CARPENTERS VINYL REISSUES: Audiophile Discussion

[Chris May]

In light of the fact that some of the latest Carpenters reissues on vinyl were damaged during batch reproduction, there are those that received either full box sets or individual vinyl pressings in good or pristine condition.

This thread exists for those who want to discuss a side-by-side comparison with the original vinyls, as well as any additional feedback related to sound quality, mastering, EQ etc. It is not for discussing damaged sets, as we've covered that exhaustively in another thread. For those that have had any issues with vinyl reissues recently purchased, please take them up with Universal directly.

Thank you!

 

[JamesGStair]

Hi, new to this forum! I've been a lurker for ages. I've been a Carpenters fan since 1971 when I was five years old.

Anyway, I've been watching the feedback to this set for months. Well just this week i, probably against my best judgement, bought this set as an Amazon warehouse deal. The set was still sealed but the edge of the box has come open near the top but the contents were unopened.

Anyway, just got the set today. I've taken all 12 albums out and inspected them. All 12 were in great shape. All spindle holes were normal size, a couple snug the first try but after one try they were fine.

The vinyl on all twelve looks great! No blemishes, no rough edges. All inner sleeveshave no tears and the few I've played so far have sounded great. Much better than I was expecting. I don't have many original pressing's to compare, only two in fact. I think these sound better than the 1998 CDS of the original mixes. A little more lively, less flat sounding. Karen's vocals are pronounced but smoother sounding to me than the CD versions.

Now I noticed on all twelve of my discs there is an RE-1 in the matrix of each side. Is that on all issues? These haven't been repressed yet have they? Do the first issue a with problems have an RE-1 in the matrix grooves?

I'm sad the Universale isn't redoing these - the covers and labels are amazing looking as are the recreations of the original covers. I paid less than 95 for the sealed set so am very happy.

The vinyl, so far, has had a pop here and there but has sounded pretty nice on par with other new 180 gram pressings I own. No major or minor flaws yet.

If anyone has them please check the matrix for an RE-1. Maybe in just got lucky.

 

[JamesGStair]

Oh and my copy of Singles 1969-1973 actually came with two booklets!

 

[William Kucharski]

Yes, my bad copies all have RE-1 in the dead wax.

To keep to this topic, the reissue version of Singles sounded very flat and “digital” to me. There was no air or life to the sound as is the case with my original vinyl copies that sound much much better in terms of soundstage and depth.

 

[JamesGStair]

Yes, my bad copies all have RE-1 in the dead wax.

To keep to this topic, the reissue version of Singles sounded very flat and “digital” to me. There was no air or life to the sound as is the case with my original vinyl copies that sound much much better in terms of soundstage and depth.

Oh okay, good to know. I may have gotten a good batch at the end of the run as so far I've listened to half of them and they were all excellent pressings.

The Singles Lp is one I have an original pressing and yes I would say the original wins out but the new pressing sounded pretty good as well. A tad bit flatter then the original but not bad by any means. Actually my new pressing is much more quiet then the original pressing I own which is in VG shape but plagued with pops. The new one sound nice and quiet so I'd actually play it more than the original. If I find a mint original that might be a different story. I've enjoyed listening to the vinyl albums so far and I've enjoyed them more than the few Carpenters Classic 1998 CD versions I own which always seemed a bit flat to me. This vinyl is an improvement - IF you get a decent pressing that it is.

I'm quite familiar with bad pressings from buying The Beatles set a few years ago pressed by Rainbow. That set had several pressings that had no fill issues so I feel for the folks who got bad pressings. So far so good for me.

 

[Calvin R Murty]

I just bought the 'Tan' album and Lovelines. They both sounded really good. Lovelines, in particular, sounded amazing - much better than the original pressing and CD versions. The clarity and depth were gorgeous, and the "noise" one usually hears in vinyl in between tracks was barely audible. Very happy with these purchases, and just added Horizon to my batch, from a shop in Singapore selling these re-pressings. I believe it will be delivered today

 

[CARPENTERS-COLLECTOR]

I purchased the box-set from a forum member on ebay and apart from two of the albums, which I replaced, mine was perfect!
as I only ever buy Carpenters albums, until I got this set, I`d never listened to a 180g vinyl, though I do have `collected`, which is still sealed. I have to say, I was really impressed and blown away by the sound quality of these albums. I can only talk from a personal point of view and how I `hear` the music, but one of the things I noticed, compared to the originals, is that in the box-set vinyls, the bass-line seems to be a lot more `enhanced` and better. I always though it was a little `flat` on the originals, but not on these!
great set, great sound quality and great presentation. if I had to pick at straws, I was a little disappointed not to see a booklet included ............. but hey-ho

 

[JamesGStair]

Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised at how good the albums in this set sound. My favorite so far is "A Song for You" - wow, does this sound nice. Nice full bass, Karen's vocals sound open and airy and nice stereo separation. The 1998 CD version of this album kind of lies there - nice but no zing. This new pressing sounds nice and airy and full.

