The holiday season is upon us, and there are only a few weeks before the end of the year!

So now's the time for record labels to fire their last shots, to offer up their best-ever--their last hope to make a few much needed bucks, before their employees hitchhike home, paychecks in pocket, to buy some gas and finally move their cars out of the driveway! If they haven't been repossessed, of course!

Luckily, the quality of this week's releases may be sufficient to save the industry for yet another year--offering everyone at least a few weeks to stay at home and evaluate all those practices that perhaps have placed them in the perilous position, to see the error of their ways, and make sure that it never happens again and that 2011 is their best year ever!

Similarly, the sun may rise in the west, pigs may finally reveal the ability to take flight at their whim, and Santa Claus may be irked about having to transport vinyl reissues he's been re-delivering for two decades now when he can

It's a fascinating week of new releases!

On one hand we've got incredibly great records by obscure artists you've probably never heard of!

On another, we've got great reissues by older artists whose collective works dwarf those of all the latest hitmakers!

And on the third--and come on, admit it, three hands is what it's all about--you've got new releases by hot "new" artists whose shelf life rivals that of your typical mosquito!

Luckily, recently proclaimed new rules that dictate that all music has the same ultimate value--since, after all, our time on this planet is relatively limited until we pass on to the hollow darkness that awaits us all--mean it doesn't make any difference whatsoever!

Besides, I've been thinking that buying some new shoes might make all the difference in the world!

Josh Groban: Illuminations (143/Reprise)  There were maybe two times in my life when I watched Ally McBeal, and one of them featured an appearance by the rockin' dude who would soon be known to the

As we near the end of the year, the big guns are releasing all their wares!

In the old days, that might mean that the world's biggest recording artists are putting out their new albums just in time for holiday shoppers!

These days, though, it means that the world's biggest labels are throwing out absolutely anything with a major artist's name on it--purely so that they can afford to fill their yachts with gas while we the people lay rolling on the floor, broke, hungry, and wondering where our next meal is coming from!

Still, that 43-CD Miles Davis box set does look tempting, and I'm sure my son wouldn't notice if I sold his first-ever soccer trophy in order to buy it! Besides, food is great and all, but how long do you think all these great "deluxe versions" of classic albums will be available?

Besides, anyone can have a son!

Taylor Swift: Speak Now (Big Machine)  I don't think it's an understatement to say the entire world is waiting for the brand new Taylor Swift album! Especially

Well, it's one of those weeks when it pays off to be a rock critic!

Among the week's new releases are reissues of The Beatles' so-called "red" and "blue" albums--their famous pair of 2-CD greatest hits collections--Bob Dylan's Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings, his first eight albums re-released in glorious mono, and The Complete Elvis Presley Masters, a 30-CD set containing all 711 of his master recordings!

After considerable listening, here's the verdict:

Not bad!

Next week: On becoming a book critic!

Kings Of Leon: Come Around Sundown (RCA)  Some people call them the greatest American rock 'n' roll band going, others call them potential dunderheads who have never before come so close to repeating themselves at every turn, and still others--particularly residents of Leon--call them "your majesty"! Others call them at 615-555-LEON, order their carpets cleaned, and with a gnawing pain in the pit of their stomachs, watch Oprah and try to focus on the better days that must surely