So this is the “new normal?” Or is it a return to the “old normal?” Either way, regardless of how you spent this past year, regardless of your thoughts on the world, politics, and economics of the world, furrowing your eyebrows at this or that or embracing all the necessary and arguably unnecessary changes in the world, one needs a constant personal and universal soundtrack to keep going, to keep sane, to keep grounded and inspired. As the newest round of the holiday season gets ready to dawn upon us, music not only acts as the perfect and always obvious choices for even the most discriminating of tastes, but also something that brings much-needed relief and communion to end another challenging year and brace everyone for what lies ahead in 2022. So as always, here’s my picks for some of the sonic highlights released this year, spanning all genres and tastes.

Check out our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Music.

Oliver & Company
2-Disc Blu-ray/DVD
Directed by George Scribner
Starring Billy Joel, Joey Lawrence, Bette Midler, Cheech Marin, Roscoe Lee Browne, Richard Mulligan, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Dom DeLuise and Robert Loggia
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: August 6, 2013

Oliver & Company streets onto Blu-ray, bringing renewed interest to this often-overlooked feature with singing dogs on streetcars and a sinister smoking scoundrel. Not your average Disney film by any means, but not one to totally dismiss either. Here is my Blu-ray review of the 25th anniversary edition of Oliver & Company.

Spin Oliver Twist on its tail by replacing the orphan boy with a lone kitten, add in some canines, modern-world contemporary issues, and the Big Apple, and you have Oliver & Company.

Amazon is currently offering over 300 Classic Rock songs in MP3 for just $0.69 each right now: 300 Classic Rock Songs For $0.69 Each.

Click the link above and browse the list of tunes, which contains tracks from artists like Aerosmith, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heart, Billy Joel, Bad Company, Janis Joplin, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Alice Cooper, Yes, Cream, The Doors, Van Halen, and many more!

MP3 songs usually sell for $.99 to $1.29 each, so 69 cents is a great deal! No word on when the sale ends, so grab the songs you want now at the discounted price. Also, all this month, Amazon is offering up 2,000 albums for $5 each in MP3 format, so be sure to check out that hefty selection, too.

As part of Amazon’s MP3 deals for this month, Billy Joel’s Piano Man for only $5. The CD version is only $8.99.

There’s 10 songs on the album, including classics like “Captain Jack” and the title track.

A 2-disc Legacy Edition of Piano Man was released last year on CD and MP3 Download, which contains the 10 tunes from the original 1973 album, along with 23 live tracks from a 1972 radio broadcast of early songs.

Browse all 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Billy Joel’s Piano Man for only $3.99. The CD version is only $10.17.

There’s 10 songs on the album, including classics like “Captain Jack” and the title track.

A 2-disc Legacy Edition of Piano Man was released last month on CD and MP3 Download, which contains the 10 tunes from the original 1973 album, along with 23 live tracks from a 1972 radio broadcast of early songs.