Best Version for Old Fashioned Christmas?

[Kristopher]

Christmas portrait sounds horrible on the Christmas collection but it’s better then nothing. For Old fashioned Christmas, are there any copies that were taken from the original tapes with no reverb? Thanks!

 

[tomswift2002]

“An Old-Fashioned Christmas” has never been remixed. The disc in “Christmas Collection” is from the original analog master made in 1984. The only difference would be that those masters in 84 had been mastered for vinyl and cassette, whereas the 96 disc would been mastered for CD, so some of the quieter areas wouldn’t have been pushed to make it into vinyl’s signal-to-noise area. But that’s the mastering, not the mixing.

 

[kprather]

Christmas portrait sounds horrible on the Christmas collection but it’s better then nothing.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. It sounds very staticky.

 

[GaryAlan]

Richard Carpenter: "In the early ‘90s, the first album was remixed and both were digitally remastered."
Source:
Carpenters Christmas Collection Album

 

[tomswift2002]

Richard Carpenter: "In the early ‘90s, the first album was remixed and both were digitally remastered."
Source:
Carpenters Christmas Collection Album

As someone else pointed out here on the forums about the early 80’s CD’s those could also be considered “Digitally Remastered” since, especially when no remixing has been done, a Digital Master was needed for the CD’s.

In terms of An Old-Fashioned Christmas & Christmas Collection it was only “Remastered” in the sense that the Analog Master was copied to a Digital Master.

 

[Kristopher]

I’m happy about that thanks everyone. I noticed there was no reverb on the second disc. Someone told me I’d have to do some “needle dropping” to hear the slow version of Santa Claus is coming to town. Isn’t the one on old fashioned christmas the right one? Sounds slow and prettier then the faster version to me.

 

[tomswift2002]

I’m happy about that thanks everyone. I noticed there was no reverb on the second disc. Someone told me I’d have to do some “needle dropping” to hear the slow version of Santa Claus is coming to town. Isn’t the one on old fashioned christmas the right one? Sounds slow and prettier then the faster version to me.

The version on An Old-Fashioned Christmas is a remix of the 1974 single. The major difference between the 2 is the sax solo in the middle. In 1974 it sounded like someone was trying to walk down some stairs while recording it, whereas in 1984 Richard had the part re-recorded so that it was smoother, more jazzy.

The only CD releases of the 1974 single mix have been on the 2006 Japanese Single box, 2013 Perry Como Christmas Show DVD (and there it’s presented in its scarce mono fold down that was only found on the 1974 promo 45, since the DVD uses the original 1974 mono TV audio) and the 2016 PBS Single CD set. Any other CD releases have used the 1984 AOFC mix. The 2016 DVD Carpenters: Christmas Memories uses the Perry Como footage but the 1984 stereo mix has been synched to it, so a few shots of the sax player don’t quite match.

Otherwise the only other SCICTT is the faster version that appeared on the 1978 Christmas Portrait album, but that’s a very different recording altogether.

 

[GaryAlan]

Surely, music is subjective.
I find the 1974 sax solo far superior to the later version in Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
Also, the 1974 and 1984 versions differ (subtly) from the 1975 version--in my opinion, the best version--
on the RCA LP Great Songs of Christmas selected by Henry Mancini.