Anniversary = Offering please!.

[Wayne Crozier]

I think it would be wonderful for the 50th celebrations if “Offering” would at long last be re issued in its original cover art. I think this would be quite a gesture and quite apt!. After all that was their first release and it would be like going full circle. I wish the record company would consider it as it would be a very nice touch - and I don’t own that cover!!.
I appreciate that there are better albums than “Offering” but for me that would be lovely to own with that cover art, and easy to release as well.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Great idea!!
But oh how that would confuse eBay buyers

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I think it would be wonderful for the 50th celebrations if “Offering” would at long last be re issued in its original cover art. I think this would be quite a gesture and quite apt!. After all that was their first release and it would be like going full circle. I wish the record company would consider it as it would be a very nice touch - and I don’t own that cover!!.
I appreciate that there are better albums than “Offering” but for me that would be lovely to own with that cover art, and easy to release as well.

Largely unused cover art from 50 years ago does get lost so it's hard to know if Universal even has it at this point. Richard might but that's also hard to know. Either way, I doubt we'll see it again. It'd be fun though.

Ed

 

[Harry]

You know, before the advent of the Internet, a rare, hardly seen cover was something to really seek out. Other than a published picture in a book, catalog, or magazine, the only way to see it was to own one.

Nowadays, anyone can find an image of just about any rare album cover and stare at it all day long if they want to. Or they can get some glossy paper for their printer and make their own insert for a CD.

 

[tomswift2002]

Largely unused cover art from 50 years ago does get lost so it's hard to know if Universal even has it at this point. Richard might but that's also hard to know. Either way, I doubt we'll see it again. It'd be fun though.

Ed

The original artwork did surface on the 35th Anniversary boxset back in 2004.

35th Anniversary Collector's Edition Box Set (2003)

But it would be nice if “Offering” were remastered for the 50th—-If Richard went back to the original & digital multi-track tapes and created a cleaner mix. Maybe even a 5.1 remix on DVD or Blu-Ray audio in DTS (or even a DualDisc like Barry Manilow’s “Geatest Songs Of The 50s” where it was DVD-Video on the one side with PCM 16-bit 48khz audio).

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

The original artwork did surface on the 35th Anniversary boxset back in 2004.

35th Anniversary Collector's Edition Box Set (2003)

Oh cool! Didn't know that. Do we know if it was the original artwork or a scan of an album?

Ed

 

[Wayne Crozier]

Personally, I don’t think you can beat the full sized LP experience, CDs just haven’t the same visual or tactile experience. Granted some reproductions of Original vinyl artwork can be a little shoddy (due to them basically taking the cd cover and blowing the size up to 12”) losing a bit of the original resolution in the process. All of the recent Carpenters ones haven’t suffered like some artists I have bought on LP though.

 

[Harry]

The 35th Anniversary CD box set with OFFERING.

 

[A&M Retro]

If you look closely, the artwork for the ‘Offering’ CD is not correct. The A&M logo used on the album cover reproduction is much too thick looking....the logo is wider in font style than the vinyl original. That’s always bugged me. The rest is spot-on.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

That's the updated logo. The original logo had the outside "box" composed of much thinner lines, and the A and M were of a slightly different font.

I was always surprised (and glad) that as many label variations A&M had over the years, their actual logo never changed too much from its original design.

 

[jaredjohnfisher]

I'm a lifelong fan, but that Offering cover (pic) was dreadful. The Ticket To Ride redesign and cover photo was a vast improvement. In fact, it's one of the better album covers of their career.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm in the (small?) camp that likes the original cover better. Sure it's firmly planted in the 1960s, but at least it's kinda artsy, fits the music and has a feeling about it. The reissue cover is a nice picture, but it's basically a snapshot that could have been taken by anyone. I even like the original title better.

The reissue cover is the first in a long line of fairly bland Carpenters covers that wouldn't end until Horizon. The music was exciting but the covers were oh-so-boring.

 

[tomswift2002]

If you look closely, the artwork for the ‘Offering’ CD is not correct. The A&M logo used on the album cover reproduction is much too thick looking....the logo is wider in font style than the vinyl original. That’s always bugged me. The rest is spot-on.

I wonder if Universal found the original film negative or positive print and just recreated the titling and logo for the set.

 

[Rumbahbah]

You know, before the advent of the Internet, a rare, hardly seen cover was something to really seek out. Other than a published picture in a book, catalog, or magazine, the only way to see it was to own one.

Nowadays, anyone can find an image of just about any rare album cover and stare at it all day long if they want to. Or they can get some glossy paper for their printer and make their own insert for a CD.

I think that rather overlooks the desire of some fans and collectors to have a real copy (whether an original or a reissue) of something. Following the same logic, you could argue that the problematic Vinyl Collection issued in 2017 would be of no interest to anyone, as the albums weren't any different from the original issues, which many fans either already own or can still be bought in good condition very cheaply, and the music is all available on streaming sites - and yet people bought it.

The Vinyl Collection wasn't of interest to me as it was a straight copy of the original vinyl LPs (most of which I've already got), plus it was very expensive (and the pressings turned out to be awful), but I will admit that if they'd had the foresight to use the Offering sleeve for the debut album, I'd have been tempted to have bought that album at least, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position. If you're going to sell people the same thing, you might as well make it something that's at least a bit different from what they already have. Printing out a colour copy of the original sleeve and sticking it on the front of the Ticket to Ride cover is hardly the same thing.

 

[Harry]

No, it's not the same thing as the real thing, but my point was that anyone can SEE the original cover now, anytime they want - in full resolution on the Internet.

Back in the 70s and 80s, there were precious few ways of actually seeing an OFFERING cover except through owning one. Having it easily at hand on the Internet makes it a bit less important to actually owning one.

 

[Rumbahbah]

No, it's not the same thing as the real thing, but my point was that anyone can SEE the original cover now, anytime they want - in full resolution on the Internet.

Back in the 70s and 80s, there were precious few ways of actually seeing an OFFERING cover except through owning one. Having it easily at hand on the Internet makes it a bit less important to actually owning one.

You could argue it the other way round though by saying that the Internet made people aware of differences like this and thus more keen or likely to track them down. Pre-internet, other than a passing reference to the Offering cover in the Ray Coleman book, I don't recall coming across any info stating that the original album cover was different from the Ticket to Ride version. Presumably unless someone was buying music when the original LP was issued, happened to see the original in a secondhand store or was a member of the fan club, they wouldn't know this either.

 

[GaryAlan]

^^Excellent observations.
There are some interesting things to note in this regard:
(1) The 1975 Horizon Press kit/A&M Compendium has a photo of all the Albums to-that-date,
it shows the Ticket To Ride Cover for the 1969 issue.
(2) 1977 Passage LP Liner Notes:"...continuing all the way back to their debut LP, Ticket To Ride...."
(3) The 1979 Decade Booklet, issued by the fan club, has a small photo of the 1969 Offering Cover.
Then, when listing all the duo's Albums, calls that first album....
Ticket To Ride, release date Oct 9, 1969 !

 

[Harry]

The back of the TICKET TO RIDE album has a note on it saying that it had been previously released under the title OFFERING and that the tunes remain the same.

 

[Randy M]

I would be happy if the newer cover was a "re-do." Remove that big blue border. Crop the inner photo which would enlarge Karen & Richard immensely. Maybe use the original album cover as an insert or background with the lyrics.

For the longest time I thought Karen was dressed as a nun in black bell bottom pants. I like the other photos from that session where Richard has his arms stretched upward (and I can see Karen has very long dark hair.)