My first post: Yesterday Once More - UK 1984 Compilation

Brilliant, Harry!

Having heard the entire compilation, the only thing that spoils it is the sped-up trilogy. In 1988, I wouldn’t have realised it. I’ve got the original Singles 1969-1973 CD where it’s similarly sped-up, but here, because it closes the whole album, it seems more of a disappointment. I’ve long since got used to those songs at their true speed. I love the actual segues, but the songs have less of an impact at that speed. I know the remastered Singles 1969-1973 has it correctly, but I don’t have that (well, not yet anyway).

We have a simliar Carpenters history Alan!
I didn't have any idea that the trilogy was slightly 'sped up' as that's the only way I'd ever heard it.
It makes more sense and i think just feels 'right' at the non sped up speed.

Same with Argentina and Won't last a day. I actually prefer those at the slightly 'sped up' speed. It gives a bit of lightness to it and i feel just fits the track better.

Harry, regarding Argentina, Won't last a day, You ( any others? ) is the slower speed the 'correct' actually sung like that version and they are all artificially slightly sped up do you know? To me that makes more sense rather than Karen's original singing being slowed down.
What do you think Harry? I ask as you are the fount of ALL Carpenters knowledge!
 
On Spotify, it has Singles 1969-1973 but still sounds like the sped-up versions of the trilogy. I could be wrong though.

I’d forgotten, but on the original UK Gold (2000) the trilogy is still in that order but not with the 1973 segues. That probably enhanced my sense that the three belonged together and always had been. Even on the Yesterday Once More video, the first two are together (Goodbye To Love not present at all).

It wouldn’t have been until I got the Ultimate Collection (UK version) that I’d have heard them in a different order.
 
Hi Alan,
I remember working in WH Smith on the record department when this compilation came out. I bought the vinyl but didn't get the cd.
I drove people mad in the store as i constantly played it through the store speakers. The manager one day said ' as much as i appreciate the Carpenters, could we please listen to something else!' lol

That's such a funny memory. I loved my local WHSMITH back then, it was often a first stop for music (Woolworths too) - and funnily enough the lady who ran the music section of my store would also often play Carpenters.
 
Can anyone remember why Only Yesterday recharted in the UK back in 1994? Obviously it was repackaged and if I remember correctly the adverts were shown again on TV, but were there any other reasons for this relaunch?
 
Can anyone remember why Only Yesterday recharted in the UK back in 1994? Obviously it was repackaged and if I remember correctly the adverts were shown again on TV, but were there any other reasons for this relaunch?

Do you mean 1993? It recharted at #15 in the UK in early 1993 after the TV movie was shown again on ITV (this would have been around the time of the 10th anniversary of Karen's passing). This was also when 'Rainy Days and Mondays' was reissued as a single and finally cracked the UK charts.

It also reappeared in September 1996 at #28 and hung around for a few weeks. That would coincide with the showing of the Yesterday Once More documentary on the BBC. TV shows always had a big positive effect on their sales in the UK in the 1990s.

I don't think it was on the charts for anything more than a week or so in 1994. That was when Interpretations was released, so presumably that was taking what sales there were at the end of that year.
 
Do you mean 1993? It recharted at #15 in the UK in early 1993 after the TV movie was shown again on ITV (this would have been around the time of the 10th anniversary of Karen's passing). This was also when 'Rainy Days and Mondays' was reissued as a single and finally cracked the UK charts.

It also reappeared in September 1996 at #28 and hung around for a few weeks. That would coincide with the showing of the Yesterday Once More documentary on the BBC. TV shows always had a big positive effect on their sales in the UK in the 1990s.

I don't think it was on the charts for anything more than a week or so in 1994. That was when Interpretations was released, so presumably that was taking what sales there were at the end of that year.

Hey, thankyou for replying :)

Yes I was referring to it's 1994 re-entry. I just checked and it re entered in December, peaked at #28 and hung around for 19 weeks. But your quite right this was most probably due to the Interpretations advertising, which was quite strong in the run up to Christmas from what I recall. And interestingly, Only Yesterday actually performed better than Interpretations at this time, which peaked at #29 for 13 weeks. So I suppose quite a few people wanted the classic hits and not the more curated, cover driven selection, which makes sense.
 
Hey, thankyou for replying :)

Yes I was referring to it's 1994 re-entry. I just checked and it re entered in December, peaked at #28 and hung around for 19 weeks. But your quite right this was most probably due to the Interpretations advertising, which was quite strong in the run up to Christmas from what I recall. And interestingly, Only Yesterday actually performed better than Interpretations at this time, which peaked at #29 for 13 weeks. So I suppose quite a few people wanted the classic hits and not the more curated, cover driven selection, which makes sense.

The chart run of the album (and their other albums) can be found here:

The Carpenters | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company

For some reason they've given the Only Yesterday album as two separate releases, one in 1990 and one in 1994 (perhaps the 1994 version was the Their Greatest Hits rebranding of the album?). During 1994, the album was only on the chart at #99 for one week (from memory I didn't recall it being higher up on the charts at the same time as Interpretations). However, as I say, it did rechart at #28 in September 1996, following the BBC documentary airing.

