As Time Goes By-Sales

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

If you run a current search on ebay for this CD, there are buy it nows for about $3.00 some for less than $3.00 and none for more than $7.00. I have noticed over time this CD doesn't sell very well at all. Why is it such an important CD like As Time Goes By sells for only $2.98 buy it now?

This kinda makes me sad in a way cause Richard took alot of time and energy in releasing this for the fans. When you think about all the gems that are on this CD. Unreleased tracks of Karen never heard before and yet look at how it sells. I have always felt this CD never got the recognition that it deserved.

Does anyone know how well this CD has sold overall since it was released. Is this the lowest selling Carpenters CD?
Do you think Richard was pleased with how it sold? An artist is always looking for how well a CD is going to sell. Is this normal that this CD is only selling for $2.98?

 

[Harry]

First off, I can understand the pricing on eBay. The album is still in print and therefore not in much demand from a "collectible" standpoint. Theoretically, you can walk into any CD store (just try and find one!) and buy it off the rack brand new, so it's not a hard to find title.

Second, this album contained no real hits. Any casual fan, browing through a bunch of Carpenters titles would likely settle on one of the hit compilations out there like GOLD or SINGLES 1969-1981. Those albums have the tracks people are looking for.

Third, the hard-core fanbase in the US bought this album as an import in 2001 and pretty much ignored the 2004 domestic release. Why Universal waited three years to release it here is anyone's guess. The "moment" was long gone after the 2001 release, so it never really had a chance to be a "hit" here.

My suspicions are that it certainly is among the lowest-selling original album titles, not an uncommon thing for a posthumous album released so long after an artist's main career.

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Since this was a Japan release first, I wonder how sales were in Japan, right now over at CDJapan this CD is selling for 2,427.00 JPY = 21.0284 USD. So it's $21.00 US dollars. Seems the CD has held it's value better over in Japan.

I still have a 2nd sealed copy with the OBI label Japan release, that they sent me in error 2 instead of 1. But I'd never sell it on ebay.

I guess it;s sorta the kind of release that the public wouldn't buy here in the US unless they were a avid collector and wanted everything, otherwise there is the singles that would fit the bill. Just seems like this CD went un-noticed here in the U.S. and Richard spent alot of time trying to get this released.

 

[Dave]

Well, it's a shame that this album didn't seem to rank with The Carpenter's main-period... Most fans seem to go for the earlier stuff and you can't help but see the earlier albums do a lot better, topped-off even more by compilations of material from that era...

Surely something from As Time... could'a gone on a collection similar to Love Songs and the American audience being as it was speculated by Universal must'a easily been relegated to the Japanese being better able to accomodate this market-segment on the basis of there being a better audience/demand for this stuff in Japan, vs. the American market concensus found to be much smaller...


Dave

 

[Harry]

Three tracks from AS TIME GOES BY were indeed incorporated into the GOLD compilation:

Leave Yesterday Behind
The Rainbow Connection
California Dreamin'

So anyone looking for a hits compilation and grabbing GOLD will by default get three of the AS TIME GOES BY tracks. (and probably three of the best!).

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Probably 3 of the best but let's not forget, "Nowhere Man" I was so blown away by Karen's reading and her vocals on that when I first heard it, I believe I had that on repeat about 10 x straight before leading into any of the other tracks on this CD. Richard did a great job putting together that song everything compliments Karen's vocal on that so well. Absolutely LOVE that deep voice.

I wish Richard would someday make "And When He Smiles" a stand alone track, it really doesn't get enough play by me and I do like the track even though the lyrics are hokey.

What Richard should have done was make this a limited edition CD, this way it would have been more sought after. We all know limited edition anything Carpenters is well worth having and hunting down. It's just a shame that a project like this did so poorly here in the U.S due to it's lack of marketing. I really appreciate this project from Richard.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Here is my Promo Poster from this album that I have in my gallery room. Funny that the bottom of the poster says out in Tape and CD. I didn't know it came out in tape form. The poster advertises Rainbow Connection, Nowhere Man and the Karen Ella Medley at the bottom. I still plan to mount this professionally just haven't had a chance yet, for now it's in a temp frame.

 

[Harry]

I wish Richard would someday make "And When He Smiles" a stand alone track, it really doesn't get enough play by me and I do like the track even though the lyrics are hokey.

He did! It's on there as a standalone track on the US issue of AS TIME GOES BY, unlike the Japan edition where it was a hidden track buried deep after the "Hits '76 Medley".

Even the back cover lists Track 15 And When He Smiles!

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

aahh, and the US version I don't have.

 

[mr J.]

Chris-Who said "As Time Goes By" is such an important album?The sales figures are probably under 100,000.(way under!).Most of the material is less than stellar.The prime track is obviously the Jazz medley with Ella,and that was already available on the boxed set."Without A Song" was already available on "Interpretations".Three other cuts were included on GOLD,which was released a few months prior to "As Time Goes By".Several tracks are actually just rerecordings or medleys of existing songs.Probably the most dissapointing and least anticipated Carpenters album ever.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

mr J, everyone has their own opinion and since you asked me, yes for me personally, I consider it an important album, after all it's what I like that matters most.

