Top 5 Best Covers

tomswift2002

Well-Known Member
I think the title is self-explanatory. What would you consider the Top 5 covers to grace any Carprnters release, whether it be studio albums or compilations. Maybe the album wasn’t good, but the cover art is something else.

For me I would say

5. Ticket To Ride (1970 Reissue)
4. An Old-Fashioned Christmas
3. The Singles 1974-1978 (CD cover)
2. Time
1. Christmas Portrait/Special Edition

Bonus: Passage
 
I don't know that any of these would make my list of top 5, really.

I'd pick:

5. Interpretations
4. Now and Then
3. Voice of the Heart
2. The Singles 1969-83 (with Karen's funny expression that captures her personality so well)
1. Horizon
 
1. Horizon - Karen is just so darn cute!
2. Offering - Love that Autumny look.
3. Now & Then - Made Newville Ave in Downey CA famous and gives fans making the pilgrimage something to hold up when they have their picture taken in front of the family residence.
4. Close To You - I don't know what Richard's problem is...I love it!
5. Passage - It's different, like the music inside.
 
I don't know that any of these would make my list of top 5, really.

I'd pick:

5. Interpretations
4. Now and Then
3. Voice of the Heart
2. The Singles 1969-83 (with Karen's funny expression that captures her personality so well)
1. Horizon

I'm shocked Kyle that Horizon would be your #1 pick! :)
 
Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is now my favorite cover. Classy with one of their best photos in the center and I love the white with gold trim color combo. Horizon, Lovelines and Yesterday Once More would battle for the silver medal!
 
Let's just say that this subject has been well-covered:

 
My favourite covers would go something like this:-

1. ‘Close to You’ - love the beach setting, the photo evokes ‘Maybe it’s You’, for me, this is the perfect cover for the music inside, the moody, stormy beach - the changing styles and sounds within - Crescent Noon, Another Song, then the couple of sunnier songs - Karen looks great, Richard looks good, Karen and Richard look like a happy brother and sister who are enjoying their life and loving making music, love the blue lettering and ice blue / grey shading of the jacket. Perfect. This was also the second Carpenters album that I got, when I was 12, so it has sentimental value.

2. Horizon. A mature, sophisticated album and Karen and Richard look mature, cool and groovy on the cover. Love the garden setting and the colours.

3. The latest edition of ‘Yesterday Once More’. Love that photo of Karen and Richard, where Karen is waving. I like the rose / red jacket of the album, too.

4. ‘Ticket to Ride’ - Sunny cover, carefree music with depths and undertones / undercurrents.

5. ‘Carpenters’ - In Australia, the photo was printed on the outside. Like the photo, the colours of K&R’s clothes, the setting - plus I was young and impressionable when I bought this - about 13.

Special mention goes to the inside cover photo of ‘Great Hits of The Carpenters Volume 2 1969 - 1973’. This was the first album I got, for my 11th birthday, so always loved that photo. The packaging is the same as ‘The Singles’.
 
Do you guys have any favorited that are not studio albums? It kind of seems like most missed the part in my first post about the cover artwork for both studio and compilations.

Anyway, “Ticket To Ride” I saw this cover before I saw the “Offering” cover and I really liked it. At the time I first saw it in the late-90’s, Karen and Richard looked only a few years older than me and the t-shirts and jeans gave them that youthful look, like they could’ve been a few grades higher up in school than me. And then the boat; really the only terrible part is Richard’s hair, as that’s clearly not a 90’s hair cut. Richard even looks more normal on this cover, whereas the “Offering”, Richard looks like he had a horrible wax mannequin standing in for him—-and what’s with Karen’s head piece—-I didn’t know that the Carpenters were Catholic and Karen wanted to be a nun!

“An Old-Fashioned Christmas” I love Christmas! Just seeing Santa on the front is enough for me. Although I wonder if there’s rejected artwork for AOFC as the back cover “canvas” is clearly a different shape than the Carpenters picture on the front. The back cover suites more the canvas Santa was painting on the “Christmas Portrait” cover.

“The Singles 1974-178”, really it’s the back cover of the CD that I really like. It looks like the front to a really old, really expensive stand up radio from the 1940’s. And the front cover, I always imagine having been used for a TV special’a bumper with a glinting highlight moving across the outside of the letters as a chorus of voices saying “Carpenters”.

“Time”- hey the Photography on this is a masterpiece! The car, Richard’s pose, the multi coloured sky, looks like something that belongs in a car magazine, but it’s up there with the album cover to the Beach Boys “Little Deuce Coupe” for classic car album covers! Also that logo, why didn’t they reuse it on his second solo album?

“Christmas Portrait/SE” Okay this one, actually having Santa’s face on the cover, takes top spot. Plus the elf ‘s face as he’s about to get some of Santa’s dirty water on him! They don’t do covers like this anymore! I grew up with the “Special Edition”, so the parchment on the wall always looks a little odd with just the track titles instead of the big “Special Edition”. Plus the back cover is nice with the elf tacking the other big parchment on the wall! It was nice to know that Santa still had time to paint our favorite duo’s picture while making sure all the toys were ready!
 
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