Do we really need another Elvis Presley album? Because after all, you can never have too much of a good thing, can you? You could be cynical and say ‘If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ is just another annual repackaging of The King, released just in time to be the perfect stocking filler for your parents or grandparents depending on your age bracket.

Thankfully ‘If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ goes far beyond the standard greatest hits fare, offering 14 tracks from The King’s back catalogue rerecorded by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios and given a sweeping, romantic sonic makeover in the style of the golden age of Hollywood soundtrack. Think Gone With The Wind meets Elvis on 42nd St. guest staring Glen Campbell and The Rat Pack.

At times, the sonic overlay works wonders with Presley’s voice exposing every last drop of emotion in his vocal delivery. The results are spine-tingling in places, with the clever rushes of strings and instrumentation cranking the lonesome, lovelorn ballads up to eleven. The added orchestration amplifies the emotive Love Me Tender, and similarly, Can’t Help Falling In Love gains much from its Matt Monroe style makeover.

However, at times one must question the song selections. Some Elvis songs are simply so iconic that tinkering with them almost seems futile. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra take on In The Ghetto falls foul to this predicament – while their rendition is adequate, the original is so striking anything else falls short.

The lesser-known tracks and covers definitely gain the most from the orchestral reworking. There’s Always Me delivers high romanticism, while An American Trilogy, with a solemn gospel vocal, showcases Presley’s voice both at full throttle and gentlest refrain equally.

Bridge Over Troubled Water goes under a Life On Mars-esque transformation, building to a stirring crescendo with Presley’s powerful voice belting out the Simon and Garfunkel classic with aplomb.

As with most posthumous album releases there is a beyond the grave collaboration; here we find Elvis and Mr. Christmas album, Michael Buble, combining on a cover of Fever. Thankfully, the results are better than expected, with Bubble tailoring his voice to compliment Presley’s with almost eerie perfection at times.

As with all albums some tracks resonate less than others do, but while some tracks here aren’t a patch on the original iconic versions (You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling) they are at least presented as credible alternatives. There are several real stumbles here in the form of Burning love, which sees Elvis become more of a hunk – a hunk of burning hoedown, than one of love – thanks to downright cheesy violin arrangement, and Steamroller Blues, a deplorable, bloated fanfare of everything that’s detestable about cabaret.

‘If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’ successfully turns Elvis Presley into the Rat Packer he always wanted to be. If you are made to listen to one Elvis album this Christmas you could do worse than pressing play on this one. It’s just a pity Elvis wasn’t around to direct proceedings himself – he could have turned this album from a good one into a great one.