So glad I bought this though it's too bad most sets had lots of issues. If they did a good job pressing I think most folks would be satisfied with the mastering - it's pretty darn good. To me anyway.

 

[Simon KC1950]

the only one that I got was Lovelines (the only one which I didn't have on vinyl)

The sound is amazing, I don't have an original record to compare it to. I have CDs but this record sounds just as good, if not better than the CDs. There is no Surface noises, it sounds very clear.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I would like to see waveforms of 1 song from each album compared to the same song from the original 70's vinyl. The conditions would need to be the same however for each needled drop to give a fair assessment. This is something I regret not being able to accomplish from my set.

I do think from the little that I did hear that each album had a slightly different feel meaning some albums sounded slightly better than others. I can't account for this unless it was something in how each album was mastered separately. I wasn't impressed at all with the Singles 69-73 album.

The 98 remasters on CD to me basically all sounded the same where as the new vinyl pressings each album had a slightly different feel in sound. If that makes any sense. I do think the bass line on the new vinyl is more prominent sounding than the original 70's vinyl.

 

[Calvin R Murty]

Since someone mentioned Carpenters Collected (the double LP pressed on audiophile white vinyl [which is the one I got] or black vinyl), I will highlight something I was not too pleased with...they used the album cut for Yesterday Once More, in the sense that, instead of fading away 'nicely' like it did in the Singles 1969-1973 album, you could hear the start of the car engine sound (that introduced the Oldies Medley in the Now & Then LP) and then it faded away. Ugh. And they used the album version of Ticket To Ride, when I would have much preferred the re-cut 1973 version (personal preference).

 

[Harry]

COLLECTED was compiled using all album tracks from the Remastered Classics series. Every track should be an original album mix.

 

[tomswift2002]

COLLECTED was compiled using all album tracks from the Remastered Classics series. Every track should be an original album mix.

Wasn't The Singles 1969-1973 part of the Remastered Classics series? So as Calvin R Murty mentions with Yesterday Once More and Ticket To Ride the album mixes were used, but the Remastered single versions for both songs should've been available as well. Although I will admit that I like hearing the album cut on Collected as that mix doesn't get anthologized as much, and I think that with Collected, originally, they were trying to go with the original mixes, or in the case of Ticket To Ride the original stereo mix.

Of course with YOM, while the car engines were sound effects added for Fun, Fun, Fun, I have to wonder if they were just working with 2-track masters, and if not, why they could not have just muted the car engines, and left the mix in its original form minus the sound effects.

 

[Harry]

Wasn't The Singles 1969-1973 part of the Remastered Classics series?

Briefly. And you must know that I was referring to the original studio albums in the Remastered Classics series.

In fact, there are versions of SINGLES 1969-1973 that use a remix for "Yesterday Once More". Whether by design or mistake, who can say?

Of course with YOM, while the car engines were sound effects added for Fun, Fun, Fun, I have to wonder if they were just working with 2-track masters, and if not, why they could not have just muted the car engines, and left the mix in its original form minus the sound effects.

It sounds to me as if COLLECTED (and the earlier NL counterpart, ULTIMATE COLLECTION 1.0) was simply thrown together from the Remastered Classics CDs. That's part of the reason why it sounds so lifeless on vinyl.

 

[tomswift2002]

Briefly. And you must know that I was referring to the original studio albums in the Remastered Classics series.

In fact, there are versions of SINGLES 1969-1973 that use a remix for "Yesterday Once More". Whether by design or mistake, who can say?



It sounds to me as if COLLECTED (and the earlier NL counterpart, ULTIMATE COLLECTION 1.0) was simply thrown together from the Remastered Classics CDs. That's part of the reason why it sounds so lifeless on vinyl.

