⭐ Official Review [Compilation] "LOVE SONGS" (A&M 31454 0838 2)

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 6 18.2%

  • ****

    Votes: 13 39.4%

  • ***

    Votes: 12 36.4%

  • **

    Votes: 2 6.1%

  • *

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    33
I remember seeing it in a store, can't remember where now, and thinking, "Wow, a new Carpenters CD!" Of course, I knew there was nothing really "new" on it, but I bought it anyway mostly as a show of support.
 
This is one of the best compilations, in my opinion (apparently, a minority one here). A great "sampler" of tunes for the casual listener and not necessarily intended for the die-hard fan awaiting an anthologized "Goofus" or "Breaking Up is Hard to Do." It's a great listen and, btw, the "relationship" sequencing was not lost on me upon first listen.
 
Aaron Moyer said:
The Singles is superior. Love Songs is just another compilation in a long line of compilations. It does not have that continuous soundtrack quality of The Singles that so effectively captured one moment in time.
Click to expand...
The Singles does effectively capture one moment in time-but that's the problem.It's a memorable snapshot of their early 70's hit years-nothing more.

The average,casual KC fan today wants a definitive,career-spanning set of K&R's signature songs and key recordings-and that's where Love Songs fits the bill.And,that set is basically all prime material.

Same situation with Frank Sinatra.He had his big hit-singles period in the mid-60's,but nobody wants a compilation that only focuses on those mid-60's hits.Sinatra fans want a definitive,career-spanning set that includes his best work & most important recordings.
 
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Love Songs was my first introduction to the Carpenters. Watching the commercials was the first time I found out they existed. I was eight at the time.

Someone help me out here. I could swear up and down that there was at one point a longer commercial for the Love Songs collection than the one linked to earlier in this thread. Clips of Only Yesterday and Hurting Each Other were included in it. Does anyone else remember this, or am I losing my mind?
 
Just looking through my CDs, I find two copies of the LOVE SONGS disc.

#1 is from the US. It has the Carpenters silvered logo on the front insert. On the face of the disc, there is also a silvered Carpenters logo. The A&M logo and Compact disc logo on the bottom, and all of the legalese text around the perimeter are in a light gray color.

#2 is from France/Benelux. There is no Carpenters logo at all on the front insert. The space is there below the "VE" of LOVE SONGS, but nothing is printed. It probably was an error that leaked through. On the disc face, the Carpenters logo is silvered, as is the title LOVE SONGS, the A&M logo, the Compact disc logo and all of the perimeter legalese - all shiny silver.

Still a classy-looking CD, either way.
 
To answer Harry’s first question. I got mine from England when it first came out. No domestic release planned for here at the time. One of my best friends traded soundtracks with another collector in England, disc for disc at the time. So I was able to obtain it through that lucky channel. Same with the original Interpretations cd and the box set collection from there. The cd label itself has the Carpenters logo in silver with white background, and some of the song titles around it in a heart shape design. I don’t know if the U.S. version has that as well? It’s a nice collection. I need to play it this weekend.
 
Harry said:
Just looking through my CDs, I find two copies of the LOVE SONGS disc.

#1 is from the US. It has the Carpenters silvered logo on the front insert. On the face of the disc, there is also a silvered Carpenters logo. The A&M logo and Compact disc logo on the bottom, and all of the legalese text around the perimeter are in a light gray color.

#2 is from France/Benelux. There is no Carpenters logo at all on the front insert. The space is there below the "VE" of LOVE SONGS, but nothing is printed. It probably was an error that leaked through. On the disc face, the Carpenters logo is silvered, as is the title LOVE SONGS, the A&M logo, the Compact disc logo and all of the perimeter legalese - all shiny silver.

Still a classy-looking CD, either way.
Click to expand...
Whenever I would see the CD in U.S. Barnes & Noble stores for about the past ten years, the silver metallic logo was missing from the front insert. Perhaps they eventually started printing them that way to save cost? Or as you say, perhaps a mistake. Either way, I miss seeing the silver logo in there. Such a great design on that cover.
 
