🎄 Holidays! THE OFFICIAL REVIEW: [Album] "AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS" SP-9107

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

If that's the case, I wonder why he didn't use the other take?

It does seem from the way he wrote it that there were 2 takes of this song, maybe the 2nd take did not contain the first verse being redone or it's possible the 2nd take wasn't perfect either (although I can't imagine Karen messing it up twice on the first verse. I also wonder, since it was only 2 words that she messed up on why Richard couldn't have punched in like he did with Crystal Lullaby or taken "Said The" from another song and punched it in (with production work and tweaking). It's a shame 2 lines were lost because of 2 words.

Yet still, I love Richard's vocals even though the backing choir doesn't make sense on the first verse.

 

[Harry]

I'll bet that there were several different attempts at rescuing Karen's lead, like lifting the words "Said the..." from the next line, but in listening to whatever attempts were made, Richard surely thought that his lead on the first line sounded the best.

 

[Harry]

Chris and I with the same thoughts about punching in lines!

Great minds think alike.

Harry

 

[Jeff]

For years I thought DYHWIH was supposed to start with RC lead. Wow thought I, how CarpenterS.

 

[Daniel Perales]

While I said that the first album has mainstream appeal, this album sounded more intimate to me, which is why I kind of like this album better. Also, this album features both the talents of Karen and Richard, while the first one is mostly Karen. And finally, this album probably has Karen's finest vocals ever recorded. I can listen to this entire album without skipping a track.

Favorite tracks are: "An Old Fashioned Christmas" (this song makes me remember how I used to feel about Christmas back in my childhood), "The Nutcracker Medley", "My Favorite Things" "Home For The Holidays", "Little Altar Boy", "He Came Here For Me" and "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day" (this track never fails to move me into tears once it ends).



Danny

 

[Chris Mills]

Never fully appreciated what an incredible job Richard & Karen completed with their Christmas song recordings, until this Christmas when I finally found time to listen to both albums and watch both of the Christmas TV specials. I love the whole package, so much so , that the TV specials really do deserve a DVD release. I'm petty sure there must be some outtakes that didn't make the the final edit, look what happened to "From This Moment On" during the recording of "Music, Music, Music", a beautiful piece that ended up on the editing floor!

I really can't choose a winner between the two Christmas albums, I consider them to be one complete album, that deserve to be played back to back. There are too many wonderful moments to be able to pick out my favourites. There's only one word that comes to my mind.....magical.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I was wondering if everyone would agree that from both of the Christmas albums together, that the song Karen sings the lowest notes on would be "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day." I was listening to this today and some of those notes are really really low. Since this was Peter Knight's arrangement was it Peter that wanted her to reach way down vocally or was this Karen's decision?

 

[Made In America]

I have listened to countless Christmas albums from all artists. As a harsh music critic, there are only three Christmas albums I have thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish:

Barbra Streisand - A Christmas Album
Carpenters - Christmas Portrait

.....and the masterpiece we are focusing on in this thread:

Carpenters - An Old-Fashioned Christmas

This album is absolutely perfect. From the glorious instrumental passages that are meticulously arranged and produced, to the gorgeous vocal performances by Karen & Richard. For my listening pleasure, this was not only the most significant Christmas album released in the past 35 years, but it ranks as one of the Top 10 best albums released since 1980 (Christmas & non-Christmas).

 

[A&M Retro]

Richard actually sang the whole first verse of 'Do You Hear What I Hear'....not just the first line. But it works very well.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Here is a short article in Billboard (Dec 08 1974) for the release of An Old Fashioned Christmas.

 

[GaryAlan]

Another , possibly ignorant, question:
I recently noticed that the 1974 released
45-single (AM 1648)
of
Santa Claus is Coming To Town
carries the Credits--
Produced by Jack Daugherty and Karen and Richard Carpenter.

I know vocal tracks were done in 1972, as detailed in Liner Notes,
and The Official Carpenter (dormant) Website.

