Karen's 30th Ann: 2013

Do we think Richard will want to mark the 30th Anniversary of Karen's passing next year? I know he released a CD single for the 10th, but nothing thereafter to my knowledge.

No. Richard has retired, he perhaps will hand over the Carpenters legacy to his kids, maybe they might see things differently and release some hidden gems, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Here's hoping I'm wrong!!

Well...we know there won't be any video (hee hee), seriously, I think it's a little early for Richard to be handing over the legacy, he's not that old. I feel we will see something else in the near future from Richard, some kind of collectors edition possibly, most likely from Japan or UK. To be honest, I don't think there is much more left that he is willing to release, look how poorly ATGB did and what a gem of rare stuff yet it really didn't do much in the market and he spent so much time and effort to put that CD together. I've seen that CD go for a couple dollars on ebay, what a shame, it's a great CD.

Richard may not want to, but Universal may. Granted, I'm not holding my breath, but a commemoration wouldn't necessarily have to initated by Richard. If someone at Universal thought there was a way to squeeze a few more dollars out of the catalog, it might happen. Of course, I doubt it would be anything more than a re-release (or maybe just re-promotion) of existing product.

However, since you've got me thinking, here's what I think would be cool... Acknowledge the 40th anniversary of Karen's passing with a 30th Anniversary Edition of the original "Singles: 1969 - 1973" album. It's been out of print for awhile, was their only (US) number one album and is their biggest selling album, so that could be part of the marketing spin. Make it a two disc set: disc one being the original album and disc two being the actual, original single mixes of all the singles from that period (A- and B-sides if they would all fit). Expand the booklet to include pictures of all the original 45 picture sleeves, maybe some label art, Billboard and Cashbox charts, etc. I think that would make a nice release.