Poll: Your Favorite Least Favorite Carpenters Track

Which Is Your Favorite Of These (3) Carpenters Tracks?

  • Goofus 1976

    Votes: 17 34.0%
  • Man Smart, Woman Smarter 1977

    Votes: 11 22.0%
  • I Believe You 1978

    Votes: 22 44.0%

  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
If PBS runs the Close to You Remembering the Carpenters during pledge week, then you can order the 3 disc singles box at a better price than you will find it on eBay or Amazon. Well worth the money to have all the 45 versions on cd in order, including the Occupants edit. Finally. !
The Japanese Singles Box is very expensive now. Glad I got it when it was first released. The PBS box sounds better too. I’m guessing they will run it in late fall again. Fingers crossed.
 
So to get a big hit, I think K&R could have kept their soft pop sound - that light AC sound was very ‘in’ - but written something original, but insistent and repetitive, (or have successful writers create something new and repetitive for them). However, then they would have been recording disposable Top 40 ear candy.

Instead, they recorded music with longevity that is being listened to and talked about 45 years later.

That last line says it all, Brian. :) That's why were here!
 
If PBS runs the Close to You Remembering the Carpenters during pledge week, then you can order the 3 disc singles box at a better price than you will find it on eBay or Amazon. Well worth the money to have all the 45 versions on cd in order, including the Occupants edit. Finally. !
The Japanese Singles Box is very expensive now. Glad I got it when it was first released. The PBS box sounds better too. I’m guessing they will run it in late fall again. Fingers crossed.

I found the thread about this set, so I will educate myself again. Thanks Ken. Wow what a great collection!
 
It’s a great item to have in your collection. Some people on here got angry over the masters used on a couple of tracks not being original masters, but most love it anyway. It’s better than the Japanese box, as you can only listen to 2-3 songs at a time, plus 3” singles are a pain to play. I downloaded all of them on my computer, which took hours it seemed. Never to be played again. I’m sure most of the people on here own the PBS set by now. It’s a must have piece for sure. You’re welcome.
 
Funnily enough, about two weeks ago, I found a cassette tape on which I had recorded ‘I Believe You’ from the radio at the beginning of 1979. The song was played every day on the radio so it was just a matter of hanging around, waiting to recognise the opening piano notes and diving for ‘record’. On this recording, at the end of the song, the DJ gets confused and says, “You might remember the Addrisi Brothers who had a hit a couple of years back with ‘Oh, Lori’. Well, they wrote that one for The Carpenters”. Of course, it was the Alessi Brothers who had the hit with ‘Oh, Lori’ and the Addrisi Brothers who wrote ‘I Believe You’. It’s like being in a time warp, hearing the familiar DJ voice, plus a couple of radio commercials from way back then.
 
Funnily enough, about two weeks ago, I found a cassette tape on which I had recorded ‘I Believe You’ from the radio at the beginning of 1979. The song was played every day on the radio so it was just a matter of hanging around, waiting to recognise the opening piano notes and diving for ‘record’. On this recording, at the end of the song, the DJ gets confused and says, “You might remember the Addrisi Brothers who had a hit a couple of years back with ‘Oh, Lori’. Well, they wrote that one for The Carpenters”. Of course, it was the Alessi Brothers who had the hit with ‘Oh, Lori’ and the Addrisi Brothers who wrote ‘I Believe You’. It’s like being in a time warp, hearing the familiar DJ voice, plus a couple of radio commercials from way back then.

Love these stories! Radio was important to me when I was a kid too, I have cassettes of radio broadcast, and then later I started transferring tapes to CD's. The commercials are a lot of fun too, as you said it's like a time warp and you are a kid again, reliving that time again if just for a few minutes. We have a local I guess you would call it (mostly) classic rock radio station that I listen to every day in the morning. But they don't play Carpenters or Olivia Newton-John? :)
 
I think this thread is officially dead, (3 days-no activity) so I'm gonna do a wrap-up. Or is it rap-up? :)

"I Believe You" is your favorite least favorite song from the three selections that were given you to choose from. Out of "45" votes cast, it had 42% with 19 votes. Did the RPO album push this tune into your favorite?

"Goofus" was in the middle, but safe with 38% of the votes as favorite least favorite song in the poll, with 17 votes.
This song seemed the sentimental favorite as the song you love to hate but just can't.

"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" got 20% of the votes, actual count 9 votes. So that translates this song into your least favorite Carpenters track of the three provided. But it got votes, so it's not everyone's least favorite!

I think everything that folks wanted to say or hash out has been done. Thank you for voting and for the comments you were kind enough to post here! :) -John Adam
 
I am the odd one out. If I order the songs from my
perspective of liking most to least, I get this:
(1) Goofus....I love this song and defend its brilliance,
it emphasizes the diversity of elements found on Hush album.
(2) Man Smart, Woman Smarter...I find oddly fascinating,
and it is a perfect fit to the Passage album.
(3) I Believe You...is nice, but still puts me to sleep !
While the RPO project helps for appreciation of I Believe You, its placement on the RPO
does serve to accentuate that it is not really of the same calibre as the other songs on that album.
But, it does fit into the Made In America album.
 
(2) Man Smart, Woman Smarter...I find oddly fascinating,
and it is a perfect fit to the Passage album.

I’m with you here. I can’t explain why I like this song, but I do. It’s just so...catchy! I also think it fits Passage well because of the album’s diversity. Maybe placed on a different album I’d wonder what was going on, but I think it works well where it is.

It also reminds me of Space Encounters which, despite being cheesy as hell, holds a special place in my heart as it was the first Carpenters special I ever watched.
 
I am the odd one out. If I order the songs from my
perspective of liking most to least, I get this:
(1) Goofus....I love this song and defend its brilliance,
it emphasizes the diversity of elements found on Hush album.
(2) Man Smart, Woman Smarter...I find oddly fascinating,
and it is a perfect fit to the Passage album.
(3) I Believe You...is nice, but still puts me to sleep !
While the RPO project helps for appreciation of I Believe You, its placement on the RPO
does serve to accentuate that it is not really of the same calibre as the other songs on that album.
But, it does fit into the Made In America album.
I’m with you on this order.
 
I like all three. However, I voted for "I Believe You", probably because I also have a special fondness for the original by Dorothy Moore. "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" always reminds me of the episode of "I Love Lucy" from where I first heard the song. "Goofus" has grown on me over the years, but it was an odd choice for a single.
 
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