Offering

[newvillefan]

Considering it was released 6 years after her passing and to all intents and purposes is a compilation of unknown tracks, it’s impressive that Lovelines sold almost half a million copies in the US. It wasn’t released until ten months after the TV movie, so that can’t have propelled its sales either.

 

[newvillefan]

Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2018) (2020) 100,000

Silver = 60,000
Gold = 100,000

Richard was presented with a Silver award on The One Show when he was in the UK to promote the album. Does this mean that the album has since officially gone Gold in the UK?

 

[Simon KC1950]

Richard was presented with a Silver award on The One Show when he was in the UK to promote the album. Does this mean that the album has since officially gone Gold in the UK?

Yes, it went Silver for 60,000 in January 2019 and was updated to Gold in December 2019 for 100,000 copies.

 

[Simon KC1950]

Hi
Great info.Have you got Australia,Canada ,Hong Kong.Etc.Sales/Data.?

The sales I have for Australia and Canada are not certified or official but here goes:

-Ticket To Ride
Canada: 75,000
Australia: 75,000

-Close To You
Canada: 325,000
Australia: 100,000

-Carpenters
Canada: 400,000
Australia: 100,000

-A Song For You
Canada: 300,000
Australia: 150,000

-Greatest Hits of the Carpenters Vol.1
Australia: 200,000

-The Singles 1969-1973
Canada: 800,000

-Now & Then
Canada: 275,000
Australia: 200,000

-Greatest Hits of the Carpenters Vol. 2
Australia: 75,000

-Horizon
Canada: 200,000
Australia: 60,000

-A Kind Of Hush
Canada: 75,000
Australia: 20,000

-Live At The Palladium
Canada: 30,000

-Passage
Canada: 50,000
Australia: 35,000

-Christmas Portrait
Canada: 300,000

-Made In America
Australia: 25,000

-The Very Best of Carpenters
Australia: 150,000

-Voice of the Heart
Australia: 30,000

-Only Yesterday
Australia: 300,000

 

[Simon KC1950]

Hong Kong is a really interesting one because the Carpenters were reportedly huge there (they even performed concerts in Hong Kong in 1972). I cannot find sales or many chart positions for the Carpenters in Hong Kong so if anyone can find any, it would be much appreciated.

Here are the chart peaks I have been able to gather for Hong Kong:

• Hurting Each Other #7
• It's Going To Take Some Time #4
• Goodbye To Love #1
• Sing #1
• Yesterday Once More #1
• I Won't Last A Day Without You #1
• Calling Occupants #11

Clearly many are missing, but I also have a couple of official certifications from the IFPI Hong Kong:

• Carpenters Classics Gold (1980)
  [*]Yesterday Once More Platinum (1990).
  

This quote is taken from the Splashing Rocks article Karen Carpenter's Posthumous Conquest of China:
"As documented in Billboard magazine's periodic listing of international pop charts, no less than three Carpenters' singles reached No. 1 on the Hong Kong hit parade in 1973: I Won't Last a Day Without You (No. 1 for 6 weeks!); Sing; and Yesterday Once More. At that time, Hong Kong was still a British Crown Colony and thus not part of Chinese sovereignty. Nonetheless, its population was overwhelmingly Chinese. It is fair to say that the Carpenters' early success in Hong Kong presaged their subsequent popularity in Mainland China years later."

 

[GaryAlan]

May 30, 1972 is the Hong Kong Concert date: "... sell-out concert there..." (CFCN #16, August 1972).
Billboard (March 18) has that same concert date listed as May 29th:
"A & M' s Carpenters For 6 -Wk Tour
NEW YORK - Karen and Richard Carpenter, A & M Records artists, have been set for a six -week
tour through the Far East, Australia and Japan. The tour will open May 8 in Sydney, Australia,
with subsequent dates in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Following a May 29 date in
Hong Kong, the Carpenters will tour Japan in a series of one- nighters starting in Tokyo on
June 1 and following with dates in Osaka, Nagoya and Kyoto."


Goodby To Love was #3 on Hong Kong chart 10/14/72 (Billboard).

 

[adam]

Hong Kong is a really interesting one because the Carpenters were reportedly huge there (they even performed concerts in Hong Kong in 1972). I cannot find sales or many chart positions for the Carpenters in Hong Kong so if anyone can find any, it would be much appreciated.

Here are the chart peaks I have been able to gather for Hong Kong:

• Hurting Each Other #7
• It's Going To Take Some Time #4
• Goodbye To Love #1
• Sing #1
• Yesterday Once More #1
• I Won't Last A Day Without You #1
• Calling Occupants #11

Clearly many are missing, but I also have a couple of official certifications from the IFPI Hong Kong:

• Carpenters Classics Gold (1980)
  [*]Yesterday Once More Platinum (1990).
  

