''Christmas Portrait'' is the first

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Je ...

and ninth studio album by the American music duo

Carpenters Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters trad ...

, released on October 13, 1978.

Background

The album includes a revised version of the duo's signature Christmas song, " Merry Christmas Darling", featuring re-recorded vocals by Karen Carpenter (done at her request). It also includes one of two versions of "

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas music, Christmas song written by John Frederick Coots, J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and first recorded by Harry Reser and His Orchestra. When it was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show ...

". A slower version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", recorded in 1974, as well as other unused songs recorded during this album's sessions, were issued on the Carpenters' 1984 Christmas album, '' An Old-Fashioned Christmas''.

Album artwork

The original album cover by Robert Tanenbaum is modeled on

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

's 1960 painting "

Triple Self-Portrait ''Triple Self-Portrait'' is an oil painting by American illustrator Norman Rockwell created for the cover of the February 13, 1960, edition of ''The Saturday Evening Post''. Description ''Triple Self-Portrait'' is an oil painting on canvas mea ...

", done as a cover for ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''.

Reissues

The standard CD version of ''Christmas Portrait'', first issued in 1984, is a "Special Edition" compendium of selected tracks from the Carpenters' two Christmas albums into one 70-minute program, with tracks from each interspersed in the running order; "Ave Maria" was remixed at this time in order to include a choral track that vanished in 1978 and was later found. A CD of the original LP content was briefly issued exclusively in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

around the same time. In 1996, a two-CD set titled ''Christmas Collection'' was issued internationally, containing ''Christmas Portrait'' and ''An Old-Fashioned Christmas'' together with their original respective track listings.

Commercial performance

On April 16, 1998, ''Christmas Portrait'' was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for shipment of one million copies in the United States since its 1978 release. In December 2011, ''Christmas Portrait: Special Edition'' re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 album sales chart at No. 150 and eventually achieved a new chart peak position of No. 126. In December 2012 and then, in December 2013, the album again re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 album sales chart and attained a new chart peak position of No. 114. In January 2019, it reached a new peak position of No. 67 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The original ''Christmas Portrait'' has not been available on its own in the US since the late-90's, when the cassette version was discontinued, so the chart action in the 2010s is for the 1984 compilation. In January 2020, it reached another new peak position of No. 56 on the ''Billboard'' 200. By the end of November 2014, ''Christmas Portrait: Special Edition'' was the twenty-third best-selling Christmas/holiday album in the U.S. during the

SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellig ...

era of music sales tracking (March 1991 to present), having sold 1,950,000 copies according to SoundScan.

Reception

In their review, '' Cashbox'' called it "an appealing easy listening album which should be an attractive holiday package for Carpenters fans. Supported by elegant orchestral arrangements and the Tom Bahler Chorale, Karen and Richard sing their way through such Christmas favorites as "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night," "Sleigh Ride' and "Silver Bells." ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' noted that the duo "did it in superb style here, illuminated throughout by the delightful, complex, often playful arrangements...Actually, for a change on a Carpenters album, Richard is the dominant personality on display across this record, as both co-arranger and producer, as well as the mastermind behind the project; Karen Carpenter's voice is also prominent, to be sure... but it's Richard who comes to the fore everywhere here, in ways that are impossible to ignore. There's not a slack moment on this album."

Personnel

*Vocals:

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and early drummer of the highly successful duo the Carpenters, formed with her older brother Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard. Wi ...

Richard Carpenter Richard Carpenter may refer to: * Richard Carpenter (theologian) (1575–1627), English clergyman and theological writer * Richard Carpenter (ca. 1700–1750), original owner of the Belvale property in Virginia * Richard Cromwell Carpenter (1812� ...

*Guitar:

Bob Bain Bob Bain (26 January 1924 – 21 June 2018) was an American guitarist mainly known for his film music contributions, including “ Dr. Zhivago” (1965), where he played the balalaika in the score for certain scenes where “Lara’s Theme” is ...

Tony Peluso Anthony F. Peluso (March 28, 1950 – June 5, 2010) was an American guitarist and record producer. He was lead guitarist for pop duo Carpenters from 1972 to 1983. Peluso played the fuzz guitar solo on the Carpenters' song "Goodbye to Love". He al ...

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wre ...

*Bass:

Joe Osborn Joe Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Pete Jolly Pete Jolly (born Peter A. Ceragioli Jr., June 5, 1932 – November 6, 2004) was a two-time Grammy Awards, Grammy-nominated American West Coast jazz pianist and accordionist. He is known for his performance of television theme song, themes and ...

*Drums:

Cubby O'Brien Carl Patrick "Cubby" O'Brien (born July 14, 1946), better known by his nickname Cubby, is an American drummer and former child actor. He is known as one of the original Mouseketeers on the weekday ABC television program ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' f ...

Ron Tutt Ronald Ellis Tutt (March 12, 1938 – October 16, 2021) was an American drummer who was the principal drummer for Elvis Presley, the Carpenters, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Jerry Garcia. He was also a session drummer who recorded with some of ...

*Saxaphone: Bob Messenger *Oboe: Earl Dumler, John Ellis *Harp: Gayle Levant, Dorothy Remsen *Backing Vocals:

Tom Bahler Thomas Lee Bahler (also spelled Bähler; ; born June 1, 1943) is an American singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and author. Bahler is most known for his song "She's Out of My Life", which was recorded by Michael Jackson; the song was ...

Chorale

Track listing

Notes * signifies adapted by

Singles

"Merry Christmas Darling"

*US 7" single (1970) – A&M 1236 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"Mr. Guder" *UK 7" single (1971) – AME601 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"

Ticket to Ride Ticket to Ride may refer to: Games * ''Ticket to Ride'' (board game), a rail-themed Eurogame by Alan R. Moon ** ''Ticket to Ride'' (video game), its digital adaptation ** '' Ticket to Ride: The Card Game'', a simplified spin-off Music * ''Tick ...

" #"Saturday" *UK 7" single (1990) – AM716 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"

(They Long to Be) Close to You "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David with sections of the early version written by Cathy Steeves. The best-known version is that recorded by American duo the Carpenters for their second studio album ' ...

" *UK 7" single (1990) – AMS716 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"(They Long to Be) Close to You" *UK 12" single (1990) – AMY716 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"You're the One" #"(They Long to Be) Close to You" *UK CD single (1990) – AMCD716 #"Merry Christmas Darling" #"(They Long to Be) Close to You" #"You're the One"

"Christmas Song"

*US 7" single (1977) – A&M 1991 #"Christmas Song" #"Merry Christmas Darling" *JP 7" single (1977) – CM-2083 #"Christmas Song" #"Merry Christmas Darling" *JP CD single (1996) – PODM-1059 #"Christmas Song" #"Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christmas"

"Silent Night"

*JP 7" single (1978) – AMP 1012 #"Silent Night" #"Jingle Bells" #"Ave Maria"

"Ave Maria"

*JP CD single (1996) – PODM-1065 #"Ave Maria" #"Merry Christmas Darling"

Charts

References

External links

Richard Carpenter's review

1978 album at the Carpenters Recording Resource

1984 Special Edition at Carpenters Recording Resource
{{Authority control 1978 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists The Carpenters albums Pop Christmas albums A&M Records Christmas albums