Have an old-timey Christmas

Why not start with an album that has 15 cuts that were first televised in 1952 but never packaged and issued as a record until this year.

It’s called “The Edie Adams Christmas Album” and it’s a delight. Adams was comedian/pianist Ernie Kovacs’ sidekick on his “Kovacs Unlimited” TV show. The cuts were taken from a number of TV episodes in December of 1952. Yes, 70 years ago.

Adams, who was classically trained, comes across on this CD as a singer with lilting Doris Day vocal style. Adams’ versions are straightforward and as light as fallen-snow on “Silver Bells” and “It’s a Marshmallow World.” She turns somber “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” and sorrowful on “Blue Christmas,” which Elvis popularized.

That’s Kovacs with the piano accompaniment. He even does his best singing with Adams on a few songs.

There’s another pleasure that the CD provides — the booklet. Adams’ son, Josh Mills, wrote the liner notes which are personal recollections, including Christmas parties hanging out with actors Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

♦ “Seasons Greetings — Jersey Boys Christmas” Singers with “Jersey Boys” shows in Las Vegas, Nev., on Broadway, London and Australia belt out seasonal favorites. The “Santa Medley” (my fave) features the high, clear falsetto of Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young leading a vocal ensemble in a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The medley has “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” The lead singers merge their voices in the 17th and final cut, a 1950s guy group take of “Auld Lang Syne.”

♦ “This Christmas” (Universal). Who doesn’t remember John Travolta as Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsen in the 1978 film “Grease.” They’re back together … on this romantically enchanting holiday CD. Their voices really haven’t darkened that much. The duets on “White Christmas” and “The Christmas Song” are sweet; the pop number “I Think You Might Like It” makes you think they’re reliving their film roles, some of the cuts feature famous singers Barbra Streisand on “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” Tony Bennett and the Count Basie Orchestra on “Winter Wonderland,” and James Taylor on “Deck the Halls.” The CD is a keeper.

♦ “James Taylor At Christmas” (Universal). James Taylor has a voice that’s for the ages, regardless of what he’s singing about. This mostly holiday collection is a re-issue, with the songs recorded in different years of the last decade. It’s mostly holiday stuff because you’ve got “Here Comes the Sun” (featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma) right in the middle of the CD’s 14 cuts and “Auld Lang Syne” as the closer. I would have made the traditional “In the Bleak Midwinter” as the first cut and George Harrison’s famous song at the end, as a portent of spring.

♦ “Holidaydream Vol. 1″ (Good Records/Kirtland Records). The Polyphonic Spree, a vocal/instrumental/theatrical ensemble, begins its CD with an overdue tribute (“A Working Elf’s Theme”). Then it moves to a few familiar tunes (“Winter Wonderland” and “The Christmas Song”) before it slides into a holiday song that deserves extensive airplay in the holiday season — John Lennon/Yoko Ono’s “Happy X-Mas (War is Over).” The ensemble’s next cut, a frosty “Silent Night,” is kind of eerie. I like the harp and tuba intro to “Let It Snow.” Except for two selections, the tunes are well-known; all of the arrangements are inventive and welcome.

♦ “Mr. Santa” Kenny Vance & The Planotones (LaPlano Records). This is a happy little doo-wop retro record with rockin’ “Run, Run Rudolph,” “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” and a cool doo-wop version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It’s also instructive to know that Kenny Vance, now 68 and still possessing his chops, was himself a young doo-wop singer with Jay and the Americans back in the day. There is a sad nonmusical story to tell about Vance: Except for his car and a suitcase of clothes, he lost his worldly possessions when Hurricane Sandy destroyed his home in the Rockaways section of Queens, N.Y., while he was performing on a cruise ship. Besides a singer, Vance produced the soundtrack for “Animal House” and was musical director of “Saturday Night Live” in the early 1980s.