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5 comments about From the Top.

1. It is amazing to me how much the world has changed since 1991. That was the year I got married and graduated from college and ventured out into the real world. The AFFORDABLE method of listening to music at that time was still casette tapes. Phonograph records and LPs had gone the way of the Eight-Track, reel-to-reel, and Betamax. And that first my Christmas my wife got a job at Radio Shack. Because employees got an additional discount to the mark down, for about $115 (this is back when they ran $250 or more) she got me a CD player.
   
   I had seen this four-CD set in "Camelot Music" (now FYE) and really wanted it - this is unusual because it is rare I really desire a gift for myself so strongly. So in conjunction with my new mother-in-law, I got this and a CD player for Christmas.
   
   I had been a Carpenters fan since January 2, 1985, when I bought the "Close To You" casette and thoroughly enjoyed it. Over the course of the next six years, I obtained every single Carpenter recording (American) in existence - starting with "Ticket To Ride" and transversing through "Voice of the Heart." I learned and knew all of the songs - major and minor.
   
   So this four-CD set was the apex of an enjoyable music style that is unique to this day and influences people all across the spectrum. But this one has goodies seen nowhere else.
   
   It has a number of previously unreleased demos including two of Karen singing for Magic Lamp label when she was only 16 years old. And it's not the usual fodder, either, because it features two soft drink commericals in Japan for Suntory pop, a yellow pages commercial, and some features from their televison specials.
   
   It is also arranged chronologically, enabling the person who still has only a one CD player in the car (that sounds so 1994-ish) to take his or her favorite era of Carpenter music. Surely the most monstrous is the second CD that covers the hugely successful years of 1971 to 1974, a period that saw nine top four singles and gold status for every album and nearly every single. The LOWEST - I repeat - the LOWEST chart position for any Carpenters single between 1970 and 1975 was 12 by "It's Going To Take Some Time This Time" in 1972. And even many of the songs not slated for release as singles were good tunes. The entire second side of the 1973 LP "Now And Then" (a mixture of oldies and new songs whose title was chosen by Carpenter mother, Agnes) is featured to close out the second CD, complete with speaker change roar of the engine of the car in Richard's solo "Fun, Fun, Fun."
   
   But the growing pains that hit the Carpenters in 1975 are not quite as evident on the CD until the final one that picks up "Where Do I Go From Here," a song finally released posthumously in 1989 on "Lovelines."
   
   If you are a Carpenters fan, NO COLLECTION is complete without this four-CD set. If you are not, this could be the anthology that changes you into one. The better set is the 1994 edition that includes a 20-page picture pamphlet with commentary by Richard on each song.
   
   Enjoy the best of the Carpenters.



2. "From the Top" is a 4-CD collection of all the Carpenters top musical hits and many other little heard rarities. If you are a Carpenters fan (like me!), you already have their greatest hits, and perhaps have all or many of their albums. What's great about this set is that it offers more than just the hits. On the first CD, we are treated to the Carpenter's earliest efforts to break into the music industry. Here we hear a sound quite different from the unique layered vocal sound that came to define Richard Carpenter's arrangements for the Carpenters. Karen's young voice does not have the mature emotional inflection that characterized her later work. Song by song we hear the distictive Carpenter sound develop.
   
   Disc Two is a collection of all the great Carpenter hits, the songs of their prime. Included on this disc is a track of Karen singing the song "Sing" in Spanish. Her diction is remarkable considering she did not speak spanish! There is also a humorous track of outtakes in the making of the "Yesterday Once More" radio medley.
   
   Disc Three has three tracks of TV/radio commercials the Carpenters did in Japan and the United States. I doubt that anyone in the US has heard the japan commercials. There are also four tracks taken from their popular Christmas albums.
   
   The final disc has the better cuts from Karen's solo album, and cuts from Made In America. Two gems are found on this disc, these being the Medley of five songs from the TV special "Music, Music, Music, where Karen's rendition and interpretation of "Someday" is simply superb. One can sense the hearkache in her voice as she sings this tender song about a woman who is not ready to make a total committment to her love/lover. The final gen is Karen's "Now", a touching love song about a woman who at long-last finds love. The song is a studio work lead, which was so flawless that Richard later added the orchestration and made it into Karen's final recording. The song was originally released on the "Voice of the Heart" album.
   
