Volume two of Collectables' Ultimate Christmas Album gathers more classic pop and rock holiday tunes, including the Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick," Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus," and Diana Ross & the Supremes' "White Christmas." Most of this volume's best-known tracks are by traditional pop crooners, such as Dean Martin's "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," Bing Crosby's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," and Burl Ives' "Holly Jolly Christmas." However, less-familiar tracks like the Echelons' "A Christmas Long Ago (Jingle Jingle)," Augie Rios' "Donde Esta Santa Claus," and Barry Gordon's "Nuttin' for Christmas" prevent the collection from being too predictable. It's not exactly a straightforward holiday-hits compilation, but The Ultimate Christmas Album, Vol. 2 balances enough standards and obscure tunes to make it a unique collection.

Original Hits: 70s is a decent six-disc set, highlighting 111 pop singles released in that decade. Along with the original versions of radio classics by Al Stewart, Blondie, the Knack, KC & the Sunshine Band, and Dr. Hook, are less-than-obvious inclusions by Peter Tosh, XTC, the Move, and Benny Hill!

Rhino's Very Best of Betty Wright collects some of the soul diva's definitive tracks, including her first Top 40 hit "Girls Can't Do What the Guys Do," her 1971 Top 10 hit "Clean Up Woman," "Let Me Your Lovemaker," her 1974 Grammy winner "Where Is the Love," and "I'm Gettin' Tired Baby." Though it's not as extensive as the label's earlier compilation The Best of Betty Wright, this album does present most of her major singles as well as a few representative album tracks.

Released in 1970 during the stopgap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Greatest Hits inadvertently arrived at precisely the right moment, summarizing Sly & the Family Stone's joyous hit-making run on the pop and R&B charts. Technically, only four songs here reached the Top Ten, with only two others hitting the Top 40, but judging this solely on charts is misleading, since this is simply a peerless singles collection. This summarizes their first four albums perfectly (almost all of Stand! outside of the two jams and "Somebody's Watching You" is here), adding the non-LP singles "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," and "Everybody Is a Star," possibly the loveliest thing they ever recorded…