Carpenters "Collected" Vinyl Release

Perhaps someone who is more knowledgable about colored vinyl can chime in but from what I've read it's completely normal to see bleed over colors onto colored vinyl and does not effect sound. It happens when the machines were not fully cleaned out and hence the prior color leaves some traces onto the vinyl. For instance with Jonathan, he mentions grayish black streaks on his white vinyl, sounds like the machine was pressing regular black vinyl just before the white vinyl was pressed. From what I've read it doesn't effect sound and if someone thinks it does they can request a refund. It's not the fault of the seller, it's the pressing plant so refunding might be tricky.

Now the thing that doesn't make sense to me is that Jonathan's was pressed at #2962 that # is pretty far along from #1 when the white vinyl first pressed. I can understand maybe the first 100 having some bleed over but his # is pretty high, in fact the marketing notes say this was limited to white pressing of 3000 so his was almost the last of the last.

I still have not receive mine, argh!!
I have quite a few colored vinyl LP's from authorized to bootlegs. I once had a Nirvana Unplugged LP and it was pure white, but this Carpenters' LP might not be perfect, especially when they're getting ready to start with the black vinyl editions. I'll let you know when mine arrives
 
Well I think what I meant was, he doesn't like it when there's stuff floating around out there that for whatever reason (in his mind) isn't kosher. We toss around all kinds of information here (and elsewhere throughout cyberspace for that matter) that points to everything from bootlegs, to authorized (yet not Richard-approved) releases, etc. It doesn't take much to get him rattled, and he knows that about himself, so why would he want to subject himself to any of it? I totally understand that it may seem irrational, but just is what it is unfortunately.

I am embarrassed to admit I have purchased bootlegs. I had the KAREN CARPENTER album on a cassette with other material that essentially was AS TIME GOES BY, during the 80's. I tossed that tape as soon as ATGB was released. I let very few people hear the tape and never duped it; not duping it and eventually tossing the tape does not justify my actions. the $ 20 I paid that young entrepreneur did not compensate Richard carpenter or the Karen carpenter estate.

I wish the carpenter family would license authentic merchandise so that the fans have access and tight quality control could be maintained and proper licensing fees could be collected. it would be like " dad " carpenter overseeing the fan club. I get angry when I see all the t-shirts, keychains, etc... on ebay. I'm sure it is to expected, but I doubt that I could be as silent as mister carpenter, seeing my image and my work being sold against my wishes.

perhaps some able bodied entrepreneur from this site would like to take a swing with the family? I can tell you I have two kidneys and I will gladly sell one to acquire one of the plexiglass piano shaped music boxes the Japanese fanclub offered. if I am able to sell a graft of my liver, I perhaps could purchase the full size MADE IN AMERICA artwork.
 
I can tell you I have two kidneys and I will gladly sell one to acquire one of the plexiglass piano shaped music boxes the Japanese fanclub offered. if I am able to sell a graft of my liver, I perhaps could purchase the full size MADE IN AMERICA artwork.
Now that’s dedication and going that extra mile!, I wonder what I can live without!. But then again possibly not!.
 
Yeah, sounds like a rush job for sure. Richard asked he if could hang on to my copy for a few more days to give the whole thing a solid overview. He obviously cares about the quality of this stuff so we'll see. It still blows my mind for whatever reason that some of this stuff gets put out without him having at lease SOME inkling of an idea. Again, this was certainly a legit release on the part of UMG, but as one-half of the Carpenters, one would think...just bizarre...
Speaking of a "rush job" (and slightly off topic), have you had a chance to ask Richard yet about the B'Wana She No Home mono-stereo discussion from earlier this year?
 
Just for reference (although not the exact photo as Richard looks slightly different) this looks like a promo photo currently being sold on e bay. It's listed as a 8x10 and not only is the photo clearer it probably represents colors the way they were, for instance Karen's boots and shirt. I believe this photo or something similar was used on one of the many music book for piano as well.

MoG041K.jpg
 
Just for reference (although not the exact photo as Richard looks slightly different) this looks like a promo photo currently being sold on e bay. It's listed as a 8x10 and not only is the photo clearer it probably represents colors the way they were, for instance Karen's boots and shirt. I believe this photo or something similar was used on one of the many music book for piano as well.

MoG041K.jpg


That picture looks a lot better resolution wise to me?, shame they couldn’t have used that one on the front cover!.
 
This is an interesting choice to turn into a vinyl set. First off, the CD is a 3-disc set (really 2 and a half), but still, its length makes it so that it wouldn't fit on a 2 LP set. So someone, somewhere pruned it.

Missing from the LP set are:

Goofus
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
I Believe You
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
Those Good Old Dreams
BEechwood 4-5789
Now
Make Believe It's Your First Time
Trying To Get The Feelin' Again
------------------------------------------------
Lovelines
If I Had You
When Time Was All We Had
Calling Your Name Again
Sandy

Those are, with an exception or two, largely among the most forgettable of Carpenters repertoire. I'd say the single most regrettable exclusion is "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song".

