In 2021, my vinyl collection grew substantially — and for me, it’s evolved into a bit of an addiction.

Asked to pick five favorite Yuletide songs (and only five), our panel of holly-jolly musical enthusiasts offered some occasionally offbeat suggestions.

My parents advised me growing up that if I can’t say something nice, I shouldn’t say anything at all.

What does it say about the state of this band when Chicago doesn’t even phone it in for the best track on ‘Chicago XXXVI: Now’?

“Already Gone” shows once again that ‘Chicago XXX’ isn’t a bad album. It’s a good album that was just ruined by poor production.

In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why this copycat-sounding self-titled debut is their only LP. ‘Gerard’ is perhaps the best Chicago album of the era.

“Come to Me, Do” is perhaps the best track Robert Lamm has contributed to Chicago since “Over and Over” on 1986’s ‘Chicago 18.’

‘Sirocco’ became Australian Crawl’s first No. 1 LP in their home country, but didn’t manage anywhere near that level of success on the ‘Billboard’ charts.

Illinois Speed Press arrived with some key Chicago-related connections. Their claim to fame, however, was setting the stage for Poco.

The completely unnecessary ‘Chicago XXVI’ was just a cash grab meant to lure fans into re-buying familiar songs. A flaccid bonus-track remake didn’t help.