Seasonal sounds

Listening to some of this year's holiday CD offerings, I can heartily recommend two so far.``Cool Yule,'' Bette Midler (Columbia)Divinity and Christmas are, of course, related, so it's no wonder that the Divine Miss M. finally checks in with a Christmas album. The results are so good you have wonder, what took so long? Nevermind that this nice Jewish lady from Hawaii has recorded a Christmas album (Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond have recorded four Christmas albums between them). Midler brings her customary sass and humor to ``Merry Christmas'' and ``Cool Yule'' but lends her dramatic heft to ``I'll Be Home for Christmas'' and ``O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.'' Don't miss her ``Mele Kalikimaka,'' and though it sounds cheesy, her re-hash of ``From a Distance (Christmas Version)'' actually reveals that the heavy ballad was always meant to be a Christmas song. I know it sounds crazy, but the sap-happy ``Distance'' really works as a carol. No, really. It does.For more Ms. M or to sample her Christmas fare, visit her Web site.``Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 8,'' Various Artists (Rock-It Science)The casts from Broadway musicals -- mostly the crop currently on the boards _ jazz up the holiday soundscape with a wildly varied and highly entertaining two-disc collection of tunes both new and old to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The ensemble from The Color Purple does gorgeous things with a medley of ``Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella,'' ``Joy to the World'' and ``Go Tell It on the Mountain,'' while more comic tunes come from The Wedding Singer (Adam Sandler's ``The Hanukah Song''), Avenue Q (``The Holi-daze'') and Altar Boyz (``Joseph's Dilemma'').My personal favorites are from the ever-bizarre Kiki and Herb warbling through ``Like a Snowman'' and the Rent cast doing ``Angels We Have Heard on High'' with Jonathan Larson's melody for ``Santa Fe'' worked on. I also thoroughly enjoyed the gross, funny and sweet Christmas story from the [title of show] cast and the Spamalot holiday tale involving Brian, the man who isn't Jesus from Monty Python's The Life of Brian.You can purchase ``Broadway's Greatest Gift'' and other fundraising items from BC/EFA here.If you discover any not-to-be-missed holiday music, please let me and the other Theater Dogs know.