Carpenters Christmas Albums

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I pulled out my Carpenters Christmas LP's:

Christmas Portrait
An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Looking at the back covers I studied the asteriks giving credit to who Produced, Arranged & Orchestrated these wonderful albums

I was really quite suprised at how many tracks Richard did not Arrange.

These are the Tracks Listed that were Arranged by Richard:

Christmas Portrait
Arranged by Richard Carpenter *** (asteriks) JUST TWO TRACKS
O Come, O Come Immanuel
Merry Christmas Darling

An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Arranged by Richard Carpenter ** (asteriks) JUST TWO TRACKS
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Santa Claus is Comin to Town

Was this because Richard was too busy Producing the Albums and couldn't also Arrange or did he choose to not Arrange most of these? Didn't he have to turn over alot of the reins to others?

I just always considered even the instrumentals, all Richard's doing. Maybe I don't really understand what it means to be credited as Arranger.


I still think as a whole these albums have really stood the test of time.

P.S. I found a notation that I can't reference, on the track, Santa Claus is Comin to Town, there are ** (two asteriks for arranged by Richard) then a Cross Symbol, what does the Cross Symbol reference to??? I can't find what that means.

 

[Chris]

Yes, Chris, I agree that the Christmas recordings have stood the test of time. They are such classics and incredibly beautiful. They will never go out of style.

It's interesting that Richard had recently commented in some Japan liner notes that since he did not have as much involvement in the Christmas recordings, he said that "Christmas Portrait" should have been credited to Karen Carpenter alone. It was her solo showcase. Actually I like that idea since Karen is the star of those Christmas songs arranged by Peter Knight.

There is not much more beautiful music in the world than to hear Karen sing those Christmas songs. She makes every one of them a masterpiece. After all this time listening to the Christmas music I'm still amazed and in awe of the beauty of those performances.

I'm so glad it's the holiday season again!

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Chris, yes your right, I just got out my black 35th Anniv Box Set and Richard details this about Christmas Portrait. Says because of his pill addiction that at the time of recording he was not interested in more than just the production. He turned the reins over.

Still I wonder what that Cross Reference means to that track.

I haven't found another Christmas album that even compares to these 2...not even Olivia's

 

[andywithaz]

Yes, these two albums are classics. To me the other songs sound old, even with the remixes they still sound 70s. Although I love them to death! But maybe it's because Christmas time and everybody is more accepting about music. I don't really know.

 

[Chris]

Andrew, first of all, you-look-a-like-a-man. ( Cute Miss Swan avatar.) Secondly, I don't think the songs sound all that 70's as much as they sound like classic arrangements that pre-date the recent decades. I guess I don't think of this kind of sound as seventies sound because it sounds close to some of the Christmas music from the 60's and late 50's. I grew up hearing lots of Christmas music from that time from artists like Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Streisand, Julie Andrews, Percy Faith, etc.

Some of the current and recently recorded Christmas albums are really great, while others (mostly the current pop star ones) leave me cold.

It's interesting to remember that not too many artists of the 70s were recording Christmas albums. The Carpenters started the ball rolling again with their success.

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

I love Carpenters Christmas albums and holiday season. I heard "Merry Christmas Darling" & "Home for the Holidays" 3 times and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" twice on internet radio this season.

Are "Home for..." and "Have Yourself..." on Christmas compilation CD or radio edit Christmas CD?


I think the Cross Symbol of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" means:
Produced by Jack Daughety and Richard and Karen Carpenter

Other songs were produced by Richard Carpenter.

Today I notice that "An Old Fashioned Christmas" has credit :
Mastered at A&M Mastering Studios.


I think I read that Karen said they performed "The First Snowfall" and "Let It Snow" in Christmas live show in Vegas and Lake Tahoe.
Did they perform other Christmas songs in Vegas or Lake Tahoe?

Sakura

 

[Mark-T]

I saw them perform Merry Christmas Darling in 1978- but I cant remember if they performed any other Christmas songs as well. If they did, I THINK it was also Christmas Song (Chestnuts) and Have Yourself...

 

[jfiedler17]

Speaking of Carpenters Christmas music, I thought you'd all appreciate this: I was out Christmas shopping in town on Saturday with the family and there's a small brass band on the sidewalks playing Christmas music, and, just as we're walking by, they're playing "Merry Christmas, Darling"! That really made my weekend!

Yes, these two albums are classics. To me the other songs sound old, even with the remixes they still sound 70s. Although I love them to death! But maybe it's because Christmas time and everybody is more accepting about music. I don't really know.

It's both, I think. It's true that people - radio stations, especially - are more accepting about music at Christmastime - just look at how the radio stations will play any countless dozens of artists they wouldn't normally play on their station. And the Carpenters are no exception. Outside of the Christmas season, I absolutely never hear Carpenters on the radio, aside from extremely rare spins of "Hurting Each Other." But come Christmastime, all the stations near me play Carpenters Christmas music like crazy. And not just even one or two select cuts. Just about every song on "Christmas Portrait" shows up on the dial here at least once or twice at some point during December.

But, aside from people/radio being more accepting about music during the holidays, I think it's also just that the Carpenters Christmas albums just sound so much more timeless than their non-holiday work. Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday albums and the non-holiday releases equally, but it's much easier to date the non-holiday releases if you're unfamiliar with their work than it is to date the holiday releases, I think. Even some of my top favorite non-holiday Carpenters songs have admittedly aged horribly ("Back in My Life Again" instantly comes to mind). Whereas there's just something so phenomenal about the arrangements and production and engineering on the Christmas albums that make them never seem to age.

Some of the current and recently recorded Christmas albums are really great, while others (mostly the current pop star ones) leave me cold.

I can't stand most '90s-through-today Christmas music. Some of it is so tastelessly done, and there's a real tendency to butcher and/or re-invent the classics. Christina Aguilera turning "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting ...)" into a dance-club-style track has never failed to make me cringe, for one.

Jeff F.

 

[andywithaz]

Hey Jeff,

You're not alone when it comes to hearing rare spins of Hurting Each Other. I always find it funny that they play the original mix of this song instead of the 1973 remix or the 1991 remix.

 

[Rudy]

I can't stand most '90s-through-today Christmas music. Some of it is so tastelessly done, and there's a real tendency to butcher and/or re-invent the classics. Christina Aguilera turning "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting ...)" into a dance-club-style track has never failed to make me cringe, for one.

There are few modern-day (pardon the expression) slaughterings of Xmas classics that really needed to be made, IMHO. I bought a few, and I'll be honest and say that reissues are where I've found the most satisfaction. Albums recorded in the 50s, 60s, 70s, even a few from the 80s...all still sound good. Many modern recordings just seem trendy today (which will make them sound dated in 10 years time)...either that, or they try to go retro and redo a song by borrowing an arrangement and style from an earlier performance, which often proves they don't have the chops to pull it off.

I still have a handful of new Xmas recordings I've bought in recent years that I really enjoy...but how many countless others I've pased up...amazing...

 

[andywithaz]

Not to get too off-topic but I like Mariah Carey's Christmas songs, but I wish she wouldn't make all those "CELINE" noises. ^_^