"The Singles, 1969-1981" SACD Feedback

[Chris May]

All I can say is WOWWWWW!...And I have only heard the 2-channel mixes.

I must say that overall, this is IMHO some of Richard's finest remixing. Everything sounds fantastic, but the most noticeable remixes are "Superstar" "Top of the World". The least obvious is "We've Only Just Begun".

"SUPERSTAR" uses the ORIGINAL tracks, with the exception of the sparse acoustic piano and sparse Fender Rhodes electric piano (in intro only). Richard mixed in the '73 harp (intro swell) and Wurlitzer electric heavily throughout the mix (which was deleted for the '85 mix and subsequent remixes, and replaced by Rhodes throughout), the ORIGINAL bass and drum tracks, and even brought up some of the drum fills, particularly between the second to last chorus/final chorus. It sounds like a remix from the original '71 tracks, with very little "updating" of the instrumentation!!
"TOP OF THE WORLD" is incredible! He FINALLY remixed that damn kick drum to sound like the early mixes, unlike the obnoxious mid-range sounding kick we've been hearing since '91! The electric piano sounds warmer, slide guitar more present, and praise God, LESS REVERB on Karen's voice. That goes for MOST of the remixes here! It seems in a lot of the past remixes, Rich really beefed up the reverb a bit. The mixes here (most, not all) have Karen's voice less reverbrated, more "present" and natural sounding!!!!

"I BELIEVE YOU" is remixed for the first time--Sounds great. "ONLY YESTERDAY" is remixed of course, and sounds fantastic. "TOUCH ME WHEN WE'RE DANCING" is the same treatment and sounds wonderful". Nothing new instrumentally added on any of these remixes from the latter "Carpenter" years.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING", "I WON'T LAST A DAY", "TICKET" etc... are all remixed from the original instrumentation. Karen's voice is extremely present on "I WON'T LAST A DAY" and less reverbrated. Incredibly nice...

There is plenty more to say, but until I give this album yet another listen, especially in 5.1, I better keep quiet! I'm sure there is plenty more to hear. All I can say, is that having only listened to the 2-channel fold mixes, I have heard a BRAND NEW Carpenters album!! Will post more later. Would love to hear what each of YOU think as the days and weeks unfold...-Chris (...who thinks this one is going to make a GREAT future poll topic, online...)

 

[andywithaz]

CHRIS! I CANT STAND IT! I MUST HAVE IT NOW!

...who drops a lawsuit, online...

 

[Chris May]

Oh man Andrew, if ANYONE deserves to hear this one first, it's YOU my friend! I have a very good ear for music in general, and particularly Carpenters, and this one had me almost in tears a time or two...It was weird, but Richard is finally getting around to giving us more of what WE want....You'll be happpy. -Chris

 

[davidgra]

Well, I'm giving up on actually finding this in a store.

I had planned on just buying it today in a local store, rather than pre-ordering it from someplace on the Internet, but after visiting five different stores today and leaving empty-handed, I have to break down and get it online.

Which means I'll be waiting to hear it for several more days...

David

 

[Harry]

All I can say is WOWWWWW!...And I have only heard the 2-channel mixes.

Same here. With no SACD player, I'll be sticking with the standard stereo mixes until and unless a DVD-A version with Dolby Digital 5.1 comes out.

I must say that overall, this is IMHO some of Richard's finest remixing. Everything sounds fantastic, but the most noticeable remixes are "Superstar" "Top of the World". The least obvious is "We've Only Just Begun".

That's what I hear too. After doing some a/b comparisons with the 2000 version of SINGLES, this new one just sounds fresher at the least, and exciting to say the most.

"SUPERSTAR" uses the ORIGINAL tracks, with the exception of the sparse acoustic piano and sparse Fender Rhodes electric piano (in intro only). Richard mixed in the '73 harp (intro swell) Wurlitzer electric heavily throughout the mix (which was deleted for the '85 mix and subsequent remixes, and replaced by Rhodes throughout), the ORIGINAL bass and drum tracks, and even brought up some of the drum fills, particularly between the second to last chorus/final chorus. It sounds like a remix from the original '71 tracks, with very little "updating" of the instrumentation!!

AMEN! Probably one the most exciting of these releases, the recording now sounds more like the old album track from the tan album that we all knew and loved. I've always loved this song and recording, and hearing it fresh brings back all of the goosebumps again.

"TOP OF THE WORLD" is incredible! He FINALLY remixed that damn kick drum to sound like the early mixes, unlike the obnoxious mid-range sounding kick we've been hearing since '91! The electric piano sounds warmer, slide guitar more present, and praise God, LESS REVERB on Karen's voice.

