Your favorite hits by the Carpenters that did not make the Top 40?

Being all of 2:25, Let Me Be The One might be a tad short for radio play ?
Also, the song wasn't even promoted via a "B" side from those singles off of the Tan album,
so, really, I doubt that the song was ever considered for any more than it was--a great album cut.
The version on From The Top (2:49) is my favorite (and, we did get a promo-cd with that song on it !).
Regards Goofus, not too many Carpenters' songs featured Wes Jacobs (tuba) and I love that arrangement.
Bless The Beasts and Children is an all-time favorite of mine (soundtrack version excels, imho).
As Karen said in a 1978 interview, Sweet Sweet Smile is so "catchy," and I concur wholeheartedly.
But, if country-tinged-pop isn't your thing, it probably doesn't fly.

I read or heard somewhere (maybe Randy Schmidt's book?) that Karen wanted/suggested Let Me Be The One released as the second single, over RD&M, but the choice was, of course, RD&M.

In my view the right choice, although I do agree with those who suggest Let Me Be The One would have charted, top 20 at least.

Back to the thread's original question - A reissued Ticket to Ride would have charted much higher than the first release, IMO.
 
Short records are FAVORITES among radio programmers. They allow "more songs" per hour, hence the illusion of more music.

For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that Karen wanted "Let Me Be The One" as a single off of the tan album, but was overridden by Richard's choice of "Rainy Days".
 
As Karen said in a 1978 interview, Sweet Sweet Smile is so "catchy," and I concur wholeheartedly.
But, if country-tinged-pop isn't your thing, it probably doesn't fly.
I'm glad Karen thought the song was catchy and that she had a good time singing it. I just watched the video and she looks really good. But the lyrics leave a little to be desired (I guess I'm just too old and crotchety) and I see her lips moving but I don't recognize the voice...oh, wait, she's double-tracking the whole freakin' song...that's the catchy part for me. However, I really do wish it had charted much higher for them...
 
Regards Let Me Be The One,
Richard Carpenter writes:
"A song that remains a favorite...and have little doubt the song would have been a hit if released as a single."
(Liner Notes: From The Top).
If that is so, then why was it not released as a single at the time ?

Schmidt writes that Paul Williams might have suggested "holding off" on Let Me Be The One, though Karen
"preferred" that it be "the next single." (page 75).
 
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Those Good Old Dreams is my favorite on that list, but I understand why it wasn't a top 40 hit. I like the melody, the steel guitar, the arrangement, and of course, Karen's voice. She sings in that incomparable lower register a good bit, but it also demonstrates her impressive range.
 
The tan album already had "For All We Know" as the single that preceded it. "Rainy Days and Mondays" and then "Superstar" were strong single choices, and by the time another single would have been chosen, the duo already had stuff ready from A SONG FOR YOU, so "Let Me Be The One" got left behind. They were so "hot" at the time, that almost anything they released would have done well, particularly a short song that was written by Nichols/Williams.
 
I would like to believe that the song Let Me Be The One
would have been a big hit, but I have my doubts about it....
who knows ?
Wiki says this:
"Richard Carpenter doubted the hit potential of "Let Me Be the One" and the choice for single was assigned to "Rainy Days and Mondays".
However the album cut "Let Me Be the One" did receive airplay on both Top 40 and MOR radio stations."
There is no reference given for that statement by Richard. I challenge someone to locate a reference for that statement.
I have never heard the song on radio (then or now)
 
Though I feel "Let Me Be The One" would have reached the Top 5 if released, I've also have never heard it on the radio. I also think it would have been a much better choice than "It's Going To Take Some Time" which peaked at #12 in 1972.
 
I heard it on radio multiple times. When the station I listened to featured the tan album as their featured album of the week, it was played a number of times. That station also used to do weekend specials featuring artists or composers. They had a Nichols/Williams weekend and the song was played then too, multiple times.
 
Being all of 2:25, Let Me Be The One might be a tad short for radio play ?
Also, the song wasn't even promoted via a "B" side from those singles off of the Tan album,
so, really, I doubt that the song was ever considered for any more than it was--a great album cut.
The version on From The Top (2:49) is my favorite (and, we did get a promo-cd with that song on it !).
Regards Goofus, not too many Carpenters' songs featured Wes Jacobs (tuba) and I love that arrangement.
Bless The Beasts and Children is an all-time favorite of mine (soundtrack version excels, imho).
As Karen said in a 1978 interview, Sweet Sweet Smile is so "catchy," and I concur wholeheartedly.
But, if country-tinged-pop isn't your thing, it probably doesn't fly.
I don't know if it was used in other countries, but 'Let Me Be the One' was the key promo song for Channel 9 in Australia for years and years, (re-recorded as 'Let Us Be the Ones' and, of course, not by by Carpenters) - so it must have been recognised as a catchy song. It was also included here on 1974's 'Great Hits of The Carpenters Vol 2, 1969 to 1973'.

