Your Favorite Carpenters Studio Album Side 2

[Nemily]

I thought it might be fun to see what the favorite Side 2 was. I left out compilations, the Christmas Albums and “As Time Goes By” (as it is a CD only)

Offering/Ticket to Ride – 7. “Ticket to Ride” 8. “Don’t Be Afraid” 9. "What’s the Use” 10. “All I Can Do” 11.“Eve” 12. “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing" 13. “Benediction”

Close To You – 7. “Baby It’s You” 8. “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” 9. “Crescent Noon” 10. “Mr. Guder” 11. "I Kept on Loving You 12. “Another Song”

Carpenters – 6. “Superstar” 7. “Druscilla Penny 8. “One Love” 9. “Knowing When to Leave/Bacharach Medley” 10. “Sometimes”

A Song for You – 7. “Bless the Beasts and Children” 8. “Flat Baroque” 9. "Piano Picker” 10. "I Won’t Last a Day Without You” 11. “Crystal Lullaby” 12. “Road Ode” 13. “A Song for You” (reprise)

Now & Then – 6. “Yesterday One More” (a) “Yesterday One More” (b) "Fun, Fun, Fun” (c) "The End of the World” (d) "Do Roo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” (e) "Dead Man’s Curve” (f) “Johnny Angel” (g) “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes” (h) “Our Day Will Come” (i) “One Fine Day” 7. “Yesterday Once More” (reprise)

Horizon – 6. “Solitaire” 7. “Happy” 8. “(I’m Caught Between) Goodbye and I Love You” 9. “Love Me for What I Am” 10. “Eventide”

A Kind of Hush – 6. “I Need to Be in Love” 7. “One More Time” 8. “Boat to Sail” 9. “I Have You” 10. “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”

Passage – 5. “Sweet, Sweet Smile” 6. “Two Sides” 7.”Man Smart, Woman Smarter” 8. “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”

Made in America – 6. “I Believe You” 7. “Touch Me When We’re Dancing” 8. “When It’s Gone (It’s Just Gone)” 9. "Beechwood 4-5789” 10. “Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)

Voice of the Heart – 6. “At the End of a Song” 7. “Ordinary Fool” 8. “Prime Time Love” 9. “Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore” 10. “Look to Your Dreams”

Lovelines – 7. “Remember When Lovin’ Took All Night” 8. “You’re The One” 9. “Honolulu City Lights” 10. “Slow Dance” 11. “If I Had You” 12. “Little Girl Blue”

 

[Harry]

I picked CLOSE TO YOU on the strength of "Crescent Noon", "I Kept On Loving You", and "Another Song". Meanwhile the two Bacharach songs to start are no slouches either, and I've always liked "Mr. Guder". So that's a home run all the way through.

 

[Bartog739]

I'm with Harry. Another Song is one of my top 10 favorites. Karen's drums are astonishing, Carpenter / Bettis is one of the best songwriting teams ever in my opinion, possibly even underrated considering at least 4 key Carpenters songs are by them.

 

[newvillefan]

I had to go with 'A Song For You'. The last three tracks are amongst the best 10 minutes or so of any album.

 

[M&M]

Close To You is my choice, love every song.

 

[Mark-T]

I love side two of CTY, but side two of Hush contains three of my favorite songs in a row: I Need to Be in Love, One More Time, and Boat to Sail.

 

[Matthew S]

I’m in the minority here, but I chose Made in America (thus the only vote for that as of now is mine.) This album holds a special place in my heart and was the third album I added to my Carpenters collection back in 84 after the Singles (69-73) and A Song For You. I still have that copy, complete with “cutout” in the top corner.

 

[adamj95]

Ask me again next year, but right now I choose "Voice Of The Heart". At The End of A Song, Prime Time Love, and Look To Your Dreams are stand outs for me.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Can I mix and match? Just kidding lol

I’m with Adam, easy pick VOTH although Lovelines is a very close 2nd.

At The End of a Song just sums up every Carpenters song for me…when their music ends it can be sad, only memories and they can fade but you must start singing again. Sadness but Hope!!

Ordinary Fool, one of the last uncovered treasures of perfection. She so close you can feel it.

Prime Time and Your Baby, 2 great pop songs that don’t get enough recognition. They both have that Carpenters signature sound and love Richard’s backing vocals. Still sounds fresh today. I have a test pressing 45 of Your Baby and it sounds amazing.