Now, my question.....
What--exactly--did Jack Daugherty "do" on this song regarding its production?

It is one of my all time Carpenters' favorites.
And, I am interested in every facet of this Single.
A Great, great, Carpenters' Christmas Ballad.

 

[newvillefan]

Now, my question.....
What--exactly--did Jack Daugherty "do" on this song regarding its production?

I would imagine he contributed the same to this session as he did to the ASFY album, given that he was still being credited as producer in this period. His contribution probably amounted to booking studios, session musicians etc. I'm not sure exactly when the track was laid down for this song but it's quite possible work was started on it around the same time that the album was being made or not long after. It's well known that Richard and Karen recorded Christmas songs at the height of summer

 

[Chris May]

I would imagine he contributed the same to this session as he did to the ASFY album, given that he was still being credited as producer in this period. His contribution probably amounted to booking studios, session musicians etc. I'm not sure exactly when the track was laid down for this song but it's quite possible work was started on it around the same time that the album was being made or not long after. It's well known that Richard and Karen recorded Christmas songs at the height of summer

That's exactly right. As a matter of fact, Carpenters took the matter to court years later to establish the fact that it was actually Richard that performed the role of "producer" on all that stuff in terms of the content itself. Jack was a link in the chain that got them their record deal with Herb, and there was an agreement early on that he would be given producer credit, while in reality his primary role was contractor.

On a side note, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town had a vocal part that they inadvertently forgot to record during the original vocal session in '72 that Richard went back and added 12 years later for the Old Fashioned Christmas album.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

On a side note, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town had a vocal part that they inadvertently forgot to record during the original vocal session in '72 that Richard went back and added 12 years later for the Old Fashioned Christmas album.

Which part would that be Chris? specifics please.

 

[Chris May]

Which part would that be Chris? specifics please.

It is my understanding that it was an entire "part" throughout the song that was missing, which Richard would have replaced by singing it over three times, since all of the backing vocals were still being triple-tracked at the time the recording was made.

 

[newvillefan]

It is my understanding that it was an entire "part" throughout the song that was missing, which Richard would have replaced by singing it over three times, since all of the backing vocals were still being triple-tracked at the time the recording was made.

My understanding is that there was one background harmony they'd missed which would have made the backgrounds into a four-part chord. Richard added that one line in himself (tripled) in 1984.

 

[Chris May]

My understanding is that there was one background harmony they'd missed which would have made the backgrounds into a four-part chord. Richard added that one line in himself (tripled) in 1984.

Yes! That's more or less what I was trying to say! And always found it fascinating that they could actually "miss" something like that LOL

 

[GaryAlan]

Thanks for the information,
believe it or not, I still have questions regarding this song,
and, will present them once I've gotten source information together--not to mention,
(re)listening to each version so as to ascertain these differences !
An interesting exercise, but, this is one of my all-time Carpenters favorites and I want to
get this straight in my mind !

 

[John M]

I've been passionate about the Carpenters since the first time I heard "Close to You" on a family vacation in August, 1970!
I have a very clear memory about "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" in 1984... I was so excited, waiting for its release! I bought the cassette on a Thursday night... in anticipation of playing it on the 2-hour drive home on Friday night to visit my parents. It was November -- briskly cold on the way to the Pocono mountains of northeastern PA. By the time I got to "Oh Holy Night", I was REALLY feeling let down, and was thinking that perhaps it's a CD of JUST RICHARD and that CHOIR. I was feeling very ripped off, thinking, "How can he (Richard) get away with calling this "Carpenters"... and then suddenly... Karen entered the scene, opening with "Oh there's no place like home for the holidays...." and I was in HEAVEN!!!!
For me, it's not Christmas without the Carpenters. I start listening to Christmas music each year on November 15th. RE Carpenters, I most often play the Time Life 2-CD set "Christmas with the Carpenters" as I love the remixing - crystal clear -- the only down-side is that it's missing one of my favorites: "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

 

[tomswift2002]

I start listening to Christmas music on November 1. And the Carpenters Christmas albums are the first two that I play. But growing up in the 90's in Canada, the only album readily available at first was the "Christmas Portrait Special Edition" CD, and then I found, and bought with Christmas money, a cassette version of "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" from a Kmart. It wasn't till 1998 when I finally heard the "Christmas Portrait" album on the "Christmas Collection" set.

