⭐ Official Review Carpenters Royal Philharmonic Review and Comments Thread

How would you rate Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra?

  • ⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕ (Best)

    Votes: 38 36.5%
  • ⁕⁕⁕⁕

    Votes: 47 45.2%
  • ⁕⁕⁕ (Average)

    Votes: 16 15.4%
  • ⁕⁕

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • ⁕ (Worst)

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Did not listen to this album yet

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Total voters
    104
Side two on my vinyl has a definite scratch sound. Straight out from the A&M logo. Not as noticeable on some songs, loud on others.

1,3&4 are good. 1 a few pops. 3&4 pretty clean.

I haven’t listened to the white vinyl but probably will tomorrow.

After I check the white vinyl I am going to contact UMG.

Sorry to post so many times, just would think of things as I listened.
Jonathan
 
White vinyl so far.
One skip on I Believe You.

If that is all I find, I’m not going to worry about it.

Haven’t heard back on the black vinyl, but I am planning to return and replace.
 
I have just finished listening to disk #1 of the white vinyl that arrived today. The stand out on side one is ; I Need To Be In Love. Sounds like Karen's vocal is more magnificent, more front and center. For All We Know also is very well done, but that was a strong Karen lead on the original. A lot of "overture" on side #1, you can see where Richard was going with it, trying to close out the last and build up excitement for the next track. Might bewilder new fans. The highlight for me on side #2 is I Just Fall In Love Again, finally Karen's beautiful vocal is the focal point (we knew it was buried in that "Passage" track somewhere!). Utterly fantastic! Merry Christmas, Darling is great and so is Baby It's You, but they were great already. I don't know where the RPO enhanced them. I'm taking a breather...Disk #2 tomorrow.
 
Have now listened to disk 2, side 3/4. I've changed my vote from "Did not listen to this album yet" to "*** (Average)'. Briefly, where the album worked was on Ticket To Ride and I Just Fall In Love Again (mainly the clarification of Karen's lead vocal). The Spanish guitar was a nice touch on Superstar. The piccolo trumpet on Goodbye To Love is annoying and as far as the rest goes, the changes are too subtle to matter much. Would I purchase a similar project in the future? No. Somebody needs to buy Richard a set of golf clubs.
 
Have now listened to disk 2, side 3/4. I've changed my vote from "Did not listen to this album yet" to "*** (Average)'. Briefly, where the album worked was on Ticket To Ride and I Just Fall In Love Again (mainly the clarification of Karen's lead vocal). The Spanish guitar was a nice touch on Superstar. The piccolo trumpet on Goodbye To Love is annoying and as far as the rest goes, the changes are too subtle to matter much. Would I purchase a similar project in the future? No. Somebody needs to buy Richard a set of golf clubs.
Ouch! :wink:
 
Have now listened to disk 2, side 3/4. I've changed my vote from "Did not listen to this album yet" to "*** (Average)'. Briefly, where the album worked was on Ticket To Ride and I Just Fall In Love Again (mainly the clarification of Karen's lead vocal). The Spanish guitar was a nice touch on Superstar. The piccolo trumpet on Goodbye To Love is annoying and as far as the rest goes, the changes are too subtle to matter much. Would I purchase a similar project in the future? No. Somebody needs to buy Richard a set of golf clubs.

I hear you. Apparently I like the work more than you, but over time I have cooled to the RPO work in general. In my case it's because I've come to the conclusion that for me, many of the changes seem gratuitous; this is actually a compliment to Richard. Many of these songs were essentially perfect already, especially the big classic hits. It was exciting and fun to hear the music with tweaks and new musical elements, and I do enjoy the segues in many cases, but with the exception of one song, nothing is "better" than it was prior to the RPO experience, in my opinion. It's just "different", and that doesn't have staying power for me.
 
as far as the rest goes, the changes are too subtle to matter much. Would I purchase a similar project in the future? No. Somebody needs to buy Richard a set of golf clubs.

Well said.

I've come to the conclusion that for me, many of the changes seem gratuitous; this is actually a compliment to Richard.

