Barry Manilow - Christmas Essentials

Barry Manilow knows his way around a big, glowing ballad, so a Christmas collection was always going to land. Christmas Essentials gathers his seasonal favourites onto a single LP.

Manilow has returned to the holiday songbook several times over the decades, and this set draws from those recordings to make one easy, well-paced listen. Classic standards sit alongside his own festive originals, and the arrangements lean towards warm orchestral swing and lush vocal harmonies rather than sleigh-bell novelty. His voice, big and theatrical, has always been made for this kind of material, and the selections show off both the showman and the balladeer.

'Because It's Christmas (For All the Children)' is the sentimental centrepiece, swelling into a passage from Handel's Messiah. 'Jingle Bells' becomes a bright pop romp with Exposé along for the ride, 'River' finds him easing into Joni Mitchell's wintry heartbreak, and a live 'It's Just Another New Year's Eve', recorded at New York's Uris Theatre in 1977, rings out the old year with a lump in the throat.

Fourteen songs over two sides, built for December evenings with the tree lights on and the volume a notch higher than strictly necessary. For a singer who has always worn his heart on his sleeve, the season suits him perfectly.