'Tis the season for some soulful renditions of Christmas favorites, and there's nobody more qualified to add class and spice to this festive time of year than The Queen Of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. She didn't get around to cutting a holiday album until 2008 but This Christmas Aretha's majestic versions of "Angels We Have Heard On High," "Ave Maria," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night" has left them inexplicably linked. Aretha was happy that at last, a long held personal wish to add her superlative musical skills to a set of holiday songs was fulfilled. "Christmas is so special for so many reasons,' Franklin told NPR. "Each time it comes around, you hear very, very little on me. I'm not in the mix... There's nothing on Aretha. [I thought], 'Please, I've got to record some Christmas music.'"

Tracks

1. Angels We Have Heard on High
2. This Christmas
3. My Grown-Up Christmas List
4. The Lord Will Make a Way
5. Ave Maria
6. Christmas Ain't Christmas (Without the One You Love)
7. 14 Angels
8. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
9. Silent Night