Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Here is a Christmas album that came out last Yuletide but with all profits from sales going to the charities SPEAK Network (social justice campaigns) and the RSPB (wildlife conservation) 'The Plum Puddings' will make a nice Christmas gift if you know someone who enjoys the performances of the zany Exeter-based collective or who have a taste for English folk music. This is a song-packed selection of old and new and although some of the renditions of carols like "The Coventry Carol" and "Angels From The Realms" are a bit rough and ready and some of the originals like "Boxing Day Eve" suffer from demo-quality production, the whole set exudes such a warm atmosphere of friends enjoying the process of music making that it makes a welcome alternative to the satinised, over-produced music that bombards us each Christmas. And who can resist an album which utilises everything from ukulele, glockenspiel and tin whistle in its sometimes shambolic accompaniments and throws in a David Attenborough nature programme sample in the middle of all the jollity? Their best cut for me is a mediaeval-sounding rendition of a Thomas Hardy poem "The Darkling Thrush".

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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