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Not content with having one album out this year, Joe McElderry returns just in time for the Christmas period with a selection of classic Christmas songs.
Kicking the album off with Mary’s Boy Child, your given the idea of what the rest of the album is going to be like with well mixed instruments and vocals. Next up is the Bing Crosby classic White Christmas followed closely by the beautiful, if not haunting, When A Child Is Born. The opening to In The Bleak Midwinter, we treated to a celtic sound which re-appears before heading into a full orchestrated crescendo, before calming once more.
O Holy Night is a beautiful duet with tenor Rolando Villazón, if only overshadowed that when both are singing together, it is mainly Villazón that we hear. I Believe In Father Christmas follows, a great pop song well orchestrated but still maintaining a poppy edge. Slowing it down is the well known Christman hymn, Silent Night followed by the powerfully orchestrated Adeste Fideles (or for those that don’t speak Latin it’s O Come All Ye Faithful). Santo Natale is a beautiful ballad before we’re lead into a cover of the Wham! classic Last Christmas.
The Little Drummer Boy once again gives us a celtic feel to it and sang at maybe a faster tempo than expected but still a good version of it it. The final track on the album is Driving Home For Christmas that starts off as a slow orchestrated ballad before heading into a jazz/swing version and is a fantastic rounding off to the album.
On a whole, it’s a great little Christmas album. There might not be as much operatic sound to it this time, but Joe singing with an orchestra, it obvious that he’s still utilising what he learned while participating in Popstar To Operastar but also showing that he’s not completely changed and can still carry off a good pop tune when needed. A beautiful addition to anyone album, even if it does only come out once a year.
Rating: 4/5
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