🥂 50th The Complete Carpenters Recording Resource

Thank you for pointing out the differences in YOU. I always felt it was fast and as a teenager I played it on my uncles turntable when listening to this song for his played slower and it sounded better to me. I just relistened to the remastered classics and finally, the last phase, you are one of the few things still remembering, sounds perfect! Many, many thanks. I can now enjoy this song as intended!
 
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Would you add Richard Carpenter and the Garden Grove Symphony “We’ve Only Just Begun” 1987 lp to the list? Or is that considered outside the box like the Long Beach Choir record? I also believe there is an lp that was made of the Hollywood Bowl Battle Of The Bands for the year they won. I saw it up for auction on EBay a few years ago. Very pricey. Thank you.
 
I was checking my collection vinyl and CDs for Anthology 4 lp and 4 cd sets. The vinyl box indeed says 1985 on the back top corner. The cd set has 2 versions. The original in 1989, is red and has the silhouette picture like the Only Yesterday 45 picture sleeve, A&M Pony Canyon release. The second version came in a nice box with photos from the Horizon era. It’s says A&M a Polygram Company on the spine. The discs say 1985 release, which is weird since it came out in 1997. Great pictures though. Also the tracks are exactly the same on both cd sets, but numbered differently where there are medleys.
 
Would you add Richard Carpenter and the Garden Grove Symphony “We’ve Only Just Begun” 1987 lp to the list? Or is that considered outside the box like the Long Beach Choir record? I also believe there is an lp that was made of the Hollywood Bowl Battle Of The Bands for the year they won. I saw it up for auction on EBay a few years ago. Very pricey. Thank you.

Yes, I'd consider these artifacts as "outside the box". They were not ever put out in official general releases to the public, but more as souvenirs for the participants and audiences of the events.
 
I was checking my collection vinyl and CDs for Anthology 4 lp and 4 cd sets. The vinyl box indeed says 1985 on the back top corner. The cd set has 2 versions. The original in 1989, is red and has the silhouette picture like the Only Yesterday 45 picture sleeve, A&M Pony Canyon release. The second version came in a nice box with photos from the Horizon era. It’s says A&M a Polygram Company on the spine. The discs say 1985 release, which is weird since it came out in 1997. Great pictures though. Also the tracks are exactly the same on both cd sets, but numbered differently where there are medleys.

Yes, we've addressed the issue of the ANTHOLOGY LP set appearing in 1985, and have updated the mixes that were introduced on that set to the date of 1985.

The two different CD releases, 1989 and 1997, are very different, particularly in the mixes used. I first noticed this difference in reading Richard's liner notes on the 1997 version, the first one I obtained. He describes at length the issue with "Goodbye To Love" and his count-in that is inseparable from Karen's opening breath which he was including. But if you listen to the 1997 ANTHOLOGY disc 3 and play "Goodbye To Love", you'll only hear a faint opening breath - and no count-in. That confused me for a long time, until I obtained the older 1989 ANTHOLOGY set and could hear that the count-in was indeed included. This is where I discovered that they updated the *sound* on the second ANTHOLOGY sets, but kept the same old liner notes.

Other different mixes include "Top Of The World". On ANTHOLOGY 89, we get the 1973 mix that was used on the single and SINGLES 1969-1973. But on ANTHOLOGY 97, Richard had updated the mix in 1991 and that remix was placed on the set instead. There's also a very light segue between "Top Of The World" and "Because We Are In Love" on the 89 set, that's missing on the 97 set where the two tracks are completely separated.

The same with "We've Only Just Begun". The 89 set uses a 1985 remix, where the 97 set uses the updated 1991 remix. "Sing" is updated to a new 1994 remix on the latter set, but is the original mix on the 89 set.

I could go on, but you get the idea. If one is a completist, then having BOTH sets is desirable.
 
I’m so fortunate and grateful to all of those, especially you, that know and detect every remix or alt vocals used on various collections, cd or vinyl. A true labor of love and countless hours of listening with headphones at all the details involved. Glad to be back on here after several years.
I indeed am an all things Carpenters as far as recordings go. I’m only missing 1 promo single for Little Alter Boy, and the picture sleeve for DCFMA. I have a huge amount of Japanese lp collections like Super Max and Gold Prize, etc. Some nice and some very noisy like the recent box set. What a disappointment that was.
Thank you again. Ken
 
Just my 2 cents....I think it would still be interesting to see from the Resource site a section maybe labeled as "Souvenirs or Non Commercial Rare Releases" I mean there are not that many but to preserve them with a photo and short write up would allow fans to see what was released and why it was released.

