Dig These Discs :: Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Carols For A Cure, Heart & Friends, Hunger Games Mockingjay

Today's most popular artists, from Lorde and Charlie XCX to Ariana Grande and Major Lazer contribute cuts to "The Hunger Games: Mockingay Pt. 1" soundtrack. Heart gathers up some musical friends for a heartwarming holiday album that really rocks. The cast members from Broadway's biggest shows fill up a two-disc compilation of holiday shows, to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Mary J. Blige teams up with artists including Disclosure, Emile Sande, Sam Smith and more for a modern sound. And pint-sized chanteuse Kristin Chenoweth is "Coming Home" with her first live CD ever.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" (Assorted artists)

America's biggest YA franchise, "The Hunger Games" releases the first part of their two-part finale this month, and with it, an excellent soundtrack featuring today's favorite artists. Teen sensation Lorde lends her hand on four tracks, starting with the refrain on the first cut, "Meltdown." She teams up with the girls in Haim for the lilting refrain, while Q-Tip and Pusha T rap sentiments like, "set fire to a government of thugs, respect only comes from your money or your blood."

CHVRCHES is excellent in their breezy track, "Dead Air," and Tove Lo of "Habits" fame brings her burnished smokiness to "Scream My Name," singing, "When I'm dead and gone will they sing about me?"

Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran fame joins Charlie XCX for the pared-down "Kingdom" and her "Bang Bang" cohort Ariana Grande teams p with Major Lazer for the electronica hit, "All My Love." Raury's "Lost Souls" is a sad song with cool acoustic guitar hits.

Lorde scores big with her "Yellow Flicker Beat," featuring her signature scratchy, dark sound and a somber tone that matches the dark subject matter of the fictional dystopia of Panem, with the excellent line, "They used to scream my name; now they whisper it." Lorde also hits hard with "Flicker (Kanye West Rework)" and the soundtrack's final "Ladder Song." This serious teen is the perfect artist for a film about teen revolutionary Katniss Everdeen. She even chimes in on a trippy The Chemical Brothers and Miguel's cut, "This Is Not a Game."

Tinash� advises you to leave your old grief on the floor in the electro/ R&B cut, "The Leap" and Bat For Lashes helps "Plan The Escape." Grace Jones adds hand drums to the very original, offbeat, "Original Beast" and XOV contributes the primal track, "Animal."

If you've got a disaffected teenager on your holiday gift list, this is the go-to soundtrack of the season.

(Republic Records)

"The London Sessions" (Mary J. Blige)

After traveling across the pond to record her 13th studio album, Mary J. Blige is back in the U.S. and ready to share the story behind the album. Blige said she wrote the album in 10 days, and recorded it in another 10 days, forging creative connections with artists including Disclosure, Emile Sande, Sam Smith and more. Her early remix of "F for You" became a big dance hit in the UK, and she can currently be seen enjoying London at night in the video for "Right Now," among the best of the bunch, with a spacy intro that segues into a fast-moving pop stunner.

Critics are saying that Blige has never been better vocally, and many anticipate this will be another addition to her collection of eight multi-platinum albums, and nine Grammy Awards. Smith shares co-writing credits on tracks "Therapy," "Not Loving You," "Right Now" and "Nobody But You." Her first cut, "Therapy" opens like a Negro spiritual, as Blige sings about ditching bitterness for therapy two times a day. But there isn't any shame or defeat in it.

Jazzy piano introduces "Doubt," with a chorus of voices bringing a homey feel to it, as she sings about having no room for doubt in her life. It's inspirational, in the way Mary J. excels. She stretches her vocal range in "Not Loving You," a slow pop tune with the message, "There's only so much I can do, if you're not loving you." She channels Deborah Cox's '90s dance floor hits with "My Loving," a track that will have you moving at da club. And her cut "Long Hard Look" has a stuttering instrumental that will remind you of Prince, back in the days when he was collaborating with Wendy and Lisa.

Mary's a mess underneath after a breakup that takes a "Whole Damn Year" to recover from. Watch out, Ron Burgundy, for the jazz flute (or is it clarinet) intro that takes Miss Mary to the islands in "Pick Me Up," singing "misery loves company, they won't let us grow." She gets sassy, saying, "don't waste your time playing with my mind, or you'll regret it," in "Follow," and finishes the album with the piano ballad "Worth My Time." Catch Mary J. on December 5 for "A Very GRAMMY Christmas."

(Capitol Records)

Broadway's "Carols For A Cure" (Assorted Artists)

Top artists including Sting, Jessie Mueller, Keke Palmer, Jefferson Mays, Bryce Pinkham, Judy Kaye and more come together to sing original and traditional songs from today's hottest Broadway shows in "Carols for a Cure, Volume 16." The sales of this two-disc treasure benefit AIDS fundraising organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA).

