Your First Carpenters Album?

Simon KC1950

Well-Known Member
Hi,
I'm a new member.
My first album of theirs was 40/40. I got it in the summer of 2015. Then, after becoming a big fan, I got 'A Kind Of Hush' and 'Christmas Portrait: Special edition' followed by 'Horizon' and 'As Time Goes By' in November the same year. I then got most of the studio albums for Christmas. ☺
 
Welcome to the forum. I got hooked after one listen of the song Only Yesterday on the radio in 1990 and went out and bought the then chart topping UK compilation that it came from: Their Greatest Hits. From there I instantly fell in love with their sound and went about feverishly collecting up all the albums. At the time I had no sense of their chronological history and marvelled at the difference in sound between albums like Offering and Lovelines. It was only as I read and researched more about them that the whole musical jigsaw fell into place. A love affair that continues to this very day :)
 
Welcome to the forums! :D

My first album was Carpenters GOLD. My brother went in halfsies with me! :)
First studio album, though, was Close to You. Been hooked ever since.
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The first Carpenters album in my household was bought by my parents in 1970: Close To You. It was the only album we had until 1977 when I purchased my first one: The Singles 1969-1973. My second one was Passages that Christmas.
 
It's great to see the influx of younger Carpenters fans and how their fandom developed. It's interesting to those of us who were around in 1969 and heard "Ticket To Ride" on the radio.
I think about this all the time -- as a newer fan, I've gotten into their catalog "backwards", so to speak. Remixes were often the first renditions to grace my ears. I myself am thrilled to hear from people who have been fans from day one.
 
The first Carpenters album that I remember my parent's having was The Singles 1974-1978 album that they bought on CD on Boxing Day 92 at the same time as they bought their first CD player. My favorite track was All You Get From Love Is A Love Song, and I remember playing the CD over the years at the same time that my brother, sister and I would be playing the NES: we'd turn the TV sound down and have the Carpenters be the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. 3. Then over the next year they got The Singles 1969-1973 and Christmas Portrait: Special Edition (and then discovering that my grandparent's had The Carpenters Collection 2-LP set from 1978, so since they had a record player, we'd listen to that LP set at my grandparent's), and every year since November 93 I can't wait to hear the Carpenters Christmas album.

The first Carpenters album that I bought was Interpretations on October 31, 1997 (and If I Had You was the stand-out track for me), followed by the 1985 double-CD set bought with Christmas money the following January (I had to wait for the store to get the album in, since they had had it before Christmas, but I wasn't sure if anyone had bought the album for me, but in the meantime the store had sold out of their Carpenters albums), with the Top tracks being (Want You) Back In My Life Again, and Touch Me When We're Dancing . My first studio album was Karen's solo album, which I got in the winter of 98, and then my first Carpenters studio album was the MFSL version of A Song For You that I picked up at the same time as the Love Songs CD. And Crystal Lullaby is probably me favorite track from ASFY.
 
I first was exposed to the Carpenters in 1971, I think, and immediately they became my favorite, but the first album I bought was Interpretrations, many years later.
 
It's great to see the influx of younger Carpenters fans and how their fandom developed. It's interesting to those of us who were around in 1969 and heard "Ticket To Ride" on the radio.

I'd give anything to have actually been around at the time they emerged onto the musical scene. There's nothing better than the anticipation of the next single or album from a group you love and to see their career develop. It also means I could have gotten to see them live.
 
I'd give anything to have actually been around at the time they emerged onto the musical scene. There's nothing better than the anticipation of the next single or album from a group you love and to see their career develop. It also means I could have gotten to see them live.
Me too! :):)l
 
The Singles 1969-1973 was my first album and Yesterday Once More was my first single. I was 12 then. It was the year that music captured me. Karen Carpenter's voice has captured me ever since.
 
Welcome, Simon KC1950! :waveleft:

My first Carpenters album was The Singles 1969 - 1981. I'm actually relatively new to The Carpenters music as well. I got into them around June of this year, getting the album just mentioned shortly after that.
 
The first album I bought for my own use was A Song For You. I had previously bought the tan album for my sister as a Christmas gift. She had previously bought Close To You for herself, so that was the first album I heard in our house. After getting ASFY, I worked my way backward.
 
