Christmas album reviews: Cliff Richard | Andrea Corr | Andrea, Matteo & Virginia Bocelli | Neil Diamond

From Christmas-themed funk to a barbershop version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, this year’s festive offerings are nothing if not eclectic, writes Fiona Shepherd
Cliff RichardCliff Richard
Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard: Christmas With Cliff (EastWest) **

Andrea Corr: The Christmas Album (EastWest) ***

Andrea, Matteo and Virginia Bocelli: A Family Christmas (Decca/Capitol) ***

Neil Diamond: A Neil Diamond Christmas (Capitol/Ume) ***

Louis Armstrong: Louis Wishes You A Cool Yule (Verve Records/UMe) ****

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Various: Santa’s Funk & Soul Christmas Party (Tramp Records) ****

Kadhja Bonet: California Holiday (Ninja Tune) ****

Andrea, Matteo and Virginia BocelliAndrea, Matteo and Virginia Bocelli
Andrea, Matteo and Virginia Bocelli

Lola Kirke: Christmas, Alone (Live from the Blue Room) (Third Man Records) ****

It’s Cliffmas time, there’s no need to be afraid, as seasonal specialist Cliff Richard releases his first festive album in over 20 years. Christmas with Cliff features a mix of secular and sacred songs and a trio of originals which won’t be troubling the Christmas classics. One doesn’t like to speak ill of a legend but the eternal teenager is now sounding his age. Still, he’s happy to shoehorn in a cheeky Congratulations reference to Sleigh Ride.

There is no point looking to Andrea Corr for any radical Yuletide re-imaginings. The Christmas Album is all cosy classics with lush string arrangements, a sprinkling of wispy carols, including a welcome outing for Irish traditional carol Curoo Curoo, a token hokey duet with Ronnie Wood on Blue Christmas and a spot of manicured mysticism on original number Begin Again.

Andrea, Matteo and Virginia Bocelli invite us into their home for A Family Christmas, which is clearly spent wearing matching white outfits and harmonising expertly across the generations. Bocelli’s 24-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter come together with papa for a succession of slick solos, duets and trios. A nicely cheesy Feliz Navidad, loungey Buon Natale and mawkish newie Il Giorno Piu Speciale are all wrapped up with lashings of fancy tinsel and there’s a guest appearance on The Simpsons for pudding.

Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong

A Neil DiamondChristmas comprises Boxing Day leftovers from Neil Diamond’s four previous Christmas albums. The baritone bard of Brooklyn is an odd, if game, fit for standards such as Sleigh Ride and Winter Wonderland and far better suited to the pomp of the carols (some with epic overblown choral backing), the rhythmic handjive of Children Go Where I Send Thee and a barbershop God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Louis Wishes You A Cool Yule is the first ever official Christmas album by Louis Armstrong, essentially gathering together all his seasonal offerings in one big vat of mulled personality. From the high-kicking Christmas in New Orleans to the mellow swing of Christmas Night In Harlem, he’s got it all covered, with glorious playing for any season and the gladdening bonus of his expressive speaking voice, reciting A Visit From St Nicholas (aka Twas The Night Before Christmas), which he recorded at home on reel-to-reel tape mere months before his death in 1971.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If this all sounds far too familiar, take a chance on Santa’s Funk & Soul Christmas Party Vol.4, a warming collection of Christmas-themed rare groove and funk tracks, ranging from early hip-hop to easy listening soul to gritty rhythm’n’blues. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ It’s Xmas Time is the only 21st century cut in this crate-digger’s Christmas stocking but if you’re looking for the sound of Christmas 2022, LA-based musician Kadhja Bonet offers the California Holiday EP. The dreamy spiritual soul jazz of the not conventionally Christmassy title track is the one Bonet original in a set of festive covers, all with Christmas in the title, from the Minnie Riperton-like cosmic soul of Little Christmas Tree via a delicate and philosophical Someday at Christmas to the easy listening Keep Christmas With You, evoking the comforting spirit of The Carpenters.

Meanwhile, country singer Lola Kirke brings a sense of humour missing from conventional festive fare. Christmas, Alone, recorded in concert with supplementary non-festive originals, paints a picture of a “silent night” with the relatives, like a bluegrass Christmas Wrapping.

CLASSICAL

Florence Beatrice Price: Songs of the Oak (Naxos) ***

There’s no question that the music of Florence Price warrants significant attention. She has surfaced as a key figure among the talented, unduly neglected African American composers of the early 20th century that recent research and cultural awakening have rightfully restored to the concert platform. And, of course, she was a woman in a predominantly male occupation. That said, honest appraisal would most likely position her as a highly proficient compositional voice of the time rather than a uniquely original or innovative one. The two Concert Overtures that open this new recording by the Württembergische Philharnonie Reutlingen under John Jeter are cases in point: lingering European Romanticism skilfully embracing familiar Spiritual themes. More interesting are the tone poem Songs of the Oak, rich in sugary Hollywood-style pizazz, and the more serious modernist leanings of The Oak. The Colonial Dance and Suite of Dances are bright and breezy. Ken Walton

JAZZ

O’Higgins and & Luft: Pluto (Ubuntu Music) ****

One suspects the eponymous planetoid doesn’t pursue its orbit quite with the kind of excellently boisterous swing generated by tenor saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, guitarist Rob Luft and company in this, their second co-led album. Together with pianist Ross Stanley, bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado and drummer Rod Youngs, they gel with pretty unstoppable creative energy. Recorded in an afternoon, with no overdubs, the album exudes a sense of delight in making music together, particularly in urgently bop fuelled numbers such as O’Higgins’s compositions Everything’s Under Control and the fast forward bounce of One for the Six. There’s a melodic lyricism to Luft’s two compositions, South Wind and the gently Latin-infused Gayetski, while they return to their previous album’s Coltrane interests in the fast-travelling Giant Steps GTI, with purposeful solos on sax and guitar followed on by a glittering piano excursion. Ballad for Barry provides an elegant counterbalance. Jim Gilchrist

Related topics: