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Carpenters / Collected 2LP vinyl

2LP red vinyl • Limited to 3,000 copies • Gatefold • Numbered


Music On Vinyl continue with their popular ‘Collected’ series with a 2LP compilation of Carpenters hits, album tracks and rarities pressed on limited edition red vinyl.

The ‘soft-pop’ duo had enormous success in the 1970s with songs like ‘Close to You’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’, ‘Superstar’, ‘Rainy Days And Mondays’ and many more.

This 25-track double vinyl set includes such hits and keeps with tradition by including some quirkier selections for side four. In this instance, it’s Karen Carpenter’s ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ and Richard’s poignant ‘Karen’s Theme’ (a song he dedicated to Karen after her tragic death in 1983).

This 2LP set pressed on red vinyl is limited to 3,000 units and comes as an individually numbered gatefold package with four-page booklet and a high quality outer PVC sleeve.

Carpenters Collected will be released on 28 June 2019. You can order from the SDE shop via this link or using the button below.


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SIDE A

  1. Ticket To Ride
  2. (They Long To Be) Close To You
  3. We’ve Only Just Begun
  4. For All We Know
  5. Rainy Days And Mondays
  6. Superstar


SIDE B

  1. Hurting Each Other
  2. It’s Going To Take Some Time
  3. Goodbye To Love
  4. Top Of The World
  5. I Won’t Last A Day Without You
  6. Sing
  7. This Masquerade


SIDE C

  1. Yesterday Once More
  2. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
  3. Please Mr. Postman
  4. Desperado
  5. Only Yesterday
  6. Solitaire


SIDE D

  1. I Need To Be In Love
  2. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem Of World Contact)
  3. Sweet Sweet Smile
  4. Touch Me When We’re Dancing
  5. Karen Carpenter – Still Crazy After All These Years
  6. Richard Carpenter – Karen’s Theme

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27 Comments

27 thoughts on “Carpenters / Collected 2LP vinyl

  1. I know that this is a very old thread, so maybe no one is going to read this, but I’m going to give it a try:

    What’s the best Carpenters compilation out there? (Preferably one that is available on CD.)

    I just realised that they are a total gap in my music collection and that I only know very few songs from them. But I’d love to discover more without buying crappy compilations of low quality. (I’m not using any streaming services so I can’t just check out their greatest hits there. Of course I could check out their music on YouTube, but I’d prefer to have a well curated physical release!)

    Thanks a lot in advance for your advice!

  2. Hi every
    Just a query for those who may have bought the carpenters collected limited red vinyl can you tell me is the red vinyl solid red in colour or shiny red and see throught..can anyone help with an answer please!

    Cheers guy!

  3. I have to say that having had the “gold” collection as my first exposure to their music, and it features versions remixed by him to bring out her voice more, i prefer those to the originals:(

  4. If any of you live near Maidenhead there’s a Alzheimer’s Charity shop in the High Street, there’s a big vinyl collection of Carpenters & John Denver LPs last week, not red vinyl but in fab condition, they’re priced between £2 to £4.

  5. Get down the charity shop and pick up the carpenters original albums for a few quid. The quality of the press will be better and if you are lucky it will be in good nick. All of mine are. Worth it for the lesser heard tracks.

  6. Karen Carpenter is my favourite female singer – her voice was stunning. I was brought up on the the first singles LP compilation 1969 – 73, whilst happily enjoying Black Sabbath, Rose Royce (another brilliant greatest hits LP) and many other diverse artists.

    What a shame she died so young, but her songs will last forever.

  7. I wholeheartedly disagree Paul. As long the public keeps on buying these lower-quality releases (mostly on audio content but often also packaging) labels will be confirmed that any old shit sells and the bar will be lowered so much that they will have no incentive to properly remaster records and do worthwhile reissues. I mean, we are already there, look at the prices for reissue vinyls? And the Bowie demo sets? Why do you think they feel they can get away with it? Because we fans lap it all up. The choice is not an easy one for a fan to make but asking that no critical comments are posted is just wrong and counterproductive, especially considering that this blog is read by enough industry people to make it quite important in the reissue market. Paul i think you have created such a valuable tool that you have a responsability to steer the market in a fair direction. Regards

    1. Let’s not bundle everything together. These ‘Collected’ vinyl sets aren’t necessarily ‘low quality’ for a start, and they are quite good value at around £25 for a double with decent gatefold sleeve etc. The newly announced Gomez reissue is £29 for example. I wasn’t actually aware that this Carpenters ‘Collected’ had been out before, so I accept that bunging out a different coloured vinyl every 18 months or two years is a bit surplus to requirements.

