Valentine's Day CDs

Now that every dinosaur act from America to the Moody Blues has cashed in with an extra-slight Christmas album, the music industry turns its big green eye toward another effortless permutation of holiday repurposing: the Valentine's Day "love song" compilation.

I can totally see why you might spend days making someone you love a Valentine's Day mix, but even a life-long music dork like me can't fathom a less sexy gesture than presenting the object of your affection with a shrink-wrapped compact disc from Best Buy. Nevertheless, the number of V-Day albums continues to grow, so it must be working for someone. This year's bumper crop includes albums by Chicago, Dionne Warwick, Nina Simone, Neil Sedaka and Air Supply.

The latter is especially confounding. Wouldn't any Air Supply album qualify as a "love song" compilation? Aside from their unreleased 1991 comeback single, "Heart On A Stick" b/w "Die Bitch Die," there's nothing in Air Supply's catalog that doesn't lend itself to sipping brandy on a beanbag by the fireplace, walking along the beach at sunset, or doing anything else loving couples do when posing for Cialis ads.