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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 14, 2005 14:44:55 GMT -5
In running my errands last night I knew I would be doing an extensive amount of driving. So, I decided to bring my double disc set "Christmas Collection". I began with playing "An Old Fashioned Christmas". I must admit I skipped all the way to track five to "Home For The Holidays". As you all know "Home..." has been my favorite Carpenters Christmas song for the past four five years. It was so wonderful to listen to this as song as I drove down the streets of Orange County, California. I ended up listening to the rest of "An Old Fashioned Christmas". As always "He Came Here For Me" was very moving and I really enjoyed the instrumental "My Favorite Things". The highlight this time was "What Are You Doin' New Year's Eve?" - what an excellent wonderful song. Karen sings this one perfectly.
Next I listened to "Christmas Portrait". Once again I skppied the first few opening songs and went right into track three "The Christmas Waltz" what a great song. Listening to "Christmas Portrait" brought back so many many fond memories from the late 70's and early 80's. I used to play this album year round for a good four or five years after it's release. Back in those days my favorite tracks were "Ave Maria" and "The First Snowfall/Let It Snow". I still love both songs but my favorites seems to change every four or five years. Now my favorites from "Christmas Portrait" are "The Christmas Waltz", "Christmas Song" and the classic "Merry Christmas Darling".
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Post by GoodOldDreams on Dec 14, 2005 16:16:12 GMT -5
Hi Rick, Since you live in Orange County, I thought "White Christmas" might ironically figure in there somewhere. The intro might well be appropriate in terms of the general region of where you are: "The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway..." L.O.L.!
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Post by cam83 on Dec 14, 2005 21:24:17 GMT -5
here in SASKATCHEWAN...we had a blizzard today...so I am thinking of Karen singing WHITE CHRISTMAS to pure perfection! What a joy it is to have her music during the holidays. ALso on the www.richardandkarencarpenter.com there is a family photo of Richard, Mary and their 5 children. What beautiful children they are...also am incensed that CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT did NOT make the HOLIDAY ALBUM chart on Billboard. For Many years, they were...and now...ohhhh...that makes me mad. They brought HOLIDAY music into vogue, when it was not cool to do...and now, there is a huge, huge HOLIDAY industry in the music world... Cam
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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 15, 2005 1:38:26 GMT -5
Hi Rick, Since you live in Orange County, I thought "White Christmas" might ironically figure in there somewhere. The intro might well be appropriate in terms of the general region of where you are: "The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway..." L.O.L.! Hi GoodOldDreams...
Yes, "White Christmas" is a huge favorite of mine. I do love and can relate to that opening line; "The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway." That's an accurate description of Christmas here in Southern California.
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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 15, 2005 1:47:46 GMT -5
...also am incensed that CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT did NOT make the HOLIDAY ALBUM chart on Billboard. For Many years, they were...and now...ohhhh...that makes me mad. They brought HOLIDAY music into vogue, when it was not cool to do...and now, there is a huge, huge HOLIDAY industry in the music world... Cam Hi Cam...
Yes, Carpenters certainly brought Christmas music into vogue - without a doubt. It does seem that "Christmas Portrait" should have been on the Christmas album charts again this year, along with "Christmas Collection" - but the good thing to remember is that year after year both collections make it into the Top 500 best selling albums every year in late November until early January. Right now on Amazon.com (probably the internet's largest music retailer) "Christmas Collection" is #167 and "Christmas Portrait" is at #288. Those are both excellent postions for albums which have both sold quite a bit already.
But beyond sales what's more important is that "Christmas Portrait" is considered by many music critics to be the absolute finest Christmas album ever produced by a popular artist. "Christmas Portrait" certainly has a lasting place in popular music.
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Post by Moe on Dec 20, 2005 2:07:59 GMT -5
I have been sick a lot since Thanksgiving and am so far behind in Christmas stuff, the decorating, shopping for gifts and food, and cards and mailing gifts..... I know this isn't the true meaning of the holiday, but when you are behind, it is easy to lose site of what is important. With my little boy sick again, my wife stayed home and I took on the shopping challenge this past weekend. I wanted to pull out my hair and cuss up a storm. The traffic and parking lots were worse than the stores! But... I had Karen and Richard with me and while sitting on the freeway, I would turn up my favorites like Merry Christmas Darling, Have yourself a merry little Christmas, and The Christmas Song. It helped bring me a little bit of Christmas Spirit!
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