fantasy box set...if only...

[fraykis]

Hey folks,

What do you think of this fantasy boxset?

THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION:
Disc 1--remastered 'Your Navy Presents' performance in its entirety.
The 'FROM THE TOP' version of "Get Together" is one of my top 5
favorite Carpenters songs; think how great it sounds!

Disc 2--all the remaining unreleased tracks from the TV specials; they're
already studio recordings! What's the hold up? If there's some
person's vocals that they don't have the rights to use, erase `em
and let Richard re-record `em!

Disc 3-- Karen's 9 unreleased solo tracks; either Richard could release
them as is, or wipe out all the instrumental and totally restructure
the music around her vocals.

Disc 4--all the miscellaneous stuff, including that insanely catchy Potato
Chip commercial (God, does that thing stay in my head!); stick in
'We've Only Just Begun', also, since every compilation includes
this song!

So that's it! Comments? Of course it'll never happen, but we can dream, can't we?

 

[andywithaz]

I would glady pay over $500 for this. I would love to have Karen's unreleased songs off her solo album. I can't believe that Richard didn't release this. Maybe next year

 

[Geographer]

A little off the subject, but how about a companion DVD to their Christmas albums! Having studied both Christmas specials and having a couple of "other" performances on video, there are about a dozen or so songs that could be made into Christmas pefromances. I noticed that, yet again, the Carpenters Christmas CD's are selling like crazy (ranked in the top 500 on Amazon....doesn't sound like much, but Amazon has about 250,000 items, if not more, on sale). Rich could make a killing producing a video.

Just a few of the songs that COULD be in a companion video:

1. Mary Christmas Darling
2. Christmas Song
3. Santa Clause is Coming to Town (From Perry Como Special)
4. Carole of the Bells (I know of at least two of these..Rich could pick one or re-record it for the video)
5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
6. Christ is Born
7. Sleigh Ride
8. Ave Maria
9. Toyland (as performed by Richard)

Which ones am I forgetting? Any "in the vaults" at A&M or ABC(like "From this Moment On" from Music, Music, Music)?

Rich could "fill" it out with a performance of "Old Fashioned Christmas/O Holy Night."

Of course, he could just release the ENTIRE TV specials on DVD. But I would prefer to have all the cornball skits edited out and just have a pure Carpenter Christmas video.

 

[davidgra]

I have several fantasy box sets...

THE LIVE BOX SET
This would be a 5-disc set containing live recordings spanning their career. Discs 1-4 would be live concert recordings, beginning with their earliest live recordings (like from the "Battle of the Bands") and including material from concerts given from 1969-1978. It would also incorporate live recordings from TV, like "Thank You For the Music" from the Tonight Show.

In this way, we could get live performances of just about every song Karen and Richard ever sang in concert, including songs not released on any album, like "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Cinderella Rockafella." Of course NONE of the songs on this box set will be from the existing live albums -- it will all be previously-unreleased material. Christmas material, the Grease medley, there are so many possibilities for great songs...

Then disc 5 could be "Your Navy Presents" as a bonus "live-in-the-studio" disc.
THE EARLY YEARS
This box would span the entire pre-A&M period. It could be divided into several sections -- home recordings, Summerchimes recordings, Spectrum recordings, the unreleased RCA "Richard Carpenter Trio" album, and pre-A&M studio recordings/demos (incorporating the CSULB songs).
Some of this material will have been previously released, but much of it will be new to the public. The original, un-remixed versions of "California Dreamin'" and "Nowhere Man" could be included.

SONGS FROM TV
Another box set could be a complete collection of music from all their various television appearances. Original versions of songs from their TV specials would be included (with guest stars intact), along with songs they performed on other television shows ("Your All-American College Show," appearances as guests on other specials, etc.).

This way we'd get a huge collection of duets, with the likes of John Denver, John Davidson, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Kristy McNichol, Gene Kelly and others.

As Shannon mentioned, a companion DVD set would be really cool. Disc 1 could be MAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC, the whole series. Disc 2 would be THE CARPENTERS' FIRST TELEVISION SPECIAL and SPACE ENCOUNTERS, Disc 3 would be CARPENTERS AT CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT, Disc 4 would be MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC and related extra material, and Disc 5 would be a compilation of appearances on other TV shows spanning their entire career.

CARPENTERS: UNFINISHED MASTERPIECES
My final fantasy CD set would be a collection of "unfinished" recordings. Incomplete work leads (even just instrumental backing tracks) would make up the bulk of this collection, but Karen's unreleased solo recordings could be included. Unfinished versions of songs that Richard later completed could also be included -- possibly just Karen with Richard at the piano.

This set is the least likely to ever see the light of day, but it would be a great way to present material that could not otherwise be finished. By presenting the songs as "unfinished," Richard wouldn't have to worry about the songs being less-than-perfect -- the listener would expect imperfections and incomplete songs.

Oh, to let my imagination roam... Maybe somebody from Universal will read these posts and get inspired to make them a reality someday!

David