CARPENTERS FIRST SINGLE ....TICKET OR PARADE ?

[PJ]

John Tobler who compiled Complete Guide to Carpenters Music in 1998 has interviewed Richard , John Bettis and many Carpenters associates several times in the 1980's / 1990's

Tobler attended a UK Fans Convention and from conversations with John Bettis ....claims Ticket to Ride was not Carpenters first Single ....

Bettis listed Your Wonderful Parade ....ultimately B side to Ticket as their first Single release .....I wonder if :

1. Rogue copies of Ticket Single listed Parade as A SIDE were issued by mistake ? ( Recall some copies of Close To You listed I Kept On Loving You as A Side or double A Single ! )

2. Parade was issued on some promo / demo A&M issues and sent out again to Radio / Media by error ....?

3. Did A&M Summer 1969 issue some promos with Parade as samplers of New Artist's music ?

Any other ideas as to basis of Tobler's claims

Peter

 

[Rudy]

Numerically, #1142 was listed as "Ticket To Ride / Your Wonderful Parade", and the first Carpenters A&M single. No indication as to which is "A" or "B", although the first track listed was usually the "A".

They may have intended or contemplated "Parade" as being the "A" side, but whether or not any were ever released that way is the question. The labels sometimes override the wishes of the artists to release the single with the most potential to become a hit.

 

[W.B.]

They may have intended or contemplated "Parade" as being the "A" side, but whether or not any were ever released that way is the question. The labels sometimes override the wishes of the artists to release the single with the most potential to become a hit.

And then there's the role radio D.J.'s used to play, "flipping" sides so that those originally intended as "B" sides ended up becoming the hit. I remember reading somewhere that that's how Billy Preston's first hit single for A&M, "Outa-Space" (AM-1320) made it - it was originally to be the back of the title track from his first A&M LP, I Wrote A Simple Song.

And there's the little matter of A&M sometimes having a lower matrix number for its B-sides than for its A-sides. "Close To You" (#1183) is a prime example, with its 1962-S number vs. "I Kept On Loving You's" 1961-S.

But as for the "Ticket To Ride" 45: Can anybody tell me, in terms of Columbia - Pitman, NJ pressings (with the Pantone 117U ochre and 151C orange), whether that plant provided its own label copy artwork, or imported Santa Maria, CA's (a la the TJB LP Warm or Tamba 4's Samba Blim), either by writing or by pictures? I do know the next catalogue single -- "You Are My Life"/"Good Morning, Mr. Sunshine" by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass (#1143) -- used Pitman's Linotype fonts.

 

[Harry]

This is one of those where the alleged b-side has a lower matrix number than the alleged a-side. "Your Wonderful Parade" has number 1881, while "Ticket To Ride" has number 1882.

My particular copy has, for "Your Wonderful Parade", the inscribed numbers of A&M 1881-18, with a circle MR, then a triangle 78673. On the "Ticket To Ride" side, it's A&M 1882-15, circle MR, and triangle 78673.

Here's a picture of the label:

Harry
...who likes the differences in this mono pressing, online...

 

[Rudy]

This is one of those where the alleged b-side has a lower matrix number than the alleged a-side. "Your Wonderful Parade" has number 1881, while "Ticket To Ride" has number 1882.

I wonder if this is why someone assumed "Parade" was the actual A-side for this single.

 

[W.B.]

My particular copy has, for "Your Wonderful Parade", the inscribed numbers of A&M 1881-18, with a circle MR, then a triangle 78673. On the "Ticket To Ride" side, it's A&M 1882-15, circle MR, and triangle 78673.

Important question: Which of the two sides has an "-X" suffix after the delta (triangle) 78673? I know that, with Monarch pressings, an "-X" usually indicated the designated B-side.

And again, I reiterate: Anyone have scans of Columbia pressings of this freshman Carpenters 45? The lacquer numbers, by my calculations, would be rather low (i.e. A+M 1881-3, A+M 1882-5).

 

[Harry]

There is no "-X" following the delta number nor anywhere else in the runoff area, on either side.

Harry
...inspecting the grooves, online...

 

[PJ]

Certainly if "Your Wonderful Parade" had been selected as Carpenters first A&M Single -what a contrast compared to Ticket To Ride :

* Richard Lead Vocal
* Rhythm Track
* Lyric / Subject Matter
* Non -Love Song / Ballad
* Complete Contrast to Carpenters Classic Style

How would A&M staffers have responded to this release

Radio response / airplay

Wider Music Industry views / opinons

Could this release have cracked US Charts in 1969 ?

Had Carpenters Jazz Trio achieved some record releases and some chart / sales success in 1966 / 1967 ....accepted preconceptions re : Carpenters would have been completely different ........

Peter

 

[W.B.]

There is no "-X" following the delta number nor anywhere else in the runoff area, on either side.

Thanks for that. Probably means that it was a tough call which side was A or B at the time the record was being produced. There've been a few cases like this with other promo copies on other labels.

 

[W.B.]

Certainly if "Your Wonderful Parade" had been selected as Carpenters first A&M Single -what a contrast compared to Ticket To Ride :

* Richard Lead Vocal
* Rhythm Track
* Lyric / Subject Matter
* Non -Love Song / Ballad
* Complete Contrast to Carpenters Classic Style

How would A&M staffers have responded to this release

Radio response / airplay

Wider Music Industry views / opinons

Could this release have cracked US Charts in 1969 ?

Plus one other thing: An original, "non-familiar" composition -- in contrast to the familiar, Beatles-cover that did make the charts. That factor, plus Karen's vocals, may have made the final difference in the equation.