Don McLean covers the Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne’s 1945 composition “Let It Snow” in the way it would have been recorded at the time. A cool-jazz version, with an inviting bass line, McLean inhabits the song with Sinatra levels of crooner confidence. DON McLEAN “Winter Wonderland” Video Feature – with Web-Exclusive Interview Musician:  DON McLEAN Video Feature: WINTER WONDERLAND DON McLEAN’S NEW CHRISTMAS MEMORIES King of the Trail... 

“Crying”   ROY ORBISON  Roy Orbison’s ultimate aria of love and loss had its roots in a real-life episode. “I was dating this girl and we broke up,” the singer recalled. “Two or three years later, I went to the barber shop to get a haircut and looked across the street, and there was the girl I had split up with. I wanted to go over and say, ‘Let’s forget about what happened and carry on.’ But I was very stubborn. So I got in... 

JEFF LYNNE The ELO mastermind releases two different—yet sonically linked—projects  In a 1974 radio interview, John Lennon said of Electric Light Orchestra, “I call them the Son of Beatles, but I’m sure they’re doing other things we never did.” It’s a compliment that Jeff Lynne recalls word for word, in Lennon’s Scouse accent, and treasures to this day. “That was a big moment for me,” Lynne recalls. “Almost a benediction.” Lennon’s... 

ROY ORBISON The Monument Singles Collection [Monument/Orbison/Legacy] BOX SET Now that vinyl has made its comeback, why not mono? Stereo sound vanquished its single-channel predecessor decades ago, but some stubborn souls never stopped touting the merits of mono—its punch, its clarity and the fact that for music made through the mid-’60s it was the dominant format and therefore the truest reflection of the artists’ intent. The Beatles, for...