Btw, '(A Place To) Hideaway' is also on 'Great Hits Vol 2'. (Great song!!)
 
^^Thanks for the info !
Also, Matthew Sweet's version on the tribute cd If I Were A Carpenter
is great (imho).
Seems, then, as if the song--Let Me Be The One-- is quite popular.
 
ABC-TV in the US briefly used the song as "Let us be the one" in their promos.
 
Excuse the TERRIBLE version, but here's one of the versions of 'Let Me Be the One' that was used as the Channel 9 promo in Australia. Apparently, this was from 1977. I think that there were quite a few different versions used, in different tempos and styles, and I think that the song was used for a LONG time.

The Youtube post suggests that the song was also used on TV in the US.

I'm thinking that Carpenters' version might have been the best-known one which may have inspired use of the song for the TV station promotion, although a number of other artists also recorded the song - Anne Murray, Johnny Mathis, Al Wilson, Paul Williams, Petula Clark, Paul Davis, Vikki Carr, Cleo Laine, Shirley Bassey, for example.

 
Excuse the TERRIBLE version, but here's one of the versions of 'Let Me Be the One' that was used as the Channel 9 promo in Australia. Apparently, this was from 1977. I think that there were quite a few different versions used, in different tempos and styles, and I think that the song was used for a LONG time.

The Youtube post suggests that the song was also used on TV in the US.

I'm thinking that Carpenters' version might have been the best-known one which may have inspired use of the song for the TV station promotion, although a number of other artists also recorded the song - Anne Murray, Johnny Mathis, Al Wilson, Paul Williams, Petula Clark, Paul Davis, Vikki Carr, Cleo Laine, Shirley Bassey, for example.



DISCO style! Hah! Reflection of the time, for sure.
 
They also released A Song For You and You, my favorite album cut, as singles in the Philippines. Very popular there. I wonder if these songs got airplay there too? Lucky them if so.
 
Sweet Sweet Smile is irresistibly catchy to my ears and really had the potential to be top 20. Had they released it 2 or 3 years earlier I'm sure it would have.....or as Richard said, had someone else released the same record at that time it would've been a hit.

WYBIMLA with a remix bringing both her lead and the synths more up front should have gone top 40. You get the idea that both were excited about this release and when it did so badly they were pretty upset.
 
Sweet Sweet Smile is irresistibly catchy to my ears and really had the potential to be top 20. Had they released it 2 or 3 years earlier I'm sure it would have.....or as Richard said, had someone else released the same record at that time it would've been a hit.

WYBIMLA with a remix bringing both her lead and the synths more up front should have gone top 40. You get the idea that both were excited about this release and when it did so badly they were pretty upset.
Want You needed more muscle.
IMHO
 
‘Want You’ needed more muscle.
IMHO.
Agreed. Karen sings it in a characterless, super-soft voice, almost without expression. Also, the musical performances and production sound mechanical and robotic. There’s no feeling in the song. There’s nothing the average record buyer could be touched by, relate to or connect with. It’s not a very good or innovative composition, anyway, and wouldn’t have given the public the view that Carpenters were up with the times.

Then again, it was the UK that was arguably producing the more innovative, ground-breaking music in this period - the new wave, new romantic, beat, ska, post-punk, etc. - and Australia, too, although most probably wasn’t heard overseas - whereas America was still on a much more conservative Middle of the Road, easy listening pop trip, (nothing wrong with that type of music, btw), so maybe Want You Back In My Life’ would have had more chance than I thought. I looked up some of the Top 20 songs from the USA from 1981 that ‘Want You Back In My Life Again’ might have been competing against, thinking that I’d come up with new wave and music of change that would be vastly different from WYBIMLA, but came up with ‘Ain’t Even Done With the Night’ by John Cougar (Mellencamp), (great song), ‘All Those Years Ago’ by George Harrison, ‘American Music’ by Pointer Sisters, ‘Angel of the Morning’ by Juice Newton and ‘Best That You Can Do’ by Christopher Cross.

Still, I really couldn’t see WYBIMLA rising higher than the Top 70 and actually think it did well to reach Number 72, for what it was.

Having said all that, it’s good if some fans enjoyed the song. Each person is entitled to their own tastes. If some fans are entertained by it, the song has achieved a purpose.
 
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