Graham Hunter: I grew up on a diet of Nat King Cole for Christmas, every Christmas day lunch my father would tell me “Today son we’ve got Nat King Cole for Christmas” or it might be Al Martino or Doris Day, but you know, none of them ever made it to our place! Peter Williams has never been to ours for Christmas either but this year he’ll be playing his heart out every opportunity I get to swap Wham’s “Last Christmas” for his CD. He is a favourite with Beat readers and in truth with this new product there are no surprises, Peter shies away from using modern gimmickry in his recordings and that’s one of the reasons why you get what you get with Peters albums, he doesn’t abuse his instrument, his arrangements and final mixes are always clean and precise and when you listen to his work you can hear the words even though his guitar albums are instrumental. The track listing of this, his first Christmas CD, is literally a treat of festive favourites, it begins with “Walking In The Air”, David Essex’s “Winter’s Tale”, Billy Fury’s “My Christmas Prayer” (Rarely heard and now immortalised in twang). Elvis fans will be delighted with “Blue Christmas” while standards “Silent Night” and “White Christmas” bring out the very best of the season. “Instrumentally Christmas” will neither harm you or your budget, check out a copy today and make sure you keep it handy each year alongside that Phil Spector Christmas album. Enjoy the festivities and know you are in Mr Williams hands, quite literally! © Graham Hunter 2024

01 Walking In The Air

02 A Winter’s Tale

03 My Christmas Prayer

04 Once In Royal David’s City

05 Mary’s Boy Child

06 Oh Come All Ye Faithful

07 Mistletoe & Wine

08 Blue Christmas

09 White Christmas

10 Silent Night

11 Away In A Manger

12 Winter Wonderland

13 I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

14 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

15 Jingle Bells

16 We Wish You A Merry Christmas

17 Auld Lang Syne