"Obviously I've always wanted to do a Christmas album," Mary J Blige told the Guardian recently, neatly explaining why it's taken her a mere 21 years to get around to doing so. What she didn't mention were her recent difficulties with the tax man, but maybe they had nothing to do with the decision. Allow us to be less charitable with our verdict on the music, though, which fails to deviate from the X Factor formula of dousing festive standards (When You Wish Upon a Star; The First Noel) with slushy strings and choirs. This being Mary J, it's delivered with gusto and dazzling technique. Sadly, though, this serves mainly to highlight the fact that no amount of gusto or dazzling technique will ever render a big-band version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer listenable.