⭐ Official Review [Box Set]: "FROM THE TOP" (AM75021/6875)

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

The "As Time Goes By" portion of the medley runs from about 3:41 to 4:43, and it's of course a famous song.

Yeah I get that but it doesn't make sense to have called it that on the box set if the song starts with Masquerade. Unless Richard was only going to include the As Time Goes By song and leave out This Masquerade. Otherwise the box set would have shown Karen/Ella Medley not As Time Goes By. Make sense?

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'll bet whoever created that artwork started with a list of ALL of the songs that were going to be on the set, which would have included "As Time Goes By," whether in an abbreviated version or not.

 

[tomswift2002]

Or maybe in 1991 the Medley was going to be called the As Time Goes By Medley.

 

[newvillefan]

I'll bet whoever created that artwork started with a list of ALL of the songs that were going to be on the set, which would have included "As Time Goes By," whether in an abbreviated version or not.

Or maybe in 1991 the Medley was going to be called the As Time Goes By Medley.

Highly likely to be one of the above two scenarios I think.

 

[GaryAlan]

Realizing that Nelson Riddle was "musical director" for the 1980 Music, Music, Music TV Special
and Nelson Riddle was instrumental in Linda Ronstadt's 1983 resurgence on What's New,
I have often wondered why that route--American standards--was not developed further on the Carpenters' recordings.
Granted, it apparently became vogue only after Linda's enormous success with that genre in 1983,
still, why there was not a push by A&M to get an album of standards recorded in Karen's lifetime is beyond comprehension.
Even then, in 1983, choosing the inferior song Make Believe It's Your First Time as lead-off single from VOH LP
over the great song, Ordinary Fool, made little sense to my ears.

 

[tomswift2002]

Having Nelson Riddle, I’ve wondered if there was ever talk of Richard recording the Batman 66 theme song.

 

[Harry]

Granted, it apparently became vogue only after Linda's enormous success with that genre in 1983,
still, why there was not a push by A&M to get an album of standards recorded in Karen's lifetime is beyond comprehension.

A push - in Karen's lifetime? How many people knew how long Karen was going to live? Wasn't her life going to extend far into the future? Plenty of time for all sorts of interesting records.

Their focus was getting back to square one - have an album with some top hits. And they DID manage one hit against all odds.

Later albums could have had all sorts of different themes, with a perhaps a focus on big band stuff, jazz material - just hopefully no more castanet oldies!

 

[GaryAlan]

Again, I will clarify:
We did not get during Karen & Richard's career an album of songs of the caliber akin to
Look To Your Dreams, Little Girl Blue, You're Just In Love, When I Fall In Love....
We did get I Believe You, Want You Back In My Life Again, Beechwood 4-5789.....
This--or my--remark was not zeroing in on Karen's demise in February 1983,
it was zeroing in on the lack of focus, by A&M or whoever, on an
album of Standards, of a caliber that the duo should have recorded.
The 1980 Music, Music, Music --which already utilized Nelsen Riddle--should have been that precursor.
So, again, I repeat, nothing to do with Karen's 1983 tragedy, but,
the absence of utilizing Nelsen Riddle for a full-on album from that time until April 1982.

 

[Harry]

Much more clear.

I have no answer.

 

[3Favorites]

I forgot all about this release until I read this. I think I've been listening to the Essential Collection, but I see that I have From The Top on my MP3 player as well. I went and looked for the album size release and I happily found it. I might have the half size one as well. Not positive. I think the Essential Collection was released as a "cube": small box a little bigger than the CDs. I have that one. Guess I'll have to listen to hear what is different. You all keep talking about all the different versions, but I haven't really noticed anything. Of course I tend to listen to the CD versions of the albums mostly. I bought all the albums as they came out and then the CDs as they were first issued. I did buy 3 of the CD the Japanese SX ones. Or what ever you called them. I forget. There is so much information here. And I have bought quite a few Compilations; especially if they had a new song on them, i.e. Tryin To Get the Feeling.

The only song I can think of that clearly had a different version is Top of the World on the original album and single which had a different intro and ending. But I guess there are many more.

 

[Murray]

Again, I will clarify:
We did not get during Karen & Richard's career an album of songs of the caliber akin to
Look To Your Dreams, Little Girl Blue, You're Just In Love, When I Fall In Love....
We did get I Believe You, Want You Back In My Life Again, Beechwood 4-5789.....
This--or my--remark was not zeroing in on Karen's demise in February 1983,
it was zeroing in on the lack of focus, by A&M or whoever, on an
album of Standards, of a caliber that the duo should have recorded.
The 1980 Music, Music, Music --which already utilized Nelsen Riddle--should have been that precursor.
So, again, I repeat, nothing to do with Karen's 1983 tragedy, but,
the absence of utilizing Nelsen Riddle for a full-on album from that time until April 1982.

