To be quite honest, I've always loved whatever the late, great Nat King Cole brought out throughout his long, and distinguished career. Ergo, The Christmas Song [SACD] is perhaps THE all-time classic Christmas album ever assembled.

Yup. this brand new, Limited, Numbered Edition of The Christmas Song (Hybrid SACD 5.1 Multichannel) may well be simply a Best Of Christmas compilation, but the way the man could swoon such a song, well, it makes Christmas all that more warm; for sure.

For those quick to pick up on such things, yes, the title is different from the original Christmas Album release, but that is a minor talking point. Here, Nat's flawless vocals combined with ever so sweet orchestrations and choral backings, provide us with a collection of standard Christmas carols, hymns and songs that will live on as long as Christmas lives on in our hearts.

The selection of fun songs combined with reverently performed carols and hymns is without equal. There seems to be additional selections added since I bought the original vinyl LP so many years ago, decades for that matter. The reason for the title change is simple: 'The Christmas Song' is, without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest classic Christmas song of our time, and no one even comes close to Nat's delivery on this recording.

It should be noted that he also had a very similar studio recording of this same song back in 1946 and you can hear the subtle differences between the two versions of the song. I prefer the 1961 recording as included on this crystal clear SACD. Add to that favorites like 'Adeste Fideles', the album-closing 'Silent Night', 'Away In A Manger', 'Caroling Caroling', 'The First Noel', 'I Saw Three Ships', 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem', 'Joy To The World' and, amongst a few more, a stunning 'O Tannenbaum' sung in German!

If you are anything like me, or simply a fan of the voice of Nat King Cole, you will soon find yourself playing this new SACD over and over again. Both of my teen daughters have it on the iPods and playlists so that alone speaks volumes! I cannot recommend this more fervently to you so please buy it, and make yourself, your friends and anyone who comes in your home this season whilst it plays, all very happy; and very warmly festive!

Super Audio CD (SACD) is a read-only optical disc for audio storage, introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics, and intended to be the successor to their Compact disc format. Indeed, this SACD format can offer more channels (ie: surround sound), and a longer playing time than regular CDs.

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