Carpenters Christmas Portrait

Since CHRISTMAS COLLECTION DISC ONE has exactly the same tracks, it's what the online databases report. It's far more common than the German CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT.

Harry

 

I just found it funny, as the CD-R needledrop I did has the same tracks too and it came up as Christmas Portrait. It's a couple seconds different here and there....not a big deal either way.

Listening to the samples of the remixed version, what a shame Richard chose to smother Karen's voice in all of that reverb. What was he thinking?

 

Nice album. I'm spinning an LP but it's got the original unfutzed with 17. That girl could sing.

 

Last week, I found a sealed Special Edition CD of this album in a bargain bin. Only paid less than $4.00. (I checked Best Buy and Walmart after I found it and they are both selling it for $10.00.)

Anyway, for the past couple days, I've been listening to it in my car. It is a very good Christmas Album. I always knew it was a classic but never owned it until I got it last week. This one will get filed with my Bing, Elvis, Perry, Andy, Johnny, Nat, and other Christmas classic standards.

 

OK, now I understand. The whole idea that a program can recognize a disc as quickly as it does is a mystery to me. It makes the CSI "hit in CODIS" in seconds look plausible. I suppose that a second one way or the other will tell the database one thing versus another.

Another mystery. That remix first appeared in the mid-'90s in Japan and the UK, and a year or so later in the US as part of the COLLECTION. I can usually appreciate his remixes (as long as the originals are still around), but this one is just beyond the pale. The reverb is so heavily slathered on, it's just an unappealing mess. I usually recommend folks stick with their LPs, cassettes, or the expanded edition. At least there you don't have that excessive reverb. But the West German CD is the ideal thing to find if you can.

Harry

 

I think the Non Special edition version of this CD (West German) is on my experience in the Irish used bins more common than the Special Edition. I found 3 in the last couple of months.

 

Are all copies of the Special Edition identical or did Richard slip in changes at some point? In the U.S., the catalog number changed from CD 3210 to CD 5173 somewhere in past 10-15 years, and I was also wondering if there was any significance to that change.

Do the remixes discussed above appear on some copies of the Special Edition?

 

I don't believe there were any changes in the Special Edition when the catalog number changed. That was probably more a function of the label changing hands more than anything else.

The Special Edition didn't really have much in the way of Richard's remixes per se. There was some tinkering with the flow of the album since it was basically a new construction combining tracks from the second album with the first. The famous single "Merry Christmas Darling" was reworked for the original album and that "remix" appears on the Special Edition. But the main tracks are relatively unfutzed with on the Special Edition - none of that heavy reverb.

Harry

 

Thanks, Harry. I recently bought the CD 5173 disc and was wondering if there was anything different I should be listening for compared to the CD 3120 versions I have that we're pressed in Japan.

 

I got a disc with the original LP mix from Amazon.de a few months ago for the princely sum of €2.95. PMDC made in Germany and has the 25th Anniversary sticker on it. So it must be from 1994-1995. My guess is that it must have been available right up until the time The Christmas Collection happened, which was 1996, and then replaced by that once it became widely available. I don't recall seeing european versions of the Special Edition. I as far as I can remember, it was always the US import that you'd find in stores. So the original mix must have been available for quite a while. Good thing it was, seeing that the TCM tapes have gone kaput... I suppose they could always clone the German disc if they wanted the original mix available again but knowing how much Richard loves his remixes, I doubt it they'd do it,

Richard.

 

I've seen a Japanes shm-cd of the 17 track version (it says released 2009). Proper track list, but does anyone know about the mixes used?

 

All remixes, laden with reverb.

 

Ironic...I just woke up, and put on my WG 17 track because I wanted to hear it. Didn't expect to see a thread about it.

 

Man, the original mix of "Merry Christmas Darling" is just magical. Better lead vocal, better mix overall than the revised version.

That acapella ending gives me goosebumps every single time.

 

The 21 track Special Edition version of Christmas Portrait is one of my Go To Christmas albums.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...s&qid=1450962422&ref_=sr_1_2_twi_aud_2&sr=8-2

 

It's a nice album, but for some reason I rarely play it.

 

A perennial best-seller.

 

I just played my CD last night - the one with the original mix.

 

Same here. I only play it during the holidays.

 

Pfft, amateur! You haven't lived until you've heard "Merry Christmas, Darling" in July.

 

Found it at a local Goodwill couple of months ago. I heard it fro the 1st time last week. It was enjoyable but not what I was expecting (more Karen, less orchestra). It will be played every Xmas season from now on.

 

That's what I meant. I don't even play it then.

 

Yeah, I was just being obnoxious. Please indulge me, as it is one my few talents.

 

You so need to take lessons from me (well, according to Colin/OatsDad, anyway). You are not obnoxious at all.

 

This album is truly wonderful and while both the original vinyl and the special edition CD are great, there something very touching about Karen singing Ava Maria without the orchestra overdub.