Robert Matthew-Walker
International Record Review
December 2007

'Unwrapped' is the title of a new album from the Swingle Singers, who bring their distinctively intimate style to a surprisingly wide selection of songs for Christmas. The composers range from Corelli (a vocal treatment of a movement of his 'Christmas' Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 8) and Harold Drake (a fine setting of In the bleak mid-winter) to the Delius enthusiast Mel Tormé, the ubiquitous Howard Blake's Snowman (what an inspired tune!), George Michael (I'd have preferred more close harmony in the arrangement of Last Christmas), John Lennon, alongside Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Away in a Manger, with many others. If at first the selection of material appears too wide to make a successful album, appealing to the same buyer, I have to say that the quality of these vocal arrangements here is splendid, and I found myself absorbed in the musicianship which always attends this group's work. A wonderful record, for home listening in intimate surroundings.