The holidays have dawned upon us again and it seems as if the unveiling of them gets sooner and sooner each year. In a world that has seen one of its toughest and tragic years in 2015, the beauty of the holidays is more than a traditional, religious bent, but more about the communion of people and the act of humanity that seems to crawl from the cobwebs only during this time for some people. Regardless of the volume rate, whenever something can collectively bond people together with a sense of energy that runs placid and empathetic, there’s something to be said about the perennial emotion that gets reserved for this time of year. And of course with this year, comes the giving and receiving of gifts and good cheer. And as is my wont for the past few years now, I too have been rather perennial in my choices for key music items to bestow upon good friends and loved ones this time of year. So here’s some picks for this some of this years A-list offerings in music. As usual, this list goes to eleven.

Here’s the Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2015 for Music…

The Very Best Of Otis Redding, a collection showcasing the late, great soul singer, whose heartfelt and wrenching vocalizing helped create some of the most memorable and emotional music of all time, is on sale in MP3 format for only $5.00 right now on Amazon.

Redding, who in his short life and career became a pioneer for the Atlantic/Stax brass-laden R&B sounds that were coming out of places like Memphis, is well represented on this release. You’d be hard pressed to find another “best of” album that has such memorable and amazing hits, B sides and non-hits. “These Arms of Mine,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Shake,” “That’s How Strong My Love Is”, “Respect” (which Redding had written and became a huge hit later for Aretha Franklin), a great cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” and the standards “Try A Little Tenderness” and his posthumous number one smash, released shortly after he tragically died in a plane crash in December 1967, “Dock of the Bay.” The man remains an incredible force in musical history, one that will never be forgotten and one that gets finer and finer with age, much like this collection.

Browse all 100 albums on sale this month for only $5 each, as well as several albums on sale this week for only $2.99.