My apologies Tom. I was under the impression that Richard remixed the album in 1996, specifically for the Christmas Collection release. That's very interesting that nearly all of the album contained previous remixes. Were these created originally for the Time-Life Christmas CD? I don't have that one to compare.
The question I have then, is was the 1978 stereo master tape really damaged, as many of us have been lead to believe, and if so, when was the damage discovered? Did Richard ever intend to release the original mix of CP in 1996, and couldn't because of the (alleged) damaged tape, or did he release the remixed version because he prefers it? If the latter, then why didn't he remix the Old Fashioned Christmas tracks too? I hope that Chris May jumps in, as hopefully he has some further insight.
Again, I really think the remixing started for a whole different reason, and even Richard has commented to me personally that this was really more about improving the quality of the mixes. Let's not forget that he wasn't exactly in the greatest shape or frame of mind when the album was originally mixed. So, like with a lot of this stuff, not to mention a huge bump in technology, there was a lot more that could be done with the mixes as the years went on as far as catching things that were missed initially either due to time constraint, or just downright oversight. He started remixing a majority of the tracks back in '90, and then finished what he had to around '96 in order to complete that set.
As far as An Old Fashioned Christmas, I personally have never been bothered by any of the mixes on that album. It definitely sounded more superior than Portrait did, right down to the way it was recorded, never mind the mixes themselves, so that's most likely the way Richard saw it as well.
With regard to the conflicting reasons floating around about whether or not Richard remixed everything because of a bad 2-channel master on the originals, or simply because he wanted a better quality on the mixes altogether, my guess is that BOTH are probably true, as he always tends to answer things seemingly with conflict, but in the end, both ended up being true. We know the 2-channel was damaged, even though it was technically all mixed onto an "improved" series of tape. I also know through first-hand conversation with Richard that he wanted better mixes on the stuff - which I'm sure he did! The original mixes certainly could have been made better, and that's what he did with most everything related to their catalog in this regard, whether or not we like the way certain remixes may have turned out. His goal since Karen died has been to present everything in the best way possible as technology has continued to advance and permit.