Look To Your Dreams, one of my top 10 favorite Carpenters songs. For me this is a song of hope and not giving up. It’s a send off from Karen with assurance to not let the things on this earth get you down, look to what makes you happy for tomorrow will be better. At one point I thought this was the last song I’d ever hear from Karen and it was comforting. Always been a special song for me.

 

[Nemily]

I'm with Harry. Another Song is one of my top 10 favorites. Karen's drums are astonishing, Carpenter / Bettis is one of the best songwriting teams ever in my opinion, possibly even underrated considering at least 4 key Carpenters songs are by them.

Another Song deserves some love – it is brilliant. I wonder if this was ever done live?

 

[Bartog739]

Another Song deserves some love – it is brilliant. I wonder if this was ever done live?

I don't think it was ever done live unfortunately. I wanted them to do more songs like this but the sound was probably too psychedelic, too sixties and we're into the seventies now.

I remember reading on Last FM it says Richard called it "too sixties" and "piece of nonsense" although it's not substantiated. I'm skeptical that he actually described it that way although we both know Richard & Karen were quite self-critical at times. Who knows. Here's the link:

Another Song — Carpenters | Last.fm

Watch the video for Another Song from Carpenters's Close to You for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists.

www.last.fm

 

[Nemily]

I don't think it was ever done live unfortunately. I wanted them to do more songs like this but the sound was probably too psychedelic, too sixties and we're into the seventies now.

Good point. By the time they were touring it was a far cry from the direction they were now going in.

 

[Nemily]

This is the perfect segue into my vote. I was going to do it tomorrow but now is a good a time as any

"Carpenters" (The Tan Album), IMO, has the best Side 2 Track 1 in the history of Side 2 Track 1’s. Ever.

But I have to go with Side 2 of Offering/Ticket to Ride". As Richard said, “Offering was an album of its time, and the time was 1967”. Richard and Karen were experimenting with sounds of the late ‘60s as they were on the cusp of a sound that would thunderbolt them into the stratosphere in 1970.

The first time I heard Carpenters was (They Long to Be) Close to You. But it was "Offering" that made me a fan. Everything they were doing before they contracted with A&M-that creative freedom with influences from everything that was going on around them is in this album.

And side 2 has their debut single release Ticket to Ride. The next track is Don't Be Afraid which may be singularly Richard’s best effort without J Bettis. What's the Use is one of my favorite Carpenters tracks. Really. Richard leads very well on this one and I love the composition of the song, but the mic drop on this track is that this is when we begin to understand that Karen is also one of, if not the greatest, backing singers ever.

I just love the whole Side 2.

 

[Nemily]

I love side two of CTY, but side two of Hush contains three of my favorite songs in a row: I Need to Be in Love, One More Time, and Boat to Sail.

Side 2 of A Kind of Hush is stellar!

 

[David A]

In the minority here also, and admittedly a bit narrow-thinking - but "Superstar" is simply one of if not the finest songs they've ever performed, so I went with Carpenters side 2.

I find these kinds of choices irritating (in an amusing way) as it is always so difficult for me to choose - there's so many songs I adore on every album, especially pre-1976. My second choice would be the A Song for You. Rode Ode, A Song for You...so difficult to choose.

 

[rockdoctor]

I chose Close To You on the strength of Crescent Noon and Mr. Guder, both of which I like very much. The latter even got some airplay here back in the day.

 

[Carl]

I’m going with Voice of the Heart for the simple reason because of Look to Your Dreams. There’s something about the song. The fading piano, the lyrics and the arrangements. For me, it’s like Karen is giving her fans a message and she’s saying “ we should look to our dreams “

 

[Bartog739]

I’m going with Voice of the Heart for the simple reason because of Look to Your Dreams. There’s something about the song. The fading piano, the lyrics and the arrangements. For me, it’s like Karen is giving her fans a message and she’s saying “ we should look to our dreams “

While it may strike a somber note I've always heard this song as Karen wishing us love and a fond farewell, given the track is the final song on their final formal album. Goodbyes are hard. That's how I felt when I first heard it centuries ago and I still remember it that way today.

 

[Carl]

While it may strike a somber note I've always heard this song as Karen wishing us love and a fond farewell, given the track is the final song on their final formal album. Goodbyes are hard. That's how I felt when I first heard it centuries ago and I still remember it that way today.

Exactly how I think of it