Perhaps if the Music, Music, Music special had been a ratings smash, a follow up album of standards may have been considered. As it was, the special ranked so poorly (49th out of 56 shows in the week it originally aired), that an album of similar material could have been seen as too big a risk to take, from a commercial standpoint.

 

[GaryAlan]

^^That is a possibility.
But, as far as any Carpenters' special in 1980, no matter what type of songs
had been performed and promoted on that TV Special, that show would still have bombed--as, the Carpenters were simply out-of-public eye/ear.
I always wondered if the Space Encounters TV Special sealed their "television" fate (though, as much as I now find it a guilty pleasure).
Back in my day, few of my peers--if any of my peers-- watched any beyond that First 1976 Special.

 

[ullalume]

I saw this listing on e bay the other day and it brought back memories of when I went into a local record store "Peaches Records and Tapes and bought this when it was released. It first came out with this style large cover box. I remember seeing it and not believing what I was seeing...holding it and standing there for what seemed like an hour just reading all the titles and knowing I would not be able to put this back down. For a moment it was like Karen had not left and I was reading new titles and kept saying...I never heard that title before. etc..Then when I got home and opened the lid...wow that booklet...I sat listening while looking...priceless!!

These photos really captured the moment for me and brought back memories of something new by Carpenters and the hype sticker..just gorgeous packaging. This will probably remain one of my most favorite box sets ever!!

LINK to Sale and credit for photos

Carpenters From the Top Box set 12 x 12 square new sealed 4 cd set and booklet | eBay

A very similar situation. Oct of '92 I was 14 and on a trip to Orlando. One evening we went to Florida Mall and I think it was a smallish music store called Music land. . .and there it was. It was the long booklet version of the set. I had no idea it existed. It was like all my Christmases rolled into one...total joy. Of course I didn't have a cd player so had to wait 2 months for my Xmas present to play it.

2 years later I was at the same Mall and bought a Mickey Mouse special laser disc box set which I then had to buy a laser disc player...very few people owned them in the UK.

Can't believe that was 30 years ago.

Neil

 

[cam89]

It's amazing to see how the musicians looked and admired Karen when she was singing and drumming on the Music Music Music medley and tv show....she was so much more than a singer, fabulous as she was...she WAS a musician too....and knew her way around....her voice also was an instrument.....there are certain bits of phrases in a song that get to me...I have to write down a list...but just a certain word and how she says it that makes me melt in my ears...Trying To Get the Feeling again....Feeling....ah-gaaaiiinnn........how she says the word.....Sensation......and Again....before she turns the page.....that is one song I NEVER tire of.....
Look To Your Dream...at 0:44....the word SOMEWHERE inside....the somewhere sounds so sonically magical...
I'm Caught Between Goodbye and I love you....just a sumptuous song....at 0:58....the word BELIEVE....just gorgeous...
I Need to be in Love....kind chucked it in the boring bin....not a huge fan of the song....but upon closer listening she sings it beautifully....I love the words..."I know I ask perfection..."....the word KNOW sounds elegant...

It is like these little touches and flourishes she uses in her vocal interpretation make her one of the finest female vocalists in my opinion....she is not just laying a track down, but investing herself into it somehow....

My thoughts,
Cam

 

[3Favorites]

This is in reference to my previous post...

Guess my problem was that I was always listening to the first release CDs, so I didn't realize that there were other updated versions of the songs. And to be truthful, I hadn't listened to Ticket to Ride or Close to You in 50 years, because I didn't think I liked those LPs that much. I remember thinking back in the 70's that the only good songs on those collections were the hits. I actually gave away the first two copies I bought to my Mother. But as the hits kept coming, I became a fast fan, so I had to have them in my collection so I bought them again. After reading comments on this forum, I decided to revisit them, and I have discovered that I truly like Close to You. Even songs that I thought I didn't like now sit well with me. There is a lot going on in the songs that I didn't appreciate back then. I'm still undecided about Ticket to Ride. The first re-listen after 50 years did not sound great. The voices were dark and husky. Didn't really suggest what was to come. But after a couple of additional listens, I'm liking it more. I will say that the songs sound a bit muddy. The voices aren't up front like they should be. And Get Together really does not sound that good to me yet. In any case, the reason I wrote all this was to say that I played the Essentials collection after listening to the aforementioned and I can hear how the recordings are much nicer, much sweeter. Even Your Wonderful Parade and Saturday sound so much better to me that the original releases. Richard's voice is upfront and very nice sounding. I think From the Top is probably the same. But I'll have to take another listen.

