Complete Singles Collection Available

Ordered mine today. (I had forgotten!) +$15 shipping to Hawaii. But will be nice to finally have this set.

That was June 1st, my copy is still in transit, still sitting in San Diego. The USPS as much as I value the service, sure has slipped. This was $15 in shipping costs for a CD, and it's four weeks already!

So if you have received your copy, consider yourself fortunate! :)
 
The postal service has been really bad since last fall. My packages often get stuck in what’s called the black hole, in Los Angeles. They often send them back to the vendor/seller, or reroute them all the way back to St. Louis or Iowa. It’s happened about 6 times since December. I lost a pair of shoes, and they said a vacuum I ordered from Bed Bath and Beyond wasn’t deliverable, to the store! Their new boss has really screwed them up. I feel for the workers. Most have been very sympathetic to my recovery efforts. Hope your set gets there soon. The irony here is that the set I ordered for Stephen got here in 5 days. Go figure.
 
The postal service has been really bad since last fall. My packages often get stuck in what’s called the black hole, in Los Angeles. They often send them back to the vendor/seller, or reroute them all the way back to St. Louis or Iowa. It’s happened about 6 times since December. I lost a pair of shoes, and they said a vacuum I ordered from Bed Bath and Beyond wasn’t deliverable, to the store! Their new boss has really screwed them up. I feel for the workers. Most have been very sympathetic to my recovery efforts. Hope your set gets there soon. The irony here is that the set I ordered for Stephen got here in 5 days. Go figure.
I have an outstanding order of smooth-edged CDs from a seller on eBay that went from Virginia to Guam before coming to me in Hawaiʻi. :sad:
 
I worked for years in a radio station in Phila., PA. Every now and then a piece of mail, meant for us as in part of an old contest, would show up months later with a rubber-stamped message:

MIS-SENT TO MANILA

This led us to wonder just how many pieces of mail get mis-sent to Manila that they needed to have a rubber stamp made? :)
 
Ordered June1, 2021, at last, it is in my hands on July 9, 2021. That may be the longest time in the mail for anything I ever ordered in Hawaii.
I had some social security documents that took 2 months 🙈 ordered them in January, the indicia read February 11, and I received the envelope on April 11. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
That's the price you pay for living in paradise! 🌴🥥 :pineapple: 😜
What makes me more sad is that some items don't ship to Hawaiʻi, and some sellers charge shipping here, even though USPS shipping prices are the same because we're a full-fledged U.S. state!

It's always "this special deal does not apply to Alaska and Hawaiʻi" LOL
 
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^^It is funny, I debated long and hard before making the above purchase.^^
Then, I read this (I provide excerpts):
December 2021:

You Should Listen to CDs​


"If vinyl is for hipsters and streaming is for everyone else, maybe the forgotten format is for you."
"CDS ARE DEAD. In 2020, revenue from sales of compact discs in the US added up to $483 million, a 97 percent drop from the format’s peak in 2000.
Only 31.6 million CD units were shipped in the US last year. By contrast, the Bee Gees alone have 16 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
How dead are CDs? Deader than disco."
"Cause of death: the unbelievable convenience of streaming platforms. For a modest monthly fee, Spotify offers instant access to what feels like every song ever recorded. Its recommendation algorithms, built on constant surveillance of users’ listening habits, consistently deliver top-notch suggestions. It’s amazing. Listening to good music could hardly be easier." It is, in fact, too easy.
----
"Perhaps the best thing about CDs is that they have gotten ridiculously affordable. Thank you, supply and demand. At the used music stores where I live, almost all the CDs are $5 or less. Even new CDs are far cheaper than they were two decades ago. You could pay $35 to own the new Adele album on vinyl—or $9.97 to have it on CD, with money left over to buy two or three more albums."
"So let the masses stay hooked on streaming while the hipsters spin their overpriced records."
"The CD is dead; long live the CD."

