It's All Bells

With tinsel hanging in every shop window, Christmas lights adorning our city streets, Greatest Hits and The Best Dull Music Ever Part II compilations gracing record shop windows, a bunch of musicians taking the royal piss out of themselves in the name of charity is a welcome relief.

So bring on the Phutloose cooperative! This lot have compiled a 15 track mix album of local bands covering Christmas songs to raise money for The Multi Sensory Project in St Anne’s Special School in Kildare.

Donning the tinsel and Santy hat this year is Dublin favourite Damien Dempsey, whose beautiful cover of ‘Fairytale of New York’, featuring Sinéad O’Connor on backing vocals, is the strongest on the album. It’s rivalled closely by Lisa Hannigan’s ethereal accapella ‘Silent Night’. Other hi-lights include Damien Rice’s ‘Happy Christmas (War Is Over)’ and Turn’s ‘Dream For Me’. An unlikely but rather impressive addition is Gloria, a choral group by the sounds of it, doing a midnight mass-esque rendition of ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing’.

Naturally, there are a few cringe-worthy moments, namely Saville’s cover of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ (sorry guys, I blame George), a manic ‘Rockin’ Robin’ care of Sundogs, and Jenny Lindfors’ slurring version of ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’.

But don’t let that deter you. Even aside from the abundance of quality tracks, the boo boos have a tongue in cheek “I know I’m making a fool of myself but I don’t care” twang to them. And remember that every penny (oh alright, ‘cent’) of profit goes to charity. A worthy buy indeed.