Album: Annie Lennox, A Christmas Cornucopia (Island)

Annie Lennox hoarsely bellowing the very bleakest of carols with all the warmth of a stern Victorian materfamilias?

What could be more Christmassy? There was always a mile-wide puritan streak running through the former Eurythmic, and the lavishly orchestrated but profoundly joyless A Christmas Cornucopia feels like being told off for an hour. "You WILL go to church. You WILL listen silently to the Queen's Speech." If she turned up singing outside your door, you'd cower in fear.