IF you think of Christmas albums, the likes of Boney M, Vaya Con Dios or Max Bygraves would probably be the first artists to come to mind, but certainly not Bob Dylan!

Yet the veteran folk legend has brought out the potential hit of the festive season in the form of Christmas in the Heart (Sony).

It’s possibly the first time I’ve ever heard Dylan (most commonly thought of for protest anthems or melancholic ballads) sounding happy.

It’s quite strange hearing him sing along with classics ranging from Here Comes Santa Claus and Winter Wonderland to Little Drummer Boy and O Come All Ye Faithful.

But somehow it works, and will definitely leave a smile on your face.

Listen out in particular for the polka-styled Must Be Santa and Christmas Island, which feels like it belongs on the South Pacific soundtrack.

This material may not rival Blowing in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changing as Dylan’s best work, but is definitely worth a listen.

BY comparison, Putumayo Records’ A Family Christmas is a much weaker collection.

The songs are mainly performed in jazz and folk styles, and the overall feel is very old fashioned.

Johnny Bregar does Santa Claus is Coming to Town in a Michael Buble swing jazz style, Leon Redbone reinterprets Let it Snow in a country- blues style and Brave Combo add a splash of ska to Jolly Old St Nick.

If you fancy widening your horizons you can also learn how to say merry Christmas in Hawaiian on Debbie Davis and Matt Perrine’s song Mele Kalikimaka.

As Christmas albums go, its rather mediocre, but could do as background music at your festive celebration.

MOVING to albums which might make nice Christmas presents, Michael Jackson fans will be thrilled (or should that be Thrillered) to get their hands on the soundtrack to This Is It (Sony).

Effectively a greatest hits collection, it includes all his much-loved songs like Beat It, Billie Jean, Black or White and Man in the Mirror. Fans who have these songs still have reason to buy it – the new single This is It, plus rare demo versions of She’s Out of My Life and Wanna Be Startin; Somethin’, and a cappella version of Beat It and a poem called Planet Earth.

IN recent years Rod Stewart has moved away from releasing radio-friendly pop hits and instead concentrated on releasing albums which appeal to specific genre fans.

First he released tributes to the old crooners like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and now keeps to a similar formula on Soulbook (Sony).

The album looks at some of the best known songs and artists of the Motown era.

The album has a weak start. He really seems to massacre The Four Tops’ It’s the Same Old Song, slowing the tempo right down for the first minute or so. But eventually the beats kick in and it gets the party flavour the song has always had.

For the rest, though, he stays pretty true to the original arrangements on tracks like Higher and Higher, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted and If You Don’t Know Me By Now.

Highlights also include collaborations with Mary J Blige on You Make Me Feel Brand New, Jennifer Hudson on Let It Be Me, and interestingly with original artists Stevie Wonder on My Cherie Amour and Smokey Robinson on Tracks of My Tears. The one track where he really does experiment, though, is on his cover of Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World, which is reinterpreted in a reggae style.

It’s an enjoyable collection both for Stewart’s fans and those of the Motown period.

A GIFT idea for younger listeners would be Now That’s What I Call Music 53 (Sony), a double album collection of 42 current hits.

Ranging from dance acts David Guetta and Cascada, to RnB (Whitney Houston and Black Eyed Peas), rock (The Killers and Daughtry) and pop (Kelly Clarkson and Mika), there’s something for everyone.

There’s also a good representation of South African acts including Goldfish, Prime Circle, Jamali and Sasha-Lee.