Japanese Compilation Albums

[GDBY2LV]

That’s an excellent guess, since the centerfold pictures match the MIA era.
I’m just curious why they used album versions of the songs, instead of single versions if they wanted retro airplay?
Maybe meant to be more of a gift to programmers for keeping them on the air while we had to wait, what seemed like forever for anything new.

 

[tomswift2002]

That’s an excellent guess, since the centerfold pictures match the MIA era.
I’m just curious why they used album versions of the songs, instead of single versions if they wanted retro airplay?
Maybe meant to be more of a gift to programmers for keeping them on the air while we had to wait, what seemed like forever for anything new.

All through the 70’s Japan had been using album versions. Japan received both the album cut and the 73 remix of Top of the World as separate 45 singles (although both 45’s used Druscilla Penny as their B-sides).

Also other tracks like All You Get From Love Is A Love Song were album cuts on their 45’s.

 

[Seán]

The booklet has MIA in the discography with its cover alongside the First Ten Years compilation. Couldn't have been much earlier than June, though MIA's catalogue number suggests the album itself was final by May with the delays coming from initial LP cutting returning poor pressings.

 

[GDBY2LV]

All of my singles and EP releases for TOTW from Japan, are the album version. To be fair, wasn’t it released there before it was remixed here for single release? That would make more sense to me. I know that IWLADWY was released in a few southeast Asian markets almost 2 years before we got a single here in the U.S.A. Just shows the huge market for anything Carpenters in their prime.

 

[tomswift2002]

All of my singles and EP releases for TOTW from Japan, are the album version. To be fair, wasn’t it released there before it was remixed here for single release? That would make more sense to me. I know that IWLADWY was released in a few southeast Asian markets almost 2 years before we got a single here in the U.S.A. Just shows the huge market for anything Carpenters in their prime.

With Top of the World Richard and Karen both originally thought it was a nice album filler, but not single material. But after Lynn Anderson covered it, then the re-recorded and remixes it.

“Top Of The World” I have to admit we miscalled this one. After completing the song, we felt it was a nice album cut. It didn’t take long however, to learn otherwise. The response to it in concert was overwhelming. It was culled from the album in Japan and went gold. Lynn Anderson covered it using my arrangement and it went to No.2 on the country charts. Certain Top 40 stations in the U.S. were charting it based on requests alone. Finally we released the record, with a few revisions, in late 1973. It went to No.1.

So in the US the album version was also a TOP 40 AOR.

 

[GDBY2LV]

Pretty much anyone who’s been a long time fan knows that trivia. I was saying I believe it was released as a single in Japan before the 1973 remix, and single release in the states, and elsewhere.

 

[Harry]

That's true,

 

[John Tkacik]

Pretty much anyone who’s been a long time fan knows that trivia. I was saying I believe it was released as a single in Japan before the 1973 remix, and single release in the states, and elsewhere.

I thought it was interesting that for the 1973 Japanese re-release, the B side was Druscilla Penny (like their 1972 Japanese release) instead of Heather like the 1973 North American release.

 

[tomswift2002]

I thought it was interesting that for the 1973 Japanese re-release, the B side was Druscilla Penny (like their 1972 Japanese release) instead of Heather like the 1973 North American release.

I think Heather was already used as the B-side on the preceding single in Japan, Jambalaya. It looks like Japan was trying to “replace” the album version with the official single version. I wonder if there’s a way to differentiate the 2.

 

[GDBY2LV]

Heather is the flip for Jambalaya in Japan. It released as the 3rd single from Now&Then, following YOM. TOTW followed GTL, Drucilla Penny as the flip. Then Sing,YOM,Jambalaya, & IWLADWY. So that explains the album version being released as the single there. No remix existed yet.
There’s also Jambalaya with Someday as the b. side. TOTW singles I have, flips Heather, Superstar- Memories edition, GTL-Forget Me Not, and Ep-withTOTW,HEO,Help, and GTL. Amazing amount of releases in Japan. I also referenced the Japanese Singles Box.

 

[tomswift2002]

The two TOTW singles, it’s interesting how Japan didn’t grab a song from “Offering” for one of the 45s or another early song. It’s still strange that Japan paired AYGFLIALS with Eve and COOIC with Mr. Guder. The only “Offering” track that was a B side before Eve was All I Can Do which was on the TTR single.

 

[Another Son]

Heather is the flip for Jambalaya in Japan. It released as the 3rd single from Now&Then, following YOM. TOTW followed GTL, Drucilla Penny as the flip. Then Sing,YOM,Jambalaya, & IWLADWY. So that explains the album version being released as the single there. No remix existed yet.
There’s also Jambalaya with Someday as the b. side. TOTW singles I have, flips Heather, Superstar- Memories edition, GTL-Forget Me Not, and Ep-withTOTW,HEO,Help, and GTL. Amazing amount of releases in Japan. I also referenced the Japanese Singles Box.

The album version of ‘Top of the World’ was the one best known in Australia for many years, as it was Number One for four weeks after being released as a single at the end of 1972 / beginning of 1973, about ten months before the remix appeared overseas. The ‘B’ side was ‘Love Is Surrender’. Hence, ‘Love Is Surrender’ made it onto ‘Great Hits of The Carpenters Vol 2 1969 - 1973’, in 1974.

Interestingly, it was the remix of ‘Top Of the World’ that appeared on the Number One album, ‘Very Best of The Carpenters’ in 1982. That was the first time the remix was released in Australia; also the first release of the ‘Ticket to Ride’ remix.