Christmas Portrait

Christmas Portrait
Studio album by The Carpenters
Released	October 13, 1978
Recorded	1978
Genre	Holiday
Label	A&M
Producer	Richard Carpenter; Karen Carpenter
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
The Carpenters chronology
Passage (1977) Christmas Portrait (1978) Made in America (1981)

Christmas Portrait is the first Christmas album recorded by The Carpenters (and the only one issued during Karen Carpenter's lifetime), originally released on October 13, 1978 (A&M 4726).

The album sold one million copies and included a revised version of the group's signature Christmas song, "Merry Christmas Darling". It also includes one of two versions of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (here it is presented in a faster, one-minute version--a slow version, recorded in 1974, as well as other unused songs recorded during this album's sessions, was issued on the Carpenters' later Christmas album, An Old-Fashioned Christmas).

The CD version of Christmas Portrait, issued in 1984, is a compendium of selected tracks from the Carpenters' two Christmas albums into one 74-minute program, with tracks from each interspersed in the running order. (A CD of the original LP content was briefly issued in West Germany only around the same time.) In 1998 2-CD set titled Christmas Collection was issued, containing Christmas Portrait and An Old-Fashioned Christmas together in their original respective tracklists. Richard Carpenter remixed some of the album tracks for both CD collections, most notably "Ave Maria" (which contains an overdubbed choir that was missing from the original LP release).

Track listing (Original 1978 LP)

Side One

1. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"
2. Overture: "Deck the Halls"/"I Saw Three Ships"/"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"/"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"/"Away in a Manger"/"What Child Is This?"/"Carol of the Bells"/"O Come All Ye Faithful" [medley]
3. "Christmas Waltz"
4. "Sleigh Ride"
5. Medley: "It's Christmas Time"/"Sleep Well, Little Children"
6. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
7. "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"
8. "Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)"
9. "Silent Night"

Side Two

1. "Jingle Bells"
2. Medley: "First Snowfall"/"Let It Snow"
3. "Carol of the Bells"
4. "Merry Christmas Darling"
5. "I'll Be Home for Christmas"
6. "Christ is Born"
7. Medley: "Winter Wonderland"/"Silver Bells"/"White Christmas"
8. "Ave Maria"

Track listing (1984 CD reissue)

1. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" - 0:41
2. Overture: "Happy Holiday"/"The First Noel"/"March of the Toys"/"Little Jesus" [medley] - 8:16
3. "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" - 2:11
4. "Christmas Waltz" - 2:12
5. "Sleigh Ride" - 2:39
6. "It's Christmas Time" - 2:53
7. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - 3:54
8. "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" - 1:05
9. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" - 3:39
10. "Carol of the Bells" - 1:39
11. "Merry Christmas Darling" - 3:07
12. "Christ is Born" - 3:13
13. "O Holy Night" - 3:10
14. "Home for the Holidays" - 2:36
15. Medley: "Here Comes Santa Claus"/"Frosty the Snowman"/"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - 3:42
16. "Winter Wonderland"/"Silver Bells"/"White Christmas" - 5:28
17. "Ave Maria" - 2:34
18. Selections from "Nutcracker": Overture Miniature/Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies - 5:27
19. "Little Altar Boy" - 3:43
20. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" - 3:49
21. "Silent Night" - 3:20

Singles

• Merry Christmas, Darling

US 7" single (1970)  A&M 1236
1.Merry Christmas, Darling
2.Mr. Guder

UK 7" single (1971)  AME601
1.Merry Christmas Darling
2.Ticket to Ride
3.Saturday

UK 7" single (1990)  AM716
1.Merry Christmas Darling
2.(They Long To Be) Close To You

UK 7" single (1990)  AMS716
1.Merry Christmas Darling
2.(They Long To Be) Close To You

UK 12" single (1990)  AMY716
1.Merry Christmas Darling
2.You're The One
3.(They Long To Be) Close To You

UK CD single (1990)  AMCD716
1.Merry Christmas Darling
2.(They Long To Be) Close To You
3.You're The One

• Christmas Song

US 7" single (1977)  A&M 1991
1.Christmas Song
2.Merry Christmas Darling

JP 7" single (1977)  CM-2083
1.Christmas Song
2.Merry Christmas Darling

JP CD single (1996)  PODM-1059
1.Christmas Song
2.Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas

• Silent Night

JP 7" single (1978)  AMP 1012
1.Silent Night
2.Jingle Bells
3.Ave Maria

• Ave Maria

JP CD single (1996)  PODM-1065
1.Ave Maria
2.Merry Christmas Darling

Richard Carpenter's Review

"Karen and I had always been fond of Christmas music and in interviews, as early as 1971, were stating that we would soon be working on one. In hindsight, of course, we can see that it wasn’t about to happen. With the schedule that presented itself following the success of “Close To You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun”, we were fortunate to complete a regular album each year. (As previously mentioned, in 1974, even that did not happen.)

On December 8, 1976, ABC aired our first television special: “The Carpenters’ Very First Television Special”, which placed No.6 in the Nielson Ratings for that week. This led to our being offered more specials, the second of which was “The Carpenters at Christmas”, airing December 9, 1977. It was while selecting and recording music for this special that Karen and I decided the time had come to finally record a Christmas album. To a degree, our project was patterned after a favorite of ours: Spike Jones's 1956 “Xmas Spectacular”, in that it features more than the average album's number of songs, both sacred and secular, along with some top-notch choral singing. Selecting Christmas music is, indeed, dealing with an embarrassment of riches and I ultimately chose, and we recorded, more than enough for even “Christmas Portrait”, which stretched the limit of how much music could fit on a LP.

What was saddening to me then, and even more so now, is that I was at my nadir dealing with the sleeping pill problem. If I were at my best, I could have and would have contributed a lot more in both creativity and spirit to “Hush”, “Passage”, and the first four television specials. By the time Karen and I began recording on the Christmas album, I was not interested in more than production work, and an occasional lead and some minor piano work. Arranging (something I truly enjoy doing, especially with Christmas songs) was turned over, by me, to veterans Peter Knight and Billy May. With Karen's marvelous leads, combined with an oversize studio orchestra and chorus, terrific arrangements and timeless music, “Christmas Portrait” was, and is, an almost incomparable Christmas album. It was a hit in 1978 and every year succeeding; I receive compliments on it every holiday season. What I should have realized then, although I don’t know if A&M would have gone for it, is that “Christmas Portrait” is Karen's album, and should have been titled accordingly, not Carpenters. (I did oversee the mixes, of course, but that falls under production.)

Many a listener will notice that this album is not as originally released. Ave Maria was arranged from the start for chorus, as well as orchestra. With so much music, not to mention people, around the studio while the album was being made, the choral parts were misplaced, only to be discovered after the album was “in the can”. The multi-track was retrieved, and the chorus recorded, in 1984, during the “An Old Fashioned Christmas” sessions. To all of us involved, it was a great addition. The song was later remixed (and an editing error in the lead vocal fixed) in 1990. Some others were remixed at the same time for inclusion in “From The Top”, and ultimately all except Merry Christmas Darling, were remixed for the “Carpenters Christmas Collection” two CD set for Japan."^[1]

References