''An Old-Fashioned Christmas'' is the second

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 or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

and posthumous twelfth studio album by 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 tra ...

, released on October 26, 1984, and after the death of singer and drummer

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside her older brother Richard. With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, she was praise ...

Background

The album project had its genesis in several unused tracks from the Carpenters' previous Christmas album, 1978's ''

Christmas Portrait ''Christmas Portrait'' is the first Christmas music, Christmas album and ninth studio album by the American popular music duo the Carpenters, Carpenters, released on October 13, 1978. Background The album includes a revised version of the duo's ...

''. Richard Carpenter took these tracks and recorded new material around them, and this album was the end result. The album includes the slower version of "

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was then s ...

Reissue

A 1984 expanded CD reissue of ''Christmas Portrait'' included eight 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

All lead vocals by

, except where noted; all tracks produced by Richard Carpenter except "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" by Jack Daugherty, R. Carpenter, and K. Carpenter. Notes * signifies adapted by

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 *

- 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 Pete Jolly (born Peter A. Ceragioli Jr., June 5, 1932 – November 6, 2004) was a two-time Grammy-nominated American West Coast jazz pianist and accordionist. He is known for his performance of television themes and movie soundtracks. Biogr ...

- keyboards *Skiala Kanga - harp * Peter Knight - musical arrangement (tracks 2-6, 7-9, 12-14) *Gayle Levant - harp *

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad'' (1968), ''Batman'' (with '' Batgirl'' them ...

- musical arrangement (track 10) * Barry Morgan - drums *

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Pete Morgan Colin Peter Morgan (7 July 1939 – 5 July 2010)Miles SalteObituary: Pete Morgan ''The Guardian'', 15 July 2010, retrieved 7 August 2010 was a British poet, lyricist and television documentary author and presenter. Born in Leigh, Lancashire, ...

- upright bass *The O.K. Chorale - background vocals *John "Francis" Phillips - tenor saxophone *

Ron Tutt Ronald Ellis Tutt (March 12, 1938 – October 16, 2021) was an American drummer who played concerts and recording sessions for Elvis Presley, the Carpenters, Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Jerry Garcia. Early life Born in Dallas, Texas, United ...

- drums Production and technical *Richard Carpenter - producer (All tracks) *Karen Carpenter - producer (track 11)Carpenters. "An Old-Fashioned Christmas (Cassette, Album, Club Edition)". A&M Records. 1984. https://www.discogs.com/Carpenters-An-Old-Fashioned-Christmas/release/6402366 *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

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

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old-Fashioned Christmas 1984 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists The Carpenters albums Albums produced by Jack Daugherty (musician) Albums published posthumously A&M Records albums Pop Christmas albums