Once again EMI has dug deep into its archive and plucked out 21 silly Christmas tracks which were almost certainly regularly played on BBC Radio's "Childrens' Favourites" in the 1950s and 60s, and "Junior Choice" in the early 70s. Actually this release is a "revised repeat" of a CD bearing the same title from 1992; eleven of the tracks are repeated, and among the ten to be added (at the expense of the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole etc) are two each from Pinky & Perky, The Chipmunks, and Rolf Harris (but not "Seven White Boomers").
So this is a collection that is both juvenile and obscure. Depending upon taste the best numbers are from Alma Cogan, and her 50s rival Eve Boswell, from Freddie "Parrot Face" Davies ("I'm A Little Christmas Cracker") and Terry Hall & Lenny The Lion, who wanted a hippopotamus for Christmas. Mel Blanc's "Christmas Chopsticks" is fun, too. At the other end of the scale the contributions of Clive Dunn, Mandy Miller, Ronnie Hilton (deputising for Bing), and Rolf Harris's "Little Drummer Boy" are toe-curlingly embarassing, though Rolf does redeem himself later with a typical piece of politically-incorrect whimsy, "The Wonderful Christmas Pig". Can't imagine what children today would make of it all if any of it were played on the radio, though.
The recordings date from 1940 (Arthur Askey) to 1970; only the very earliest one or two sound rough. All in all it's great for a laugh, for nostalgia. A warning though: the CD bears the dreaded "Copy Control" technology so some PCs and car CDs may have trouble playing it.
