Carpenters Greatest Hits - Your version

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Ah am so steel een luv weeth yoo
I drove my brother home last night and, on my way back, decided to start shuffling through my Carpenters tunes. I get a good chunk of time on that drive so I got through quite a few of them. I started thinking about what I'd like a "Greatest Hits" to look like if it were just designed for me - ignoring the obvious choices and hits. I only include them if I genuinely love them. Go no further than 12 tracks. Hard I know (it was for me). Anyway, here's what mine would look like:

Carpenters: Only Yesterday

1. Goodbye to love
2. You
3. For All We Know -
4. Sandy
5. It's Going to Take Some Time
6. I Won't Last A Day Without You
7. This Masquerade
8. I Can Dream, Can't I?
9. Only Yesterday
10. B'wana She No Home
11. Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
12. A Song For You

What about yours?

Ed
 
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Great topic!

Mine would be:

  1. A Song For You
  2. Only Yesterday
  3. Yesterday Once More
  4. B'Wana She No Home
  5. Superstar
  6. Rainy Days And Mondays
  7. (Want You) Back In My Life Again
  8. Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
  9. Slow Dance
  10. For All We Know
  11. Touch Me When We're Dancing
  12. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
 
As of right now - an important fact :wink: -

1. We’ve Only Just Begun

2. Only Yesterday

3. Rainy Days and Mondays

4. Hideaway

5. Our Day Will Come

6. All You Get From Love is a Love Song
----------- (begin Side Two)
7. Baby It’s You

8. When I Fall in Love

9. Ordinary Fool

10.Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore

11.Boat to Sail

12.Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
 
As of right now - an important fact :wink: -

1. We’ve Only Just Begun

2. Only Yesterday

3. Rainy Days and Mondays

4. Hideaway

5. Our Day Will Come

6. All You Get From Love is a Love Song
----------- (begin Side Two)
7. Baby It’s You

8. When I Fall in Love

9. Ordinary Fool

10.Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore

11.Boat to Sail

12.Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night

Yes! LP sides! Why didn't I think of that?

Ed
 
As I had recently made a CD of my favorite Carpenters' songs (in order), I had the data at my fingertips... limited to 12, per request... :)
  1. Solitaire
  2. I Need to Be in Love
  3. Only Yesterday
  4. Superstar
  5. You’re the One
  6. Rainy Days and Mondays
  7. We’ve Only Just Begun
  8. There’s a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)
  9. All You Get From Love Is a Love Song
  10. I Won’t Last a Day Without You
  11. Goodbye to Love
  12. You
 
1. A Song For You

2. Kiss Me… Lastnight

3. Where Do I Go From Here?

4. Superstar

5. Rainy Days and Mondays

6. Still In Love With You

7. Calling Your Name Again

8. Lovelines 1989 mix

9. Solitaire

10. All of My Life (remix)

11. Top of the World

12. Now

BONUS: A Song For You (Reprise) … To Bookend, of course.
 
Great thread. I wouldn’t call my collection, “Greatest Hits,” though, since, to me, that moniker implies actual singles. So I guess I’d call this my “Best Of” Carpenters Collection. I, too, am using iTunes data for my list, in terms of numbers of plays, so in ranking order “from the top":

1. Baby It’s You
2. Aurora/Eventide
3. Maybe It’s You
4. Sandy
5. One More Time
6. Bacharach/David Medley
7. Rainy Days And Mondays
8. Let Me Be The One
9. I Won’t Last A Day Without You
10. A Song For You
11. Superstar
12. Crystal Lullaby

Just noticed this; there’s a lot of longing in my most-played Carpenters songs. Huh.
 
As I had recently made a CD of my favorite Carpenters' songs (in order), I had the data at my fingertips... limited to 12, per request... :)
  1. Solitaire
  2. I Need to Be in Love
  3. Only Yesterday
  4. Superstar
  5. You’re the One
  6. Rainy Days and Mondays
  7. We’ve Only Just Begun
  8. There’s a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)
  9. All You Get From Love Is a Love Song
  10. I Won’t Last a Day Without You
  11. Goodbye to Love
  12. You

You had to open with Solitaire, didn't you? LOL! Beyond that, I could get with this.

Ed
 
As of right now - an important fact :wink: -

1. We’ve Only Just Begun

2. Only Yesterday

3. Rainy Days and Mondays

4. Hideaway

5. Our Day Will Come

6. All You Get From Love is a Love Song
----------- (begin Side Two)
7. Baby It’s You

8. When I Fall in Love

9. Ordinary Fool

10.Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore

11.Boat to Sail

12.Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night

Is that it's title? "Carpenters: As of Right Now"??

Ed
 
Love it, Ed. Any excuse for a list.

Here goes. . . in chronological order.

1. For All We Know (1970)
2. Rainy Days and Mondays (1971)
3. Superstar (1971)
4. A Song For You (1972)
5. This Masquerade (1973)
6. Aurora/Eventide (1975)
7. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song (1977)
8. Sleigh Ride (1977)
9. I'll Be Home For Christmas (1978)
10. When It's Gone (1980)
11. Those Good Old Dreams (1980)
12. You're Enough (1982)

Some of the above are their best, some. . .maybe not, but these 12 are my personal favourites and I'll choose them every time.