This quote is taken from the Splashing Rocks article Karen Carpenter's Posthumous Conquest of China:
"As documented in Billboard magazine's periodic listing of international pop charts, no less than three Carpenters' singles reached No. 1 on the Hong Kong hit parade in 1973: I Won't Last a Day Without You (No. 1 for 6 weeks!); Sing; and Yesterday Once More. At that time, Hong Kong was still a British Crown Colony and thus not part of Chinese sovereignty. Nonetheless, its population was overwhelmingly Chinese. It is fair to say that the Carpenters' early success in Hong Kong presaged their subsequent popularity in Mainland China years later."

Hi
Any information on Chart positions for Top of the world,Please Mr Postman,Only Yesterday.etc on Hong kong.Malaysia,Singapore charts?

 

[tomswift2002]

I had Ticket To Ride (red label CD) on in the car today. Boy, “Someday” hasn’t aged well and Richard’s piano sounded like it was coming out of a tin can. It was so muffled, especially in the interlude. And the piano didn’t have any dynamic range.

Really the TTR album needs a rebuild of the original elements to make it cleaner and have more dynamic range.

 

[Matthew S]

Mine too

Count me in. I have one too, not framed.

 

[newvillefan]

Really the TTR album needs a rebuild of the original elements to make it cleaner and have more dynamic range.

Do the multitracks for Offering still exist or were they caught in the fire at Universal? It would be great if Richard could go back, remaster the tapes and give them the RPO treatment that he lent to some of that album’s tracks like I Just Fall In Love Again, cleaning up any analogue blemishes and cleaning/brightening up all the vocals and instruments. Not a remix project as such (à la 1985 YOM compilation), more of a “deep clean” of the album as a whole.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Do the multitracks for Offering still exist or were they caught in the fire at Universal? It would be great if Richard could go back, remaster the tapes and give them the RPO treatment that he lent to some of that album’s tracks like I Just Fall In Love Again, cleaning up any analogue blemishes and cleaning/brightening up all the vocals and instruments. Not a remix project as such (à la 1985 YOM compilation), more of a “deep clean” of the album as a whole.

I believe they're digitally backed up like everything else. Not sure how much he could do. This was 8-track recording and a lot of "bouncing" (taking multiple tracks and combining them into one track) would have occurred here for strings and the overdubbed vocals. Likely, very little is on its own track.

Ed

 

[Rumbahbah]

Interesting seeing some of those numbers, although so many of them can't be easily verified. A number of their albums in the UK are heavily under-certified - The Singles 1969-1973 never received more than Platinum certification, despite being the sixth biggest-selling album of the decade!

Those anecdotal UK figures for Christmas Portrait and Lovelines look too high to me though - neither sold much on initial release and weren't big catalogue sellers thereafter. I'd be surprised if Christmas Portrait had even sold half of the suggested 150,000 figure in the UK - it's not been available for years and, unlike in the US, until very recently Christmas albums didn't get much of a sales spike over the festive season.

 

[tomswift2002]

I believe they're digitally backed up like everything else. Not sure how much he could do. This was 8-track recording and a lot of "bouncing" (taking multiple tracks and combining them into one track) would have occurred here for strings and the overdubbed vocals. Likely, very little is on its own track.

Ed

“Offering” might still have most of its analog tapes in existence. “Ticket To Ride” (song) was the only track on the SACD, and it was the 1973 version Richard used. So could there have been a seperate copy made in 73 to 16-track in 73 (and that no longer exists in analog) and the 8-track from 69 still exists in analog?

 

[A&M Retro]

Do the multitracks for Offering still exist or were they caught in the fire at Universal? It would be great if Richard could go back, remaster the tapes and give them the RPO treatment that he lent to some of that album’s tracks like I Just Fall In Love Again, cleaning up any analogue blemishes and cleaning/brightening up all the vocals and instruments. Not a remix project as such (à la 1985 YOM compilation), more of a “deep clean” of the album as a whole.

HUGE LIKE!

 

[A&M Retro]

I had Ticket To Ride (red label CD) on in the car today. Boy, “Someday” hasn’t aged well and Richard’s piano sounded like it was coming out of a tin can. It was so muffled, especially in the interlude. And the piano didn’t have any dynamic range.

Really the TTR album needs a rebuild of the original elements to make it cleaner and have more dynamic range.

There's also some distortion in the orchestral section just after Karen finishes singing.

 

[GDBY2LV]

I wrote about that a couple of weeks ago, about the vinyl version. I bought a fairly expensive cartridge for my turntable, and the distortion is very low, but still there on the last Someday and the strings and horns. Best I’ve ever heard it though. It would be great if they could remix that entire album and correct that problem, someday.....

 

[Martin Medrano]

I hope that richard can give this album a whole re do. For example all of my life should be done with brand new instruments same song just re-recorded with today's technology.

