Sunday, 26 October 2025

Leann Rimes - Greatest Hits (Christmas)


60 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

Buy Leann's Greatest Hits Christmas collection here (external link)
Read my Leann Rimes holiday music reviews here

How fabulous that Leann Rimes has amassed her enough songs in her own Great Christmas Song Book that she can release a Greatest Hits Christmas album this very year. Her seasonal leanings started way back in 2006 with What A Wonderful World - and, since I've started this annual look at all the new holiday albums and songs, she's released two significant projects. Today Is Christmas came in 2015, a full festive album of magic and sparkle, and It's Christmas, Eve, a Hallmark holiday movie where she added songs to the seasonal soundtrack. Bliss. Lots of those songs feature on this hits project so I'll concentrate on the new ones for 2025 - but make no mistake! Santa's checking his list (twice) to make sure everyone listens start to finish for this glittering collection...
  • River ~ this Joni Mitchell is a song I always class as a wintry standard, but one I always welcome on any holiday collection. Leann performs it with exquisite grace, an acoustic guitar-vocal duet where her expressive vocal accentuates the wistful nature of the lyrics. The stripped back nature of the production juxtaposes the melancholy of lines like "I made my baby cry" with the elegiac beauty of both the guitar and her voice. Even though you may know the song intimately, this take feels like remnants of Leann's own experiences - a captivating take on a well known classic. 
  • Happy Xmas (War is Over) ~ pretty sure this is a new version for the album, but even if not it is still worth revisiting. As the River has demonstrated, there's an elegance and grace to Leann being in a contemplative mood - particularly when joined by only one instrument. Here, the piano is a symbiotic duet partner, ensconcing her voice in notes that shine as bright as the star guiding the kings. The John Lennon standard is in more than safe hands here - once again, bringing nuanced insight into words you've heard so many times before. 
  • There's No Such Thing (with Luke Evans) ~ taken from upcoming musical 32 Hooves, Leann teams up with Luke Evans (a Welsh national treasure who had his own festive foray with tracks on his A Song For You opus) on this deliciously over the top, villanous cabaret song. It is brimming with naughty list mischief and (as you would expect from a musical) embodied with such character that the song comes to life before your eyes. Dramatic, decadent and deliciously over the top, I just can't get it out of my (egg) noggin! Sign me up for pre-order tix to the musical!
  • Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (Dave Aude Remix) ~ what a gift to finish the party with. Dave Aude, who has remixed many a Leann track, swizzles the beats on her take on Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, making it swirl like a peppermint cane. Rhythms canter like the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh, ensuring you can grab the one you love and shimmy. Hard. Unwrap this contemporary club cut that makes the timeless feel timely. Pop on when the mulled wine is flowing - or even when its not. Aude x Rimes is the dance floor combination approved by Santa himself...

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