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Christmas Portrait - Special Edition


A&M 5173 1984

  1. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
  2. Overture: Happy Birthday / The First Noel / March Of The Toys / Little Jesus / I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
  3. An Old-Fashioned Christmas
  4. Christmas Waltz
  5. Sleigh Ride
  6. It's Christmas Time
  7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
  8. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
  9. Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
  10. Carol Of The Bells
  11. Merry Christmas Darling
  12. Christ Is Born
  13. O Holy Night
  14. Home For The Holidays
  15. Medley: Here Comes Santa Claus / Frosty The Snowman / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer / Good King Wenceslas
  16. Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas
  17. Ave Maria
  18. Selections from 'The Nutcracker': Overture Minature / Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies / Valse Des Fleurs
  19. Little Altar Boy
  20. I'll Be Home For Christmas
  21. Silent Night

Credits

Other Notes

In the notes to the Carpenters: The Compact Disc Collection, Richard Carpenter wrote:

For years after the release of Merry Christmas Darling (1970), Karen and I talked of recording a Christmas album. By early 1978 we finally got under way. I wanted the arrangements to be in the traditional vein, so once again Peter Knight and his wife "Babs" winged their way to L.A. I wanted the album to play almost as a continuous performance and to feature some lovely lesser known tunes as well as the standards. Since the two of us liked so many Christmas songs, we were soon into a marathon of sessions. (Billy May contributed several gorgeous arrangements as well). Ultimately we had recorded enough to fill two albums. (A second Christmas album was released in 1984 with the additional recording done at EMI's Abbey Road Studios). Karen outdid herself vocally, particularly on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Little Alter Boy and Bach / Gounod's Ave Maria. The "C.D." is 69 minutes and 32 seconds in length and features selections from both albums.

Karen Carpenter introduces the Christmas Portrait album

Karen discussed the songs on the Christmas Portrait album for a radio broadcast on KIQQ Los Angeles. Thanks to JJ for sharing this transcript of the show.

Bob Sky (MC):
This is KIQQ Los Angeles, wishing you and yours the very best and Merry Christmas. And as our special gift to you on his Christmas Eve, share with us the music of Karen Carpenter. It's a Christmas Portrait ......now.... on KIQQ.
Karen:
The original idea that we've had for 8 or 9 years, to do this Christmas album, started out with Richard's concept to start the album with an overture. So that was the first thing that he wanted Peter Knight to orchestrate, and we couldn't have been more pleased, because we both feel that Peter was brilliant, and it really turned out to be something else! (laugh).
And out of the overture, he wanted the strings to hold through and go right into Christmas Waltz, which is an up tune, and the message of the tune is very basic, which is it's that time of year, that it's the best time of year, .. and it's a beautiful song, and a happy way to start out an album.

Christmas Waltz plays

Karen:
Sleigh Ride was one of the songs we recorded for our first Christmas special, and that was done by Billy May, who, again, is a brilliant orchestrator .... from the old school .. hasn't changed a bit.. He's just got his own type of talent, and it really worked well on the show ... again, it cross-faded right out of the Christmas Waltz.. it's a lovely piece!

Sleigh Ride plays

Karen:
The next two or three songs there are 2 versions of It's Christmas Time .. there's a piano/vocal version, and then the singers do their version, then it goes right into Sleep Well, Little Children. These are two of my favorites, not only to sing, to listen to, but also because we've taken a lot of the material off of this album from the original Spike Jones' Christmas Album, which is, in our opinion, practically the best Christmas album ever recorded. It's just a happy feeling that sticks with you all the time.. I enjoy doing this type of music all year round, which has been proved, because it took us 14 months to cut this album, and while people were walking down the aisles saying, 'what in heaven's name are you doing Christmas stuff in the middle of August?', it never occurred to me, cause I could do it anytime of the day or night, anytime of the year.

It's Christmas Time plays, then Sleep Well, Little Children

Karen:
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is one of the all-time standards, and that's one thing that Rich wanted to get into this album, he wanted to combine standards with contemporary and some of the more classical type things like the Ave Maria and Christ is Born. Billy did a beautiful arrangement on this tune, and I think it was one of my favorite to sing.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas plays, then Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Karen:
The Christmas Song is something that we've always wanted to do and even though it's nearly impossible to match Nat King Cole's version, we wanted to do it anyway, because we had such fond feelings for the song.

The Christmas Song plays

Karen:
Silent Night was another one that Peter Knight arranged. Incidentally, he did all the orchestra arranging, and also all the choir. And it takes on a little different feel there's really no rhythm to it, it's just choir and myself, and then the orchestra comes init's just very basic, it's a song that is really over-sung by all types and by everybody, and you never really stop to think how beautiful a song it really is.

Silent Night plays.