Despite what you went on to say, that’s actually a contradiction in terms.
 
All the things that Richard was able to "fix" on the RPO album -- bringing Karen's vocals upfront more, removing ambient noises, fixing little glitches in the sound and/or timing, etc. -- I wonder if anyone's given any thought to applying those fixes to the original recordings and bringing the catalog out again that way? Even just doing it on the pre-Horizon albums would be awesome. (Maybe the idea was thought of but then discarded.) I have to say I love the way Karen sounds on the RPO album, it's the best she's ever sounded.
 
All the things that Richard was able to "fix" on the RPO album -- bringing Karen's vocals upfront more, removing ambient noises, fixing little glitches in the sound and/or timing, etc. -- I wonder if anyone's given any thought to applying those fixes to the original recordings and bringing the catalog out again that way? Even just doing it on the pre-Horizon albums would be awesome. (Maybe the idea was thought of but then discarded.) I have to say I love the way Karen sounds on the RPO album, it's the best she's ever sounded.

Agreed 100% ...
 
All the things that Richard was able to "fix" on the RPO album -- bringing Karen's vocals upfront more, removing ambient noises, fixing little glitches in the sound and/or timing, etc. -- I wonder if anyone's given any thought to applying those fixes to the original recordings and bringing the catalog out again that way? Even just doing it on the pre-Horizon albums would be awesome. (Maybe the idea was thought of but then discarded.) I have to say I love the way Karen sounds on the RPO album, it's the best she's ever sounded.

That is an excellent point re: Karen never sounding better!
 
I love the way Karen sounds on the RPO album, it's the best she's ever sounded.
That is an excellent point re: Karen never sounding better!

That's a healthy way to look at it! Maybe we are in conflict about the musical side of it, but alas, Richard has made his sister sound the way she was always meant to. That could be the true statement of the RPO album and Richard.
 
All the things that Richard was able to "fix" on the RPO album -- bringing Karen's vocals upfront more, removing ambient noises, fixing little glitches in the sound and/or timing, etc. -- I wonder if anyone's given any thought to applying those fixes to the original recordings and bringing the catalog out again that way?

I’d be overjoyed if he employed these new techniques to Passage and gave that entire album the much needed facelift it needs to improve its tired sound.
 
The RPO project is for me a great achievement by Richard to improve the original recordings to a new level of audio quality that none of us ever expected. It's further proof that although the music industry is all about business and making money, that if you really have a love for your art as I think Richard does, making another load of money becomes almost meaningless compared to the musical legacy that is created.
 
New black vinyl

Side one pretty clean

Side two (the problem on the first order) is ok. Not as good as side one but much better than side two of first order.

Side three nearly perfect and seems to be mixed or pressed with a fuller sound than album one

Side four really clean. Really clean.

So the replacement black vinyl is good.

I’ll let you know how the white replacement is when I have a chance to listen.
 
New black vinyl

Side one pretty clean

Side two (the problem on the first order) is ok. Not as good as side one but much better than side two of first order.

Side three nearly perfect and seems to be mixed or pressed with a fuller sound than album one

Side four really clean. Really clean.

So the replacement black vinyl is good.

I’ll let you know how the white replacement is when I have a chance to listen.
 
Universal Music Group "updated" the RPO playlist three days ago.
I am unable to discern what it is that has been "updated."

In any event, I am glad I did not order any of the newly-released vinyl from Universal.
On a related note, although I have the domestic and import compact discs,
I have lost interest in the project. Another listen to my Passage vinyl (specifically, the UK-pressing)
reinforces my preference for the original I Just Fall In Love Again.
My preference is to stay with the originals.
 
This morning, I was comparing the 45 single Close To You with the RPO version:
there are a number of subtle variations. It is an interesting exercise to identify those variations.
Richard commented that he thought that this song had "not aged well."
Unfortunately, I must disagree. That 1970 45-vinyl version is stunning, virtually perfect.
And, I am hardly a super-fan of the song !
Yet, after playing that 45-single today, I was stunned by its sonic clarity.
Hard to improve on that kind of "perfection."
 
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