I mean with these that GDB2LV just noted above:
Hollywood Bowl Battle Of The Bands LP
Garden Grove Symphony 1987 LP
Long Beach Choir record

There is also the Your Navy Presents LP's that were released. There may also be more.
I just think that while they may not be official released by A&M or to the mass public...they were released and few people own them, why not allow all the fans to actually see photos or better yet have them in the Resource just to refer back that they were in fact an important part of the Carpenters career. I'm not saying I know much about them because I don't have any of them but I sure would like to be able to see them in nice scans of what the albums actually looked like and when they were released and why. So while it's outside it may still be relevant. Something to think about...
 
Whenever you folks send me these for review, I'll put them in the Resource!
 
And all highly collectible for the rare content and number of pieces that exist. Most fans would spend a lot of money to own these items. Just like the Magic Lamp single. The crown jewel of my collection anyway.
 
I just found another item in my vinyl stash I forget I had.
It’s the Dick Clark’s Rock Roll & Remember radio show February 8&9 1986, tribute to The Carpenters. It a 4 record set with various artists, but mostly Carpenters hits and interviews with Richard throughout the 4 hour program. There’s also the 2 cd set called Then, Now & Always that aired November 26th, 1988.
My little music store sponsored that one, so I got the CDs afterwards as a gift.
 
Another item I used to own was a 10” vinyl single for Eve. It was a one sided test pressing with a typed label. I regret parting with it. Maybe one of the members here now owns it? I believe it played at 45rpm, but unsure.
Another find at the old record swap meets that started in the Capital Records parking lot back in the mid 70’s. Some guy from A&M had 100’s of vinyl records for cheap. All promos and test pressings. About 25-30% were unlabeled so had no idea what they could be. If I could only go back in time.... that’s how I got the Passge lps.
 
Yes that is an official release. The Recording Resource hasn't to this point covered any video releases.
 
2LP red vinyl • Limited to 3,000 copies • Gatefold • Numbered
carpenters_crop.jpg
 
Another new release in England is the Carpenters Live in Japan from Budokan Hall, Tokyo and Carnegie Hall Bacharach Tribute, 1972.
It has a release date of June 14th, 2019. It’s on Amazon U.K. The red vinyl is from the Netherlands and comes out in June as well.
 
There are 2 new DVD's on Amazon Japan.

First is the Carpenters Live in Amsterdam 1976. I believe this DVD has the same footage that I saw in YouTube a while back. The quality is not good on the one that was uploaded on YouTube but on the description of the item on Amazon, it states that they remastered the footage and audio.
Here's the link:
Amazon Japan: Live In Amsterdam 1976
Youtube: Carpenters Live - Amsterdam, Holland - 1976

The other one is Live in Japan 1972. I'm not sure what concert is this.
Here's the link:
Amazon: Live In Japan 1972

I just want to know if they are authentic or have good video quality. Thanks.
 
Hi guys. I just have a question about the tracklist of the compilation, Ultimate Collection.

I found a different tracklist for the 3rd bonus CD of the album. I know the re-release of the compilation would have Sandy on the 2nd CD instead of Goofus, but the the 3rd CD have 3 different sogs that replaced Sandy, Lovelines and Still Crazy After All These Years.

Is that a legit CD and tracklist or is a bootleg? Just curious since it's not stated on the recording resource page.

Here's the tracklist that I saw on Discogs.
01. If I Had You
02. If We Try
03. Calling Your Name Again
04. When Time Was All We Had
05. Time
06. Flat Baroque
07. Karen's Theme

Here's the link: Carpenters - The Ultimate Collection

Thanks in advance.
 
As you can see from the rear cover, these are what is on the original ULTIMATE COLLECTION. (Also, COLLECTED). I don't know what that listing on Discogs is all about. The picture leads to this:

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But looking at the catalog number, it shows 984 061-1.

The original one I have shows 983 584-5. Perhaps this was a last minute replacement?
 
But looking at the catalog number, it shows 984 061-1.

The original one I have shows 983 584-5. Perhaps this was a last minute replacement?
Thanks for checking it out. I already have Collected already that's why I'm finding the Ultimate Collection and got confused with the 3rd CD on discogs because I use the recording resource to check if I have the right album to buy based on the tracklist.
 
Additional question though, on some releases You're the One was included. Was it included on the initial release of the Ultimate Collection or could have been on the re-release version?
 
I think I may have found an error in the "Recording Resource": It says that the "Essential Collection" has the original album mix of "There's a Kind of Hush" on it. Now I don't know how it looks on the CD editions, but both Spotify and Qobuz state that it is the 1985 remix. Personally, I'm a little unsure, but would agree. What do you guys think about this?

Sources:

 
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