A Very Special Christmas Live From Washington, D.C., various artists (A&M)

Taken from a White House concert at Christmas 1998, this 1999 disc was an easy way to get another album in the marketplace to benefit the Special Olympics. While some of these performances are reprises from the first three Special Christmas albums (Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis," Jon Bon Jovi's "Please Come Home for Christmas," Tracy Chapman's "O Holy Night," Vanessa Williams' "What Child Is This"), there are a few original moments on this one, most of which fall under the Sheryl and Eric show that dominated 1998's concert scene. Sheryl Crow duets with Mary J. Blige on "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and with Eric Clapton on "Merry Christmas Baby," the Bruce Springsteen arrangement. Eric then solos on "Christmas Tears," duets with John Popper on Canned Heat's "Christmas Blues" and with Tracy Chapman on "Give Me One Reason," her non-Christmas hit. Bon Jovi returns with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home,)" sounding suspiciously like Bono from the first Special Christmas album. The whole cast then gets together on the Phil Spector version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." Say, there's an awful lot of blues on the set list for a White House concert; that probably won't happen again any time soon.