We've made it easy this year (we hope). There are no categories to sift though, no tags that might misrepresent intriguing music that straddles a stylistic fence.

Nope. This year it's simple. Here, listed alphabetically, are 30 tips on tunes for holiday gifts. Every last one's a winner.

Some of these albums have songs so new that you can almost see steam rising from them on chilly mornings. Others dip liberally into the artists' archives (providing they've been around long to have built some) with regularly fascinating results.

So here are the sounds of the gift-giving season at hand, from The Byrds to the Boss, from old Young to new Legend, and from San Quentin to Carnegie Hall. Put them all together and you can see why Santa's sack gets little heavier every year.

Not that he's complaining, of course.

• Solomon Burke, "Nashville." Mainstream and alt-country elite, led by producer Buddy Miller, help out. As always, though, this is soul king Burke's party.

• The Byrds, "There Is a Season." From the folk-pop beginning through its psychedelic heyday to a fractured, fascinating coda, The Byrds soar in this four-CD/single-DVD boxed set.

• Johnny Cash, "Johnny Cash at San Quentin (Legacy Edition)." A country classic returns as a two-CD set with a 1969 documentary on DVD that chronicles this milestone concert.

• The Clash, "The Singles." From "White Riot" to "Sex Mad Roar," it's all here — 66 songs of punk, pop and politics that shook the world on four black plastic discs.

• John Coltrane, "Fearless Leader." This spectacularly remastered six-disc set celebrates the more soulfully streamlined music cut by the jazz icon from 1957 to 1958.

• David Crosby, "If I Could Only Remember My Name" and "Voyage." "If I Could" is a remastered version of Crosby's meditative 1971 solo debut, and "Voyage" is a three-CD retrospective.

• John Fogerty, "The Long Road Home in Concert." No sooner does Fogerty turn 60 than he re-signs with the label that nearly destroyed his career and issues this killer live set.

• Michael Franti, "I Know I'm Not Alone." A protest documentary, for sure. But this DVD from hip-hopper turned guerrilla correspondent Franti is vital holiday viewing.

• Bill Frisell, "Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian." Guitar stylist Frisell tackles Miles, Monk and more with a rhythm section that boasts part-time trio boss Motian.

• Gob Iron, "Death Songs for the Living." Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Varnaline's Anders Parker team for warm country tales of dark, fleeting mortality.

• David Grisman, "DGBX" and "Dawg's Groove." Two new string-ensemble releases take the mandolin master back to bluegrass roots while furthering his jazzier "dawg" music.

• Buddy Guy, "Can't Quit the Blues." As commanding a singer as he is a guitarist, Guy excels on this three-CD/single-DVD boxed set that covers half a century of blues-rock fury.

• Keith Jarrett, "The Carnegie Hall Concert." In a wondrous return to solo improvisatory form, pianist Jarrett takes Manhattan with a double-disc concert triumph.

• Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris, "Real Live Roadrunning." After a hit duets album earlier this year, these rock and country vets offer a crisp concert CD/DVD set.

• John Legend, "Once Again." You hear echoes of psychedelia and R&B forefathers. But the soul sound Legend creates here employs modern pop smarts for a sound all his own.

• Lee Morgan, "City Lights" and "The Cooker." Cut a month apart in 1957 with different bands, these blissful Blue Note reissues showcase Morgan's blooming, jubilant trumpet sound.

• Van Morrison, "Live at Montreux 1980, 1974." Two vintage Montreux festival performances make up the first DVD release by the tireless Irish blues-soul mystic.

• My Morning Jacket, "Okonokos." Louisville, Ky., psychedelic pop, rock and boogie favorite maintains its national profile with concurrent live CD and DVD releases.

• Willie Nelson, "Songbird." A multi-generational Americana delight, "Songbird" enlists Ryan Adams (who doubles as producer) and his band to back Nelson's sage-like singing.

• Phish, "Colorado '88." Cut during the defunct jam band's first national tour, this three-CD set sports lighter grooves along with tasty suggestions of blues and New Orleans funk.

• The Pogues, "If I Should Fall From Grace With God." The most essential of four Pogues punk-folk reissues boasts the twisted, touching Christmas reverie "Fairytale of New York."

• R.E.M., "And I Feel Fine I: The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987." Available in two versions. Splurge for the two-CD edition with live rarities to toast R.E.M.'s early years.

• The Sadies, "Tales of the Rat Fink." Canada's masters of psychedelic country serve up 26 twang-happy instrumentals on a 32-minute album. Now that's a stocking stuffer.

• Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (American Land Edition)." The Boss offers an expanded CD/DVD version of his brassy folk revival album.

• Tom Waits, "Orphans." Tales of dog biscuits, homicidal insects and broken faith, along with a creepy cover of "Young at Heart," make up this three-CD set of Waits rarities.

• Weather Report, "Forecast Tomorrow." At last, three-CD overview of the 1970s' most inspirational fusion band, along with a DVD of bass monster Jaco Pastorius at play.

• The Who, "Endless Wire." The first Who album in 24 years is best viewed as a Pete Townshend solo record, aided by Roger Daltrey's ageless vocal bravado.

• Dwight Yoakam, "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc." The country upstart's debut album turns 20 with a two-CD edition packed with 1981 demos and a riotous 1986 live disc.

• Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "Live at Fillmore East: March 6 & 7, 1970." The first peek into Young's archives reveals Crazy Horse as a wary electric colt.

• Frank Zappa, "Trance-Fusion." Zappa died 13 years ago this December. "Trance-Fusion," though, weaves unreleased guitar solos into a suite that makes his presence very real.