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If you remember, this set was also an issue back in 2006 when it was issued as The Ultimate Collection due to using the Remastered Classics mixes. Apparently Richard had not signed off back then on using those mixes.It's not a surprise to me that this was an unapproved release. The CD version from a few years ago looked cheaply done and slapped together. The LP contains all the same photos and design as I'm sure you've all seen. I was not expecting much from the LP version, but ordered it anyway to have the larger photos inside the gatefold cover. It's nice to see Karen's solo photo printed large. I just wish they would have chosen a better one of Richard for his large photo. It really makes me ask "what were they thinking?". You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to get a good designer for this stuff.
It was noted a few pages back by Graeme that Collected was mastered by Rinus Hooning at Record Industry B.V. I did a quick google because I was not aware of who this person was or where it was. It appears that Record Industry BV is in Europe. There address appears to be Haarlem, Netherlands.
Here is a video just up'd a few months ago of the inside tour of Record Industry, (Europe's oldest and world's largest vinyl pressing plants) The tour is guided by Rinus Hooning. So this appears to be the person who is credited as mastering Collected. It's pretty darn interesting to see this all come together in a vinyl pressing plant.
English subtitles appeared for me so it was fully understandable, you might have to click on subtitles on you tube's menu for your location. The tour stars at about 4:15
I inspected my records after reading this and one of them has a couple of yellow steaks in it and the other has a few black specs embedded it.The version of “Superstar” on this is exactly the same version as the albums I have but for sure the Sound isn’t as dynamic as my Japanese pressing of “Carpenters”. I actually listened to three of the four sides this morning and it just doesn’t do it for me sonically, each to his own I suppose but this isn’t a patch on my originals. Also the album isn’t completely white it has areas of yellow within the white., maybe I’ve got a dud pressing?.
Technically (and legally), Richard's approval is not needed for anything Universal has available. So anyone who pays the licensing fee can have the music, as that is likely part of the contractual agreement between Richard and the label. I would think a contract includes whether or not the principal artist(s) needs to approve releases. And that works against the record label's interests to have that kind of limitation--an artist could stonewall any releases in that case, if they were upset with the label, and that kind of stalemate could lead right back to the courtroom. The real answer here is that Richard should take back ownership of the masters for himself, but given the way the industry works, that is a near impossibility. I work with another artist/band that had releases under MCA and GRP, and they essentially can't even touch the masters at this point.
I think a better word here might be "endorsed."
I personally think the white vinyl is a cool idea, as is the idea of a limited edition set. Too bad the cover art and mastering are suspect on this one. It also makes me wonder which masters Universal sent to MOV to get it pressed.
Different people like different things.Hmm. I cannot see why people go mad for compilations. Unless it's a properly authorised release that hangs together, what's the point? Albums are supposed to be a work of art; beginning-middle-end; a body of work that ties together. Cherry-picking tracks from all over just isn't on. Add to this the often-crappy artwork and it's pointless really ...
I'm a bit confused, please correct me if I'm wrong here. I was reading the resource site about the Collected Series on CD which brought up the Ultimate Collection from the Netherlands.
So in 2006 when the Ultimate Collection from the NL 3 CD set arrived we determined these contained the original album mixes (remastered classic series). This set went out of print fairly quickly being replaced by a similar track listing except for the switch from Goofus and Sandy. The way to tell if you had the original set that went out of print was that it included Goofus while the set that it replaced had Sandy. The set that it replaced however did not have the original mixes like the first set but were instead nearly all remixes. It was thought that Richard possibly found out about the original mixes being released without his approval thus was quickly replaced with the remixes.
So then in 2013 when Carpenters Collected 3 CD set was released it contained the original mixes (remastered classics series)
I guess we don't know that Richard really pulled the first NL release because if he had then why would the original mixes be released again on the Carpenters Collected 3 CD set in 2013? Why wouldn't that set have contained the remixes. Which leads us to where we are now with the LP being released, most likely the LP is taken from the masters of the 2013 Carpenters Collected CD set. I guess I'm a bit confused, was Richard not aware that the 2013 CD's contained the original mixes?
He wasn't even aware of this one until he got ahold of my copy and pulled it apart.
Hmm, after more comparisons I completely understand what you're saying about them not sounding dynamic. As well as listening to the remastered CDs, I dug out my mum's ancient Aretha Franklin's Aretha Now vinyl album to see what vinyl should sound like. It has a far more open and sparkling sound, though I still have to crank up the volume on the line out option compared to the CD option.Would be good to get a wider evaluation of the Sonics on this one, don’t take my word for it but I am very subjective where Carpenters vinyl is concerned , some sounds absolutely amazing to me and others not so, one for the collection this is then?.