I bought this collection when it was released but was never that enamoured with it, purely because of the odd tracklist. Songs like “Hurting Each Other”, “Solitaire”, “Rainy Days and Mondays”, “Where Do I Go From Here” and “Goodbye To Love” just aren’t love songs in my book. The litmus test is “would they be suitable to give to someone as a ‘Valentine’s Day’ compilation?”. The answer is no - they’re depressing and miserable in their message. There are many other songs in their catalogue that would fit the bill for such a collection…

Baby It’s You
Let Me Be The One
One Love
You
I Believe You
Touch Me When We’re Dancing
Now
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Slow Dance

…but I guess it had to contain a certain number of hits to make it commercially viable, especially as it was backed by a TV advertising campaign. So the usual suspects were trotted out yet again.
 
I play this CD often and understand
Love Songs as Karen's honest experiences with love. This range of love seems to draw listeners to Carpenters music...from Top of the World to Goodbye to Love...love is real and raw.
 
I’ve got a Canadian version from 98 (97 copyright), and I never could figure out why they never put the album title on the disc itself. If the disc was out of the case loose, in say a sun visor CD holder, someone might assume that it was the Carpenters self-title album, since all the disc says is “Carpenters”.
 
newvillefan said:
I bought this collection when it was released but was never that enamoured with it, purely because of the odd tracklist. Songs like “Hurting Each Other”, “Solitaire”, “Rainy Days and Mondays”, “Where Do I Go From Here” and “Goodbye To Love” just aren’t love songs in my book. The litmus test is “would they be suitable to give to someone as a ‘Valentine’s Day’ compilation?”. The answer is no - they’re depressing and miserable in their message. There are many other songs in their catalogue that would fit the bill for such a collection…

Baby It’s You
Let Me Be The One
One Love
You
I Believe You
Touch Me When We’re Dancing
Now
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Slow Dance

…but I guess it had to contain a certain number of hits to make it commercially viable, especially as it was backed by a TV advertising campaign. So the usual suspects were trotted out yet again.
Click to expand...

I guess I look at it in the opposite way. Love songs to me don't need to be happy or positive. There can be "sad" love songs.
 
Well, by definition "it was songs of love that I would sing to them" and if there can be a part where he's breaking her heart...it's got to be a love song
 
I tried to build my own Carpenters "Love Songs" Compilation. And to be Honest: This was a hard Task. However, I like the result:

1) I Need to be In Love (1990 remix)
2) All of my Life
3) One Love
4) Let me be the One
5) A Song for You (1985 remix)
6) We've Only Just Begun
7) I Won't last a Day without You
8) You
9) Can't Smile without You (single version)
10) I have You
11) You're the One
12) I Just Fall in Love again
13) Touch Me when We're Dancing
14) (They Long to be) Close to You (single edit)
15) Top of the World (1973 version)
16) Sweet Sweet Simle
17) Those Good Old Dreams
18) I Believe You
19) And When He smiles
20) Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night
 
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Classy on versions with the logo, dumb on versions without. My apologies if I was not clear.
 
I've said it before...I wasn't impressed with the tracklist at the time. It wasn't anything like an authentic love songs collection, more of a blatant marketing attempt to repackage the same well worn hits yet again (whether relevant to the theme or not) and sell records. Most people would think of an album with that title as being one of romantic ballads. Several of the tracks it contained were depressing and about lost (or unrequited) love, loneliness and broken relationships. It didn't sell all that well in the UK, peaking at #47 and only staying on the charts for 2 weeks.

I would have ditched the following tracks...

I Need To Be In Love
Solitaire
This Masquerade
Superstar
For All We Know
Where Do I Go From Here?
Hurting Each Other
Goodbye To Love

...and replaced them to create this sort of tracklist, which still contains around 50% of well known hits without compromising on the album's theme:

We’ve Only Just Begun
Happy
Touch Me When We're Dancing
Let Me Be The One
You’re the One
Slow Dance
Rainy Days And Mondays
Top Of The World
Make Believe It’s Your First Time
I Just Fall In Love Again
(They Long to Be) Close to You
There's A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World)
I Believe You
Only Yesterday
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
When I Fall In Love
You're Enough
I Won’t Last a Day Without You
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
A Song For You
 
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BREAKING NEWS!

I'm just now discovering that there is a different version of LOVE SONGS. As I understand it, the UK "invented" the compilation in 1996. In 1997, the US reissued it as is. Then in 1998, Frnace/Benelux reissued it again, this time with a track change. They eliminated "Make Believe It's Your First Time" from track #9, moved #1 through #8 down to #2 through #9, and inserted "Yesterday Once More" as the 31 track.


LoveSongsFranceTracklist.jpg
 
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