Kelly, Paul: Paul Kelly's Christmas Train (CD)

Paul Kelly’s first Christmas album is an extraordinary 22-spauong double collection that travels across the centuries, from a Latin hymn to well-known carols, from a traditional Irish folk ballad to new Kelly music written for Christmas poems. There are songs with an unmistakable local flavour like Three Drovers and Swing Around the Sun, and a sparkling new version of one of the greatest Australian Christmas songs of them all, Kelly’s own How to Make Gravy. The album is delivered by Kelly and his band with a big cast of Christmas helpers, including: vocalists Vika and Linda Bull, Marlon Williams, Kasey Chambers, Alice Keath, Emily Lubitz, Lior and Emma Donovan, with contributions from the Kelly clan. The Australian writer, radio and TV presenter Waleed Aly also makes an appearance, reading verses from The Qur’an that tell the story of Mary and Jesus. Kelly says: “I’ve chosen songs I love, which led me often to wander off the well-worn path, then chosen singers I thought best suited to them.” The album finds new ways to explore Christmas favourites too, with a Hawaiian flavour for Silent Night and an astonishing performance by Marlon Williams singing Tapu Te Pō (O Holy Night) in the Maori language. Folk, classical, soul, carols and hymns, rock and roll. Get ready for an album that’s going to become a part of celebrating an Australian Christmas for many years to come.

Tracklist:

1. Nativity
2. Silent Night (Ft. Alice Keath, Sime Nugent)
3. Swing Around the Sun
4. Christmas
5. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) (Ft. Linda Bull)
6. Little Drummer Boy
7. Arthur McBride
8. The Virgin Mary Had One Son (Ft. Emma Donovan)
9. Tapu Te Po (O Holy Night) (Ft. Marlon Williams, the Dhungala
10. Shalom Aleichem (Ft. Lior, Alice Keath, Emily Lubitz)
11. The Oxen
12. The Friendly Beasts (Ft. Kasey Chambers, Dan Kelly)
13. Three Drovers (Ft. Alice Keath, Sime Nugent)
14. Christmas Must Be Tonight
15. Surah Maryam (Ft. Waleed Aly)
16. Coventry Carol (Ft. Kate Miller-Heidke, Jess Hitchcock, Alic
17. In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day
18. How To Make Gravy
19. Christmas Train (Ft. Vika Bull)
20. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
21. Intonent Hodie (Ft. Alice Keath)
22. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? (Ft. Alma Zygier)