      No one is saying ‘no criticism’ but if I had a pound for every time I read on this forum someone making fun of ‘bearded hipsters’ who collect vinyl etc. It’s pretty dull, to be honest. I can give my opinion, and inform everyone what is out there, and make a bit of noise occasionally, if I feel really strongly…. but I’m not here to steer the market one way or another, to be honest. I like CDs, I like vinyl, I like blu-ray audio and I used to love mini-discs and in the 1980s tapes. I have no axe to grind. Whatever your view may be, just remember it’s really not necessary to share it at EVERY opportunity on SDE. Every time there is a coloured vinyl or an over-priced vinyl box maybe people can stop and think ‘have I said this before on a previous post’? Constantly repeating the same criticisms doesn’t make the case any stronger.

      In the case of the Bowie demos sets, I don’t think we are ‘lapping it up’. I’m sure sales are quite low because of the price points and the quirkiness of the formats (7″ box sets).

      1. Well said Paul. There’s more than one type of consumer, thank God. I bought the Collected Moody Blues colored vinyl for emotional reasons, and there are 3000 Carpenters fans out there who will want this. There are some questionable releases out there, but if you don’t like it, don’t buy it!

      2. I can not think of one post where Paul has said “No criticism allowed”.
        But what isn’t needed is the same old tosh that those who gave up vinyl 30 years ago keep coming out with. It’s crackly, it doesn’t sound as good as CD, it’s expensive etc. etc.
        If you don’t buy vinyl then great, but what is the point of trying to stick it to those who do, other than trying to bait people?
        The world needs less tribalism not more. So if you are not interested in Vinyl why antagonize those who do with the same tired nonsense. We are supposedly in this “physical music” boat together rather than “But your physical music isn’t as good as mine”.

        What I can really get on board with though is why reissue a limited edition so quickly when there are 1000s of decent LPs out there crying out for an update and the black version is still available anyway.

  8. Why all the bitterness, guys? Surely we all have the ability and choice to decide what to spend our hard earned money on and if that’s new coloured vinyl than so be it. Collecting is such an individual thing so let’s not judge too harshly, please.

    Also please don’t let this site descend into the mess that is the pointless trolling you see on many other internet sites and forums. Just a personal view but I don’t enjoy reading all this negativity. Let’s be better than that, please, and try to ensure this awesome site remains a pleasure to visit every day.

  9. While I agree this stuff is all readily available out there now in various forms, I’ve rarely seen so much bitterness over the ways people listen to music as in some of the comments here. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it…just relax and let the rest of us decide what works for us.

  10. It seems technology is going backwards, everything now has to be vinyl, picture disc, cassettes (FFS). What next wax cylinder, 78’s. Why not go the whole hog and release remastered concerts onto VHS or better still Betamax or Super8. I don’t get this vinyl thing, most of it is CD remaster pressed to vinyl with inferior shitty covers and charge £40+ for the privilege and it’s lapped up. Each to their own, I don’t have vinyl anymore after losing thousands of rare mint LPs in a flood. Sobering way to watch your investment piss away in minutes. I say enjoy the music whatever format and don’t collect it for the sake of scalping it elsewhere, cos it only takes a mishap and it’s all gone. Just saying.

    1. I totally agree with your comments. I also struggle to understand why vinyl has become so big again. I think there are a couple of reasons. One is that there are people who still think CD’s and players are stuck in the 80’s when they all made the music sound harsh and ‘digital’ but those days are long gone. A well mastered CD played on a decent Hi Fi will far exceed any vinyl no matter how good the pressing is and cost half the price as well for both the product and the equipment to play it on. Another reason I think is the feel of holding something proper in your hands, reading the sleeve notes etc and having to get up and turn it over. I can sort of see that if it a classic album being re released as I also used to like that but like you I don’t see the point of an album like this on vinyl. it is an expensive way of having that luxury today.

      I also get annoyed when remasters are only released on Vinyl and not CD. I am an Elton John fan and a number of the early albums have been remastered by Bob Ludwig but they are only available on vinyl.

