Christmas

by

Elaine Paige

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Elaine borrowed Tim Rice's Christmas songbook to aid her decision about which songs to record, thus avoiding over-reliance on the obvious songs that everybody has heard so often. Of course, Elaine is such a superb singer that she could have recorded an album filled with standards and it would still have sounded great. Instead, Elaine has selected a mix of familiar and obscure songs, but of the familiar ones, some have not been covered very often.

Two pop songs that aren't actually Christmas songs but which sit comfortably on this album have been included, these being Wishing on a star (Rose Royce) and A winter's tale (David Essex). Also here is Ave Maria, another song that isn't strictly a Christmas song. Two of these three can be found on Elaine's sensational double CD release of 2004, Centre stage.

All the remaining songs are about Christmas including covers of Peace on earth / Little drummer boy (David Bowie and Bing Crosby), Walking in the air (Aled Jones), Light of the stable (Emmylou Harris), I believe in Father Christmas (Greg Lake), Santa Claus is coming to town and Coventry carol. Some of these are better known than others, but all are better known than Father Christmas' eyes (an original song), Coldest night of the year (Jimmy Webb - from his Animals' Christmas project) and Thirty two feet and eight little tails (previously recorded by Dale Evans, also by Gene Autry).

Unavailable for many years (more than a decade), this album is back in print not before time. This time around, it's at a budget price so it's better value than ever.

After all the hype with Susan Boyle and her comments about Elaine Page, I expected something special, but I was disappointed. Instead of soaring vocals, her voice sounds like any run of the mill female pop star. That's especially true on "Ave Maria". A song that should be inspiring comes across as boring as she doesn't hit or hold the high notes. And the reason I bought this album, "Thirty-two Feet and Eight Little Tails", is only 51 seconds long and sounds like it was recorded by the Chipmunks. As I listened to each song, I waited for the energy to build, but it never did. I usually donate albums I don't want to a charity. I threw this one in the garbage.