More:
 
^^It is funny, I debated long and hard before making the above purchase.^^
Then, I read this (I provide excerpts):
December 2021:

You Should Listen to CDs​


"If vinyl is for hipsters and streaming is for everyone else, maybe the forgotten format is for you."
"CDS ARE DEAD. In 2020, revenue from sales of compact discs in the US added up to $483 million, a 97 percent drop from the format’s peak in 2000.
Only 31.6 million CD units were shipped in the US last year. By contrast, the Bee Gees alone have 16 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
How dead are CDs? Deader than disco."
"Cause of death: the unbelievable convenience of streaming platforms. For a modest monthly fee, Spotify offers instant access to what feels like every song ever recorded. Its recommendation algorithms, built on constant surveillance of users’ listening habits, consistently deliver top-notch suggestions. It’s amazing. Listening to good music could hardly be easier." It is, in fact, too easy.
----
"Perhaps the best thing about CDs is that they have gotten ridiculously affordable. Thank you, supply and demand. At the used music stores where I live, almost all the CDs are $5 or less. Even new CDs are far cheaper than they were two decades ago. You could pay $35 to own the new Adele album on vinyl—or $9.97 to have it on CD, with money left over to buy two or three more albums."
"So let the masses stay hooked on streaming while the hipsters spin their overpriced records."
"The CD is dead; long live the CD."

More:
 
So, I my cd-set arrived and I have made a preliminary listen (after all these years).
This set is somewhat revelatory: it reinforces a few things I had half-forgotten, and opens my ears up to things to be discovered.
I will be brief, being as this is only listen number one.
(1) The difference between Karen's lead vocal on Ticket To Ride and, then, Close To You is almost jarring.
Much as I like TTR (in its later 1973 version), this early single-version of TTR almost sounds like a 'rough' cut.
(2) Thank Heavens for the song We've Only Just Begun. This single, more than any other, is where all pieces really fit. Incredible song.
(3) Still, I do not feel that the abbreviated Only Yesterday or Occupants did any favors (I still love the album versions).
Opposite opinion with I Won't Last A Day and Solitaire: those enhanced-version singles are perfect.
(4) The Hush album Singles stand out as distinctive from any other album single-choices. Karen simply sounds different in this time-period.
Upon reflection, it is here where I feel that the Carpenters did indeed go too MOR, too soft, as they lost their "radio" fan-base.
(5) Finally, I felt I Believe You actually sounded perfectly fine on this set.
And, it is obvious to 'hear' why Please Mr. Postman was such a smash hit !
 
So, I have to say, I Believe You sounds exceptionally clear on this set.
In fact, I think the harps and that last two seconds of the song are clear as a bell.
So, I gotta change my viewpoint: nothing wrong with this as a single.
If only it had gotten airplay in its own day !
I heard it exactly once on radio (could've been twice ?).
 
I am still enjoying this Singles collection. And, particularly the second and (especially) third cd's.
That will come as no surprise to those who know my fondness for Singles 1974-1978 compilation.
In the meantime, here we have somewhat of a tribute, a performance of two later Carpenters' singles,
Want You Back In My Life Again and Touch Me When We're Dancing:
 
So, I my cd-set arrived and I have made a preliminary listen (after all these years).
This set is somewhat revelatory: it reinforces a few things I had half-forgotten, and opens my ears up to things to be discovered.
I will be brief, being as this is only listen number one.
(1) The difference between Karen's lead vocal on Ticket To Ride and, then, Close To You is almost jarring.
Much as I like TTR (in its later 1973 version), this early single-version of TTR almost sounds like a 'rough' cut.
(2) Thank Heavens for the song We've Only Just Begun. This single, more than any other, is where all pieces really fit. Incredible song.
(3) Still, I do not feel that the abbreviated Only Yesterday or Occupants did any favors (I still love the album versions).
Opposite opinion with I Won't Last A Day and Solitaire: those enhanced-version singles are perfect.
(4) The Hush album Singles stand out as distinctive from any other album single-choices. Karen simply sounds different in this time-period.
Upon reflection, it is here where I feel that the Carpenters did indeed go too MOR, too soft, as they lost their "radio" fan-base.
(5) Finally, I felt I Believe You actually sounded perfectly fine on this set.
And, it is obvious to 'hear' why Please Mr. Postman was such a smash hit !

