A&M GOLD SERIES VOLUMES 1 AND 2

[Harry]

In another thread about the new ULTIMATE COLLECTION, the thought was put forth that "Goofus" might have been on an older GOLD SERIES disc of Carpenters. It's not on these two though, which I picked up years ago. They're Japanese, made by Canyon Records in Japan, so they pretty much have to be from the '80s. They contain some of the '85 remixes to that would narrow it down to the latter half of the '80s Since I've never seen these pictured or detailed on the web, I thought I'd do so here.


A&M GOLD SERIES VOL. 1

Track List:

1. Yesterday Once More (single mix)
2. Superstar (1985 remix)
3. Please Mr. Postman
4. Top Of The World (single mix)
5. Sing
6. Only Yesterday (longer album version)
7. There's A Kind Of Hush
8. Ticket To Ride (1973 version)
9. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
10. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
11. A Song For You (1985 remix)
12. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
13. Rainy Days And Mondays (original album mix)
14. Help

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A&M GOLD SERIES VOL. 2

Track List:

1. Close To You (single version)
2. Hurting Each Other
3. We've Only Just Begun (original album version)
4. I Won't Last A Day Without You (original album version)
5. Solitaire
6. Goodbye To Love (single version)
7. For All We Know
8. Sweet, Sweet Smile
9. It's Going To Take Some Time
10. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (original album version)
11. Mister Guder
12. I Need To Be In Love (shortened version-no piano intro)
13. Bless The Beasts And Childen (1985 remix)
14. This Masquerade

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Where I haven't indicated a mix, it's probably the standard album version up to that point.

Harry

 

[CarpentersToYou]

Oh! How funny!

I have 2 completely different CDs titled A&M Gold (I do have the 2nd one that you have above)

The ones I have are as follows:

A&M GOLD, v.1:

01 ) (The Long To Be)Close To You
02 ) Top Of The World
03 ) Superstar
04 ) I Won't Last A Day Without You
05 ) Rainy Days And Mondays
06 ) Goodbye To Love
07 ) Ticket To Ride
08 ) Reason to Believe
09 ) Love Is Surrender
10 ) It's Going To Take Sometime
11 ) Desperado
12 ) Solitaire
13 ) Let Me Be The One
14 ) Touch Me When We're Dancing
15 ) Those Good Old Dreams
16 ) Sweet, Sweet Smile
17 ) I Need To Be In Love
18 ) Make Believe It's Your First Time

A&M GOLD, v.2

1. Yesterday Once More
2. We've Only Just Begun
3. Sing
4. There's A Kind of Hush
5. For All We Know
6. A Song For You
7. Please Mr. postman
8. Only Yesterday
9. Beechwood 4-5789
10. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
11. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
12. Hurting Each Other
13. Bless The Beasts and Children
14. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
15. This Masquerade
16. Help
17. Goofus
18. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song

I had to consult the CD myself for the V.2 tracklisting, I could find no information on it online!

The above were both released in 1991. The First one was re-released in Australia under the title of "Startrax."

 

[Harry]

So, there it is - the comp with "Goofus". How about that!

Harry

 

[CarpentersToYou]

The VOLUME II is an excellent compilation. I have that in my car (well, a copy). It has a nice range of songs.

 

[Harry]

Recently, I fell into someone selling a copy of the CARPENTERS NEW GOLD SERIES VOL.2 that Alex details in this old thread in a post above. I've not yet found VOL. 1, but I'd add it to the collection if I ever did.

Doing a little online research, I came up with these pictures of Volume 1:

This reveals that track 15 is "Can't Smile Without You" whereas on STARTRAX, track 15 is "Those Good Old Dreams". Alex mentions above that track 15 is "Those Good Old Dreams", so I must conclude that Alex's version of NEW GOLD SERIES is perhaps a later one, coinciding with the STARTRAX release from 1991. The NEW GOLD SERIES I have lists 1990.

Also, in studying the STARTRAX track listing on the back, number 15, "Those Good Old Dreams" is printed slightly off-center, a slightly different color, and in a slightly narrower version of the font.

I've not yet listened to the VOL. 2 that I just received, but here's a picture for reference:

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Interesting too that your Vol 2 CD contains the track Goofus. I'd be interested in hearing your review after you have had a chance to preview the CD.

Are these in print any longer?

 

[Harry]

Interesting too that your Vol 2 CD contains the track Goofus. I'd be interested in hearing your review after you have had a chance to preview the CD.

Are these in print any longer?

Not that I'm aware of. The GOLD SERIES and later NEW GOLD SERIES were released in various territories around the world, most notably Europe and Japan. Australasia participated in the program too but called their releases STARTRAX. Some of the STARTRAX discs are expanded versions, others are identical to the GOLD SERIES.

