachlan. After all the power singing from Celine, Mariah and Christina, it feels great to be able to wind down with the ethereal sound of McLachlan. Like Aguilera, she also does not miss out on what her fans love best. Here is her biggest, Angel from the movie City of Angels, plus Vox; The Path of Thorns (Terms); Into the Fire, Possession; Hold On; Good Enough, Building a Mystery; Sweet Surrender; Adia; I Will Remember You; Fallen; Stupid; World on Fire; and two new recordings, Don’t Give Up on Us and U Want Me 2.

King of Pop, The Philippine Edition, a 2-disc set by Michael Jackson. You can say anything and believe anything they say about MJ but it can never be denied that there was a time when he made music history with the best pop songs ever. Here are the hits that made it happen and because this is The Philippine Edition, the cuts were those chosen by Pinoys for inclusion in this 50th birthday CD.

Blame It on the Boogie; Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough; Rock with You; Off the Wall; She’s Out of My Life; The Girl is Mine; Thriller; Beat It; Billie Jean; Human Nature; P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing); Bad; The Way You Make Me Feel; Man in the Mirror; I Just Can’t Stop Loving You; Smooth Criminal; Heal the World; Gone Too Soon; Dangerous; Scream; They Don’t Care About Us; You are Not Alone; Blood on the Dance Floor; Invincible; We are the World; Wanna Be Starting Somethin’, a new 2008 recording with Akon; Say Say Say with Paul McCartney; and the previously unreleased Got the Hots.