 

[A&M Retro]

Realizing that Nelson Riddle was "musical director" for the 1980 Music, Music, Music TV Special
and Nelson Riddle was instrumental in Linda Ronstadt's 1983 resurgence on What's New,
I have often wondered why that route--American standards--was not developed further on the Carpenters' recordings.
Granted, it apparently became vogue only after Linda's enormous success with that genre in 1983,
still, why there was not a push by A&M to get an album of standards recorded in Karen's lifetime is beyond comprehension.
Even then, in 1983, choosing the inferior song Make Believe It's Your First Time as lead-off single from VOH LP
over the great song, Ordinary Fool, made little sense to my ears.

You probably know this already, but Richard had sent Karen a cassette of songs he’d assembled for her to listen to while she spent all of those weeks at the hospital in NYC in ‘82. One of the songs was the standard, ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’.

Karen told him she really loved that one and wanted to record it as soon as they resumed work on the new album. Sadly, that didn’t happen. But it does reveal that they were very much thinking about doing more standards in 1983.

 

[GaryAlan]

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the 1980 Music, Music, Music TV special should have been
a precursor to a Carpenters' Standards album in 1980.
That the special performed so dismally in the ratings may have played a large part in not pursuing a full album of standards that year,
but, given how Richard feels about I Can Dream Can't I, I suspect he may have been turned off to that idea anyway.
In viewing that special from 1980, I can opine that the abundance--the over-abundance--of Medleys stifled its public reception.
(Okay, so I still do not understand Richard's apparent obsession with Medleys.)

Again, looking back on Linda Ronstadt, read:
"What's New was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the album chart.
It represents the first in a trilogy of 1980s albums Ronstadt recorded with bandleader/arranger Nelson Riddle.
Its release came as the radio programming format known as Adult Standards was taking off via programming concepts such as Music of Your Life,
which specialized in returning pre-rock popular music and the songs of the Great American Songbook to the American airwaves."

 

[Harry]

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the 1980 Music, Music, Music TV special should have been
a precursor to a Carpenters' Standards album in 1980.

Let us know when you invent your time machine so you can go back and accomplish that. We'll all be interested!

 

[GaryAlan]

Even the Fan Club Newsletter #67 May 1980 states "progress has been made on a Carpenters' LP..."

Carpenters Fan Club newsletter #67 (May 1980) : Carpenters Fan Club : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Newsletter of the Carpenters Fan Club.

archive.org

 

[3Favorites]

I was listening to Disc 1 of this set and one thing struck me. Karen's pre: A&M singles. Her voice sounded much like her later recording after they established their sound. They weren't "husky" as her early voice has been described. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I like those early songs. I like the sound. I would have bought them at the time if I knew about them. Heck! I didn't even mind the instrumentals this time around. And "Don't Be Afraid!" I love this version. I think it could have been an "A" side of a single. It sounds great.

But I wonder wonder how her voice went from the early sound to the "huskier" sound employed on Offering.

 

[tomswift2002]

I was listening to Disc 1 of this set and one thing struck me. Karen's pre: A&M singles. Her voice sounded much like her later recording after they established their sound. They weren't "husky" as her early voice has been described. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I like those early songs. I like the sound. I would have bought them at the time if I knew about them. Heck! I didn't even mind the instrumentals this time around. And "Don't Be Afraid!" I love this version. I think it could have been an "A" side of a single. It sounds great.

But I wonder wonder how her voice went from the early sound to the "huskier" sound employed on Offering.

In “From The Top” Richard mentions that Karen was never happy with her vocals on ‘Someday’ since she had a cold while they were recording ‘Offering’.

 

[Florian]

Is it only my "From the top" CD or does the 1991 remix of the song "Hurting each other" really sound like Karen is in the background and the instruments are playing in the foreground? Karen is so quiet and therefore hardly understandable.

 

[Harry]

Ugh. As that's one of my favorite Carpenters songs, it really bugged me that the remix wasn't a good one.

 

[Florian]

That's right, as it's also one of my favourite songs, I'm a bit shocked that this remix has been approved in this way.

 

[JohnFB]

... And "Don't Be Afraid!" I love this version. I think it could have been an "A" side of a single. It sounds great.

Yes, exactly - it should have been the first single released from "Offering", with ALL OF MY LIFE next and third a paired-down TICKET TO RIDE (with all but the last few notes of the piano intro eliminated from the single, but retained for the album cut - love this whole intro but the "Great Unwashed" weren't ready for an extended, Classical-style lead-in, and neither was low brow, pop-bop radio...the number and deeply negative consequences of all the bad decisions made within A & M at this period is simply staggering...