Their UK chart runs, espeically for their earlier albums, are quite interesting. For instance, the Close to You album recharted several times in 1971 and 1972, and didn't reach its peak position of #23 until mid-1973. And in one week in November 1973, Close to You, Carpenters, A Song For You and Now and Then were all in the UK Top 40 at the same time! Presumably this coincided with the success of the 'Top of the World' single.
 
It recharted at #15 in the UK in early 1993 after the TV movie was shown again on ITV (this would have been around the time of the 10th anniversary of Karen's passing). This was also when 'Rainy Days and Mondays' was reissued as a single and finally cracked the UK charts.

It also reappeared in September 1996 at #28 and hung around for a few weeks. That would coincide with the showing of the Yesterday Once More documentary on the BBC. TV shows always had a big positive effect on their sales in the UK in the 1990s.

If you think, that Only Yesterday hits collection was the only one available domestically in the UK at the time. Interpretations I don’t really class as a true hits collection and it wasn’t as popular or perennial. Love Songs didn’t come along until 1998 and we didn’t get Gold until two years after that. So it’s understandable that Only Yesterday kept resurfacing every time there was something Carpenters-related on TV, because it’s the only strong set that was readily available for quite some time.
 
Also interesting is that Gold didn’t reach its peak position of number four until more than four years after its 2000 release. I think the 2005 peak was because of a CD/DVD combo issue. In its original chart run it went no higher than number 21.
 
If you think, that Only Yesterday hits collection was the only one available domestically in the UK at the time. Interpretations I don’t really class as a true hits collection and it wasn’t as popular or perennial. Love Songs didn’t come along until 1998 and we didn’t get Gold until two years after that. So it’s understandable that Only Yesterday kept resurfacing every time there was something Carpenters-related on TV, because it’s the only strong set that was readily available for quite some time.

Indeed. Only Yesterday was the go-to compliation for quite a few years in the 1990s in the UK (I'm guessing the two Singles albums were taken out of print in 1990 to make way for it, so they didn't remain easily available in record shops after that). Gold then took over that role from 2000 onwards.
 
Over here in the US, the ONLY YESTERDAY comp confused the heck out of me. I'd not run into it anywhere at all initially, but sometime around 2000 when I was delving into The Corrs and their many worldwide discs, I ran across some Asian VCD discs. I think the place I found online that had these was "Yesasia.com" which apparently still exists. Anyway I found a VCD called ONLY YESTERDAY by Carpenters, and it had the white cover with the small picture of Karen leaning on Richard's shoulder. The video on the disc was a straight copy of the VHS and LaserDisc of the YESTERDAY ONCE MORE program, but of course as it's a low-resolution mpeg-1, it didn't look very good. But it was interesting to see the program on my computer of the day.

[Just now I tried playing that VCD in my Windows 10 computer to see what it would do with it. The VLC player tried playing it, but it was halting on and off. I also tried Cyberlink Media Player, which got to a menu of sorts, and to start the first video, I had to press "1" rather than click on a link. The video then showed, but in a nearly square image rather than 4:3.]

A short time later, I recall stopping in a Borders Books and Music. I think it was a store down in Delaware, if memory serves, and I came away with a CD called THEIR GREATEST HITS. The cover was similar to the VCD except it was red in color. The disc was from Germany in 1993, and the Ray Coleman liner notes were in German. I was happy to add it to my growing collection of CDs.

I learned of the first issue of the CD as ONLY YESTERDAY and sought it out, just for completeness. An eBay seller listed it as ONLY YESTERDAY, but when it arrived, it was the white cover with THEIR GREATEST HITS as the title. Finding it identical in every way to the red German version, I was almost satisfied.

Ultimately I did find one called ONLY YESTERDAY and now have three of those CDs, plus the nearly identical-looking VCD with videos on it.

But back when ONLY YESTERDAY was allegedly popular in the UK, I never saw it over here. Our stores always had plenty of the ice-blue YESTERDAY ONCE MORE compilations on the shelves.
 
The chart run of the album (and their other albums) can be found here:

The Carpenters | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company

For some reason they've given the Only Yesterday album as two separate releases, one in 1990 and one in 1994 (perhaps the 1994 version was the Their Greatest Hits rebranding of the album?). During 1994, the album was only on the chart at #99 for one week (from memory I didn't recall it being higher up on the charts at the same time as Interpretations). However, as I say, it did rechart at #28 in September 1996, following the BBC documentary airing.

Their UK chart runs, espeically for their earlier albums, are quite interesting. For instance, the Close to You album recharted several times in 1971 and 1972, and didn't reach its peak position of #23 until mid-1973. And in one week in November 1973, Close to You, Carpenters, A Song For You and Now and Then were all in the UK Top 40 at the same time! Presumably this coincided with the success of the 'Top of the World' single.

Ah that's very intersting, thankyou for clarifying the details! And yes of course, there was a huge buzz around the '96 UK documentary which would explain the #28 peak at that point.
I always found Carpenters chart positions and fluctuations fascinating, because as you say they had so many re-entries and gradual peaks.
 
