For this Christmas outing, exhilarating gospellers the Blind Boys have collaborated with a varied selection of "old friends" - with results ranging from exhilarating to dreadful. There are soulful work-outs with the likes of Solomon Burke (I Pray on Christmas), Mavis Staples (a gloriously swinging Born in Bethlehem), and even Tom Waits, rasping through the powerful title track.

So far so good, but it's hard to see why they included Michael Franti's cringe-making treatment of Little Drummer Boy or Shelby Lynne's schmaltzy Christmas Song. The Blind Boys can do far better by themselves, as they prove on the opening and closing tracks.