However I disagree that it's less than stellar, there are a number of tracks on this CD that are important to their legacy. I don't find it dissapointing at all.

 

[Murray]

Chris-Who said "As Time Goes By" is such an important album?The sales figures are probably under 100,000.(way under!).Most of the material is less than stellar.The prime track is obviously the Jazz medley with Ella,and that was already available on the boxed set."Without A Song" was already available on "Interpretations".Three other cuts were included on GOLD,which was released a few months prior to "As Time Goes By".Several tracks are actually just rerecordings or medleys of existing songs.Probably the most dissapointing and least anticipated Carpenters album ever.

Among fans, I would say that "As Time Goes By" was a very highly anticipated album. I remember the discussions we had about it on Ran's old board, the speculations about what would be on it, the endless delays, and whether it would actually ever be released. When the album finally became reality, most of us couldn't wait to get a copy - even though it was an expensive Japanese import! Of course it's not the best Carpenters album ever, but there are several very good tracks - enough to make it worth the purchase, and to fans, any "new" Karen vocal is worth owning!

As far as the casual listener in America was concerned, naturally the album wasn't anticipated, since how would the average person even know that the album was going to be released? It was just dumped onto the market with zero promotion. Serious fans already had one of the import versions at that point, so few bought the US release.

 

[Dave]

Which sums it up as being "Less Than Stellar"-"because"-"It wasn't a Big Seller"...!



Dave

 

[Harry]

Chris-Who said "As Time Goes By" is such an important album?The sales figures are probably under 100,000.(way under!).

Hence Chris' supposition that the album hasn't been a big seller.

Most of the material is less than stellar.

Presumably, you mean "in your humble opinion."

The prime track is obviously the Jazz medley with Ella,and that was already available on the boxed set.

Not at the time of the initial AS TIME GOES BY release in Japan. In 2001, when AS TIME GOES BY came out, virtually everything on it had been unreleased elsewhere. The ESSENTIAL COLLECTION didn't get released until this very week (Oct. 22) of 2002.

"Without A Song" was already available on "Interpretations".

...in a different form. The version on AS TIME GOES BY is the full song, completed by the Carpenters, whereas the INTERPRETATIONS version is just the opening of the song.

Three other cuts were included on GOLD,which was released a few months prior to "As Time Goes By".

...in the US. As stated AS TIME GOES BY was released in 2001 in the rest of the world - long before GOLD in 2004.

Several tracks are actually just rerecordings or medleys of existing songs.

...giving fans a chance to hear a slightly different approach to some of their songs - a welcome chance, I might add.

Probably the most dissapointing and least anticipated Carpenters album ever.

Certainly your opinion, not everyone's. I anticipated it highly, and was not disappointed at all.

The biggest problem with AS TIME GOES BY in the States is that Universal didn't commit to releasing it in a timely fashion with the rest of the world. By "sitting" on it for three years, the "moment" was gone. I recall talk back around 2001's release that the powers that be at Universal in the US didn't want to shell out some rights payments for some of the songs involved. Obviously they had no faith in the album.

Harry

 

[CarpentersToYou]

Ahhhhh...memories.

I remember buying this CD from CD Japan when it came out. I believe I was around 15. I remember shelling out loads of money for that CD and for "The Rainbow Connection" single. That summer/fall was amazing hearing some very new Carpenters tracks, and some EXCELLENT quality bootleg tracks we heard for years.

The US sale was rediculous. There are no other words to describe it. It was released in April of '04 if I remember correctly? At that point, any avid Carpenters fan had had the CD for nearly 2 years.

The disc is a true Carpenters treasure, and I listen to it more than I listen to some of the other albums, just like LOVELINES.

We have to thank RC for that one. It's truly one of my best Carpenters memories, mostly because it was the biggest Carpenters release of my lifetime (that I can remember, since I was born in the mid-1980s').

 

[Dave60640]

I'm sorry that Mr. J didn't see the compilation in the way so many of the rest of us have: as a great, eclectic addition to the Carpenters library.
I honestly never tire of this cd. From KC's always wonderful readings to RC's imaginative and seemingly effortless arrangements and production, every track shows us a different aspect of their many varied talents and ranges.
Some say "only for the hardest core Carpenters fans" and I say "I guess I'm one of them."

 

[mr J.]

It's definitely an "Eclectic addition" to the Carpenters catalog,but it's not an "important" album,as suggested on a previous post,In fact,Richard answers this question in the liner notes of the album(the first paragraph)-where he states " 'As Time Goes By' is definitely meant for the Carpentersphile",and describes the tracks as being "rarities and curiousities".