By Jonathan Takiff, Knight Ridder Newspapers

There are plenty of reasons to start your holiday shopping in music stores this month, as new albums, music DVDs and box sets galore drop from Jay-Z, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Coldplay, Johnny Cash, Tenacious D and the ever-popular "many-many more."

...Holiday Sweets: Getting back to her musical roots, Whitney Houston sounds extremely comfortable doing up Christmas classics on "One Wish" (Arista). Tastefully modernized in contemporary gospel fashion are "The First Noel," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and a surprising (but it works) uptempo version of "O Holy Night." Daughter Bobbi Kristina makes her vocal debut on "Little Drummer Boy." B+