Album: Aled Jones, Aled's Christmas Gift (Demon Music Group)

Aled Jones's take on the Christmas album is virtually flawless, if slightly bloodless, which given his frequent stints as presenter on Radio 2 and Songs of Praise should come as no surprise.

He has a clear understanding of his audience's desires, and plays to them unashamedly with clear, tender interpretations of favourites like "Away in a Manger" and more adventurous fare such as "See Amid the Winter's Snow" and "Mary Did You Know?". Jones's tenor still bears traces of his youthful chorister's purity, but at times his personable charm comes across a touch too smoothly, particularly on the more folk-oriented material like "The Sussex Carol" and the Cornish "Sans Day Carol", when a hint of raggedy rusticity wouldn't have gone amiss.

DOWNLOAD THIS Away in a Manger; See Amid the Winter's Snow; Mary Did You Know?

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