Great assessment, Gary. Last week I was enjoying this set and it got me thinking the very same thing about the a Kind of Hush album and singles. It's a beautiful album overall, but I feel it was the wrong direction, particularly so at that point. There's nothing dynamic about it. Horizon has been criticized as being draggy, sleepy, etc., but it's full of life to me. It's a record with some exciting and bold songs to balance the quieter pieces which are all divine as well. Hush didn't have strong singles, and I still feel they missed an opportunity with one of the best songs on that album, "You".

To echo you, thank heavens for "We've Only Just Begun". As the years go on, I'm more and more in awe of its perfection. Such an incredible achievement so early in their recording career. As for the single versions of "I Won't Last a Day" and "Solitaire", I agree that the enhancements made them better than ever. Every time I listen to "Solitaire" I can't help but feel that it deserved a much higher position on the charts.

Listening to the performance of "Want You Back In My Life Again" in the video you shared above, reminds me of how sad it is that the Carpenters single didn't do better on the charts. Radio stations never gave it a chance. It's a great recording and certainly as good a song as much of what was on the radio at that time.
 
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^^We've Only Just Begun,
What a song ! Lyric, arrangement, vocals, harmonies, including both pop and rock influences. Perfect.
Also, that first Singles disc contains
Goodbye To Love, in its own way, a masterpiece. But, a caveat: Is the song too manipulative with its editing ?
There is the interview where Tony Peluso says he 'burns' through the solo for many more minutes, which was then edited for inclusion in the song.
There is a point in the song where I hear a vocal take being edited "in" and that jars me a bit (at 1:16 on RPO).
And, yes, I now know a number of non-Carpenters fans who like
Want You Back In My Life Again, and, I still enjoy the song !
In any event, this Singles compilation I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone,
and, it makes a nice complement to the
From The Top chronology (another fav).
 
(Want You) Back In My Life Again was the way the rest of MIA should’ve gone. Touch Me When We’re Dancing & Beechwood 4-5789 were also more upbeat in an early-80’s way. They were similar to what other 80’s pop groups like Air Supply were doing at the time. The other tracks were so 70’s dated and as I’ve said before, considering that I Believe You did very little on the charts in 1978, then why, 3 years later would they release an album that contained so many extremely similar tracks to a failed single. And on the 45, when you flip the record over, you got one of those dated songs, Somebody’s Been Lyin’.
And it’s interesting, but speaks to how things might’ve gone, with WYBIMLA as the 4th song on what might be the second most-popular Carpenters compilation, the 1985 Yesterday Once More/1987Classics Volume 2/1998 Yesterday Once More.
 
Snippet from Record Word November 4, 1978 (page 22):
CARPENTERS-A&M 2097 I BELIEVE YOU (prod. by R. Carpenter) (3:54).
"This first taste of the Carpenters' upcoming album features Karen's crystalline vocals over the dramatic Addrisi brothers composition.
It should hit the adult playlists out of the box."


After much reflection, I see no harm whatsoever in including this single on Made In America.
I believe it is generally a better song than it is a radio-friendly-single, so I would rather see it on an album.
Needless-to-say, looking at the charts from 1978, the competition for airplay was fierce: the song never got a proper fighting chance (imho).
 
If ‘I Believe You’ lost the florid orchestral glop, it would be a different story entirely. Karen’s vocals are incredible and it certainly had some potential. While there are a lot of positives about this record, I think that introduction with the Disney-esque flourishes (before Karen even sings) sealed its fate on the charts.
 
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Well, I hope everyone who wanted one got a copy of the COMPLETE SINGLES set. It would appear that it's now only available for inflated prices again and probably is out of print on CD.
 
In May 2021, after posting about my frustration that this wasn’t available in the UK, I was very fortunate to be contacted by a long-standing forum member via private message who kindly offered to buy this set and post it to me from the US for its face value price. I was so grateful and it is probably the one set in my entire collection that I still get the most listening pleasure from today.
 
I paid the price through the Public TV subscription offer. Though one could say it was a "free" gift with the subscription, it really cost me something around $200 for the CD set and the DVD.

And just to make sure something new didn't slip by me, I also bought one of the cheaper $40 sets in 2021 from Amazon. There are some tiny differences in the artwork that I've noticed. I believe the recordings are bit-identical with the 2015 set.
 
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