I was a later fan. I was 16, when I discovered Karen's photo in a book, and it mentioned that she was a Pop Singer from the 1970s, but upon looking at the photo (one of her solo sessions b&w with Phil Ramone, she looked kinda older to me...I thought she was some has been singer of the 1950s)...so I went home and showed Mom the gaunt photo of Karen and she gasped. She was cutting up potatoes and carrots for supper. I asked if she knew who she was, and she said, "Oh Cameron. We have her record in the 8-Track bin." So I promptly went to the bin, and looked but couldn't find anything. She then pawed thru it and found it. I examined it, and asked if I could put in on our 8-Track stereo...she acquiesced...and the sound that came out blew my mind. Like it opened my youth to me. I remember hearing some of it on the radio....but the majestic sounds were incredible! That voice! I remember just seeing that logo and being entranced by the design. There was a photo of two men standing on a bridge, but upon closer reflection, I realized it was Karen and her husband. I had thought they were hippies from the 60s, or maybe musicians that were into acid rock. It was a delight to discover more...next album The Singles 1974-1978. Back then, I sometimes was allowed to go downtown Winnipeg, and I would frequent SAM THE RECORD MAN store that we had. They had a good selection on the Carpenters. I still can see CARPENTERS, A SONG FOR YOU, HORIZON, YESTERDAY ONCE MORE, VOICE OF THE HEART, CARPENTERS CLASSIC on CD, in these long narrow boxes. I know they had quite a few of their lps, so I remember planning to buy something but what. I had remember reading the inner sleeve of the Singles 69-73, and the 39 voice chord in I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN, so that was the first album I bought. I loved the album design, and thought Karen looked so beautiful, and Richard so boyish. I loved the style of their clothing too...her long dress, her velvet band around her neck, her unique shoes. I remember not only listening to the album for hours and hours, when I took it home, but the songs seemed to bring my soul to life. Her voice seemed to become my soundtrack, even back in 1988/1989, and onwards. Next album I obtained was from the library, a cassette A KIND OF HUSH, which I adored. There was such an honesty and sweetness about that album, the artwork, and because at that time (being a product of the 60's scoop here in Manitoba), the parents were going thru divorce, an investigation was done (adopted Father went to jail etc), I was depressed and felt alone within my own struggles (eating disorder etc). Her music soothed the angst and pain I was going thru. Next album I got from the Library, the LP, VOICE OF THE HEART....gorgeous album, gorgeous songs. Followed by MADE IN AMERICA and CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT and YESTERDAY ONCE MORE. I also obtained NOW AND THEN as a cassette which I enjoyed as well....which is why CLOSE TO YOU, A KIND OF HUSH and VOICE OF THE HEART are my FAVE albums of all time....I discovered then, to my embarrassment that Richard and Karen WERE brother and sister....
 
Welcome SimonKC1950. My first was The Singles 1969-1973, followed by Christmas Portrait. Voice Of The Heart was my first studio album. I was a late bloomer, but I have been a top follower since.
 
My first introduction was the Karen Carpenter Story in 1990 and at the same time Only Yesterday: Richard and Karen Carpenter's Greatest Hits was released in South Africa which I bought on cassette and then Lovelines two weeks later. I was hooked. Since then I began scouring second-hand record shops and building my collection. I had no idea what or how many albums had been released by the lovely Evelyn Wallace sent me a nice chronological list and I was able to "put them in order". I graduated to CDs when my parents upgraded their sound system and my most valued item at that time was the Only Yesterday VHS collection which I watched on repeat having never seen a TV special or appearance before then. I now have a substantial collection of Video/CD/vinyl/fan club items but those first cassettes and VHS will always be special.

All thanks to the Karen Carpenter Story which Richard regrets making but it introduced a whole new generation to the Carpenters in 1989/1990.
 
First record purchase, the "We've Only Just Begun" single. First album, "Close to You", not too long after the single. Waited to get the tan album after "Superstar" became a hit. That was roughly the point that I'd say I became a dedicated fan. Only regret was not buying the "Singles 1974-78" album when I saw it as an import in a Belscot store upon release. Wasn't a collector at the time and already had everything on it, but it would be nice to have today. Probably like many of you I purchased the "I Believe You" single through the fan club because I couldn't find it in any store. That was when it really sunk in that there might not be any coming back to Top 40 success.
 
"Live at the Palladium" in '79 or '80. Before then, I didn't have to buy any as my older sisters and brothers had a few of their older studio albums including the tan album, "Close To You" and, of course, "Singles: 1969-1973."
 
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