Now, the other interesting thing is that COLLECTED was compiled from original album tracks taken from the Remastered Classics, which by their very nature, sounded the way the tracks sounded originally on vinyl. So will these tracks be those same "original vinyl" tracks? Or will they include remixes this time?

We'll have to wait and see.
 
I just received my copy, #1033. The vinyl is pure white, no grey or black streaks. Cover nice & laminated but photo isn't very clear. I think they may have enlarged the CD cover instead of starting with a fresh photo. Nice but the cover photo's blurriness takes away from the quality that MUSIC ON VINYL usually uses. I have the sound tracks from "St Vincent" & "The Phantom Of The Opera" (2006) that are on this label and their covers look amazing....
 
Perhaps someone who is more knowledgable about colored vinyl can chime in but from what I've read it's completely normal to see bleed over colors onto colored vinyl and does not effect sound. It happens when the machines were not fully cleaned out and hence the prior color leaves some traces onto the vinyl.
Actually, the machines are "fully cleaned" each time a record leaves the press--all of the vinyl of the record is removed, obviously, or the records would be pitted and unplayable.

Vinyl, before it is melted, is received as small pellets that are put into a hopper, then fed to the presses. If the colored vinyl was received with a few stray pellets of a different color, that would account for any streakage. It is also possible a hopper was not completely free of other colored pellets. (I can imagine that with static electricity, it might be tough to get out every last stray pellet!)

Either way, playback is not affected. And white would be the hardest "color" to get cleanly out of the press. (For the same reasons I am not allowed to wear white shirts while eating Italian food. :D )

MOV does a lot of colored vinyl, and it is not uncommon for some artists to request "marbled" vinyl where there is a mix of different colored pellets. And those colors can be transparent or opaque. This is one they did for a group called Trivium:

upload_2017-11-13_20-16-9.png

As far as the versions used on the LP, they used which versions UMG sent them.
True, they are at the mercy of what they are sent. And even so, they would really have no idea that there were even a lot of remixes available, unless someone were to stumble across our site here to learn about them. That is actually a common problem that any reissue label deals with, especially ones that request "original masters" and receives tapes that aren't actually the correct masters they were looking for. Getting the right versions requires a lot of digging in some cases.

Worst case? They master it from a CD...and that would really be wrong. Yet even there, the tracks from the CD should sound pretty much tonally identical to the vinyl (not duller, not brighter, etc.).
 
I also received my copy in the mail today. I've taken a few pics upon open and have only been able to clean record 1 twice on my record doctor machine and have listened to side 1 for review. There is no doubt that this is the remastered classics (original album mix) I won't do a full on compare against everything, however I did compare the first couple of tracks to my Ultimate Collection (NL) and it's the exact same sound meaning these are the original album mixes.

Just a couple of things to clarify. Wayne's post on page 4 had me a bit confused when he talked about the sticker on the back being removable, I read it that he was talking about the limited ed numbering being removable with a sticker but clearly I read his post wrong. The only sticker on the back mine came with was the Collected Series Music On Vinyl that holds the flap down. (see my pic below)

The cover photo is like what everyone has mentioned it's pretty bad, I sure would like to send an email to the artwork designer to find out what is the story on this LP cover photo. We know a clearer photo of this exists so why did they use this? It's not that it's just blurry but the colors are all wrong and way over saturated. The inside booklet shows the Artwork: Valentin Ocheda and below that says Vinyl Artwork: Music On Vinyl B.V. and Fonts+Files. The remainder of the booklet is top notch, inside photos are clear in fact the booklet cover of Karen with her arm on Richard's shoulder is so clear it pops off the page, I swear this color shot is almost photo gallery condition for framing.

This is my first white vinyl ever and it's quite remarkable, mine is very white, almost like a taffy white, is it edible? Seriously, it looks amazing and I don't see any traces of any other coloring, it's pretty uniform white. I will say that the first thing I noticed is that it's nearly impossible to see the break marks between tracks. When I was comparing the first couple tracks and starting and stopping it was impossible for me to see the line breaks and wear to drop the needle. But it looks so cool I don't care. I will say the best investment I made on this Technics turntable was buying an Ortofon 320 cartridge.

So apart from the cover photo, I'm really happy with this purchase and if your use to how the remastered classics sounds with the original album mixes than you won't be let down. To me the sonics sound just about the same as the NL CD I mentioned earlier, my bets are still that this was a digital transfer. I know everyone has their own opinion of what sounds good to you but after listening to side 1 it's actually pretty good for being the original mixes. The only noticeable noise was the first track Ticket, I might need to go back and clean that a bit more to see if there is residue because the rest of side 1 sounds pretty quite. In fact on some of the breaks like the ending of Close To You where it's silent and they come back in again it's super quite and during Bless the Beasts it was very quite. I think that if your use to hearing the original 70's vinyls with the original album mixes than you will like this set but to me the remastered classics series on CD never seemed to capture the crispness or clarity in Karen's vocals and instruments compared to the original vinyl albums from the 70's. However this varies for me between songs and albums meaning some are better than others when comparing the 2 (original 70's vinyl to the remastered classics CD mastering)

So if I hear anything else worth mentioning I'll update this thread but overall I'm very happy to add this to my collection and would recommend to anyone who wants to hear the original mixes and own the very cool white vinyl.
 
