JOSH GROBAN

"Noel" (Reprise)

Like Barack Obama, this holiday record from pop-opera's wunderkind gathered speed once Oprah gave it a shout. And what a shout -- last week, according to Billboard, sales hit 2.77 million, making it the top album of '07. This record holds little but the obvious, but Groban makes it sound good. His rich, cool voice is at its best when most alone, with sparse instrumentation, as in his reverent, piano-only take on "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and the sparest parts of "Silent Night." Groban's hearty takes on "Panis Angelicus" and "Ave Maria" range from glorious to decent on the oh-holy-holiday meter. But there's so much -- way too much -- stuff going on on the rest of "Noel," and it becomes a distraction. A shrieky gospel choir directed by Kirk Franklin here, a hoarse Faith Hill duet there. Though it's sweetly admirable to have kids and soldiers talking as part of "I'll be Home for Christmas," that cornys-up the track beyond mere treacle. Then again, David Foster's overblown Manheim Steamroller-meets-"Doctor Zhivago" production makes every swirl epically saccharine. Really, this is no way to spend a holiday.

-- A.D. Amorosi, The Philadelphia Inquirer

LUPE FIASCO

"The Cool" (Atlantic)

Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool" figured to be a last-minute entry in the hip-hop album of the year sweepstakes, and sure enough, it comes in at the wire strong enough to contend with the 2007 efforts of Kanye West, Common and Jay-Z for that title. The rapper born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco ups the ante from last year's "Food & Liquor," with more rapid-fire rhymes and broader themes. Indeed, "The Cool," conceived as an exploration of temptation and all the dangerous places it can take you, sometimes plays like a litany of all that's wrong in the world, on titles like "Gold Watch," "The Coolest," and "Dumb It Down." But "The Cool" is also full-up with hooks, like the one sung by Chris Martin imitator Matthew Santos on "Superstar," or the nifty guitar figure that propels the analytical "Gotta Eat." Or better still, the chopped-up break-beat groove provided by Unkle, a British production outfit, that Fiasco ever so nimbly rhymes over on "Hello Goodbye (Uncool)."

-- Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer

TOM GILLAM

"Never Look Back" (Treehouse Productions)

We're fortunate that Tom Gillam is still around, because in March 2006 he suffered his third heart attack, and it was nearly fatal. "Never Look Back," recorded mostly beforehand, shows just how gifted an artist we would have lost.

Backed by his band, Tractor Pull, Gillam packs the album with guitar-driven, country-tinged rock that echoes the '70s, in a good way. (In other words, up there near the likes of Petty and the Allmans, not down there with the Eagles.) Gillam's songs, however, exert their own pull -- they're well-crafted, sturdily melodic, and full of catchy choruses. For all that, he can also shift gears, as he does on the brooding "Where Is Bobby Gentry?", which comes with a string section that echoes the one on "Ode to Billy Joe."

-- Nick Cristiano, The Philadelphia Inquirer

KIRK FRANKLIN

"The Fight Of My Life" (Fo Yo Soul/Zomba Gospel)

A decade ago, when the gospel star Kirk Franklin -- joined by the God's Property choir and Salt, from Salt 'N' Pepa -- had a crossover hit with "Stomp," it seemed that updated gospel music might be reaching an accommodation with mainstream hip-hop and R&B. And why not? Since many (probably most) rappers and R&B stars are Christians, and since the genres share so much musical history, it seems inevitable in retrospect that a brash young man of God would storm the pop charts.

But the presence of "Stomp" on secular radio wasn't really a sign of things to come. Gospel remains separate from the pop mainstream, and these days Franklin is definitely a gospel star, not a pop star. But he loves to present himself as a hip-hop-generation maverick who's not afraid to shock the old folks in service of reaching the young ones.

When Franklin's new album works, it's because of his manic energy. The first single, "Declaration (This Is It!)," uses an old Kenny Loggins song as the basis for a thumping track that's halfway between hip-hop and go-go.

Franklin always lays it on thick, but this album sometimes sounds a bit thin. A hip-hop track called "I Like Me" could almost be a parody (one defensive boast: "I got a hot wife, no need to be a pimp"), and the R&B is pretty wan. But "I Am God," with the Christian-rock star tobyMac (formerly of dc Talk), is a worrisome rap-rock collision that eventually takes flight, thanks to a soaring chorus and a divine showdown -- and thanks too to a hip-pop gospel maximalist who sounds best when he's going way over the top.

-- Kelefa Sanneh, The New York Times