The disc starts sprightly, with the Mays and the cast of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," singing "A Very Glam Christmas," a campy rendition of "Jingle Bells." A highlight of the collection is Sting singing about the custom of making a "Soul Cake," performed with a fast-moving strings accompaniment. "Motown" gets funky with "Another Christmas Eve," with lyrics like, "we should be grateful for what we had, because somebody else's got it twice as bad."

The cast of "Kinky Boots" modernizes "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" with a clap-track backer, but it's still a sober affair. For that old-timey feeling, the cast of "On the Town" sing "Christmas Eve In My Hometown." The cast of "Cabaret" tackle Hanukkah with "Stille Nacht & Mi Zeh Hidlik," and the cast of "Wicked" handle the somber "In the Bleak Midwinter" with fine, high voices. Take the time to stop and make things right, "One Good Thing," sings the cast (and kids) of "Matilda."

Disc 1 finishes up with a couple of religious-themed carols. Disc 2 starts out with a kicking pop tune, "Christmas Cinderella." Hand drums pep up "The Little Drummer Boy" and the "Once" cast wassails you up with "Here We Come A-Wassailing" -- whatever the heck that is. The "Les Mis" crew weaves their medley through "I Saw Three Ships," and the "Aladdin" cast tackles "We Three Kings."

The cast of "The Lion King" breathes life into "O Holy Night." Gossip maven Perez Hilton sings "My Simple Christmas Wish," a screed about being rich, famous and powerful. That's about right. The cast of "Pippin" gets funky with "What Child Is This?" and "Motown" finishes it up with "I Am Here." This is a great addition to your holiday music collection, and it benefits a great cause.

(Rock-it Science Records)

"Home for the Holidays" (Heart & Friends)

Ann and Nancy Wilson, the ladies of the legendary rock band Heart, tip their hat to the holidays with "Home for the Holidays," a fabulous, 14-track collection of Christmas favorites, with a few Heart favorites thrown in for good measure. They perform the album live in their hometown of Seattle, and kick things off with a lovely cover of Joni Mitchell's somber song, "River."

"The winter's cold, but I'm so warm with you," they sing in "Seasons." Shawn Colvin lends her beautiful voice to the religious-themed "Rocking," which isn't about shredding on an axe, but about gently rocking baby Jesus to sleep, and segues into "Love Come Down At Christmas." Richard Marx helps sing the lullaby, "All Through the Night." Sammy Hagar adds a little pizazz to the calypso cut, "All We Need Is An Island," and revs things up with "Santa's Going South (For Christmas)," about heading to Mexico for the holidays.

Pat Monahan is featured in the old chestnut, "Please Come Home For Christmas," with the bluesy refrain, "Bells will be ringing the sad, sad news, what a Christmas to have the blues." Piano accompanies the Wilson sisters in "Remember Christmas," a touching song. And because it's always a great time to rock out, they include live versions of their hits, including the seminal electric guitar ripper, "Barracuda," plus "Even It Up," and "Stairway to Heaven."

They finish things up with the whole gang singing "Ring Them Bells," which isn't exactly a Christmas song, but is certainly soulful. Ann even reads a poem that she hopes to make into a holiday song next year, so you'll always be able to put a little Heart under your tree.

(Frontiers Records)

"Kristen Chenoweth: Coming Home" (Kristen Chenoweth)

Pint-sized chanteuse Kristen Chenoweth drops her first-ever live album, "Coming Home," recorded in her own hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

"Any time you come home, you have a flood of emotions, and singing in front of people I've known most of my life made me even more nervous," said Chenoweth. "But I couldn't imagine doing it anyplace else. I just wanted them to be proud of me." And they've got a lot to be proud of.

Chenoweth sings her heart out, accompanied by an 11-piece band, a trio of backup vocalists and the Broken Arrow High School Choir on the gospel tune, "Upon This Rock." Of course, she tackles hits from Broadway's "Wicked," including "Popular" and "For Good." She also takes on Lerner and Loewe's "I Could Have Danced All Night" and Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Over the Rainbow," the unofficial theme song of the LGBT community, plus Liza's credo, "Maybe This Time."

Chenoweth dominates Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "All The Things You Are," and more recent show tunes, "Bring Him Home" from "Les Mis" and "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," from "Phantom."

For this album, Chenoweth said she chose songs that meant something to her, including Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" and the seminal Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer disco hit "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)." She even covers new cuts like "Fathers and Daughters," with a heartfelt dedication to her father, Jerry.

Her range takes her seamlessly from country to gospel to standards to opera. It's hard to think of anything this triple threat can't do, so watch her concert on PBS, catch her in the new films "Descendents," "Hard Sell," "Opposite Sex" and "The Boy Next Door," snatch up Broadway tickets for her 2015 role in "On the Twentieth Century," and be sure to pick up "Coming Home" for that special person in your life.

(Concord Records)