Another AMEN!! The steel slide is also changed in its location in the stereo, now coming from the hard right instead of the vague left. It's funny, when I first heard in the car, I could tell something was different about that slide guitar's placement. And having less reverb really makes this remix stand out.

Karen's voice is extremely present on "I WON'T LAST A DAY" and less reverbrated. Incredibly nice...

Right on. The only downside to this track is that you don't get the 2000 version's solo piano segue to "Close To You", but it's a small price to pay for the nice-sounding remix. And speaking of "Close To You", this version has the remix as opposed to the 2000 version using the original mix.

There is plenty more to say, but until I give this album yet another listen, especially in 5.1, I better keep quiet!

No, please let us know what you hear in 5.1. I won't be able to sample it that way on this disc, so I'd be anxious to hear your take on it.

No-one's mentioned that the liner notes from 2000, written by Paul Grein, have been replaced with Richard's own descriptions of each song. Most of his writings seem to be from other compilations, but it's nice to have Richard's own musings about each song.

Suffice it to say that Carpenters fans, even without SACD capabilities, will be pleased with this disc.

Here are the album credits, for those so inclined:

Produced for SACD by Richard Carpenter

Surround Sound mix by Al Schmitt and Richard Carpenter at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA. Assisted by Steve Genewick and Bill Smith.

Pro Tools editing: Bill Smith at Sky's the Limit Studios, Studio City, CA

Mastering by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA

Digital Editing: Stewart Whitmore at Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, CA

Stereo Fold-down mixes: Richard Carpenter and Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA

SACD Authoring: Lon Neumann


Art Direction: Vartan

Design for SACD Reissue: Artministry, Inc.

Production Manager: Shannon Steckloff


Front cover photo by and courtesy of Annie Leibovitz and Richard Carpenter archive.

Back cover photo courtesy of Richard Carpenter archive.

Inlay Cloud Photo by Fred Valentine for Silver Lining Unltd.


Supervised for SACD by Paul Bichow and Michel Etchart

Project Director: Mike Ragogna



Carpenters
P.O. Box 3787, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359-0787

www.richardandkarencarpenter.com

Harry
NP: Carpenters SINGLES 1969-1981 SACD standard stereo tracks

 

[Chris May]

Produced for SACD by Richard Carpenter

Surround Sound mix by Al Schmitt and Richard Carpenter at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA. Assisted by Steve Genewick and Bill Smith.

Pro Tools editing: Bill Smith at Sky's the Limit Studios, Studio Citym CA
Harry
NP: Carpenters SINGLES 1969-1981 SACD standard stereo tracks

I had not yet read the liner notes, but oddly enough, Bill Smith was my lead engineer on some projects that I was producing at Capitol, with Steve Genewick as HIS assistant.

If you remember, I did a post here last year about an engineer I worked with at Capitol & A&M Studios, that said he worked with Richard during the re-cut of the piano for "From This Moment On", where he mentions Richard having done (30) or so takes to match Karen's voice (this for the "INTERPRETATIONS" release in '94).---That was Bill Smith. I remember we were sitting out on the steps of A&M Studios during a smoke break (Bill smoked, the rest of us did not) and got talking about my interest in the Carpenters. He began telling me then how he had recently finished working with Richard, etc... Why he never got credit for assisting Richard back then, I don't know. Anywho, it just caught my eye on your post, Harry.

I'm glad you've had the chance to A/B some of these. It's pretty amazing. I'm just pleased Richard got some of these remixes dialed in better than in previous years. -Chris

 

[Chris May]

Another thing you will notice in "SUPERSTAR" which I forgot to mention is the original french horn parts.

On the initial '85 remix (and subsequent remixes), Richard took the 3-part french horn lines in the intro and added an additional 3-parts to make a 6-part chord using the french horn patch off of the Kurzweil digital keyboard. That's why in all of the remixes, the french horns are washed and "padded" sounding if you will.

Before Karen died, Dick Polombi who was the Carpenters' orchestra leader during many of their concerts suggested to Richard that the horns (in the intros) be thickened, so he changed Richard's original arrangement to 6-part. Rich always liked that addition, so when he went back to remix "SUPERSTAR" after Karen's passing, he added the other 3 parts via the Kurzweil.

This remix features the original (3) horns. It's fresh. -Chris

 

[Harry]

Yes, Chris, I noticed that right away. That 6-part horn passage, as far as I know, first appeared on the Quad LP of SINGLES 1969-1973. That's where I first heard it, anyway.

Both the "Superstar" mix and "Top Of The World" are described in the liner notes as having stereo fold-down mixes, so that's why those two are the most notable. Some of the others have minor tweakings like less reverb, stronger bass lines, etc.