These were issued by PolyGram when the A&M catalog was new to their ownership, around the 1990 and 1991 time frame. As such, there are tracks on these discs that Richard hadn't yet remixed.

1. Yesterday Once More is the original single version
2. We've Only Just Begun is the remix from 1985
3. Sing is normal
4. There's A Kind of Hush is missing the two synth notes
5. For All We Know sounds normal
6. A Song For You is the cleaner remix
7. Please Mr. Postman is the album version
8. Only Yesterday is the longer album version
9. Beechwood 4-5789 sounds normal
10. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) sounds normal
11. I'll Never Fall In Love Again sounds normal
12. Hurting Each Other is the original album/single mix
13. Bless The Beasts and Children is the cleaner remix version
14. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do is normal
15. This Masquerade is normal
16. Help is normal
17. Goofus is normal
18. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song - I didn't get to this track!

These seem to be tough to find. I got the STARTRAX years ago and just found someone selling this Volume 2. I've yet to find a Volume 1 version.

Other A&M artists were represented in the series and they are hit and miss on finding. Herb Alpert's A&M GOLD SERIES Volume 2 is still in print and available readily from Amazon. Burt Bacharach's seems to be pretty easy to find too, and Sergio Mendes' entry seems to be in print at various times in Europe.

Harry

 

[CarpentersToYou]

Hey! Good find! I forgot about this thread. I must say, I do miss having the collectors' topics.

 

[Harry]

I'm revisiting this old topic as I've gotten a new disc in the series and some further information regarding them.

It looks like back in 2008, I detailed my purchase of a "A&M NEW GOLD SERIES VOL 2" that I'd gotten, and wanted to find a matching VOL 1. Well, I did. It's the nice, matching white cover with the VOL 2. The catalog numbers are consecutive, PCCY-10090 and PCCY-10091. In doing some comparisons with the purple-covered STARTAX and the A&M GOLD SERIES from Europe, there are some interesting differences.

First off, the white NEW GOLD SERIES dates from 1990. These two are older than the STARTRAX-era GOLD SERIES which date from 1991. While Richard was knee-deep in remixing in this time-frame, some of the differences have nothing to do with those.



1. (They Long To Be) Close To You (single edit)
2 Top Of The World (1973 version)
3 Superstar (1985 remix)
4 I Won't Last A Day Without You (1972 album mix, fast)
5 Rainy Days And Mondays (1985 remix)
6 Goodbye To Love (1985 remix)
7 Ticket To Ride (1973 version)
8 Reason to Believe (1987 remix)
9 Love Is Surrender
10 It's Going To Take Some Time
11 Desperado
12 Solitaire
13 Let Me Be The One
14 Touch Me When We're Dancing
15 Can't Smile Without You
16 Sweet, Sweet Smile
17 I Need To Be In Love (single length)
18 Make Believe It's Your First Time

Things to note - The following tracks all appear in their standard album mixes:
9 Love Is Surrender
10 It's Going To Take Some Time
15 Can't Smile Without You

What's remarkable here is that "Love Is Surrender" and "Can't Smile Without You" has NEVER appeared anywhere else other than on their original albums in those original mixes. Everywhere else they appears they show up as remixes.

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The purple-covered GOLD SERIES from 1991 looks like this (STARTRAX looks very close to this in color, it just has a different title):



Same picture, different color cover, slightly different album title and slightly different track listing, with slightly different versions:

1. (They Long To Be) Close To You (single edit)
2 Top Of The World (1973 version)
3 Superstar (1985 remix)
4 I Won't Last A Day Without You (1972 album mix, fast)
5 Rainy Days And Mondays (1985 remix)
6 Goodbye To Love (1985 remix)
7 Ticket To Ride (1973 version)
8 Reason to Believe (1987 remix)
9 Love Is Surrender (1987 remix)
10 It's Going To Take Some Time (1989 remix)
11 Desperado
12 Solitaire
13 Let Me Be The One
14 Touch Me When We're Dancing
15 Those Good Old Dreams
16 Sweet, Sweet Smile
17 I Need To Be In Love (single length)
18 Make Believe It's Your First Time

Things to note: A year later and it appears that Richard or someone has fixed the above anomalies:
9 Love Is Surrender (1987 remix)
10 It's Going To Take Some Time (1989 remix)
Those two are now appearing in the remixes we would expect.

And the other one gets replaced entirely. "Can't Smile Without You" is gone and replaced with "Those Good Old Dreams."

So, bottom line, you never quite can be quite sure just what you're getting with a Carpenters disc!
Harry