Mr B croons his way through the classics, ably assisted by a crack orchestra. Does he shake-up the seasonal soundscape, or is this a shameless Chrimbo cash cow?

Hurtling out of the festive blocks before you’ve even found your scarf and gloves, the ubiquitous Buble has recorded a platter of 15 Xmas mini-bites to make sure we’ve had a gutful of fake sentiment by mid-November.

Being Buble, the renditions are smoother than duck liver pat� and are entertainingly hammed-up. At times, he doesn’t fall far short of some of the Rat Pack’s festive missives.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town builds to a jazz-hands climax, while the consummate retro-cool Puppini Sisters are roped in as backing singers for a nimble Jingle Bells.

Shania Twain adds unhelpful yelps to duet White Christmas, and his pretty inspid new track Cold December Night has a hard job ingratiating itself with other classics. Overall though, a solid covers record.

3 stars