But even from CPSE I've always found "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" with Richard on vocals. I always found that Richard sounded like he was right there in the living room, singing and joining in on the Christmas fun that my family was having, and then Karen's entrance on Christmas Waltz, right after AOFC was simply amazing. But I've also always thought that I could hear some vocals from Karen in the Overture; I always thought Richard mixed her vocal into the Overture just like he mixed Karen's vocal into "Sandy" on his 1997 solo album. So I've always wondered if the Carpenters had recorded bits and pieces of Christmas tunes over the years, and Richard decided to build an Overture around them.

Unfortunately the one song I've just found never really fit on An Old-Fashioned Christmas was "My Favorite Things". I've never really considered this a Christmas song, I've found it to be more of a non-seasonal song, so I wish Richard had put another Christmas song, or even his take of "Home For The Holidays", which he performed on Solid Gold 1984 (and is on the net). Or maybe he could've put his solo performance (I think Richard sang "Toyland") from the "Christmas Portrait" TV Special.

 

[cam89]

Yes, I agree that MY FAVORITE THINGS is not a Christmas song, but it IS a holiday song. They do play THE SOUND OF MUSIC movie during the holidays, and that is probably why it gets associated as a "Holiday" song....

Yes, I remember first hearing Christmas Portrait in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but I think I heard it first on LP and not even at Christmas time...possibly Fall of 1988. Then when we made the trip to Swift Current, from Winnipeg, during the Christmas holidays, Mom surprised me with a twintape cassette of Christmas Portrait AND An Old Fashioned Christmas. I was ECSTATIC! We also got some walkmans for the trip, as an added bonus. I remember just feeling like I was in Heaven to hear their music!!!

Cam

 

[Harry]

It comes up ever year that "My Favorite Things" should/shouldn't be a Christmas song. It really isn't - it was meant to convey a way for the Von Trapp children not to be scared during a thunderstorm - to think happy thoughts. But the words "packages tied up with string", "warm woolen mittens", "doorbells and sleigh bells", and "silver white winters" all undeniably conjure up Christmas-y, winter-y ideas. This subject usually pops up in the Herb Alpert section as he was one of the first to include the song on a Christmas single and album.

Harry

 

[Made In America]

It comes up ever year that "My Favorite Things" should/shouldn't be a Christmas song. It really isn't - it was meant to convey a way for the Von Trapp children not to be scared during a thunderstorm - to think happy thoughts. But the words "packages tied up with string", "warm woolen mittens", "doorbells and sleigh bells", and "silver white winters" all undeniably conjure up Christmas-y, winter-y ideas. This subject usually pops up in the Herb Alpert section as he was one of the first to include the song on a Christmas single and album.

Harry

It will always be a Christmas song to me thanks to where I first heard it (Barbra Streisand's 1967 Christmas album). That was a year before Herb Alpert's Christmas album.

 

[Someday]

... or, how about this? ...


1.) It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
2.) Overture
3.) An Old-Fashioned Christmas
4.) Adeste Fideles (Feat. Gene Kelly)
5.) O Holy Night
6.) (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays
7.) Little Altar Boy


8.) Do You Hear What I Hear?
9.) Toyland (RC vocal)
10.) He Came Here For Me
11.) My Favourite Things
11.) What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
12.) Selections from “The Nutcracker”
13.) I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

 

[tomswift2002]

Instead of "My Favorite Things", how about putting Richard's vocal of "Home For The Holidays". Sure the album would have the same song twice, but the two are very different takes, and Richard's is more in the same vein as "An Old-Fashioned Christmas".