 

[tomswift2002]

Well Offering was recorded on both 4-track and 8-track machines, since some songs like All of My Life & Your Wonderful Parade were recorded at Magic Lamp (and “All of my life” was just transferred from the 4-track to the album master with no remixing or re-recording whereas Parade used the backing instruments but Richard’s vocals were re-recorded at A&M).

 

[tomswift2002]

I’ve got the 1980 medley from “From The Top” on right now and ‘Someday’ sounds so superior and there’s so much more dynamic range to the instruments and piano. It doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a tin can.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

“Offering” might still have most of its analog tapes in existence. “Ticket To Ride” (song) was the only track on the SACD, and it was the 1973 version Richard used. So could there have been a seperate copy made in 73 to 16-track in 73 (and that no longer exists in analog) and the 8-track from 69 still exists in analog?

It makes no real difference. Richard has it all backed up digitally. The digital domain can more than handle 4-tracks or 8-tracks from 1969. My only question is that, given all the "bouncing", what might separated out other than Karen's vocal. Likely, everything's been "sub-mixed": Karen's lead on one channel, all their backgrounds on two, strings on two, rhythm section on two, and maybe an open track for scratch vocals. That breakdown is a guess but I've got a master tape here from another artist from roughly that period that's broken down the same way.

If nothing is separated out, he can't really play with the elements like has on so many other occasions. He'd have to keep Karen's vocals, their background vocals, and change everything else. Further, if they didn't use a "click" to record (which they likely didn't), it could be a little more time-consuming than he might like. I know "Close to You" got a "click" but not sure if anything else did.

Ed

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Hal David stated in an interview that they used a click track quite often.

 

[newvillefan]

I’ve got the 1980 medley from “From The Top” on right now and ‘Someday’ sounds so superior and there’s so much more dynamic range to the instruments and piano. It doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a tin can.

It was completely re-recorded in 1981 for the medley, it's not sourced from the Offering tapes.

 

[newvillefan]

If nothing is separated out, he can't really play with the elements like has on so many other occasions. He'd have to keep Karen's vocals, their background vocals, and change everything else. Further, if they didn't use a "click" to record (which they likely didn't), it could be a little more time-consuming than he might like. I know "Close to You" got a "click" but not sure if anything else did.

With today's technology you can actually isolate and clean up individual instruments or sounds that were originally bounced onto one tape. Brian May did it with the 5.1 audio for Bohemian Rhapsody, and that multi-track tape had so many bounces it was worn thin to the point of transparency!

 

[Shalom Bresticker]

Yes, it is incredible what today's technology can do.

 

[tomswift2002]

It makes no real difference. Richard has it all backed up digitally. The digital domain can more than handle 4-tracks or 8-tracks from 1969. My only question is that, given all the "bouncing", what might separated out other than Karen's vocal. Likely, everything's been "sub-mixed": Karen's lead on one channel, all their backgrounds on two, strings on two, rhythm section on two, and maybe an open track for scratch vocals. That breakdown is a guess but I've got a master tape here from another artist from roughly that period that's broken down the same way.

If nothing is separated out, he can't really play with the elements like has on so many other occasions. He'd have to keep Karen's vocals, their background vocals, and change everything else. Further, if they didn't use a "click" to record (which they likely didn't), it could be a little more time-consuming than he might like. I know "Close to You" got a "click" but not sure if anything else did.

Ed

Well if the analogs still existed, even though any digital copies would still be the same generation, by going to the analog he’d be able to clean up any unwanted noise without worrying about any digital interference. The last time the “Offering” tapes were probably digitally backed up would’ve been around 1996-1998 for the Remaster project (unless they were backed up in 2014-15 for the PBS set). Otherwise, when I look at the songs on “Offering”, aside from Ticket, very few have appeared on compilations, and aside from the couple that were B-sides and appeared on the Japanese Box set or PBS set (Parade, Life, Afraid, Do & Eve) the few others haven’t made appearances since 1995 (and even then it was the 1987 remixes that appeared). That’s 25 years ago! A lots changed in terms of technology that could allow digital copies with greater clarity and more space to work when cleaning up unwanted noise. Also, he could mix the tracks without losing a generation, and some of those tracks on “Offering”, like Parade lost one generation back in 69 when they were analog copied from the Magic Lamp 4-tracks to the A&M 8-tracks. If those 4-tracks still existed, Richard could remix Parade at the same generation level.

As for seperate things, I guess you haven’t heard the 2001 Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” reissue. The album got its first stereo release in 93, however at the time they discovered that some tapes had been lost, so certain vocals and instruments were missing. But by 2001, digital technology had improved to where they could grab those vocals and instruments out of the final mono master and bring them as seperate elements to the stereo master. Or how about Elvis’s Duet albums where, for the 50’s recordings, they digitally seperated Elvis’s voice from the song and re-recorded the instruments and added a duet partner.