Saturday, 5 December 2020

Rick Astley - Love This Christmas


20 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy-stream Love This Christmas here (external link)
Read my Rick Astley album anniversary posts here

Because I am older than I care to admit, I actually remember the first time Rick Astley was in the race for the prestigious British Christmas number one. It was 1987 and, fresh from the chart topping success of his debut single, Rick had released a cover version of Nat King Cole's When I Fall In Love. It was dreamy - I remember watching Rick perform it on Top Of The Pops and my mum saying to my younger sisters "now, isn't that the type of boy you'd like to bring home to meet your family". I didn't intend to answer YES as loudly as I did but was able to pretend I meant for my sisters and not for some boy-on-boy kissing (that conversation came some years later). Of course, because of shenanigans (the original When I Fall In Love was released by a rival label, diverting sales from Sir Rick) and a blooming great pop stonker of a remake from Pet Shop Boys (Always On My Mind), the Christmas number one was just out of his reach. And nobody liked to celebrate a Christmas number two because, well, childish jokes mainly...

Fast forward several years (pausing in 2013 to delight in Rick's duet with Kim Wilde on Winter Wonderland) and suddenly the race for the Christmas number one doesn't seem as prestigious or important. What is important is getting music to the masses that will lift their spirits after the 2020 global pandemic. Rick does just that on the utterly joyous Love This Christmas. With ebullient, euphoric lyrics and an instrumental that embraces every ounce of the festivities (Andrews Sisters style backing sisters, chiming bells, jingling percussion and hand clap beats), Rick shares a message that love will get us through. He sings it with such hopeful charm that you can't help but get swept up in the enchantment of the music. It is all so unapologetically full of Yuletide cheer that it puts a bounce in your step and a smile on your face. And it works because Rick isn't telling us what to do; he just wants us to feel the magic with him.

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