A lot is to be said about the 'Golden Years' in the early 70s and of course right up until the early 80s of the Carpenters marvellous recordings.
Even Post-humous records of the 1980s have had their fair share of threads, reviews and commentary.
Transitioning into the 90s there's still milestones and exciting releases left to be seen from the Carpenters (meaning Richard is still half of the duo and handling the legacy).
As time went by, there is a stark contrast between the heyday of Carpenters in the 20th century, and what is discussion of The Carpenters in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s so far.
It is harder to have discussion solely on the Carpenters releases or projects in the 21st century for obvious reasons. These decades may not carry the same level of excitement as decades past. Bitter-sweet, but still the music plays on.
For the purposes of this thread, I thought it'd be interesting to try to do so anyways.
Share some of your favourite moments from the past 20 some years.
For the 2000s:
I'd say obviously 'As Time Goes By' is an absolute favourite coming into the 21st century. Great way to come into a new century.
It is a potpourri of songs, but the quality is superb and well worth the effort.
Much gratitude to Rich for completing it.
Next is 'Carpenters Perform Carpenter' because the original songwriting definitely needs to be highlighted. And there they all are organized in a satisfying way.
I think it's one of the best things out of the 2000s for Carpenters.
As for compilations, their Gold release is fabulous as is '40/40' and SACD. For singles or hit songs collection it doesn't get much better than that.
There were some good documentaries that decade as well like 'The Carpenters story: Only Yesterday' and 'The Carpenters Close to You.'
Also, really nice TV special in 2009 'Celebrating the Carpenters.'
An honourable mention was the excitement swirling on fan boards about the mythical Christmas album produced by Richard Carpenter that never came to be.
In some odd way, it was a good decade to be a Carpenters fan with the amount of media on TV, Radio and the internet that was all about KC and RC.
For the 2010s:
And now I'm going to switch my format here a bit so I don't bore readers too much. There's likely more things to mention, but just these come to my mind as some highlights or favourites moments of mine.
-Little Girl Blue book
-The complete singles collection
-Re-issued Vinyl collection
-Goodbye to Love Karen Carpenter story
-Podcast appearances by Rich
-RPO
-YouTube videos of people reacting to The C's for the 1st time
There was a lot of hype around a few documentaries that did re-enactments of the duo and that was of interest as a fan, but
The RPO album probably takes the cake out of the whole decade. That's my opinion with all things considered.
The 2020s so far:
Carpenters Musical Legacy book and the discussion surrounding it was nice to see, and Rich's songbook was such a great surprise.
Even to hear him back on radio interviews and such is fantastic.
Those a going to be treasured moments. That Rich and family playing 'Top of the World' for Oscar winners. haha
Hmm there's not that much else as a highlight only because it's still early in this decade, but we've only just begun.
I feel there might be something more to come down the pipeline for The Carpenters. I can only hope for some of the rumoured follow up projects to take shape.
Like the RPO treatment of Christmas songs, second songbook album or finally seeing the new official website that's been in the making for the past 20 years.
Anyhow, that does it for some of my favourite moments of the 21st century for Carpenters. How about you? Feel free to be as long winded or succinct as you'd like.
Even Post-humous records of the 1980s have had their fair share of threads, reviews and commentary.
Transitioning into the 90s there's still milestones and exciting releases left to be seen from the Carpenters (meaning Richard is still half of the duo and handling the legacy).
As time went by, there is a stark contrast between the heyday of Carpenters in the 20th century, and what is discussion of The Carpenters in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s so far.
It is harder to have discussion solely on the Carpenters releases or projects in the 21st century for obvious reasons. These decades may not carry the same level of excitement as decades past. Bitter-sweet, but still the music plays on.
For the purposes of this thread, I thought it'd be interesting to try to do so anyways.
Share some of your favourite moments from the past 20 some years.

For the 2000s:
I'd say obviously 'As Time Goes By' is an absolute favourite coming into the 21st century. Great way to come into a new century.
It is a potpourri of songs, but the quality is superb and well worth the effort.
Much gratitude to Rich for completing it.
Next is 'Carpenters Perform Carpenter' because the original songwriting definitely needs to be highlighted. And there they all are organized in a satisfying way.
I think it's one of the best things out of the 2000s for Carpenters.
As for compilations, their Gold release is fabulous as is '40/40' and SACD. For singles or hit songs collection it doesn't get much better than that.
There were some good documentaries that decade as well like 'The Carpenters story: Only Yesterday' and 'The Carpenters Close to You.'
Also, really nice TV special in 2009 'Celebrating the Carpenters.'
An honourable mention was the excitement swirling on fan boards about the mythical Christmas album produced by Richard Carpenter that never came to be.
In some odd way, it was a good decade to be a Carpenters fan with the amount of media on TV, Radio and the internet that was all about KC and RC.
For the 2010s:
And now I'm going to switch my format here a bit so I don't bore readers too much. There's likely more things to mention, but just these come to my mind as some highlights or favourites moments of mine.
-Little Girl Blue book
-The complete singles collection
-Re-issued Vinyl collection
-Goodbye to Love Karen Carpenter story
-Podcast appearances by Rich
-RPO
-YouTube videos of people reacting to The C's for the 1st time
There was a lot of hype around a few documentaries that did re-enactments of the duo and that was of interest as a fan, but
The RPO album probably takes the cake out of the whole decade. That's my opinion with all things considered.
The 2020s so far:
Carpenters Musical Legacy book and the discussion surrounding it was nice to see, and Rich's songbook was such a great surprise.
Even to hear him back on radio interviews and such is fantastic.
Those a going to be treasured moments. That Rich and family playing 'Top of the World' for Oscar winners. haha
Hmm there's not that much else as a highlight only because it's still early in this decade, but we've only just begun.
I feel there might be something more to come down the pipeline for The Carpenters. I can only hope for some of the rumoured follow up projects to take shape.
Like the RPO treatment of Christmas songs, second songbook album or finally seeing the new official website that's been in the making for the past 20 years.

Anyhow, that does it for some of my favourite moments of the 21st century for Carpenters. How about you? Feel free to be as long winded or succinct as you'd like.