1.      O Come, O Come Emmanuel :28
2.      Overture  4:38
 a.      Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
 b.      I Saw Three Ships
 c.      Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
 d.      God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
 e.      Away In A Manger (Luther’s Cradle Hymn)
 f.      What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
 g.      Carol Of The Bells
 h.      O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
3.      The Christmas Waltz  2:15								play
4.      Sleigh Ride  2:39
5.      It’s Christmas Time/Sleep Well, Little Children  2:53
6.      Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas  3:55
7.      Santa Claus Is Coming To Town  1:05
8.      The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)  3:39
9.      Silent Night  3:19
10.     Jingle Bells  1:10
11.     The First Snowfall/Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow  3:35
12.     Carol Of The Bells  1:39								play
13.     Merry Christmas Darling  3:05
14.     I’ll Be Home For Christmas  3:48
15.     Christ Is Born  3:13
16.     Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells/White Christma  5:31
17.     Ave Maria  2:35

Personnel:
- Karen Carpenter - vocals, associate producer
- Richard Carpenter - keyboards, vocals, arranger, producer
- Pete Jolly - keyboards
- Bob Bain, Tommy Tedesco, Tony Peluso - guitar
- Bob Messenger - tenor saxophone
- Earl Dumler, John Ellis - oboe
- Gayle Levant, Dorothy Remsen - harp
- Joe Osborn - electric bass
- Cubby O'Brien, Ron Tutt - drums
- The Tom Bahler Chorale - backing vocals

Many artists cut a Christmas album to cash-in on their current popularity -it's a natural and easy "cash cow" for them. Unfortunately, too many artists take a very casual approach to their Christmas albums, not perfecting the sound as they would a regular album. Fortunately, this is not true where the Carpenters are concerned! Richard Carpenter had the Carpenter's Christmas album pictured the way he wanted it in his head, and then took the time and spent the money to get it right. The result is a lush, beautifully arranged sound with every effort made to make each song special. Wiht this album, the Carpenters created Christmas music that defines what Christmas music should sound like.

"Christmas Portrait", is the first Carpenter Christmas album, released in 1978. ("An Old-Fashioned Christmas", was the second, released in 1984, after Karen's tragic death). When "Christmas Portrait was conceived, Karen and Richard recorded so much Christmas material that they almost released a double album. Instead, they released a full single (and at that time vinyl) disk, (but packed it with nearly 50 minutes of music - which was pushing the limits back in the days of vinyl LPS. Christmas Portrait went platinum in the U.S. and became a hit all over the world, and it continues to do well. It is one of the few albums that has been a Top 10 hit on the Christmas charts in the `70s, `80s, and `90s. These are the songs you hear played in department stores and on the radio every Christmas season.

In 1984, A&M released the second Carpenter's Christmas album, "An Old-Fashioned Christmas". The album features the best of the overflow material from the "Christmas Portrait" sessions as well as some newly recorded pieces.

You will love the Christmas sound of the Carpenters and will play it every Christmas season. It is an A+ album and is perhaps the finest Christmas album ever recorded.

In the 1990's Richard combined both Carpenter Christmas albums into one album, entittled "Christmas Collection". This is certainly a consideration in buying one or the other. ---Jim "Konedog" Koenig, Carpenters Fan for 35 years

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1. "We've Only Just Begun" (Roger Nichols, Paul Williams) – 3:04
2. "Love Is Surrender" (Carmichael) – 1:59
3. "Maybe It's You" (John Bettis, Richard Carpenter) – 3:04
4. "Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin) – 3:03
5. "Help!" (Lennon/McCartney) – 3:03
6. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 4:33
7. "Baby It's You" (Burt Bacharach, Mack David, Williams) – 2:56
8. "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Bacharach, David) – 2:52          play
9. "Crescent Noon" (Bettis, Carpenter) – 4:09
10. "Mr. Guder" (Bettis, Carpenter) – 3:15
11. "I Kept On Loving You" (Nichols, Williams) – 2:14
12. "Another Song" (Bettis, Carpenter) – 4:23                         play

Personnel: 
Richard Carpenter (vocals, keyboards); 
Karen Carpenter (vocals, drums); 
Doug Strawn (woodwinds, keyboards, wind); 
Jim Horn, Bob Messenger (woodwinds, wind); 
Hal Blaine (drums).
Joe Osborn, Danny Woodhams (bass); 

Karen and Richard Carpenter's third album, released in 1970, includes two of their signature songs, Bacharach/David's "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and Paul Williams' "We've Only Just Begun," a tune originally written as a commercial jingle for California's Crocker Banks. The rest of the album continues the siblings' exquisite taste in outside material, returning to Williams for "I Kept On Loving You" and to Bacharach for the Shirelles' "Baby It's You." Also featured here is an appealing version of the classic "I'll Never Fall In Love Again." Other fine covers include Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" and an arrestingly mournful version of Lennon/McCartney's "Help." The album also includes four Richard Carpenter originals, with "Another Song" and the girl-groupish "Maybe It's You" the highlights. CLOSE TO YOU is one of the Carpenters' most commercially and artistically successful albums.

