With Autumn beginning, the Christmas season will be here before we know it. For those eager to get into the spirit, there’s a new Carpenters compilation: Christmas Once More. It’s an all-new collection featuring 16 timeless Carpenters holiday classics curated by Richard Carpenter. The record will be released on November 1st, and available on CD, black vinyl, and limited-edition gold vinyl.
The 16-track set is composed of songs from the duo’s two Christmas records: Christmas Portrait and An Old-Fashioned Christmas. The tracks have been newly remixed and remastered, including holiday favorites “Sleigh Ride,” “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays,” and “Merry Christmas, Darling” featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The lyrics for “Merry Christmas, Darling” were written by Frank Pooler, the Carpenters’ music professor at California State University. They asked their favorite teacher for help creating a new holiday song, and he provided them with lyrics he had written 20 years earlier. Richard composed a new melody, and a classic was born.
In 2023, Richard shared that “Merry Christmas, Darling” was one of the songs he would have wanted to re-record with Karen if they had gotten the chance. He explains: “she was only 19 when we did our first album, and I was 22, and in the next two to three years that followed, our voices changed in that they weren’t as husky as they were originally. That’s why she wanted to redo the lead on ‘Merry Christmas, Darling’ and ‘Ticket to Ride,’… because she wasn’t all that wild how husky her voice was.”
In December 1978, the television special The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait, aired on ABC. In it, the siblings throw a Christmas party for a host of special guests, including Gene Kelly, who joined the duo for a performance of “O Come All Ye Faithful.”