ERiC ClAPToN

Happy Xmas busHbRANCH/suRFdoG 5/10

Slowhand meets Santa…

With his eyes presumably on the US market, which takes a less cynical attitude towards ‘holiday’ albums than us Scrooge-like Brits, Clapton tackles 13 hackneyed seasonal favourites, from “White Christmas” to “Away In A Manger”. Despite the addition of some burnished guitar licks, the results are as awful as you might expect and his one original composition, “For Love On Christmas Day”, isn’t much better. Oddest of all is an electronic dance mix dedicated to the late Swedish DJ Avicii, which is titled “Jingle Bells” but seems to bear no relation to the familiar tune.