Michael Bublé news: NBC special tonight; 'Christmas' super deluxe album box set out now (review)

Michael Bublé fans have plenty to be excited about lately.

For starters, there's his holiday special, "Christmas in the City," which will be broadcast tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC-TV with special guests Jimmy Fallon (Bublé was also on “The Tonight Show” last week doing a funny game show skit and interview that touched upon various memes poking fun at him as the “King of Christmas Music”; be sure to look it up online), Camila Cabello, Leon Bridges, Hannah Waddingham and Kermit the Frog.

An absolutely amazing new 10^th anniversary Super Deluxe Limited Edition Box Set version of the Canadian singer’s juggernaut Christmas album is out now via Warner Records/Reprise Records.

It is housed in a stunning 12x12 red and gold lift-off box designed to look like a wrapped present with the artist's trademark initials stamped all over the cover.

The original and re-released albums spawned a pair of Top 3 Billboard Adult Contemporary radio chart hits in the Mariah Carey/Walter Afanasieff-penned “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas/Jingle Bells” (the latter featuring retro-leaning London trio The Puppini Sisters) over a two-year period.

Thus far, the album has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide since 2011 and amassed 4 billion streams (equivalent to 60 million albums).

Christmas saw Bublé reteam with producers David Foster, Bob Rock and Humberto Gatica with terrific results. It was recorded at the famed Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood and The Warehouse Studios in Vancouver. Among the top-name studio musicians involved were Vinnie Colaiuta, Keith Scott, Josh Freeze, Jim Keltner, Rusty Anderson and others.

Here it comes as an exclusive green LP and CD with all 15 tracks from both versions, including duets with Shania Twain (“White Christmas”) and Thalia (“Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad”). The boxed set also has a 7-track bonus CD with two newly recorded songs: the Bublé and Gary Barlow co-penned “The Christmas Sweater” and an ebullient new studio version of “Let It Snow!” recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with the BBC Big Band Orchestra.

Other songs on the bonus CD include Buble co-write “The More You Give (The More You’ll Have)” and “Winter Wonderland” – a pleasant duet with Rod Stewart. The bluesy New Orleans swing of “Blue Christmas” and “Cold December Night,” which was co-written by Bublé, Rock and longtime touring band leader/pianist Alan Chang, are standouts.

A half-hour DVD in the box set features an entertaining 2011 documentary on the making of the album, where the singer talks about what the holiday means for him and how it was important to record everything “live on the floor,” which is how some of his old school idols like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby often worked. There is behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the producers too.

The 48-page hardbound red book inside the box includes a personalized note from the artist, plenty of color and black and white photos by Dean Freeman, images from Bublé’s personal collection showing him sitting on Santa’s lap as a kid alone and with siblings, the album lyrics and credits.

Elsewhere in the box set are a red Christmas sweatshirt reading “All I Want for Christmas is Michael Buble” and t-shirt emblazoned with “Christmas is Coming…Michael Buble” (available separately via the official Buble website), an exclusive unique Christmas ornament, six sheets of MB wrapping paper, six MB Christmas cards and an individually numbered 12 x 12 lithograph.

All told the box set is a must-have for diehard Buble fans – both female and male.

If you can splurge a bit this holiday season, purchase the physical deluxe box set edition via www.michaelbuble.com (hurry – only 4,000 were manufactured) or just go for the standard CD/digital Christmas available at most major retailers.