  11. Red, white, blue etc etc all the colours of the rainbow in fact and also just another way for the record companies to successfully drain more money out of the gullible punters (Not Me) who think vinyl is the best thing since sliced bread…I honestly don’t get it but what should be the most important thing above all is to actually enjoy the music, to hear it and immerse ones self in the delights the music gives out rather than just buying it because it’s another Vinyl re-issue coloured vinyl limited edition 10” poster sleeve, gatefold, picture disc, etched, shaped, numbered, embossed sleeve, marble effect inferior liable to crackle and pop sound from vinyl on to your hi fi system…stick to CDs or MP3 and hear what the artists intended for you to hear it by.

    1. What a load of nonsense.
      MP3? How the artist intended you to hear it! So the Carpenters intended you to hear their music as a bunch of ones and zeros did they.
      Nothing but individual bias presented as “fact”.

      1. Chris that’s your opinion and again each to their own but there’s nothing wrong with MP3 it’s clear it’s crackle free it’s portable on devices, My top range Sony MP3 player with tracks ripped from my CD collection is my mobile jukebox easy peasy access to 4,000 plus songs on the move with top notch sound reproduction.
        I’m sure there are plenty of other people who enjoy similar and I totally agree with the other comments above regarding going backwards with technology etc, some of us bought the original vinyl back in the day some still have certain albums on the format (including me) but to be dangled with a carrot scenario again with a coloured vinyl version of the same tracks is crazy and a waste of money and at twice the price of the CD version with no where near the durability CD offers in sound (pure hiss, crackle and pop free) compared to over priced vinyl it’s a no brainer to get the CD.
        Streaming services like Deezer and Spotify offering you free listening of an album before you decide to buy a physical version or even an MP3 file download has greatly improved how we shop for our music in these times.

        1. For me MP3 is ‘going backwards’ not vinyl. Once upon a time quality hi-fi was a mainstream aspiration… decent amp, decent CD player, decent speakers, arguments with your mates about quality of speaker cables and banana plugs :) Convenience has trumped quality. MP3s might be ‘good enough’ for many people, but all things being equal (such as mastering) CDs sound better and so does vinyl. I don’t disagree about the overload with coloured vinyl etc. but just because label marketing departments can’t resist doing this, it doesn’t make it a bad medium to listen to music.

  12. Not a bad compilation. I have bought all of the Carpenters music. The best one is The Singles 1969 To 1973. It’s with a tan cover & was their only US number one album.

  13. I abandoned the coloured collected series a while ago. The music is great and the compilations are about the best around but the strategy of releases has been watered-down significantly. Too many original coloured releases have been re-released in a different colour, or two colours in he case of Marvin Gaye. What is the point or the initial strategy of releasing a set in a limited edition colour and Black, so the inference is to get the colour version over the black version, then whilst the Black version is still easily and readily available (so it is not out of print) put out a second limited edition (different) colour in similar quantities.

    UB40 – Red Red Wine then Gold
    Carpenters – White then Red
    Marvin Gaye – Cool Blue then Red / Blue
    Status Quo – Purple then White

    No doubt the ones that have survived so far will also be cloned when MOV see fit. Robert Palmer, Level 42, Cat Stevens, Thin Lizzy, Joe Jackson, Huey Lewis.

    I know it shouldn’t matter, but when you straddle the line like I do (on a budget) between “pure listener” and “pure collector”, so you do actually play the albums and enjoy the music but with one eye on future collectibility and resale as any sensible married man with kids would do it destroys the second part of that equation. If you are just a “pure listener” and wealthy enough not to care about resale down the line then, if you are interested, the black will do (and many say will be slightly better).

    So MOV have crippled my motivation to stay with the series and I can’t see the point in reissuing so close (a year / 18 months) to the original release. Particularly if I am only half interested / curious about a band / artist. I could have justified buying something like The Commodores, Colin Blunstone or Paul Carrack, artists of secondary or tertiary interest to me if I thought – if things went wrong and I just didn’t like it or the wife wants a new handbag (just kidding) I could pass it on as it would be limited edition, but knowing it will probably be repressed in a year’s time in a different colour and supply will be plentiful then I can’t make that justification.

    Yes, I get the fact that the colours are significantly different, Red to Gold isn’t a shade shift, and some people won’t care but we are not talking The Beatles, The Stones or Prince / Kate Bush here. 4,000 coloured copies where I once thought it was going to be 1,000 for a niche band changes the calculations, and unless you are loaded calculations always come into it or we wouldn’t need a deal alert section.

    1. Blimey, you’ve changed your tune there, Chris (albeit not to The Carpenters on red vinyl!). You’re normally the most vocal in admonishing people when they question the validity of releases.

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