"It's That Time of Year," The Revelations featuring Tre Williams

Old-school soul music never goes away, does it? This 2008 single by this great ensemble from Brooklyn could have been on the original Atlantic Soul Christmas album from the 60s -- it would certainly fit better than say, Luther Vandross did on the CD-era reissue. A nice mid-tempo ballad about the joys of the holiday, and Tre sings the heck out of it. UPDATE: The single becomes an EP for 2011 and remains free to download. Add to the above classic the slow ballad "It's Christmas Time," a tough rock take on Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby," and a straight cover of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas."