12 Delights of Christmas

• Share

(7 of 8)

Are eight albums of early Ray Charles a little much? Damn straight. The makers of this boxed set exercise no restraint, but they do include some fascinating stuff. Skip the well-worn hits, and go right to the song sketches to hear how Charles felt his way toward redefining American pop music. And if you somehow make it to disc eight, the reward is a recording of the legendary moment when record executive Ahmet Ertegun sang a bizarre-- but not at all bad-- version of What'd I Say to convince Charles of the song's potential.

Best Tracks: Are you kidding? It's eight discs! Of Ray Charles!

KELLY CLARKSON

Breakaway; $13.49

This unpretentious album solves the mystery of how Kelly Clarkson unpinned herself from the scarlet A (for American Idol winner) that nearly doomed her career before it started. She works with strong producers, picks crisp, up-tempo songs that mine a slender emotional vein (to summarize: Why did you leave me, you jerk?) and sings them with an understatement alien to most of her peers. It's an (almost) guiltless pleasure.

Best Tracks: Because of You, Since U Been Gone

AMADOU & MARIAM

Dimanche A Bamako; $18.98

World music doesn't have a reputation for fun, and Amadou & Mariam, the self-proclaimed Blind Couple of Mali, might not seem the likeliest candidates to rock the boat. But a) they wear the coolest shades in the history of sightlessness, and b) they have partnered with Spanish-French producer Manu Chao, whose interest in multiculturalism stops at every country's best pop hooks. Listening to the fusion of Amadou & Mariam's polyrhythmic blues with Chao's exuberant rip-offs is like watching another nation's most hysterically bad TV; you feel as if you're learning something, even though you're enjoying yourself.

Best Tracks: Senegal Fast Food, Taxi Bamako

SLEATER-KINNEY

The Woods; $14.98

After six admirable but unadorable records, this trio of very earnest, very intense women from the Northwest decided to let loose their inner Led Zeppelin. The guitar playing is heavy, dexterous and hook laden, but the polish of the melodies never obscures their calling card--the raw, intermingled wails of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein.

Best Tracks: The Fox, Jumpers, Rollercoaster

M.I.A.

Arular; $13.98

The geopolitical importance of this Sri Lankan--born, London-raised rapper has been heavily overstated by people who would rather she were a symbol than a star. Her manic energy and supremely confident delivery on such songs as Galang (now the sound track to a Honda commercial) matches her ear for those small production details that turn songs into bustling streets in foreign capitals. That's the combination, instead of her blend of ethnicities, that makes this the most compelling debut of the year.

Best Tracks: Galang, Bucky Done Gun

KANYE WEST

Late Registration; $13.98