Harry
NP: radio at work

 

[Chris May]

As I give many of these songs another listen in the 2-channel, I have to wonder how many of these songs (excluding "SUPERSTAR" and "TOP") were actually remixed (in 2-channel that is).

I believe several (if not all) may be, but I am starting to wonder how much of it is just advanced digital mastering. Bernie Grundman has all the best stuff and always has and with a good digital mastering engineer, you can take many existing 2-channel mixes and tweak them to the point where you hear certain nuances that you never knew were there, making the track actually sound like a remix. However, many of these songs sound as if Karen's voice is a bit less reverbrated as I mentioned in an earlier post. BUT, you read the liner notes, and see late Roger Young and Richard credited for many of the mixes. I would imagine many of these older remixes were auto-mixed, and possibly Richard just called them up as they were mixed when Roger was still alive, however Richard made only minor changes (i.e. bringing Karen's vocals up, less reverb on the mix, etc.) making it to where he can still credit Roger for his previous involvement, even though all of the mixes have been tweaked for this current release.

Another side note that I forgot to mention is if you listen to "HURTING EACH OTHER", Karen's intake of breath at the opening sounds as if there is another overtone (sounds like piano from another track) in the background. I wonder if Richard did another "breath edit" and somehow there was bleed through. It almost sounds like he took something from "CLOSE TO YOU". Give it a whirl....you'll see what I mean. -Chris

 

[Rudy]

I had not yet read the liner notes, but oddly enough, Bill Smith was my lead engineer on some projects that I was producing at Capitol, with Steve Genewick as HIS assistant.

Has anyone mentioned why Richard chose Capitol to do this project at? Is it that they are one of the few to have the 5.1 mixing, the original Capitol reverb chambers (vs. digital)...?

 

[Chris May]

Well, Capitol, Studio "C" is a full production mixdown [only] studio (for film and 5.1) and has been that for years. It is set up with an enormous console in front of a large screen, used often times for score mixing, etc. This particular room has had a reputation for taking the lead so-to-speak where the mixing technology is concerned for years amongst industry people. To my knowledge, all of Richard's remixing and recording (or most of, anyway) over the past decade(+) has been done at Capitol. -Chris

 

[JonUrban]

I just spent a few minutes with the track YESTERDAY ONCE MORE. I have the original quadraphonic reel from the '70s, and I wanted to compare that mix to the new SACD.

I got both on my PC and listened to the tracks very carefully.

First off, and I asume that this is not surprising, the piano part is totally different. In the intro, it is a bit "fancier", with some transition chords thrown in to give it more of a complex sound (rather than just pounding chords). At the end, the "chord piano" is totally gone, and replaced with a higher, more difficult part.

Karens voice is solo in the center speaker/channel. Richard is not there. You can hear her breathe and her voice is totally exposed, but this just makes you listen in awe! She is also in all 4 other channels, which puts her in the center of the mix. If you solo the rears, you still have Karen. No singalong track here!

Richards vocal parts have been dropped way down in the mix. In the quad version, you can hear him in the rears as plain as day, on the "Shooby Doos" and the chorus. On the SACD, in the rears and in the fronts, he can only be heard if you listen for him. I am not sure why he did this, as I though he did a good job on this one.

There has been an echo added to the background vocals, and it creates a wide soundfield. There is a harp (I think) or electric keyboard that is heard in the second verse, and on the SACD it is now crystal clear. On the quad mix, it is less pronounced.

Overall, I think this new mix is great. Some hate echo, but to me, it works here. I have to listen to the rest of the SACD, but so far, I think it's great. Better than I thought, and had read about.

If Richard stops by and peeks in here, I have to say "THANKS"!!! It's a winner!

:-jon urban
www.quadraphonicquad.com

 

[andywithaz]

Would it be possible for anyone to link a "sample" of these CD tracks? hehe

*dying with anticipation, online*

 

[andywithaz]

Ok people. After spending hours searching for music clips, I think I finally found some. It's hard to tell at this low quality but I can definitely tell something about Top of the World is different with the steel and guitar.

click here

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Oooh, Al Schmitt. Great choice. He could only have done better by using Elliot Scheiner. I'm officially intrigued...

Ed

 

[CarpentersToYou]

I found my copy at BORDERS. I was amazed to see it there! I forgot it was released, too!

I think it should not be called SINGLES 69-81. Something else would be better.

 

[PJ]

Interesting comments from everyone ...the sound & remixes seem better than ever ...ideally Richard C is happy with this first SACD release ...& Universal start in 2005 to actively promote this format & Carpenters release...