Hope it's OK to include xmas songs.

neil
 
Another tough thread! But, oh so satisfying to view all of the great choices herein!
My personal selection, with title:
Carpenters Forever:Looking For Love
1-Invocation (1:01)
2-We've Only Just Begun (3:04)
3-Another Song (4:22)
4-A Place to Hideaway (3:39)
5-A Song For You (4:42)
6-Yesterday Once More (3:50)
7-Only Yesterday (4:12)
8-I Have You (3:27)
9-Two Sides (3:27)
10-Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night (4:03)
11-Where Do I Go From Here (4:24)
12-At The End of A Song (3:42)
 
Well, it's definitely not a "greatest hits" package, as many of mine weren't singles at all, but I've come up with a list of 12 "best of" tracks, based on my iTunes rankings and play counts.

1) Superstar
2) Karen/Ella Medley
3) (A Place to) Hideaway
4) You
5) Let Me Be the One (1990 remix)
6) Rainy Days and Mondays
7) You're the One
8) Crescent Noon
9) It's Going to Take Some Time
10) If I Had You (1989 remix)
11) 1980 Medley
12) Another Song (1994 remix)

My bonus track would be "Little Altar Boy," if I were including Christmas music (both it and "Merry Christmas, Darling" rank higher in my iTunes library than about half the songs on my list).
 
This is now easy for me, as about a year ago I created an i-Pod playlist called "Carpenters Favorites." I went through each and every non-Christmas song and asked myself which songs I could not do without. Here is my list (and sorry, it comes down to these 20 songs, not 12, and in no particular order)...like someone said, my "desert island" selections:

1. One Love
2. Goodbye to Love
3. Love Me for What I am
4. One More Time
5. Where do I go From Here
6. Kiss me the Way You Did Last Night
7, You're the One
8. Strength of a Woman
9. Rainy Days and Mndyys
10. I Need to be In Love
11. Desperado
12. Ordinary Fool
13. Solitaire (single version)
14. CrescentNoon
15. Another Song
16. When it's Gone
17. Heather
18. I Can't Make Music
19. Ticket to Ride ('73 version)
20. A Song For You

Interesting seeing it written down like this. Not a single track from any of the solo efforts.
 
Perhaps I should note that my above list omitted inclusion of Christmas Songs and Solo Songs.
As Richard Carpenter has written regarding his absence on Christmas Portrait Sessions; and, Karen's solo effort were
done independently of him, I purposely neglected consideration of those songs for my Carpenters' Greatest Package.
Although, the 1970 Merry Christmas, Darling and 1972/4 Santa Claus is Coming To Town are two of my all-time favorites!
(In fact, those two songs are perfectly crafted Carpenters songs! ).
 
1. All Of My Life (87 remix)
2. Top Of The World (Single Mix)
3. Yesterday Once More (80s remix)
4. Only Yesterday
5. You
6. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
7. Merry Christmas Darling (1978 version)
8. Touch Me When We're Dancing
9. When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)
10. At The End Of A Song
11. Where Do I go From Here
12. Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
 
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Oh, man.

Ok, here goes....

Ticket to Ride (1973 version)
Eve
Help!
Rainy Days and Mondays
Hurting Each Other
A Song For You
Only Yesterday
Two Sides
You're The One
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night

I'm surprised I picked so many singles. I play the album tracks more these days....especially the previously unreleased stuff that Richard finished up after Karen's passing. But these would be the songs I really couldn't live without if I were stranded on 'Gilligan's Island' or somewhere.
 
I think mine might go something like this:

Side One:
1. Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore
2. Crescent Noon
3. Road Ode (1990 remix)
4. Eve (1987 remix)
5. Another Song (1994 remix)
6. A Song For You (1985 remix)

Side Two:
1. Let Me Be The One
2. Only Yesterday
3. Ticket To Ride
4. Superstar
5. Hurting Each Other
6. (They Long To Be) Close To You

Side One here is largely my favorite album tracks, while Side Two contains the hit singles and "Let Me Be The One" which SHOULD have been a hit single! The album tracks, I generally prefer in their remixed versions when available, and the hit singles sound better to me as originally mixed.

Harry
 
The album tracks, I generally prefer in their remixed versions when available, and the hit singles sound better to me as originally mixed.

Still find it hard to believe that 'A Song For You' wasn't released as a single. They were at the top of their game in 1972 and look at the reaction Karen got from the audience when she sang it on the Bob Hope Show in the same year. Did they ever sing the song live in concert? I don't ever recall seeing a set list that features it.

 
Karen commands center stage, love that lost video from Bob Hope. It reminds me of what I think John Bettis said about how Karen was strong and not a scared person, when she was told you're on cue, she delivered the goods and it made you think she had no problem getting out in front, like it was natural for her. All this talk about how she just wanted to stay behind the drums....it was not evident in her performances, especially toward the latter of her career.
 
Ya Chris, she seems so eeeeasy here. So natural and when I said this is KC as KC it is referring to that authenticity she exuded vocally and physically. Like there's not a director or Ken n Mitzi telling her HOW to perform. Leaving Karen Carpenter the hell alone was working MY-T-FINE...I'll go as far as submitting perfectly, perfecto, perfection. Who needed advice here? Perhaps the directors and Ken n Mitz should've been shelved?

Well at my behest anyway...
 
Exactly....it reminds me of the outtake from Karen and Ella when the camera man/ director or who ever stopped the tape during Karen's performance and told her she was holding the mic wrong and to hold it this way, Karen looks at the mic and points to her fingers "you mean this" (they didn't like her fingers up in the air) Karen looks dumbfounded like huh? I'm holding it the way I want to, good grief....take 2.....Karen holding mic they way they want her to....it's amazing when you think about what she really went through, do this, no do that, no do it this way, no no this way...leave the poor girl alone and just let her do it....lol
Oh but Karen has the last laugh....she goes back to the way she wants to hold the mic in future tv spots for instance the merv griffin show...etc...ha
 
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