A Christmas Cornucopia

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A Christmas Cornucopia
Annie Lennox - A Christmas Cornucopia.jpg
Studio album by Annie Lennox
Released 12 November 2010[1]
(see release history)
Recorded October 2009–Summer 2010 in London, England
Genre Christmas, soul
Label Island
Producer Mike Stevens
Annie Lennox chronology
The Annie Lennox Collection
(2009)The Annie Lennox Collection2009		 A Christmas Cornucopia
(2010)		 Nostalgia
(2014)Nostalgia2014
Singles from A Christmas Cornucopia
  1. "Universal Child"
    Released: 12 October 2010[2]
  2. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
    Released: 4 November 2010
  3. "The Holly and the Ivy"
    Released: 12 December 2011

A Christmas Cornucopia is the fifth studio album by the Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, released in November 2010. It was Lennox's first album after signing to the Universal Music Group (Island Records in the UK, Decca in the US and Europe) following her departure from Sony BMG, which had been her label for almost 30 years. It was also her second cover album (after 1995's Medusa) and her first of holiday music.

The album is a collection of Lennox's favourite Christmas songs, though includes one original track written by Lennox, "Universal Child", which was released digitally as a single on 12 October 2010. A music video for Lennox's version of the classic Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" premiered on 4 November 2010, which was released as the second digital single from the album.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 73[3]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[4]
The Austin Chronicle 2.5/5 stars[5]
BBC Music (very positive)[6]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[7]
Los Angeles Times 4/4 stars[8]
The New York Times (Positive)[9]
Slant Magazine 3.5/5 stars[10]

Metacritic gives A Christmas Cornucopia a weighted average score of 73 based on 9 reviews, meaning "generally favorable reviews".[3] Ian Wade of BBC Music gave the album a very positive review, saying "this collection could find itself becoming as much a part of the holiday season as arguments with loved ones." [11] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine awarded the album 3.5/5 and said "Lennox seems more inspired on A Christmas Cornucopia than she has in years." [12] John Hunt of Qatar Today magazine gave the album 9/10 and said "in particular, the vocal work and musical arrangement of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' are impactful to the point of being intimidating."[13]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Angels from the Realms of Glory"   James Montgomery 4:00
2. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"   Traditional 3:32
3. "See Amid the Winter's Snow"   Edward Caswall, John Goss 3:31
4. "Il est né le divin Enfant"   Traditional 3:37
5. "The First Noel"   Traditional 4:40
6. "Lullay Lullay (The Coventry Carol)"   Traditional 3:13
7. "The Holly and the Ivy"   Traditional 3:37
8. "In the Bleak Midwinter"   Christina Rossetti 3:31
9. "As Joseph was a Walking (The Cherry Tree Carol)"   Geoffrey Shaw 3:59
10. "O Little Town of Bethlehem"   Phillips Brooks 3:33
11. "Silent Night"   Joseph Mohr, Franz Gruber, John Freeman Young 3:49
12. "Universal Child"   Annie Lennox 4:14

Personnel

  • Matt Allison – engineer
  • Marcus Byrne – engineer
  • Annie Lennox – accordion, African drums, African percussion, arranger, dulcimer, Fender Rhodes, flute, harmonium, keyboards, marimba, orchestral arrangements, pan pipes, percussion, piano, pipe organ, producer, reed organ, santur[disambiguation needed], string arrangements, triangle, vibraphone, vocal percussion, vocals, whisper, whistle, Wurlitzer
  • Heff Moraes – mixing, mixing Consultant
  • Mike Owen – photography
  • Dave Robbins – conductor
  • Mark Stevens – African drums, engineer, percussion
  • Mike Stevens – arranger, bass, drones, engineer, glockenspiel, acoustic guitar, nylon string guitar, keyboards, mixing, music box, orchestral arrangements, organ, Hammond organ, oud, producer, programming, string arrangements, strings
  • Barry Van Zyl – African drums, percussion

Charts

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalogue
Germany[28][29] 12 November 2010 Decca Records CD, digital download B0043A0PXU
12 November 2010 LP record B0043A0PY4
United Kingdom 15 November 2010 Island Records CD, digital download
Ireland
United States 16 November 2010 Decca Records
23 November 2010 LP record

References

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  4. ↑ A Christmas Cornucopia at AllMusic
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  13. ↑ Qatar Today, Jan 2011, Music, Books and Film
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter A Christmas Cornucopia in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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