Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

An Old Fashioned Christmas

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Released
  
1984

Artist
  
Carpenters

Label
  
A&M Records

An Old-Fashioned Christmas (1984)
  
Lovelines (1989)

Release date
  
1984

Genre
  
Christmas music

An Old-Fashioned Christmas leadsistercomwpcontentuploads201604Carpente

Recorded
  
1978 (Karen's vocals & other basic tracks) 1984 ("new" material, overdubs, & mixing)

Producers
  
Richard Carpenter, Karen Carpenter, Jack Daugherty

Similar
  
Carpenters albums, Christmas music albums

Carpenters an old fashioned christmas


An Old-Fashioned Christmas is a Christmas album by the Carpenters, released in 1984 after the death of singer and drummer Karen Carpenter.

Contents

The album project had its genesis in several unused tracks from the Carpenters' previous Christmas album, 1978's Christmas Portrait. Richard Carpenter took these tracks and recorded new material around them, and this album was the end result. The album (in its original LP and cassette form) includes the slow version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (a faster version appeared on the Christmas Portrait album).

A 1984 expanded CD reissue of Christmas Portrait included several tracks from An Old Fashioned Christmas. In 1996 a two-CD set, Christmas Collection, was issued containing both albums in their original running order.

Track listing

  1. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (Edmund Hamilton Sears, Richard Storrs Willis) – 0:43 (Acapella)
  2. Overture – 8:14* (Instrumental with Background Vocals)
    1. "Happy Holiday" (Irving Berlin)
    2. "The First Noel" (P.D., Trad. Old English Carol)
    3. "March of the Toys" (Victor Herbert)
    4. "Little Jesus" (P.D., from the Oxford Book of Carols)
    5. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (Thomas Connor)
    6. "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (P.D., L.H. Redner)
    7. "In Dulce Jubilo" (P.D., 14th Century German Melody)
    8. "Gesu Bambino" (Pietro Yon)
    9. "Angels We Have Heard on High" (P.D., Trad. French Carol)
  3. "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" (John Bettis, Richard Carpenter) – 2:14
  4. "O Holy Night" (Adolphe Adam, John Sullivan Dwight) – 3:10 (Instrumental)
  5. "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" (Al Stillman, Robert Allen) – 2:36
  6. Medley – 3:43* (Instrumental)
    1. "Here Comes Santa Claus" (Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman)
    2. "Frosty the Snowman" (Steve Nelson, Jack Rollins)
    3. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Johnny Marks)
    4. "Good King Wenceslas" (P.D., John Mason Neale)
  7. "Little Altar Boy" (Howlett Peter Smith) – 3:43
  8. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Gloria Shayne, Noël Regney) – 2:53
  9. "My Favorite Things" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) – 3:54
  10. "He Came Here for Me" (Ron Nelson) – 2:12
  11. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Haven Gillespie, J. Fred Coots) – 4:04
  12. "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" (Frank Loesser) – 2:51
  13. Selections from The Nutcracker – 6:14* (Instrumental)
    1. "Overture Miniature" (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
    2. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" (Tchaikovsky)
    3. "Trepak" (Tchaikovsky)
    4. "Valse Des Fleurs" (Tchaikovsky)
  14. "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Johnny Marks) – 2:21
  • Tracks 2, 6, 13 arranged and adapted by Richard Carpenter

    • Personnel

    Unless otherwise indicated, Information is taken from Lead Sister Performance

  • Richard Carpenter - vocals (all on track 1, lead on tracks 3, 8, 11), vocal arrangements (1), musical arrangements (11), piano (4, 13), keyboards, background vocals
  • Karen Carpenter - lead vocals (tracks 5, 7-8, 10-12, 14), background vocals
  • Dick Bolks - O.K. Choir director, choir conductor
  • The English Chorale - background vocals
  • Robert Howes - English Choir director, choir conductor
  • Pete Jolly - keyboards
  • Skiala Kanga - harp
  • Peter Knight - musical arrangement (tracks 2-6, 7-9, 12-14)
  • Gayle Levant - harp
  • Billy May - musical arrangement (track 10)
  • Barry Morgan - drums
  • Joe Morgan - electric bass
  • Pete Morgan - upright bass
  • The O.K. Chorale - background vocals
  • John "Francis" Phillips - tenor saxophone
  • Ron Tutt - drums

    • Production and technical

  • Richard Carpenter - producer (All tracks)
  • Karen Carpenter - producer (track 11)
  • Jim Cassell - assistant audio mixing
  • Jack Daugherty - producer (track 11)
  • Robert De La Garza - recording engineer
  • Ray Gerhardt - recording engineer
  • Mike Hatcher - assistant audio mixing
  • Clyde Kaplan - assistant audio mixing
  • Dave Marquette - assistant audio mixing
  • John Richards - audio mixing
  • Alan Rouse - assistant recording engineer
  • Eric Tomlinson - recording engineer
  • Roger Young - recording engineer, audio mixing

    • Singles

    1. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (A&M SP-1648): US 7-inch single (1974)
      1. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"
      2. "Merry Christmas Darling"
    2. "Little Altar Boy" (A&M SP-2700): US 7-inch single (1984)
      1. "Little Altar Boy"
      2. "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

    Songs

    1It Came Upon a Midnight Clear0:43
    2Overture: 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 (The Infant Jesus) / Angels We Have Heard on High8:15
    3An Old-Fashioned Christmas2:15

    References

    An Old-Fashioned Christmas Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA