YOUR FAVORITE CARPENTERS ALBUM

YOUR FAVORITE CARPENTERS ALBUM


  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
I know I am the minority. My favourite three would be CLOSE TO YOU, A KIND OF HUSH and VOICE OF THE HEART as I have always said from the beginning. I remember first buying the CLOSE TO YOU lp....but before that I bought THE SINGLES 69-73 and 74-78 on cassette twin tape in summer of 1988. CLOSE TO YOU LP I bought in Sept or Oct 1988 at Sam the Record Man, downtown Winnipeg, because I wanted to hear the 39 voice choir in I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN and I was hooked. I then listened to next Voice of the Heart, Now and Then, Made In America and then heard the cassette A KIND OF HUSH and was HOOKED. I felt it was some of her loveliest singing and the songs had depth and she really conveyed moments of sadness and loneliness in some of the songs, yet some songs were fun and upbeat. I also adored the album cover, the photo in the front she looked so pretty. VOICE OF THE HEART I remember just staring at the album cover at how beautiful she looked....and the music to me was always A KIND OF HUSH, Volume 2.
 
Since multiple votes were allowed (thank you for that, Ken), I chose my top 2 (Horizon and A Kind of Hush). There is more fan agreement on the former and not as much on the latter. But here's what they feature for me:
  • My all-time favorite Carpenters' song: "Solitaire"
  • A few of my top singles: "Only Yesterday," "I Need to Be in Love," "There's a Kind of Hush"
  • Some of my favorite album cuts: "Happy," "I Can Dream Can't I," "(I'm Caught Between) Goodbye and I Love You" "You," "I Have You," "One More Time"
I could go on, but you get the picture! In addition to enjoying the musical offerings in and of themselves, the releases came out during a formative, sometimes magical period in my life (1975-1976), and they have thus been imprinted into my psyche. You could even say in "my heart and my soul, my inspiration"...
 
We've had this poll before, but with a lot of newbies on board it's fun to do it again.

I like the first five albums immensely; after that, Carpenters kind of fell off a cliff for me. I still liked occasional songs, but to me the later albums lost the sense of fun, and especially variety, that the first five albums had. So among those first five, the choice is easy: A Song For You, which I have always felt was their finest hour, and the number of hit-singles that sprang from it bear this out. My least favorite among those five would probably be the tan album, although the hit singles from it are among my favorite songs, but the album as a whole didn't seem to really show much progression after the adventurous first two albums. It was good, no doubt, but it wasn't better. A Song For You kicked the train back into high gear again and raised the bar across the board.

You don’t need to SHOUT! We can hear you just fine here.
Cam89 may have been adhering to one of this forum's old original conventions, which loosely dictated that album titles were generally typed in all-caps. (It wasn't really a convention, just more like a style.) This may have been due to the early forum software not being able to easily display italics or underlines -- it was possible, but you had to jump through a few hoops to do it.
 
Horizon is the sublimest of the sublime as far as I am concerned. Although A Song For You is widely considered to be their peak, Horizon just goes above and beyond anything put out at that time as far as production and sound went. 24 track Dolby 30 inch per second recording was mind blowing back then compared to the norm, and Richard got every ounce of those capabilities out of that album. Material wise, however, Horizon doesn't stack up to albums like A Song For You, but what really does outside of the first 5 albums? I believe the bookend tracks provide a nice opening and closing theme despite many other fans considering them to be filler due to lack of material and possibly time constraints.

On a related side note, I often wonder if Horizon would have come out as well as it did sound wise had there not been a 3 year gap between that and ASFY, due to the Dolby 30 technology not being available yet.
 
Oops. I was not shouting! Just type the albums in capitals...and to make points I sometimes capitalize certain words....Sorry bout that. I am not a shouting person when I talk to people....

Cam
 
Incredibly difficult choice, as usual.
There is only one manner in which I can choose only one:
Which album do I always play straight through without ever skipping-past any songs ?
Only one album fits the criteria I have established for myself:
Horizon.

Otherwise:
Passage (but, I usually skip Man Smart, Woman Smarter).
A Song For You (but, I normally skip past Flat Baroque and Piano Picker)
Lovelines (Actually, I do not skip any songs here, but four are really Karen Carpenter solo songs).
 
OK. Not pointing fingers, but it was the original poster, Ken, with his one sentence in all capitals. Many online forum members consider that to be shouting, but really, it's just letters on a screen. It's better to ask Ken nicely not to type in all capitals, rather than judge his intentions so harshly.

Cam89 was simply using all caps for album titles, and I find nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, it's still the form I use after all these years. All caps for album, movie, show titles, and quotation marks and mixed case for song and episode titles.

I try not to use a lot of italics because when quoted, many forum posts are placed in italics automatically and therefore, anything italicized to start with, does not stand out.
 
My favorite is Horizon followed by A Song For You, which is the most magical, so often in my mind they are tied, with Close To You and Passage following, then Now & Then and Carpenters. I have to agree that the best were from 1970-1975, with exception of Passage and Christmas Potrait. Christmas Potrait gave us fans something to be proud of again. The easy listening chorus was overlooked because it was part of Christmas music and Karen sounded fantastic and the spirit of the album’s concept was groundbreaking and help lead the way for other contemporary artists to pack it in at Christmas! First Snowfall was among my favorites so I was very disappointed when it was not included in The Special Edition version a few years later. Passage said to the public that the Carpenters were still creative and not bookended yet, which meant a lot in those days. The Eagles were recreating themselves with Hotel California and other groups from the early part of the decade that did not, as Helen Reddy, Seals and Crofts, Bread, faded away. The Carpenters’ health concerns was the biggest source slowing their momentum since the band stopped touring in 1978 in the middle of a live engagement. Their early success was record breaking and for some reason I feel the universe knew all those songs had to arrive as they were able to make them for their success and talents are God given and their gifts of music is still cherished and celebrated today.
 
Horizon? Close to You? I can't ever decide! I love the freshness of their breakthrough album. But I am stunned on every level by Horizon. Especially using my earphones. Karen never sounded better and Richard's work was at its peak. (PS- Loving how Lovelines is getting so many votes. It's a great disc as they all are in different ways. Great idea for a new thread as there are so many new folks.)
 
Thinking of Christmas Album material and what was left that went to the Old Fashioned Christmas has always created in my mind a majesty of adoration for the final selection, for it is a perfect match of songs. The strange thing is that some of the ones on Old Fashioned Christmas are among my favorite of Karen's Christmas songs. At times, I don't know the criteria for the final selection but it worked! I wish the Old Fashioned Christmas was not so mellow with muzak type orchestration and featured some other artists to create more of a pop feel. The songs are great, but the concept of the album did not carry as successful as Christmas Portrait. Thankfully, we have both in the Carpenters Collection for Christmas, and all of Karen's Christmas songs which is great for any celebratory music for we can make our own playlist of favorites! I would like for them to get the RPO treatment one day!
 
I see that Lovelines is a strong choice, but for me, the only thing I do not like about Lovelines is that I feel there was stronger material from Karen's solo album that could have been chosen. If I Had You and If We Try are great, but the other selections are weak in comparison from what there was to choose from. I think Lovelines was a last minute decision to lift the solo album off with an upbeat song, best left off, and Remember When Lovin' Took All Night does not work for me at all. The vocal stacks are great but too subdued in the mix and better choices and examples are in others: Still Crazy After All These Years and Guess I Just Lost My Head, Last One Singing the Blues: the rhythm and blues type selections, are my favorites. (Thankfully, patience was rewarded years later!) Then, I would have really liked Lovelines better. There were so many good ones to choose from, despite being a little high in vocal range. The disco ones are my least favorite, except for My Body Keeps Changing My Mind and Love Makin Love To You, which I feel could have been great singles, but so much of the solo album was not disco. But, I'm just one person, but thankfully, I add to the others who love Karen's voice. The rhythm and blues selections actually compliment the Carpenters selections better and would have made the album stronger.
 
This is always a difficult choice.

I have always loved A Song for You and Horizon pretty equally. Sometimes go back and forth. I also really like Lovelines and in the last few years have a new love for Passage. I voted for A Song for You on this post....my all-time favorite song is the title track.
Jonathan
 
I see that Lovelines is a strong choice, but for me, the only thing I do not like about Lovelines is that I feel there was stronger material from Karen's solo album that could have been chosen. If I Had You and If We Try are great, but the other selections are weak in comparison from what there was to choose from. I think Lovelines was a last minute decision to lift the solo album off with an upbeat song, best left off

Lovelines is one of my picks, I think the album is perfect as it is. If I was to change or remove anything, it would be the two standards. The title track is a great opener and sets the mood for the album. The inclusion of the solo tracks - although I didn’t understand their significance at the time I first heard the album - add spice to the proceedings. I just remember loving them above all the other selections and when I read they had been done with another producer, I didn’t know the full story surrounding the solo album and wasn’t fully aware of the importance of their inclusion and the impact the project had had on her relationship with Richard and the label.

Aside from that my other favourites are their debut album, which is a product of its time and the epitome of the innocence of youth, and A Song For You. That was the first album I ever heard when I found the LP one night while babysitting a neighbour’s little boy. I put it on out of curiosity and sat mesmerised from the second the opening track started until I had to flip the LP. I still cherish the memory of that night I discovered this talented duo that would become my lifelong obsession. Old school friends that I bump into occasionally and that I’ve not seen in 20 years will joke with me “I bet you’re still into the Carpenters!”
 
Really hard to choose. Today though I went for Song For You. It was one of the first proper Carpenters album I purchased (I'd only had compilation albums before). It just flows so well and I like every song. The first copy I bought was the slightly tinkered with version and I'm afraid I prefer this to the remastered 1999 version (particularly A Song For You and It's Going To Take Some Time, I guess they were the first versions of the songs I became familiar with).
 
The Singles: 1969-1973 is probably my favorite R&K collection because it led to my Carpenters addiction.

#1 (Tie) A Song For You and Lovelines
#2 Horizon
#3 Christmas Portrait

The album "A Song For You" is just a bunch of really great songs and I never find myself skipping any. This album almost is a greatest hits album in itself!

The first "new/current" song I remember hearing on the radio (by the Carpenters) was "Honolulu City Lights" on an AC station my Mom listened to, which might be another reason I like "Lovelines" - the album, so much. The wait time was like when "I Believe You" finally became an album track on MIA in 1981.

"Horizon" besides containing one of the 70's best pop singles, "Only Yesterday" is just a beautiful recording. Another one I can listen through, but wishing there was more!

"Christmas Portrait" is just Karen doing what she does best, singing her heart out to holiday classics. "Merry Christmas Darling" has become a pop standard I can't wait to hear each year at Christmas.
 
You don’t need to SHOUT! We can hear you just fine here.

Also you forgot an album. Where’s Live In Japan? You’ve got Palladium but not Japan.
OK. Not pointing fingers, but it was the original poster, Ken, with his one sentence in all capitals. Many online forum members consider that to be shouting, but really, it's just letters on a screen. It's better to ask Ken nicely not to type in all capitals, rather than judge his intentions so harshly.

Cam89 was simply using all caps for album titles, and I find nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, it's still the form I use after all these years. All caps for album, movie, show titles, and quotation marks and mixed case for song and episode titles.

I try not to use a lot of italics because when quoted, many forum posts are placed in italics automatically and therefore, anything italicized to start with, does not stand out.
I TYPE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE OF VISION ISSUES... I WILL TRY LOWERCASE NEXT TIME.
 
I TYPE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE OF VISION ISSUES... I WILL TRY LOWERCASE NEXT TIME.

Hello Ken, forgive me if this is a silly question but has anyone ever suggested increasing the resolution of the web browser on your screen higher than the standard 100% so everything appears bigger for you and makes it easier to read? Sending my best wishes for your good health.
 
I see that Lovelines is a strong choice, but for me, the only thing I do not like about Lovelines is that I feel there was stronger material from Karen's solo album that could have been chosen. If I Had You and If We Try are great, but the other selections are weak in comparison from what there was to choose from. I think Lovelines was a last minute decision to lift the solo album off with an upbeat song, best left off, and Remember When Lovin' Took All Night does not work for me at all. The vocal stacks are great but too subdued in the mix and better choices and examples are in others: Still Crazy After All These Years and Guess I Just Lost My Head, Last One Singing the Blues: the rhythm and blues type selections, are my favorites. (Thankfully, patience was rewarded years later!) Then, I would have really liked Lovelines better. There were so many good ones to choose from, despite being a little high in vocal range. The disco ones are my least favorite, except for My Body Keeps Changing My Mind and Love Makin Love To You, which I feel could have been great singles, but so much of the solo album was not disco. But, I'm just one person, but thankfully, I add to the others who love Karen's voice. The rhythm and blues selections actually compliment the Carpenters selections better and would have made the album stronger.

Lovelines reminds me of that Native American dude's firework stand in Joe Dirt. When Joe asks him where all the other fireworks are, he says, "But snakes and sparklers are what I like." He chose his own tastes over what the people wanted. Or maybe he actually thought Carpenters fans would enjoy what he did with the solo tracks, not just in selection, but in muzak-ing them up. I think a bolder statement could have been made by Richard here with a more minimalist approach, seeing that things obviously weren't like they once were. Fans would have respected that a whole hell of a lot more. Plus, Richard gets pissy when asked about his choices here, because he knew that it opened a can of worms as far as Karen's solo stuff goes, which led him 7 years later to just round up what he thought were the best cuts and just fling them out there like "Meh. Here you go. Quit bothering me." He knew he wasn't dealing with anything in Lovelines that was going to be a breakout hit, because he was approaching the bottom of the vaults, so this could have been an opportunity for him to do something a little different and bolder. That is just not in Richard's DNA though, sadly.
 
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