Annie Lennox A Christmas Cornucopia 180g LP

10th Anniversary Edition from the Eurythmics vocalist, Annie Lennox. A Christmas Cornucopia is a collection of inspired interpretations of traditional festive songs, rounded out by a Lennox composition, "Universal Child". The 2020 re-issue of A Christmas Cornucopia features a brand new, previously unreleased track, "Dido's Lament", a new tracklisting, and new artwork.

"Dido's Lament" - written by Henry Purcell in the 17th century and arranged by Annie Lennox and Mike Stevens - references the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas as documented in Virgil's legendary epic poem, The Aeneid, from the 1st century BC.

The music on A Christmas Cornucopia was mostly played by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and originally recorded in his southwest London studio - at the bottom of his garden in 2010. But to achieve the resonance and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox's ideas for these re-energized reboots, the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children's Choir, a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox has long had a relationship.

A Christmas Cornucopia is far from a saccharine packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundant track listing drawn from British, French and German traditions covering the well-known alongside more untrodden ground. Its broad spectrum encompasses a wide range of narratives and emotions - from joyful and celebratory thorough melancholic and haunting to poignant and timely. On "Lullay Lullay", for example, Lennox draws direct links between the Nativity and the plight of Africa's child soldiers.

Vibrant but vintage, classic and contemporary, glorious but with a polemical edge, Annie Lennox's A Christmas Cornucopia is no ordinary collection of seasonal songs.