Holiday albums: Prizes and duds

Various Artists, “The Hotel Café Presents Winter Songs” (Epic): A fitting subtitle could be “Songs for a Dying Fire” for the introspective tone that typifies a nice balance of standards and originals from this bevy of 14 female singer-songwriters, among them KT Tunstall, Fiona Apple, Colbie Caillat and Katy Perry. Some proceeds will benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 3 stars  (Mike Marsland / Getty Images)

Various Artists This Warm December, A Brushfire Holiday Vol. 1¨ (Brushfire): Sandy-voiced guys strum acoustic guitars for the most part in this alt-folkie offering from Jack Johnson‘s label. Naturally, Johnson appears with a couple of campfire Christmas tunes and is joined by G. Love (who funks things up a bit with “Christmas Baby”), Zach Gill, Matt Costa and a handful of others. Zee Avi provides a quick bit of gender relief in her endearing original No Christmas for Me,¨ and Rogue Wave trots out a sprightly version of Pete Townshend‘s under-utilized Christmas¨ from Tommy.¨ Part of the proceeds go to children’s music education. 3 stars  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Neil Sedaka, “The Miracle of Christmas“¨ (Razor & Tie): Is there a musical name that says Christmas more than ... Neil Sedaka? OK, so his isn’t the first name the leaps to mind. But give the man credit: The first half of this two-disc set consists of a dozen holiday originals from one of the Brill Building songwriting masters. A couple deserve to find their way into wider circulation: the self-explanatory “A Lonely Christmas in New York” and the pop-gospel flavored “Love Is Spreading Over the World.” 2 stars  (Nina Pommer / EPA)

Loreena McKennitt, “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” (Verve): McKennitt’s outing is full of graceful traditional music on a grand scale, her bounty of Anglocentric traditional tunes spruced up with new music she’s composed for some old texts. Strikingly beautiful. 3 stars  (Miguel Angel Molina / EPA)

Ledisi, “It’s Christmas” (Verve): Ledisi shows she can handle R&B or jazz, and it’s her jazz-minded performances that are more distinctive than the predictably shimmering and pulsing smooth-groove R&B arrangements. You wish she’d let her gospel side show more, especially on the curious Gladys Knight-ish version of “Children Go Where I Send Thee.” 2 stars   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Sheryl Crow, “Home for Christmas” (Hallmark): Retail-commissioned albums can feel tossed off, and this one’s no exception. At least Crow sounds as if she enjoyed herself with R&B-leaning arrangements of holiday favorites. Her one original, the fetching prayer for peace “There Is a Star That Shines Tonight,” will leave a lot of listeners wondering what else she might have to say about the season. 2 ½ stars   (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Various Artists, “The Essential Now That’s What I Call Christmas” (Universal/EMI/Sony BMG): The musical version of the theory of infinite regression: A compilation distilled from three previous compilations of previously released holiday recordings. These 25 tracks on one CD, spanning Gene Autry and Elvis to Carrie Underwood and Colbie Caillat, represent the most popular pop holiday songs. Anyone who doesn’t already own most of them either hates Christmas music or is under the age of 5. 3 stars  (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)