Gift Wrapped Volume 4: Winter Wonderland, various artists (Warners)

We don't get a lot of major label compilations for Christmas in the post-physical-media era, so kudos to the Brothers Warner (Stan, Nathan, and Itzy) for maintaining a tradition in the year of our streaming 2023. You'll find that, just as in the old days, this collection spans genres, so you'll want to pick and choose among these offerings. Bebe Rexha gives us a modern pop rocker in "Count On Christmas," Michael Buble drops an old-school croon on "Let It Snow! -- 10th Anniversary Version," Dolly Parton is herself on an old-fashioned country-tinged pop ballad, "Comin' Home For Christmas," and Seal offers the Donny Hathaway chestnut "This Christmas." JoJo with PJ Morton give us the holiday ballad "Wishlist," Teddy Swims lays down a pop=gospel reading of "Silent Night," Josh Groban's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is an orchestral, almost Broadway reading of the John Lennon classic, Andra Day gives the jazz vocal treatment to a ballad version of "Winter Wonderland," and Brandy Clark and Charlie Worsham give a Nashville duet treatment to the Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling." The Goo Goo Dollsx' "This Is Christmas" makes an appearance here, along with Lukas Graham on the somewhere between hip-hop and pop song "HERE (For Christmas)" and Kathleen's odd rendition of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" featuring strange synths and background noises. My assumption is that this collection was curated from around the Warners empire of associated labels, rather than the result of any original commissions, but I'm happy to be corrected on that. There's a vinyl version of this out there for you collectors, of course.