Indeed. Only Yesterday was the go-to compliation for quite a few years in the 1990s in the UK (I'm guessing the two Singles albums were taken out of print in 1990 to make way for it, so they didn't remain easily available in record shops after that). Gold then took over that role from 2000 onwards.

This is very true, i remember trying to order The Singles in 1989 from a little record store in my town and it was like trying to locate the arc of the covanent.
 
I don’t ever remember seeing ONLY YESTERDAY in stores here in the United States. When it comes to imports, Borders and Sam goody where the places that I would go. I remember the first time I saw the STARTRAX album on the shelf. I was so in love with the cover.
 
But back when ONLY YESTERDAY was allegedly popular in the UK, I never saw it over here. Our stores always had plenty of the ice-blue YESTERDAY ONCE MORE compilations on the shelves.

It does raise the interesting question, why did A&M (in light of Only Yesterday's huge success) not create a new package for the US market? The Karen Carpenter Story had been a massive US success, there was a whole 70's revival starting, there was clearly a new generation interested in buying cd's ... it's seems strange.
 
This is very true, i remember trying to order The Singles in 1989 from a little record store in my town and it was like trying to locate the arc of the covanent.
I’d imagine both Singles albums were deleted just prior to the Yesterday Once More release in 1984? Though as YOM was quickly withdrawn (in its CD version) it would have meant a few years with no compilation available? YOM last charted in October 1986, but that was probably just in LP and cassette versions. Assuming they couldn’t re-release the UK YOM on CD, they brought out Only Yesterday instead.

It still astonishes me that Only Yesterday was such a huge success. Seven weeks at number one in all. It came from no where, didn’t it? The CD single release of Close To You/Only Yesterday did nothing but the album was massive. This was before ABBA did similar more than two years later. Carpenters hadn’t had a top 40 hit since early 1978, and this was 12 years later.
 
It still astonishes me that Only Yesterday was such a huge success. Seven weeks at number one in all. It came from no where, didn’t it? The CD single release of Close To You/Only Yesterday did nothing but the album was massive. This was before ABBA did similar more than two years later. Carpenters hadn’t had a top 40 hit since early 1978, and this was 12 years later.

I think The Karen Carpenter Story was the main factor. It was a new years sensation in the UK. I remember everybody talking about it and I suppose it reminded many people of the deep affection they had for the music, maybe without ever realising it. I grew up in a very working class part of the UK in the 80's and Carpenters music was sort of omnipresent, you almost knew it by osmosis and I suppose the TV movie finally gave the band the visual narrative and massive exposure they had lacked for over 10 years.

And it was extraordinary, because so many different people in my life bought Only Yesterday; my teenage cousin into indie bands and alternative culture; my uncle the 30 something car mechanic; my neighbour who liked Prince, The Police and old school funk music ... it really did mark a sea change in how the duo were perceived and people had no problem telling you how much they loved their songs and especially Karen's voice.

And yes, I would wholeheartedly put it as one of the key foundations of the whole 70's revival, which then bands like ABBA almost usurped with their fabulous legacy, but Carpenters were such an initial driving force in that momentum.
 
Ah yes, The Karen Carpenter Story. The Wikipedia article gives its US airdate as 1 January 1989, but obviously didn’t reach the UK until a year later. I do remember watching that.

Even so, it was interesting the momentum lasted, as the album wasn’t released until mid to late March. These days, they’d time such a release to tie-in with the showing of such a biopic.
 
This is very true, i remember trying to order The Singles in 1989 from a little record store in my town and it was like trying to locate the arc of the covanent.
Both Singles albums were still available in Canada in the early 90’s (92-93), so they weren’t deleted, unless they were deleted in the UK for some reason.

But didn’t the UK also get the “Treasures” album around 1990 as well?
 
That's right but it was a budget release on the Pickwick label and pretty quickly consigned to the bargain bins.

Yes, that wasn't out until the end of 1990 I think (presumably to capitalise on the success of Only Yesterday). It was a budget release so wasn't eligible to chart on the album chart. Pickwick also gained the rights to the Live at the Palladium album that year and put it out again on cassette and CD.

The Singles albums both recharted the week after the TV movie was shown in the UK and hung around on the charts for several weeks. But I don't recall seeing them in shops after that and I suspect both were deleted to prevent them from diverting sales from the newly released Only Yesterday compilation.

The fact that this wasn't released until mid-March is evidence of the UK record company reacting to the unexpected spike in interest in the Carpenters following the TV movie being shown and coming up with a new compilation to cater to that new market. A&M clearly didn't anticipate that happening in advance of it airing.

Following Only Yesterday's success, all the studio albums were released again on cassette and CD as 'mid-price' releases in mid-1990 and the Special Edition of Christmas Portrait followed nearer to Christmas. These I think were all the same versions as had been used on the Compact Disc Collection in 1989.

And all that was essentially the result of the TV movie being shown on New Year's Eve the year before!
 
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