Christmas Portrait: Special Edition (1984)

How Would You Rate This Album


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Thanks Chris and well explained to us non technical music lovers. I've always felt that Richard's amazing arrangement of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" was similar to the stroke of genius he had with his unique approach to "Ticket To Ride", only in a festive kind of way!
Absolutely! And if/when Richard completes the project—which he has every intention of doing last we discussed, it will be well worth it!
 
Agreed, which has been part of its appeal for many Carpenterphiles over the past few decades.

As for the second overture—it was placed there not only because Richard directly had his hand in the arrangement and orchestration, but also because it gave Portrait a different spin in terms of a fresh sound with greater marketing appeal, since it was technically a reissue (in title only)—but not.
And, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” is a much brighter, stronger arrangement for solo Richard and opener for the album than “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” But….I do hope whatever he does with the new project he removes his opening breath from “It Came Upon…” Seems like a logical choice.
 
And, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” is a much brighter, stronger arrangement for solo Richard and opener for the album than “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” But….I do hope whatever he does with the new project he removes his opening breath from “It Came Upon…” Seems like a logical choice.
His original intention with "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" was to give it the vocal treatment that you mention in "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." It never happened because he was in no shape to be making records, hence the simpler, double-tracked unison vocal instead.
 
Well, those of us who experienced the original album upon its release in ‘78 feel differently. It’s chock full of Karen at her very best.

I remember how stunned I was to see a Carpenters Christmas album. It seemed to come out of nowhere. What a magnificent surprise, though! The SE is beautifully done, as well. Richard linked old and ‘new’ together beautifully, as always.
You also have to remember that Christmas Portrait: Special Edition is also the version that has charted the highest on Billboard’s Pop Chart, the original only got to #154.
 
Well... yes, and no.

The only way this would technically make sense—assuming we're talking about wholesale changes to the orchestrations themselves, would be to completely re-orchestrate everything. This doesn't really work since the vocal tracks, harmonic and rhythmic structures all pivot around what the late Peter Knight intended for the charts that he completed.

Even if Richard was to do anything remotely close, it would be nothing more than replace the existing orchestra on the masters with the Royal Phil, with the purpose of fattening the sound. The issue is simply this—the orchestras were/are the same size and don’t need any “fattening,” so it really would be a costly endeavor with little result.

This project will consist of materials from both Christmas albums, so "Santa Claus" would be included.

All of this to say, with the exception of an occasional embellishment here or there, the most he'll do will be a master tape track cleanup (mostly on the leads), removing most of the reverb, and a remix. This will definitely improve the quality of the playlist.
It’s too bad that he wouldn’t include “Toyland” or “Christmas Alphabet” or “Make Me Laugh” or his “Home For The Holidays” on this new Christmas album. Or even license Karen’s duet with Perry Como on “Sleep Well Little Children” and the “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas” (which, hopefully was maybe recorded separately and he could bring Karen’s voice up in a new stereo mix). Or include versions of his three Christmas songs, “Christmas Turned Blue” & “December Morn” & “Together At Christmas Again”. And maybe he could grab Karen’s vocals from the duets she did with Gene Kelley, & Gloria Engel and if he couldn’t get their rights, maybe he could get one of his kids to do a duet with their aunt!

(When I look at that list, forget another compilation, he’s got enough for a third Christmas album.)
 
It’s too bad that he wouldn’t include “Toyland” or “Christmas Alphabet” or “Make Me Laugh” or his “Home For The Holidays” on this new Christmas album. Or even license Karen’s duet with Perry Como on “Sleep Well Little Children” and the “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas” (which, hopefully was maybe recorded separately and he could bring Karen’s voice up in a new stereo mix). Or include versions of his three Christmas songs, “Christmas Turned Blue” & “December Morn” & “Together At Christmas Again”. And maybe he could grab Karen’s vocals from the duets she did with Gene Kelley, & Gloria Engel and if he couldn’t get their rights, maybe he could get one of his kids to do a duet with their aunt!

(When I look at that list, forget another compilation, he’s got enough for a third Christmas album.)
Apparently, he already has a third Christmas album, albeit a "solo" effort, that we have been waiting over a decade for; however, will probably never see the light of day from what others have said on this site. But it's nice to imagine that he could do many of the things you mentioned especially including his recording of Toyland and his rendition of Home for the Holidays. Both are good vehicles to feature Richard's "lead" vocals.
 
Apparently, he already has a third Christmas album, albeit a "solo" effort, that we have been waiting over a decade for; however, will probably never see the light of day from what others have said on this site. But it's nice to imagine that he could do many of the things you mentioned especially including his recording of Toyland and his rendition of Home for the Holidays. Both are good vehicles to feature Richard's "lead" vocals.
I was just reading page 182 of “Little Girl Blue” and there’s a quote from Karen saying that, in regards to the ‘Christmas Portrait’ sessions that might indicate there are still a few Karen Christmas vocals, since she said they had “something like twenty-nine songs. We’ve got another twelve in the can that we couldn’t finish…We’d have had to leave the label off!”

AOFC only contained 6 new Karen vocals and the 1974 Santa. So if she was only referring to vocals, what are the other 6 that were recorded (was “Christmas Alphabet” one she was referring too)?

So there might be enough for a 3rd album still.
 
I was just reading page 182 of “Little Girl Blue” and there’s a quote from Karen saying that, in regards to the ‘Christmas Portrait’ sessions that might indicate there are still a few Karen Christmas vocals, since she said they had “something like twenty-nine songs. We’ve got another twelve in the can that we couldn’t finish…We’d have had to leave the label off!”

AOFC only contained 6 new Karen vocals and the 1974 Santa. So if she was only referring to vocals, what are the other 6 that were recorded (was “Christmas Alphabet” one she was referring too)?

So there might be enough for a 3rd album still.
Possibly; however, I think the remaining songs might be the ones from the Christmas specials where their (Carpenters') vocals are "locked in" with those of the guests. For example, with Christmas Alphabet, Karen and Kristy McNichol's vocals are on the same track. I believe the same with Georgette Ingle and the other "guests." I believe all this was explained on another thread.
 
Possibly; however, I think the remaining songs might be the ones from the Christmas specials where their (Carpenters') vocals are "locked in" with those of the guests. For example, with Christmas Alphabet, Karen and Kristy McNichol's vocals are on the same track. I believe the same with Georgette Ingle and the other "guests." I believe all this was explained on another thread.
I never heard that, especially with the Carpenters-owned specials, since as Richard has written in the past, with their specials they were able to record and mix the specials the way they wanted to, and we’ve seen Richard issue tracks from other specials where he’s removed John Denver or another because each vocal was on its own track (also, on “Christmas Memories”, ‘Christmas Alphabet’ is in stereo, not mono, so Richard was clearly able to access the different tracks).

He’s also got the multi-tracks for some specials that the Carpenters don’t own, like the Como/Carpenter medley from the Como special & “Make Us Laugh”.
 
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