Just in time for Christmas, Michael Ball releases his new album, If Everyone Was Listening. The 15 tracks that Ball has chosen to record are a mix of individual classics, award winners and contemporary songs spanning the years 1960 to 2013...

This is Michael Ball's love letter to his legions of fans. Over the course of this album's 15 songs (56 min, 50 sec) Ball delivers a collection of very personal favourite songs and his notes, at the foot of this page, illustrate why he choose each track.

What's most impressive about this album is the track order. We start with the wonderfully inviting 'Bad Things', which sounds close enough to Jace Everett's recording, which was used for the True Blood theme tune. This track really kick starts things with a bang and we end with the beautiful 'Falling Slowly', which leaves you wanting more. In between we have everything from the modern to the old and it's impressive at how well each song flows perfectly into the next.

If I had one issue, it's more of an observation really... Did I really hear Ball sing: "I sold my ars*hole" on 'You Needed Me'? I mean, that's impossible to do unintentionally.

Track listing with additional notes by Michael Ball:

01 - 'Bad Things' - Written and sung by country music artist Jace Everett, this is the theme song for the TV show True Blood. I’m a huge fan of the show and when I first heard ‘Bad Things’, I thought it’s a bit like the show itself - tongue in cheek, sexy, funny, and it’s got a great rhythm.

02 - 'Simple Love' - Originally sung by Alison Krauss, this tells a very personal story and has one of the best hooks of any song. It looks back to a time when life was simpler.

03 - 'I Won’t Give Up' - It’s lovely when you hear a contemporary song by a singer songwriter - in this case Jason Mraz - that’s a classic, that speaks to you in the same way a song you’ve known for 30 years does. On this album I was keen to mix the old and the new to show that great songs are being written today, just as much as they were yesterday.

04 - 'Jessie' - My stepdaughter Emma has been asking me to record this for years. I sat down at the piano and worked out the arrangement; I wanted to concentrate on the words rather than bring in guitar and drums too early. I’ve used my own voice to do all the harmonies because no one knows how to phrase a song for me better than me!

05 - 'Still The Same' - Cathy suggested I record this one as I’m a massive Bob Seger fan and this is great, driving, simple rock ‘n’ roll that I can’t wait to do in concert next year.

06 - 'You Needed Me' - I grew up loving this song by Anne Murray and remember it being a bit of sanity right in the middle of the punk era.

07 - 'Stuck Like Glue' - I loved this song by Sugarland from the moment I heard it - it became my getting ready song for both Hairspray and Sweeney Todd and everyone would come into the dressing room to have a dance!

08 - 'The Climb' - Everybody loves a bit of Gorgonzola...

09 - 'Need You Now' - The multi-Grammy award winning Lady Antebellum are one of my favourite groups at the moment, who are changing the face of American country music; this is another song you can just relate to.

10 - 'May You Never' - One of my favourite songs from one of my favourite albums: Solid Air by John Martyn. The words say it all.

11 - 'What We Ain’t Got' - This is an interesting one. It was actually suggested by the artist Kim Sears. I hadn’t heard of the singer - country artist Jake Owen - and I listened to this and thought what a perfect song. It sums up the era we live in: we all want what we ain’t got and we’re always looking at what everyone else has.

12 - 'If Everyone Was Listening' - This is in my Desert Island Discs; it opened and closed an evening of two plays I was in when I was at the Surrey Youth Theatre and it always resonated with me because of the lyrics. I love Supertramp and when I bought Crime of the Century in 1979, I thought it was the best album I’d ever heard.

13 - 'Let It Be Me (Michael Ball & The Overtones) - This Everly Brothers song is a classic that I’ve always loved and I thought it would be great to have a really well known track among tracks that are less so. But who to sing with? The only group of guys who I ever considered for this one: they’re funny, they work hard and they sing brilliantly - they’re my mates, the Overtones... their harmonies are stunning.

14 - 'Angel' - Written and performed by the sublime Sarah McLachlan who’s got the most beautiful, pure voice. I know many people who have recorded this brilliant song; it’s so powerful and has a spiritual feel to it. I think it’s one of those songs that inspires the listener and encourages us to read whatever we want into it.

15 - 'Falling Slowly' - I first heard this (Oscar winning) song from the film Once when I saw the movie, which I loved; I subsequently saw the stage show in London - twice - and have heard it done a few times as a duet. In studying the structure of the song, I realised you could be so busy listening to the voices, that you miss the importance of the words, so I decided to strip it down and record it as a solo. It’s got such an extraordinary message that I wanted to concentrate on that and do it as one person’s consciousness.

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Nick Smithson