276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Now That's What I Call Christmas

£3.975£7.95Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

Kirsty MacColl, Pretenders, Aled Jones, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Flying Pickets, The Housemartins, Paul Young, East 17 AND MORE! If you are wondering why Kate Bush’s ‘December Could Be Magic Again’ is missing (either in standard, or rare ‘bongo version’ form) it’s because, as SDE understands it, the licensing request was refused. The new material sees him team up with jazz turns Lady Blackbird, Kansas Smitty’s and The Vernon Spring for further adventures in a winter wonderland with covers of Amazing Grace, Sleigh Ride and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen for a very cool yule.

It’s very jazzy and jolly and jingly compared to his recent releases, and features guests such as Adam Lambert, Lainey Wilson and Evan Rachel Wood, and features his takes on the novelty I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, Joni Mitchell’s River and the perennial Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas among others. There’s even space for what I believe is a new-to-CD rarity in the 12-inch version of Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, although the compilers also include the standard version AS WELL, so there can be no complaining. Claims Gazza: “(last year) was a really hard Christmas for so many because of the scenario we all found ourselves in. A welcome addition to the Christmas canon this year comes from Norah Jones and her I Dream Of Christmas, of which she says the inspiration came from “listening to James Brown’s Funky Christmas and Elvis’s Christmas Album on Sundays during lockdown for a sense of comfort.

Various rerecordings have been a part of festivities ever since, and it’s been covered by numerous turns such as Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross, Shawn Mendes and Ne-Yo, although Nat’s version has only charted as high as Number 51 as recently as 2020.

An interesting curio as in the fact that Nat King Cole died in 1965, this new release sees him teaming up digitally with a handful of “collaborators” such as Gloria Estefan, John Legend, Kristin Chenoweth, Johnny Mathis and Calum Scott to duet on such classics as O Holy Night, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Deck the Halls/Joy to the World.

It’s as gently jazzy, cosy and warming as you’d imagine from Norah, who has three Official Album Chart Number 1s to her name. It started the pre-rock era, when Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Jim Reeves were the big hitters, and then through the generations everyone was at it – Elvis Presley, Phil Spector, Dolly Parton, Destiny’s Child, Christina Aguilera onwards. The Pogues, Chris Rea, Band Aid, Wizzard, Shakin’ Stevens, Chris Rea, Saint Etienne, Slade, Justin Bieber and more are truly eye-watering. Among these newies are previously released duets with Rod Stewart (Winter Wonderland) and The Puppini Sisters (Frosty The Snowman) plus two brand-new tunes: Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow with BBC Big Band Orchestra and original composition The Christmas Sweater.

Jamie Cullum’s festive offering The Pianoman At Christmas narrowly missed the Top 10 last year, and so he’s probably hoping to improve upon that this year with the release of a new expanded affair now subtitled The Complete Edition. Seeing as the Official Singles Chart now becomes flooded with yule-themed bops of all vintages each Christmas, this year’s will be the most contemporary, most streamed and chart-busting album imaginable, as the combined figures of streams and sales for the likes of Wham!Fresh(ish) from playing Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, one-time Glee alumnus, and star in his own right, Darren Criss has come a long way since his time as Blaine Anderson, with a host of theatre credits and a recent role in the Muppets Haunted Mansion.

Now, in the last decade, UK acts have been playing catch-up with Robbie Williams, Saint Etienne, Tracey Thorn, honorary Brit Kylie and more entering into the spirit of an album of yuletide bops, and now the schedules from September onwards are increasingly festive. The new edition of Everyday Is Christmas adds two more new songs – Pin Drop and Santa Visits Everyone – as well as a 'Slowed Down and Snowed In' remix of Snowman. While over in the UK, punters haven’t been too fussed about Wrapped In Red as a whole – preferring the single Underneath The Tree, which reached an Official Singles Chart high of Number 15 last year and clocking 84 million streams to date.Nat King Cole’s Christmas legacy is secure already with his The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on An Open Fire), a song he first recorded in 1946 and which was massively successful in the pre-chart era. He’s unleashed his first solo Christmas album, having been involved with three Glee Christmas releases in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and it comes with the very hohoho title of A Very Darren Crissmas. The CD of this compilation was released a year after the original album in 1986 - it is also very collectable. Shakin’ Stevens, Greg Lake, The Beach Boys, Jona Lewie, Chris De Burgh, Mike Oldfield, David Essex, The Pogues ft.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment