Buying Christmas presents is always a tricky business. You can go for the high risk option, and try something different. However that can often backfire, or end up feeling like a damp squib. Here we recommend two sure fire options, two middle of the range albums, which it would be difficult to go wrong with.
The first, rather predictably is, Tom Chaplin’s Twelve Tales of Christmas. Vanguard Online’s Lorna Stallard, in her review of the album, explained that in the album Chaplin explored the full spectrum of these emotions on Twelve Tales of Christmas, comprising original songs as well as four covers of beloved Christmas classics. The album includes Walking in the Air, Jonie Mitchell’s River and The Pretenders’ 2000 Miles, as well as a few original numbers.
Perhaps, slightly less predictably, is Gregory Porter’s Nat King Cole & I. In this album Porter does what he says and sings the songs of Nat King Cole. And wow, what a rich voice he has, a voice that is perfectly set against an orchestral arrangement of strings and woodwind. This album would make the perfect accompaniment to a dreamy Christmas stroll through your favourite department store or a late night sit down with your loved one watching the snowflakes fall outside. There is in fact a Christmas number at the end of the album which is incongruous with the otherwise non-festive content, but in the end serves to strengthen my point, that this would be an ideal Christmas present.
