Coming together in 1967, Deep Purple were like a lot of bands of the day, as their mission was to push the sonic envelope as far as possible and create something new and exciting.

It’s mid December and you might still be wondering what the hell you’re going to get that special music lover someone for Christmas. Steering you toward the good records and away from the crummy ones is a service we at SER provide year round.

John Baumgardner’s Fruitcake with Nuts, which joins a teetering stack of Christmas-themed recordings, nevertheless finds a way to stand out in the crowd. Some of that is due to the pianist’s choice of material, which doesn’t always hew to conventions.

Springsteen’s ode to film noir, “Meeting Across The River” is perfectly sequenced as the energy momentarily shifts down from She’s The One and heads toward the album’s close.

Here’s a run down — with a few of our thoughts — on some notable music projects, both new and reissue, slated for release for the week of Dec. 12, 2011.