Season's greetings!

While it may seem a tad early to start wishing everyone a happy holiday, you won't feel that way when you take a look at the new Christmas albums being issued this week!

Everyone from the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Sugarland, David Archuleta and even Charlie Daniels have new product in the stores--and are standing under the mistletoe awaiting the kiss that only your hard-earned dollars might bring!

So perhaps now wouldn't be the time to bring up the fact that these albums--if purchased either in the vinyl or compact disc configuration--are comprised of polyvinyl chloride and polycarbonate plastics, both toxic substances certain to outlive all of humanity on our wondrous Planet Earth, and, all things considered, probably not the wisest of holiday choices for those among us who are ecologically minded!

Perhaps a bag of walnuts might make a better gift!

Oh, well--just a thought!

Bob Dylan: Christmas In The Heart (Columbia)  It's hard to quibble with Bob

I'd like to start this week's blog off with a heartfelt apology to fans of Megadeth, whose new album I inadvertently forgot to mention last week! Oops!

I understand it's very good--and that there's no truth to the rumor that it's a stunning departure into faux bluegrass, R&B and the early works of the Undertones! At least, that's what I gather from speaking with one of my friends who lives with a member of the band!

If I only had it in my hands, and could look at the cover and read the credits, then I could tell you the whole story and you could read it here first!

But it would be unthinkable to offer an opinion otherwise!

That said, word is that one side of the CD is silver-colored and shiny!

Pearl Jam: Backspacer (Monkeywrench)  One of the more impressive aspects of Pearl Jam in retrospect is that nobody has really burned out on them! The group's general aversion to music videos, press interviews, and most of the star-making machinery that has chewed up and spit out nearly all of

This week's biggest news, of course, is the long-awaited release of the Beatles catalog in newly remastered versions--as individual albums, boxed together in expensive stereo and mono complete sets, and in the unexpected music videogame format--which will introduce the famous quartet's music to an entirely new generation, and an actual music videogame to one much older.

Few would argue that this is a bad thing.

As an additional by-product of the Beatles release, it's likely a significant number of people may want to go to "a record store" for the first time in several years. And they may be slightly chagrinned to discover there aren't very many left.

Look for that videogame next Christmas.

The Beatles: Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (The White Album), Abbey Road, Let It Be, Past Masters (all Apple/Capitol/EMI)  It would be incredibly

I am peculiarly fascinated by the release of this week's new album by Whitney Houston!

This because I believe her entire career has been based on the number of records she can sell!

I remember back in the old days, before her first album came out, when her label sent out an expensive calendar featuring Whitney in many rather enticing poses; it was the first indicator that they had planned on spending an extraordinary amount of money on this artist! They did not do this for the A's, D.L. Byron, the Sports or the Thompson Twins!

And yes, she sold lots and lots of records! In fact, she's famous for it!

So if this new album doesn't sell lots of records--because, after all, that's what she's famous for--it must mean her new album is very bad!

Sometimes record companies make this stuff easy!

Whitney Houston: I Look To You (Arista)  Aside from the fact that she has sold lots of records, what meaning does Whitney Houston have for me, a human? Well, she sang "Memories," an old Soft Machine