The Complete James Brown Christmas Hip-O Select***

It would appear the godfather of soul was fond of Christmas cheer – or he knew a seasonal album was a good way to bring in some end-of-year cash. The Complete James Brown Christmasrounds up three Yuletide albums and a bunch of one-off singles (trainspotters may tut-tut about the exclusion of 2005's Funked Up Christmas). While others treated the Christmas album as a chore and went with the schmaltzy flow, the hardest-working man in show business kept the funk and soul meters running into red. Album by album, Brown's style moves from the strung-out highsteppers of his early years to a deeper kind of funk, with The JBs firing on all cylinders. Not a Last Christmasin sight. See hip-oselect. com

Download tracks: Let's Make Christmas Mean Something This Year, Hey America