Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
2. Overture
3. Christmas Waltz, The
4. Sleigh Ride
5. It's Christmas Time/ Sleep Well, Little Children
6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
8. Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), The
9. Silent Night
10. Jingle Bells
11. First Snowfall/Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
12. Carol Of The Bells
13. Merry Christmas Darling
14. I'll Be Home For Christmas
15. Christ Is Born
16. Winter WonderLand/Silver Bells/White Christmas
17. Ave Maria

Disc 2:

1. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
2. Overture
3. Old-Fashioned Christmas, An
4. O Holy Night
5. Home For The Holidays, (There's No Place Like)
6. Here Comes Santa Claus / Frosty The Snowman / Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer / Good King Wenceslas
7. Little Altar Boy
8. Do You Hear What I Hear?
9. My Favorite Things
10. He Came Here For Me
11. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
12. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve
13. Selections From "The Nutcracker"
14. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Album Details
Digitally Remastered Double CD Collection featuring 1978's 'christmas Portrait' Backed with 1984's 'an Old Fashioned Christmas'.

Amazon.com
Rainy days and Mondays always made Karen Carpenter blue. Maybe she should have played her two Christmas records, Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Christmas. Both are combined in this 31-piece collection, a great value for fans of this brother-sister duo who captured the pop airwaves during the early to mid-'70s. A number of good performances mark the collection, which includes songs from their Christmas TV special, numerous cuts backed by full orchestra that prove the duo could extend their pop sensibilities to timeless holiday fare, and singular works such as "Little Altar Boy," a song that Richard Carpenter feels was among his sister's greatest performances. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

The Best Christmas Album Ever Made
Christmas music is one of my passions (I have over 130 Christmas CDs), and I can say without any hesitation that this is the best Christmas recording I have ever heard! The Carpenters were one of the early pioneers of blending Christmas instrumental tracks along with vocal ones. Although there are better versions out there of a few of these songs (some of the arrangements have more regard for keeping strict tempos than for the meaning of the words), overall you can find no album that better captures that old-fashioned Christmasy sound that instantly conveys the beauty, nostalgia, and spirituality of the holidays. If you only have the single-disc version that came out in the mid-Eighties, you owe it to yourself to get this complete 2-disc set. Not only will you be getting the 2 complete albums (instead of an edited highlights edition), you'll be getting better sound. Disc 1 (Christmas Portrait) was remixed and remastered and sounds much better that it did on the original release. Disc 2 (An Old-Fashioned Christmas) sounds fine, but it's not quite as clear and full as Disc 1 since it was only remastered but not remixed. There is not as much of Karen on Disc 2 since there were only a few of her tracks left from the "Christmas Portrait" sessions--but that does not detract from this wonderful collection. Like others have mentioned, even non-Carpenters fans enjoy this album. It's probably the most beautiful work they ever did. If you buy no other Christmas album this year, make it a point to buy this one. I can't imagine that anyone would be disappointed.

The best Carpenters album ever!
First, a warning: the song list on Amazon is incorrect and incomplete. The correct list is:

CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT (Their first Christmas disc)
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 Gentleman/Away In a Manger/What Child Is This?/Carol Of The Bells/O Come All Ye Faithful
3. Christmas Waltz
4. Sleigh Ride
5. It's Christmas Time/Sleep Well, Little Children
6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
8. Christmas Song (Chestnuts)
9. Silent Night
10. Jingle Bells
11. First Snowfall/Let It Snow
12. Carol Of The Bells
13. Merry Christmas Darling
14. I'll Be Home For Christmas
15. Christ Is Born
16. Winter WonderLand/Silver Bells/White Christmas
17. Ave Maria

AN OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS (Their 2nd Christmas disc)
1. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
2. Overture: Happy Holiday/The First Noel/March Of The Toys/Little Jesus/I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus/O Little Town Of Bethlehem/In Dulce Jubilo/Gesu Bambino/Angels We Have Heard On High
3. An Old-Fashioned Christmas
4. O Holy Night
5. Home For The Holidays
6. Here Comes Santa Claus/Frosty The Snowman/Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer/Good King Wenceslas
7. Little Altar Boy
8. Do You Hear What I Hear?
9. My Favorite Things
10. He Came Here For Me
11. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
12. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve
13. Selections From "The Nutcracker": Overture Miniature/Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy/Trepak/Valse Des Fleurs
14. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

The Carpenters released two Christmas albums on LP, "Christmas Portrait" and "An Old Fashioned Christmas". Their first CD release, also called Christmas Portrait, was a combination of the two LPs, mostly the first with some selections from the second. Some songs were given enhanced (or, at least, altered) arrangements, while others were omitted because of space considerations, although most Carpenter fans have undoubtably questioned the choices for years.

"Christmas Collection" is, finally, the original LPs, in their entirely, released together on CD. This is the music the Carpenters were born to make. Their sweet, sometimes corny arrangements and interpretations fit perfectly with these traditional and modern holiday classics. Karen's bright, clear voice adds a freshness to this music that few other singers could offer. Her warm, wholesome, "girl next door" singing brings to mind the image of a snow-covered American Christmas, from the star atop the tree to the rug by the fireplace. Not bad for two 20-somethings from Southern California, as they were when they recorded these songs!

The accompanying orchestral arrangements and layered vocals give this collection an elegant, timeless foundation, if a little overdone sometimes. While the Carpenters (mostly Richard) sometimes overwhelmed his songs with as much production as he could cram into 3 minutes, here he has just the right touch. It's a little unusual to hear Carpenters music with other singers providing background vocals, but they work just fine on this collection.

In the end, the buying decision comes down to Karen's voice. If you've always hated it, you probably don't want this collection. If you've always loved it, either you already own this double-CD set or you have the single CD and/or the LPs and you're wondering whether or not to spend the money. The answer: YES! If you're somewhere in the middle, this music is guaranteed to make you a Carpenters fan, a Christmas music fan, or both.

Christmas isn't Christmas without the Carpenters!!!
Since so many people have already reviewed this I will keep my comments short. In one word: MAGNIFICENT! INCREDIBLE! AMAZING! (Ooops, that's more than one word, isn't it...) My family has gone through two sets of these albums on vinyl and I'm on my second set of cassettes. I'm very excited about them finally being on CD. CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT (CD 1) was the Carpenters' first Christmas album, and its awe-inspiring beauty does not let up for even one second. Karen's vocal talents shine for all to hear as do Richard's wonderful gifts of arranging and playing. His "one person chorus" on "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is a powerful opening. It is an equal match to the beauty of Karen's closing "Ave Maria". AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS (CD 2), which was put together after Karen's tragic death, is a wonderful companion to the first. Although the circumstances which made it possible are very sad, this album necessarily gives a greater amount of the spotlight to Richard's genius. His performance of works like "O Holy Night" and excerpts from Tchaikovsky's NUTCRACKER ballet are brilliant examples of his amazing talent. Both of these albums are standards of excellence as to what Christmas albums should be. Even what were less-known works have become staples of the season because of the "Carpenters' touch" they received on these albums. What more can I say other than this: GO GET THESE IMMEDIATELY--IF NOT SOONER!!!