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01. Sing (Joe Raposo) - 3:18
02. This Masquerade (Leon Russell) - 4:49
03. Heather (Richard Carpenter) - 2:48
04. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (Hank Williams) - 3:40
05. I Can't Make Music (Randy Edelman) - 3:18 
06. Yesterday Once More (John Bettis/Richard Carpenter) - 3:56
Medley - including (07-14):
07. Fun, Fun, Fun (Mike Love/Brian Wilson) - 1:40 
08. The End Of The World (Dave Coutts/Sylvia Dee/Robert DeLeo/Arthur Kent) - 2:25 
09. Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home) (Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich/Phil Spector) - 1:47 
10. Deadman's Curve (Jan Berry/Roger Christian/Roger "Hot Dog Rog" Christian/Artie Kornfeld/Brian Wilson) - 1:32 
11. Johnny Angel (Lyn Duddy/Lee Pockriss) - 1:31 
12. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (Marilyn Garrett/Dorothy Wayne/Ben Weisman) - 2:17 
13. Our Day Will Come (Mort Garson/Bob Hilliard) - 2:00 
14. One Fine Day (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) - 1:38
15. Yesterday Once More (reprise) (John Bettis/Richard Carpenter) - 0:57

Personnel:
- Richard Carpenter - vocals, keyboards, producer 
- Karen Carpenter - female vocals, drums, producer
- Joe Osborn - bass
- Bob Messenger - flute, tenor saxophone 
- Doug Strawn - baritone saxophone
- Tony Peluso - lead guitar, keyboards, voice of D.J.
- Gary Sims - guitar
- Ron Gordon - drums
- Buddy Emmons, Jay Dee Maness - steel guitar
- Earl Dumler - oboe and bass oboe, english horn
- Tom Scott - recorder
- The Jimmy Joyce Children's Chorus (01)
- Hal Blaine - drums (04)

It was with the release of Now & Then that the Carpenters lost any pretense of being even dorky cool. The album jacket was a giveaway, depicting them in a car in front of a suburban home. The problem also laid in the relentlessly cheerful children's chorus on "Sing," which seemed to come out of every public music outlet that spring and summer; the silly version of "Jambalaya" on side one; and the oldies medley on the second side, which at least predated Happy Days going on the air but still botched its job, mixing Karen Carpenter's haunting rendition of "Johnny Angel" and her spirited version of "One Fine Day" (anticipating her white-bread but effective version of "Beechwood 4-5789") with filler like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Dead Man's Curve," all interspersed with Tony Peluso doing his best (i.e., worst) imitation of an obnoxious disc jockey. Whatever the reason, from the moment of the release of Now & Then, listeners under 30 buying a Carpenters album would have good reason to go to a neighborhood where no one knew them to make the purchase, and hide it from their friends. The pity is that the medley paled next to its framing song, the wistful "Yesterday Once More," the last really memorable song that the duo introduced, which summed up in four minutes all of the emotions and sensations that the medley took 15 to deliver. And that song was botched in its album edit, which, instead of giving it an ending, made it part of the medley, with an annoying segue into the latter. ---Bruce Eder, Rovi

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01. Rainy Days And Mondays (Paul Williams, Roger Nichols) - 3:36 	
02. Saturday (Richard Carpenter, John Bettis) - 1:18 	
03. Let Me Be The One (Paul Williams, Roger Nichols) - 2:23 	
04. (A Place To) Hideaway (Randy Sparks) - 3:38 	
05. For All We Know (Fred Karlin, Robb Wilson, Arthur James) - 2:34 	
06. Superstar (Leon Russell, Bonnie Bramlett) -	3:47 	
07. Druscilla Penny (Richard Carpenter, John Bettis) - 2:14 	
08. One Love (Richard Carpenter, John Bettis) -	3:23 	
09. Bacharach/David Medley - 5:24 including:
9a. Knowing When To Leave 		
9b. Make It Easy On Yourself 		
9c. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me 		
9d. I'll Never Fall In Love Again 		
9e. Walk On By 		
9f. Do You Know The Way To San Jose 		
10. Sometimes (Henry Mancini, Felice Mancini) - 2:49	

Personnel:
- Karen Carpenter - female vocals, drums
- Richard Carpenter - male vocals, keyboards
- Joe Osborn - bass
- Bob Messenger - bass, reeds
- Douglas Strawn, Jim Horn - reeds
- Hal Blaine – drums

The Carpenters' radio-friendly soft rock virtually defined the genre in the early 1970s, and this album -- their third full-length -- was the group's ace card. Following on the heels of the wildly successful Close to You, Carpenters features more breezy melodies marked by rich arrangements and beautiful lead vocals, courtesy of siblings Richard Carpenter and Karen Carpenter, respectively.

The record is most notable for two of the duo's strongest and best-loved singles. "Rainy Days and Mondays," written by soft pop gods Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, is a bittersweet pop masterpiece fleshed out by Richard's string orchestrations and smoothly produced backing vocals, while Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett's "Superstar," from its melancholic verse to its dramatic chorus, is equally hard to resist. (Both songs showcase Karen's sultry alto.) The rest of the album includes Richard's bubble-gum pop originals, another Williams-Nichols tune ("Let Me Be the One"), and a medley of Burt Bacharach-Hal David tunes. Even more commercially streamlined than its predecessors, Carpenters is a classic of early-'70s pop. ---Rovi

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