MC:
This is KIQQ with Karen Carpenter, and A Christmas Portrait
Karen:
Jingle Bells, the way we did it Rich wanted to get in the toy-soldier feel to it, so right in the middle of it, it was brilliantly executed with the instrumentation that Peter chose again, it's a fast-hitting "up" thing, and it's just a song that everybody knows and loves, and it's a different treatment of it.

Jingle Bells plays

Karen:
The First Snowfall and Let It Snow is another combination of tunes that we have been living with, off of the Spike Jones' Christmas Album for years, and it's just something we've always wanted to do, because they are both beautiful songs. We used that on the last Christmas special, and then we did it in a Christmas "live" show in Vegas and in Lake Tahoe. No matter which song you talk about, it's just an overall terrific feeling. I listen to it all the time it just makes me feel good!

The First Snowfall and Let It Snow play

Karen:
Carol Of The Bells is a song that Richard discovered (ooooo).. maybe 3, 4 years ago, when we did the Perry Como Christmas show. It was suggested to Richard by Ray Charles, (the choral Ray Charles), to do as a piano solo, and Richard loved it so that he wanted to use it as a piano number on the album, and it's a terrific chart.

Carol Of The Bells plays

Karen:
Merry Christmas Darling I think, is a little extra special to both of us, because Richard wrote it, and the lyrics were written by the choral director at Long Beach State choir, where we went to school, Frank Pooler. Frank was very helpful in our college days, when we were trying to get a contract and constantly missing classes and everything. He was the only one down there who actually understood what we were after, and he stood behind us all the way. We just did a benefit at Long Beach state, for a scholarship fund, and we did it with the choir and the whole thing, and we did Christmas Darling and he just "glows" everytime we do it.. I think it's my favorite, because it's really close to me.

Merry Christmas Darling plays

MC:
This is KIQQ. More of A Christmas Portrait with Karen Carpenter, in a moment.
Karen:
I'll Be Home For Christmas , again is another classic standard, and with Peter's treatment, even became more special. To sing these songs is something that gives me more pleasure than I can really put into words just taking all of these tunes I think we came out with something like 29 songs.. We've got at least another 12 in the can that we couldn' t finish and we couldn't stuff on the album, like Little Altar Boy, and, oh, all sorts of them (sigh) we were dying, cause we couldn't stuff them on the record.. . ya know, we had to leave the label off, but there are so many beautiful Christmas songs, that, where do you stop? I mean, we were pulling our hair out trying to decide but it's just a lovely thought, and it' s a beautiful tune.

I'll Be Home For Christmas plays

Karen:
Christ Is Born is a piece that we came across when we were in school. We did it (the choir did it) at one of the concerts, and we were so taken by it, that Richard remembered it. We did that with 2 choirs, as a matter of fact, I think there were 80.. and it's in a different vein.. it's a little more serious.. but the beauty of it, it holds its own.

Christ Is Born plays

MC:
This is KIQQ.. presenting A Christmas Portrait. We'll hear more with Karen Carpenter, in just a minute
Karen:
The next medley of Winter Wonderland, Silver Bells and White Christmas, is something that we also did on the first Christmas show, and it covers three different areas of songs. Winter Wonderland is just an all-out terrific piece, and then Richard put White Christmas on the end. Silver Bells is done in the Spike Jones mode, with all the silliness thrown in, and it goes right into White Christmas. There wouldn't be an album without White Christmas, especially since the loss of Bing, which I know that the entire world feels, and it even has a more special meaning now. I just hope that people think I do justice to it, because I know that it's impossible to touch Bing's.. cause he's my favorite human, nobody could touch Bing.

Winter Wonderland, Silver Bells and White Christmas play

Karen:
The Ave Maria.. we were going back and forth between the Bach-Gounod version, and the Schubert, and we had them both cut.. when it came down to the last choice, we didn't have any more time to cut the other one, Richard felt he wanted to go with this one, which is the Bach-Gounod, because it was less known and we felt that even though they are both so gorgeous, that this is just a touch classier, and again, Richard's always leaned to the side of doing things that aren't run into the ground. Peter did an absolutely unbelievable job on the chart, and I enjoyed singing it more than ever, because I'd never.. it was quite an undertaking.

Ave Maria plays

Karen:
You've been listening to A Christmas Portrait with Karen Carpenter, KIQQ, Los Angeles. I thank you for listening, happy holidays to your family and to you, I'm Bob Sky, I'm going to be signing off now, and Maggie Ross is coming your way up next, with more music, the music of Southern California on FM 100.

Confused by the different Carpenters Christmas albums and CDs available? Ken Tucker provided this excllent article summarizing the different configurations.

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Carpenters - Christmas Portrait
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Carpenters - Christmas Portrait
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Last changed: Sun Jul 8 17:39:15 EDT 2007