I was just looking at the page for The Singles 1969-1973. The Singles: 1969-1973

While Yesterday Once More had had it's original single version replaced with a remix on a Canadian remaster in the early-90's, in 1998 Richard returned the original single version to the Singles album for the Remastered Classics release.

 

[Harry]

That is correct. And in fact it may have been released with the remix in more than just Canada. Since I do not own every iteration of the disc, I cannot possibly know the extent to which it was prevalent.

I believe there was also a vinyl reissue that got the "Yesterday Once More" mix wrong as well as screwing up the side one segues and such.

 

[William Kucharski]

I believe there was also a vinyl reissue that got the "Yesterday Once More" mix wrong as well as screwing up the side one segues and such.

Yes - in 2014, the "Back to Black Vinyl" release used copies of the songs seemingly from single masters somewhere and all segues were completely gone - what you would get if you simply cut and pasted the tracks from other masters you had on hand.

Beware the "Back to Black Vinyl" 180g "The Singles: 1969 - 1973!" LP!

 

[Jeff]

Has anyone here had a satisfactory re-pressing? I've heard the tragedies and they are sad at best. When hopes are so high. Nonetheless, I'm still beaming. I'm wondering if anyone else is too?

 

[CARPENTERS-COLLECTOR]

like Jeff, this issue was rather big, so I`m interested if anyone has finally got this sorted now and what your replacements were like?

I finally got round to playing all mine from my set and couldn't be happier, really pleased!
I initially had two bad albums, but rather that go through the aggravation of waiting for U.M to replace them, I bought the individual albums instead, to replace them.

so, any news anyone?

 

[CARPENTERS-COLLECTOR]

so where is everyone on these album replacements then?
seemed at one point, everyone couldn't stop talking about this issue, to the point threads were getting locked, now nobody seems to want to say a word, what`s going on guys

 

[Wayne Crozier]

so where is everyone on these album replacements then?
seemed at one point, everyone couldn't stop talking about this issue, to the point threads were getting locked, now nobody seems to want to say a word, what`s going on guys

In a word still waiting was told two months ago that it would be 8 weeks, if i get any emails I’ll let you know.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

In a word still waiting was told two months ago that it would be 8 weeks, if i get any emails I’ll let you know.

What? Your still waiting? I thought all of this was a done deal? I didn't realize people are still waiting for sets to be sent out.

I'm hoping that Japan puts out a similar vinyl collection which I'm sure would be spectacular. I would buy a set like that since I've only got a few Japan LPs and they are known for their quality and attention to details. I bet Japan would give it the marketing it deserves and if Richard flew out to Japan to promote it that would make headlines over there.

 

[Wayne Crozier]

Basically the replacements they sent weren’t technically such they were old stock which in a nutshell was exactly the same as before (barring a very slight improvement). Not to bore anyone with this for too long but they are repressing them and getting in touch when they do that I believe.
Between you and me, I’ve got that fed up with this I’ve moved on with my life and given up on it. If they get back to me fine, if they don’t I can’t be bothered to spend anymore time on it personally.

 

[jaredjohnfisher]

Has anyone here had a satisfactory re-pressing? I've heard the tragedies and they are sad at best. When hopes are so high. Nonetheless, I'm still beaming. I'm wondering if anyone else is too?

I've yet to find the time to lightly clean mine before playing them. Visually, they appear to be near-perfect. I'm looking forward to playing them and will post my audio review then. I have a gut feeling they will pale next to my mint original vinyl LPs, fidelity-wise. We shall see!

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I finally finished needle dropping all my original Carpenters vinyl, the last one was VOTH and it was a sealed copy I had bought a few years ago with the promo sticker. I literally couldn't believe how wonderful it sounded on vinyl. The mastering is superb and sonics crystal clear. I've been listening to it in my car this past week. Make Believe It's Your First Time stood out for me like nothing I've heard on CD.

This whole journey has been exhilarating and memorable for me and I hated to see it come to a close but happy I've been able to preserve this sound on vinyl. As I mentioned before I'm hearing little nuances on so many songs, highs are crisp and clear. The sound reminds me of being in the same room as when the songs were recorded. For me, I know without a doubt that nothing can compare to these vinyl recording of original material before the remixing era, the way they were originally presented.

Jared, I am looking forward to reading your review of the new vinyl.
I still feel like my original Lovelines LP has better highs, warmer sounding and better clarity than the 2017 LP.