I don’t know why, but every year I seem to be the one who ends up reviewing the annual Christmas releases. At least this time I had some expectations, since the Christmas Variations album was written and recorded by famous keyboard player Rick Wakeman (Yes). The first thing that pops into my mind listening to this album is: “who actualy buys these Christmas releases?” Luckily Wakeman himself gives the answer in the accompanying info leaflet. It seems that Wakeman is a practising Christian: “For many years now I have played variations on various hymns during my church tours and to my surprise, people keep asking me to do more such pieces.”

After listening to the album I was surprised that people kept asking for more. I for one can’t listen to this stuff for more than ten minutes.

Some of the tracks aren’t any better than the horrible stuff you hear while doing your holiday shopping. Tracks like “Silent Night”, “Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem” and “Angels From The Realms Of Glory” are tracks that can really spoil your Christmas mood. However, there are some positive remarks to make. One of them is that Wakeman didn’t add any vocals to the music. I can imagine people playing this album as background carol during the boring days of Christmas. Second, I must admit that this isn’t the worst Christmas album I’ve heard. And finally there are some acceptable tracks like “One In Royal Davids City” and “Away In A Manger”. This album is only recommended to die-hard Christians or very, very die-hard Wakeman fans.