I'm not crazy about the inside photo they used for Richard but Karen's solo (apart from the wrong colors and tint) is very nice.
All I keep saying is WOW Karen's solo picture is the whole size of the album cover, is that cool or what? I love it!! For me worth the price of this collection.
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2 more pics of the vinyl just because it's soooo cool, I love it...feels like Christmas, might be the whitest I'll see in Florida this Christmas. :)
The white vinyl has incredible sheen as well.

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So apart from the cover photo, I'm really happy with this purchase and if your use to how the remastered classics sounds with the original album mixes than you won't be let down. To me the sonics sound just about the same as the NL CD I mentioned earlier, my bets are still that this was a digital transfer.
The Remastered Classics series is all I will listen to (other than original vinyl), so that's a win/win in my book. :wink: And yes, this would be a digital transfer. I highly doubt UMG would send the original analog masters over to Holland for a project like this one. (It is also a logistical problem--if someone wanted to cut this collection from original tapes, they would have to take a razor blade to all of the original album reels to pull out the tracks they wanted to use, assemble them in sequence, cut the lacquers, then re-assemble the tracks back into the album reels...and trust me, the label would never allow this!)
 
So I should be heading to bed but I cleaned side 2 twice with the doctor machine and I'm a bit more impressed with the sound, side 2 is pretty quite. I'm listening with my Sony MDR-V6 and this white vinyl sounds really good to me. I want to stress again that if your use to hearing all the remixing (which I am too) these original album mixes are going to sound different. For me it does take me back to the 70's when listening to this set it's all before Richard remixed so much and all the reverb/echo came to be....
 
So I should be heading to bed but I cleaned side 2 twice with the doctor machine and I'm a bit more impressed with the sound, side 2 is pretty quite. I'm listening with my Sony MDR-V6 and this white vinyl sounds really good to me. I want to stress again that if your use to hearing all the remixing (which I am too) these original album mixes are going to sound different. For me it does take me back to the 70's when listening to this set it's all before Richard remixed so much and all the reverb/echo came to be....
Do you have any original vinyl to compare a few of these tracks to? That might tip the scales for me, if I decide to pick this up. If it sounds reasonably close enough to the originals, this would be a fun set to have. The A Song For You album would probably be a good benchmark for that.
 
Actually, the single biggest error was including “Karen’s Theme”. “Time” or “When Time Was All We Had” would’ve been better choices.
 
Just for reference (although not the exact photo as Richard looks slightly different) this looks like a promo photo currently being sold on e bay. It's listed as a 8x10 and not only is the photo clearer it probably represents colors the way they were, for instance Karen's boots and shirt. I believe this photo or something similar was used on one of the many music book for piano as well.

MoG041K.jpg
Rick, I have a copy of this photo from the fan club, and Karen's sweater, the collar on Rich's shirt and pants look like a light cream color....the "Collected" cover photos makes them all look grey, even the boxes they're sitting on look grey, not a great copy of the photo, I believe they just enlarged the CD cover
 
There were many reasons to get excited about this vinyl release before we found out that Richard did not approve of its release.

  • It was the first Carpenters limited edition LP release in a long time.
  • Music On Vinyl is a very well known label
  • 180 g White Vinyl a 1st time Carpenters ever and 2 at that
  • A gatefold, protective sleeve and 4 pg liner booklet
  • 2 Bonus tracks never on Vinyl
The boom in Vinyl has been going on for quite a while and there has been nothing from the Carpenters and then all of a sudden we hear about this release. The list above is almost everything we could have dreamed a collectors item could be in vinyl from our favorite duo.

I’ve got a couple Music on Vinyl releases and while they sound like digital transfers there still worth listening to and still fun to spin. I won’t pass judgement on Carpenters Collected until I have it in my hands and give this a spin. From the outside this looks like a nice collectors item, heck I’ve added other items to my collection that were not approved by Richard that I wouldn’t think of giving up.

A quick look at one of the websites selling this item thesoundofvinyl.com shows this has already Sold Out. Or could Richard have already pulled its release by lawsuit, in any case I’m glad to have 1 of 3000 on the way.

Collected: White Numbered Vinyl
My copy arrived today. #1033. Even though the cover photo is a bit blurry, I am happy to have this collection. Especially because of the 2 tracks that have never been released on vinyl. I am still hoping to see Karen's solo LP get a vinyl release
 
Do you have any original vinyl to compare a few of these tracks to? That might tip the scales for me, if I decide to pick this up. If it sounds reasonably close enough to the originals, this would be a fun set to have. The A Song For You album would probably be a good benchmark for that.
Yes I have all the original vinyl some titles even in multiples. I'll compare some of the tracks soon.
 
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