Annie is releasing a digitally remastered version of her sixth solo album, A Christmas Cornucopia - a collection of inspired interpretations of traditional festive songs, rounded out by a Lennox composition, “Universal Child” on November 20.
The 2020 re-issue of A Christmas Cornucopia will be released via Island Records to mark its 10 year anniversary just in time for Christmas. It will feature a brand new, previously unreleased track, “Dido’s Lament”, a new tracklisting, and new artwork (across all formats – vinyl, CD and digital).
The showbizlion.com is particularly pleased to hear of Annie’s return as we have had the pleasure of hosting and supporting at The Circle charity events in Glasgow. The Circle is Annie Lennox’s Charity to help women in need and it does great things around the globe.
Annie said of the album: “I’m absolutely delighted to be releasing the 10th Anniversary of A Christmas Cornucopia. 2020 has been an unprecedented year around the world… The carols on this album represent continuum - harking back to a time before modern technology, climate emergency, global pandemics, pollution, forest destruction, species extinction and all the challenges our world must urgently deal with in terms of crisis in sustainability. I hope this recording will at least offer some comfort and nostalgia, but also an awareness that political leaders, religious leaders and everyone around the world must face up to the question of how many more Christmases we have left to spend on this blighted earth.” Min ;
“Dido’s Lament” - written by Henry Purcell in the 17th century and arranged by Annie Lennox and Mike Stevens - references the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas as documented in Virgil’s legendary epic poem, The Aeneid, from the 1st century BC. It will be released as the lead single from the album on 10th November and will be accompanied by a music video (out 12th November).
All proceeds earned from Annie’s original composition on the album, “Universal Child”,will be paid to The Annie Lennox Foundation.The Annie Lennox Foundation raises money for various charitable projects, primarily those supporting and educating women and children in Africa and people with HIV/Hepatitis C in Scotland.
The music on A Christmas Cornucopia was mostly played by Lennox, in collaboration with co producer Mike Stevens, and originally recorded in his southwest London studio – at the bottom of his garden in 2010. But to achieve the resonance and vibrancy that were integral to Lennox’s ideas for these re-energized reboots, the pair also worked with a 30-piece orchestra at Pinewood Studios. And they travelled further afield too: to South Africa, to record with the African Children’s Choir, a remarkable organization with which impassioned campaigner and activist Lennox has long had a relationship.
A Christmas Cornucopia is far from a saccharine packaged selection box. As befits its title, it offers an abundant track listing drawn from British, French and German traditions covering the well-known alongside more untrodden ground. It’s broad spectrum encompasses a wide range of narratives and emotions – from joyful and celebratory thorough melancholic and haunting to poignant and timely. On “Lullay Lullay”, for example, Lennox draws direct links between the Nativity and the plight of Africa’s child soldiers.
Vibrant but vintage, classic and contemporary, glorious but with a polemical edge, Annie Lennox’s A Christmas Cornucopia is no ordinary collection of seasonal songs.
A Christmas Cornucopia 2020 re-issue - tracklisting
Vinyl:
A-Side
1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
2. The First Noel
3. Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
4. See Amid the Winters Snow
5. Silent Night
6. Universal Child
B-Side
1. Angels From the Realms of Glory
2. The Holly and the Ivy
3. As Joseph Was a Walking
4. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
5. Lullay Lullay
6. In the Bleak Midwinter
7. Dido’s Lament
CD:
1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
2. The First Noel
3. Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
4. See Amid the Winters Snow
5. Silent Night
6. Universal Child
7. Dido’s Lament
8. Angels From the Realms of Glory
9. The Holly and the Ivy
10. As Joseph Was a Walking
11. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
12. In the Bleak Midwinter
13. Lullay Lullay
Streaming:
1. Universal Child
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
3. Silent Night
4. Angels From The Realms of Glory
5. The First Noel
6. Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant
7. Dido’s Lament
8. The Holly and the Ivy
9. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. In The Bleak Midwinter
11. See Amid The Winter's Snow
12. Lullay Lullay
13. As Joseph Was A Walking
PRE-ORDER THE 10th ANNIVERSARY RE-ISSUE OF A CHRISTMAS CORNUCOPIA HERE:
https://AnnieLennox.lnk.to/ChristmasCornucopia