IF YOU'VE walked down Orchard Road lately, you'd have noticed festive songs playing everywhere.

While there's no helping what's broadcast at you in public, you can be more discerning about what's playing at home, or on your portable music player.

The latest crop of Christmas CDs gives you plenty to choose from, and runs the gamut from traditional, through eclectic, to downright quirky. Oprah's recommendation Oprah Winfrey's pick for the season is Josh Groban's Noel.

'It's the one Christmas CD every family should have,' Oprah proclaims. Groban is definitely good at what he does, and is very consistent, but I wouldn't go that far.

His recognisably rich voice works well on songs like The First Noel and Silent Night, but is less appropriate for material like Little Drummer Boy. Artistry is as much about sensitivity as it is about a good voice, and Groban sounds nothing like a little drummer boy.

He can croon as sweetly as he wants, but it doesn't work, in spite of excellent acoustic guitar work and atmospheric bagpipes.

Luckily, this is the exception on the album, rather than the rule. On I'll Be Home For Christmas, Groban convincingly channels the average GI Joe stuck in Iraq, aided by sound clips of American servicemen sending their festive wishes home.

Predictably, production values on Noel are very high, which makes it very easy on the ears, regardless of what sound system you're playing it on.

Album with more grit

If you like Groban's operatic style, but want a bit more grit, the two-disc Christmas Edition of Paul Potts's One Chance album might appeal to you.

The main album doesn't comprise traditional Christmas tunes, but the songs are surprisingly appropriate for the season.

Ognuno Soffre, an Italian version of REM's hit Everybody Hurts, is surprisingly effective, even without Michael Stipe's nasal delivery and Peter Buck's distinctive electric guitar work.

The song is a reminder of the hurts of the year, and that it's alright to hurt.

It's also a reminder that much of the world remains in misery, regardless of how lavishly rich countries celebrate Christmas.

The second CD contains mainstream festive fare like Silent Night and O Holy Night, which Potts handles adeptly.

His Ave Maria also has more bite than Groban's, at the expense of a contemplative atmosphere. Seasonal compilations If true variety is what you're looking for, then perhaps a compilation is in order. The double-disc Essential Music album puts together a truly eclectic range of Christmas material.

Some of it is deplorably forgettable, like Hanson's What Christmas Means To Me, while others are plain boring, like Dina Carroll's The Perfect Year.

But there are more startling gems than stinkers. The Jackson 5's Little Drummer Boy shows Groban how it should be done.

A pre-pubescent Michael Jackson not only sounds like the little drummer boy, but displays the wonderful bluesy inflections Jackson shed in his adult career.

Speaking of the blues, Albert King's Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' reminds us why he's regarded as a giant of electric blues guitar.

The vocals are a tad bland, but the ridiculously tasty guitar licks more than make up for it.

Smokey Robinson and The Miracles perform one of the more adventurous versions of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen out there. The falsetto vocals and jazzy phrasing almost qualifies as a progressive rock treatment of the tune.

And sometimes, there's no substitute for a classic recording you know well. Bing Crosby's White Christmas is possibly the definitive version of the song, with a wonderful, familiar warmth.

Dated and different

If you absolutely have to have something different from everyone else, check out Christmas With Boney M, which collects the group's Christmas songs from the early 80s.

Shorn of the edginess of their trademark songs like Rasputin and the groove of tracks like Brown Girl In The Ring, Boney M often sounds merely dated.

Its Hark The Herald Angels Sing and Oh Come All Ye Faithful are retro in a bad way, with thin electronic disco drums. Their White Christmas is also pretty monotonous.

But when there's no weak disco beat, and the band actually gets down to singing quietly, the songs are pretty good. When A Child Is Born has good build-up and an appealing arrangement.

Boney M's Little Drummer Boy is even better than the Jackson 5 version, which is a big compliment. There's excellent pacing, and intelligent layering of voices. Impressive.

Homegrown offering

It's always nice to review a strong homegrown Christmas album. A capella group Agapella was formed in 2002, but only released their debut album this year.

Called Follow The Star, it's Christmas themed and features well-structured arrangements of classic songs as well as a few less well known tracks. It isn't easy to accurately imitate drums with just one's voice, but there are some convincing hi-hats on God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. O Holy Night also features some appealing harmonisation.

Non-traditional songs like What Can I Give Him and In The First Light also show off the Agapella's vocal prowess nicely. Besides excellent intonation, Agapella deserves praise for good diction, and doesn't suffer from the distracting sibilance that afflicts some local vocal groups.

The strangest track on the album is the last, titled Internal Affairs, which is a conversation between two foetuses inside their mothers' womb.

It tries hard for humour, and ends with the foetuses mistaking the sound of a flushing toilet for the beginning of labour, but comes across as just plain weird.