{"product_id":"barry-manilow-christmas-essentials","title":"Barry Manilow - Christmas Essentials","description":"\u003cp\u003eBarry 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eManilow 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourteen 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Alliance Entertainment","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67763386614050,"sku":"199584599410","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1020\/2080\/8994\/files\/Barry_Manilow-Christmas_Essentials.jpg?v=1794324299","url":"https:\/\/soulfulvinyl.com\/products\/barry-manilow-christmas-essentials","provider":"Soulful Vinyl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}