Have dropped several questions via Carpenters website on SACD track listing , were there any particular reasons for omitting I Need ... / Those Good .... / All You Get .... & For All We Know (Reprise) & replacing these songs with 4 of Richard's favourites ( This Masquerade / Bless The Beasts / Calling Occupants & MCD...) & whether the planned DVD-Audio will include these missing tracks Hopefully some Richard replies over next 10 days ....

Count yourselves lucky in USA -at least SACD is now released ....whereas non -USA Carpenters fans have to rely on on-line music sites or next personal visit to America ....C'est La Vie ...

Peter

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

My SACD came in today's mail and got about 5 minutes to listen. My take after just a short listen to the surround sound - STUNNING!!! Can't wait to get back home after work to finish listening.

 

[Rudy]

If Richard stops by and peeks in here, I have to say "THANKS"!!! It's a winner!

Thanks for the heads-up, Jon!

 

[bluebird1111]

I'm curious about this new TOTW mix. Does Karen's lead vocal still pull back during the chorus, or is it upfront. I always felt her lead on the chorus should have been more present....

Mark

 

[aaflyer98]

Here's my take on the new SACD... I am thrilled!! Just finished listening to it on my 5.1 SACD system. Wow!!!!! ALL of the tracks are awesome...purists and remix fans alike will love this collection!

You can hear a difference on EVERY song. There is no comparison to 2 channel stereo vs. SACD Surround with 5 speakers.

Here's my take on a few of the songs that really stood out to me...

The first track that REALLY stood out to me was "I Believe You". Oh my...how awesome is that! Does anyone else besides me think that an alternate vocal take was used on the first two verses? So clear, so beautiful and with sounds coming from all 5 speakers, I was blown away by this mix! You can really hear Karen a lot more on the background vocals on this one.
"Ticket To Ride" really really shines...especially when the cymbals come in after the opening piano intro.
"Only Yesterday" ...wow...great surround mix!
"Touch Me When We're Dancing"....awesome awesome awesome!! Richard brought up the background vocals on the fade out, giving the song an extended feel (even though it's still 3:20) which really pleases me since this is my favorite C's track!
"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" Fantastic! What an experience this one was! All the instrumentions brought to full life and Karen's stunning vocal make this track one of my 'new' favorites!

Overall, on the disc as a whole, Karen's vocals are less reverbed (sp?), upfront and really shine on every single track. Not many 'new' instrumentations added (some are original, some are the previously remixed versions) although there are a few new instrumentations...or we can just hear them now.
It's like you have been let 'inside the music' so to speak...you can hear so much more and it's truly awesome.
Karen Shines. Richard's talents become more obvious. What a great sound!

Well worth the wait....and a great job done by Richard!

 

[aaflyer98]

P.S. oh yeah...one more thing, wherever there were tambourines on certain songs before, they have pretty much been eliminated or just slightly audible where they can be heard. Actually this makes the songs more 'updated', especially "Weve Only Just Begun", "Superstar" and "Hurting Each Other"

 

[Chris May]

I'm curious about this new TOTW mix. Does Karen's lead vocal still pull back during the chorus, or is it upfront. I always felt her lead on the chorus should have been more present....

Mark

You hear this same dynamic on "Superstar" and "I Won't Last a Day".

The reason for this usually is because Richard typically had Karen double her vocals on many of the choruses. Because there are now TWO of Karen (or possibly three Karen leads on "TOTW", hence the 'blend'), the double "sub-mix" gets pulled down to compensate for the volume. It's more the overall algorhythm effect that you are hearing as sort of an audio trick. I'm sure processed through an analyzer digitally, the volume compensation would be considered ideal for the
mix. -Chris

 

[bluebird1111]

Woh! Thanks for that, Chris.

I was listening to the karaoke TOTW and noticed that Karen's melody line was still in the mix. That's what got me thinking about this....

Mark

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I just found my copy tonight at Tower (they had at least 15 copies) and I must say that I'm truly impressed. The separation is fantastic and the instrument placement is quite good. It is easily the best sounding SACD I have. The best thing about this disc is that the intricacies of Richard's vocal arrangements really come to the fore. You can hear most if not all the parts on all the songs presented - which is a really nice touch. This is especially true on the 2nd chorus of "Bless The Beasts and the Children". You hear all the parts in it.

The only two cuts that sounded bad to me were "I Won't Last A Day Without You" and "Touch Me When We're Dancing". In both cases, the hi-hats were very muffled for whatever reason and the mix doesn't jump out at me the way the others did.

Overall, though, it was very well done. Oh, and Neil? If you really are an SACD afficianado, you really can't live without this one...

Ed