The Carpenters. Studio/Live/Solo/Selected Compilation Albums Poll.

The very best Carpenters' albums

1. A Song For You (1972)
2. Carpenters (1971)
3. Close to Tou (1970)
4. The Singles 1969-1973

 

Yes- 40/40 is an excellent anthology-the most comprehensive double-disc set ever assembled.

Combine 40/40 with the double -disc Christmas Collection-and you have the definitive four-CD boxed set.

 

Karen's version of "Argentina" is absolutely fantastic-I would rank it in the Top 25 of her all-time best. Karen delivers an amazing performance here-definitely on par with "Superstar" or "Solitaire".

Kudos to Peter Knight for the exquisite arrangement & orchestration. There are some moments that get a bit theatrical-but,it's a Broadway show tune-that goes with the territory.

 

My first Carpenters CD was Love Songs which I got for Christmas one year. My dad bought it because it seemed like it had the most well known songs on it. Yeah, I was a weird high school student. My step-brother bought me Singles (on cassette!) which my father promptly stole. I always wondered why he never picked on me for that particular band, that was the smoking gun....

Anyway - I left it there for a while and eventually picked up a copy of Horizon in the $2 vinyl bin. What an incredible album, sonically and musically. Then of course, it's not Christmas in my house without The Carpenters - c'mon.

 

I am marking those I have owned on vinyl.
Ticket To Ride (1969)
Close To You (1970)
Carpenters (1971)
A Song For You (1972)
Now And Then (1973)
Horizon (1975)
A Kind Of Hush (1976)
Passage (1977)
Made In America (1981)
Voice Of The Heart (1983)
The Singles 1969-1973 (Comp 1973)
Yesterday Once More (Comp 1984)


Darryl

 

Other: From The Top

 

You should give A Song For You ago. If you haven't already. Full of hits and great deep cuts too.

 

I hate the Olivia version and you know how much I love her. I realize she was auditioning with that song but I find her performance over dramatic and I dislike the draggy arrangement.

 

I go up to 1976 for steller.

 

Is there a song list per album in this thread. Hard to determine right album to choose.

 

This is the best I can do.

The Carpenters discography - Wikipedia

 

Listening to "A Song for You" Karen really great, original vocalist - don't know about the list to vote, but this is a very good album

 

I"ll take your offering.

 

The SACD comp is tasty ear candy and cheap last time I looked.

 

That must have been a very long time ago.

 

Decade ? ( not Neil Young).

 

I like this comp:

Also voted for the first 6 studio albums, Singles, and Yesterday Once More.

 

This is essentially the same as Yesterday Once More, correct?

 

The Carpenters were at their best, producing the best soft rock music, in the period from 1969-1972. After that they became a pure MOR band.

1969 - Offering/Ticket To Ride
1970 - Close To You ]
1971 - Carpenters
1972 - A Song For You

 

Glad you like it. Personally, I never did, but I´m always anxious for those "orphan" songs to have somebody love them. And I am not being sarcastic - that´s the way my mind, such as it is, works.

 

I have the 5.1 but you guys talked me into ordering the newer SACD Singles.

 

Exactly.

 

Actually you are correct. I have both but never compared the two.

 

Solitaire is my second favorite song by them, only behind Only Yesterday. So, obviously Horizon is by far my favorite album for a ton of reasons. Horizon is pure perfection for me personally.

 

Karen isn't "soft rock"-she's barely even considered "pop",let alone "soft rock".The early albums do have a bit of rock influence(with the Beatles' remakes & the electric guitar solo on "Goodbye To Love")- But,for the most part,they're mostly pop ballads,torch songs & light jazz. Even on "Ticket To Ride",Richard's lush arrangement managed to erase almost any aspect of Rock influence the song originally had.

They were always considered MOR(in 1971,Billboard voted them the #1 Easy-Listening artist of the year). The Later albums feature some of the most contemporary material they ever recorded.