Robert Reed has released a teaser trailer for his forthcoming Christmas single, a cover of Mike Oldfield's In Dulce Jubilo, which he has recorded with Les Penning, who played on the 1975 original. You can watch it below...
"We didn't want to reproduce Mike's version, as that's a classic, so we tapped into the spirit of the original 14th Century piece," Reed tells Prog. "We hope our version has all the trappings of a classic Christmas hit. It's been great fun working with Les again, and it's great to finally see him getting some recognition for this track he was such an important part of back in 1975."
In Dulce Jubilo was a top 4 hit for Oldfield during Christmas 1975, and featuring Penning on recorder. He also played on 1975's Ommadawn album and the 1976 single Portsmouth.
The single will be available from December 14 as a limited edition 7’ white vinyl with a signed Christmas card from Les and Rob, a 5-track maxi CD single and digital download. All proceeds for the single will go to the Crisis charity.
Vinyl and CD copies can be preordered from Burning Shed and the download is available from Reed's own Bandcamp page.
Says Penning: "Everywhere I go at Christmas I hear the track. It haunts me. It can be heard in shops, markets and on TV, and nobody knows it's me. Even in the original video you only see my hands! So it's been great fun to re-visit the piece, and work with Robert Reed to re-imagine it. We've be able to take it in a completely different direction."
