Phil Spector's 'A Christmas Gift for You' a dynamite holiday album

Long before music producer Phil Spector started shooting people, he was a musical genius.

Spector's legendary 'Wall of Sound' was a powerful force in the early 1960s, and he also produced albums by John Lennon and George Harrison in the aftermath of The Beatles collapse.

Obviously, Spector was a big deal.

In 1963, he produced a jewel of an album titled A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The roster of artists he used was Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, and Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans. While the song selection is pretty standard ('White Christmas,' 'Frosty the Snowman,' 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and others), his production approach elevated the album to classic heights.

The highlights of the album are likely the two Darlene Love performances. 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' is pure joy about the anticipation of spending the holiday with a loved one.

For years, Love performed this on the David Letterman show, and it brought the house down. Also, U2 did a version of it that was clearly inspired by Love and Spector. Additionally, her singing on 'White Christmas' is fantastic. She does not lift the song to the heights Bing Crosby did, but she is in the neighborhood.

For me, the Christmas season officially begins the day after Thanksgiving. Because of this, I do not play this album until then. On Friday, I slipped it into the CD player in my car and spent the day driving around town with a smile on my face. I will keep doing this (for the most part) until December 26.

If a person has to spend time cooped up in a car, this album is a great way to spend the time.

This album will make you happy.

U2's 'Rattle and Hum' has withstood the test of time

When U2 released Rattle and Hum in 1988, many people did not know what to make of it. The previous year the band enjoyed an enormous artistic and commercial breakthrough with The Joshua Tree. The band had made the leap from successful rock and roll band to bonafide cultural icon.

However, for people looking for a sequel to The Joshua Tree, they were likely disappointed by Rattle and Hum because the band wisely chose to stay away from that. It was part studio album and part live album. The perfect adjective for it may be 'sprawling' because it offers a little of everything.

The choice of live cuts puzzled some people back in '88. 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and 'Bullet the Blue Sky' were both pivotal songs on The Joshua Tree. Some critics thought the band was being redundant by releasing live versions of those songs on their very next album. After all, it had only been a little over a year since their initial release.

However, more than 20 years down the road, those criticisms have lost their sting. Both are great songs, and I would rather have these versions than not have them. Additional live songs include covers of The Beatles' 'Helter Skelter' and Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower.' Both these versions rock with passion.

As for the studio cuts, there is a lot to enjoy. The Bo Diddley-style 'Desire' and 'All I Want Is You' were big hits. Plus, the band and B.B King delivered a powerhouse collaboration on 'When Love Comes to Town.' Sprinkle in the haunting ballad 'Love Rescue Me' and the vibrant 'God Part II,' and it is easy to see that Rattle and Hum is deep with choice cuts. 'Got Part II' handles the topic of man's spiritual/fleshly duality about as well as any rock and roll song ever has.

This album tends to get overlooked when discussing U2's great works. Do yourself a favor and don't overlook it.

'The Joshua Tree' by U2 is emotional, personal and vivid

Even a casual listen of The Joshua Tree reveals that it is an intensely personal album. Themes of love, faith, and America reverberate throughout it. However, by embracing a more commercial approach to record making, U2 produced not only an intelligent record, but one that sounded great on the radio. It was now possible to cruise to the Irish band.

Most Americans first became aware of the band in 1983 when they released War. However, that album was the culmination of seven years of hard work. The band started in 1976 when the four members were still in high school. In 1980, they released their first album Boy and then released October the following year.

However, after releasing October, the band was on the verge of breaking up. Lead singer Bono, guitarist the Edge, and drummer Larry Mullin, Jr., each questioned whether rock and roll was a godly use of their talents. All three are Christians, and their doubts nearly ended the band. The Edge was the last of the three to decide to stay, and once he made his decision, their career took off.

Their next release was War and was their commercial breakthrough in the United States. They followed that up with The Unforgettable Fire in 1985, which many considered a step backward. In fact, one book listed the album as one of the fifty worst albums of all time.

However, superstardom arrived with The Joshua Tree. Blending radio-friendly hooks with personal subject matter, U2 arrived as the next big thing in 1987. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "With or Without You" both hit the top of the single's chart.

Bono once said that "I Still Haven't Found What I’m Looking For" is more about doubt than faith. If nothing else, the song is about the dissatisfaction of this world when knowing that heaven awaits. Even the faith people currently contain in their heart pales when compared to the next life.

"With or Without You" revisits an often-told rock and roll tale. The "love too much to let go" idea is a standard rock and roll theme, but the band handled it well. The Edge's jagged guitar work blended nicely with lyrics full of imagery about breaking, tearing, and pain.

Perhaps the album's best song is "One Tree Hill." Written as a eulogy for a friend who died in a motorcycle wreck, the song communicates the pain of loss with the hope of one day being re-united. The song climaxes with Revelation-type imagery: "I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky/And the moon has turned red over One Tree Hill."

In addition, "Where the Streets Have No Name," "In God's Country," and "Trip Through Your Wires" all received heavy radio airplay.

The album's massive success followed the same general pattern of the breakout albums of Bruce Springsteen and Prince a few years earlier. Springsteen and Prince were artists who had enjoyed both commercial and critical success early in their careers. However, they took the next step in popularity when they took their imaginative lyrics and merged them with more commercial melodies. This allowed them to penetrate a much larger audience.

U2 gets on some folks' nerves because they are too serious or they are perceived as taking themselves too seriously. While it is true that they should lighten up every now and then, it is hard to criticize anybody because they are too sincere. We live in an age of fluff and marketing manipulation. Even if you do not like their music, they deserve a pat on the back for at least trying to make a difference.

Resources: The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, The Rolling Stone Album Guide; 'The Joshua Tree' liner notes

Songs to begin 2009 with

I spend way too much time driving each week. However, the upside of this is that I get to listen to a lot of CDs as I cruise down the interstate. Here are a few songs you might want to check out as 2009 begins.

'I'm Waiting for the Day' -- The Beach Boys
'Let's Go Away for a While' -- The Beach Boys
'Mysterious Ways' -- U2
'Beautiful Day' -- U2
'One' -- U2
'Until the End of the World' -- U2
'Staring at the Sun' -- U2
'The First Time' -- U2
'I Looked Away' -- Derek and the Dominos
'Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?' -- Derek and the Dominos
'Little Wing' -- Derek and the Dominos
'Slip Kid' -- The Who
'Blue, Red, and Grey' -- The Who
'Eminence Front' -- The Who
'Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)/Take Me to the Pilot' -- The Who