   For each disc there is an excellent song by song narrative written by Richard Carpenter which gives information about the song, pictures of the Carpenters, and credits. There are numerous color pictures that supplement the narrative.
   
   For those unfamiliar with the Carpenters, this is an excellent introduction to the beautiful music the duo produced in the 1970's. For die-hard Carpenter fans, this is another "MUST" album. I have had the album for over 10 years and still listen to it regularly. It is a treasure of Carpenter music.



3. Superb!!! I had been a Carpenters fan ever since my cousion intoduced me to them. She wanted me to see the "Karen Carpenter Story". I was amazed what they went through. In front of the spotlight they were viewed as goody goody, but behind the spotlight a more darker "leagues" haunted the two. After seeing the KCS, I was on a mission to collect all that albums and them some. To this day, I have heard most everything they released at least once. I remember hearing part of "I'll Be Yours". A song that I never heard the full version until I got this collection. I think that everything that Richard touches, musically, turns to gold. Then Karen would make it sound 10,000 times better! In the KCS, A referall is made to Karen's voice in the fact that she has a 1 in a million voice. I think it is 1 in a trillion. She is my altime favorate female singer of all time. Geting back to the collection. One review, on Vol 2 mentioned that the song "My Boddy Keeps Changing My Mind", was not included in that set. Well, back in the day when Richard went to rehab, Karen went "solo". Richard told Karen not to do disco. As it turned out, I would think Karen wanted to try her hand at the music type. I agree that there are to many Christmas tracks. Merry Christmas, Darling is a Carpenters staple. After its appeal to Christmas songs, I am glad it was added to the Christmas canon. It seemed the song was written for Karen and Karen alone. I have heard other versions of "Darling" and it does not have that same sparkle. Speaking of Christmas songs I think "Do You Hear What I hear?" is very much a treasure that seems to be very much ignored. This collection can be for beginner Carpenter Fan. However, an avid loyal fan would get much more benifit out of hearing the remixes, and the different changes made by Richard. Thus making those songs like hearing them for the first time. I have read on a web site, that there are some out-takes, and uncompleated songs in the A/M valts that needs to be released. If anything make it sound like the 4th disc on the "ABBA Thank You For The Music" 4 disc special realease. Where the Swedish four were in the studio and just playing around with songs and having a good time. The track lasted 11 minuts. Just a side note for all you ABBA fans. Of course they are talking Swidish but all the same good fun!! Back to "ToP" Seeing TV specials make it to DVD, would be a real treat!! Richard if you are reading this, I would buy all of them!
   Back to this collection, the liner notes are superb, and the tracks are very crisp and clear. It would very much be a must to add to your music collection.



4. 67 tracks and just about all your favourites are there ... and then some.

   This is a fantastic collection starting out with Karen's giggle on the opener "Caravan", going through the early Karen singles (which are fabulous) to the cringe-making interview with Sam Riddle (was he for real?), past the "Yesterday Once More" melody, via a couple of jingles and finishing with a couple of tracks from Karen's solo album to the poignant "Now". Wonderful arrangements, intrumentally brilliant and with perhaps the greatest voice of the popular music era.

   The Carpenters were always my favourite band and probably will be till the day I die (and hopefully meet up with Karen in a better place - if it exists).

   All Carpenters fans should go and buy this, even if they have everything else. Sensational - and, to answer my own question - no, it doesn't get any better than this.




5. If you're an obsessive fan (like me) you've GOT to have this collection because of all the rare, previously unreleased tracks, the great remixes, and alternate versions of familiar hits like For All We know, for example.

   If you are just a casual fan looking for a really good 3- to 4-CD collection, the best you can get are "Anthology" (a Japanese 4-CD import, which is kind of pricey), or "Their Greatest Hits and Finest Performances," a 3-CD set which is available at the Readers Digest website. In my opinion, the Readers Digest set is the better of the two (I play it very frequently), and it's more affordable.

   Jim Meadows

No comments about The Light.

No comments about Jukebox Hits 1963.

1 comments about Hits of the 80's.

1. I've been heard once and again this collection. It's great, but I missed 80's pop icons, like Culture Club and others. After all, I did an excellent bought.

3 comments about Burning Ambitions: A History of Punk.

1. A good compilation, for the punk in your household.



2. A good compilation, for the punk in your household.



3. I thought that this was the best box set ever. If you are a Dead Kennedys fan I highly reccomend it.

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