Voice of the Heart: Carpenters Vinyl Box Set Due in November

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On November 17, it will be yesterday once more with A&M Records and UMe’s release of a new vinyl box set dedicated to the remarkable legacy of the Carpenters.  Encompassing 20 Billboard Top 40 hits, including three No. 1s and five No. 2s, as well as fifteen Adult Contemporary No. 1s, the music of the beloved, three-time Grammy-winning brother-sister duo became a cornerstone of American popular song.  Karen’s beautifully soulful voice, with a tinge of melancholy and incapable of a dishonest note, melded with Richard’s immaculate productions and arrangements to create music that’s every bit as rich today as it was decades ago.

The Vinyl Collection contains, on 12 LPs, every non-holiday Carpenters studio album, from 1969’s Ticket to Ride (originally titled Offering, but renamed after their commercial breakthrough for their very first single) to 1989’s Lovelines, released six years after the tragic passing of Karen Carpenter.  The set also includes The Singles 1969-1973, the hugely successful compilation album which became a 7x platinum smash and No. 1 seller in the United States alone upon its release in 1973.

Songs in this lavish box include two Grammy Hall of Fame inductees, Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and Paul Williams and Roger Nichols’ “We’ve Only Just Begun,” as well as other favorites such as “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Superstar,” “A Song for You,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Yesterday Once More,” “Sing,” “Touch Me When We’re Dancing,” “Top of the World,” and “Please Mr. Postman.”   The Carpenters’ albums embraced pop and soft rock, of course, but also touched on country, jazz, dance, musical theatre, classical, and folk styles.

Every album in this slipcased collection has been newly remastered for vinyl by Ron McMaster at Hollywood’s Capitol Studios and pressed on black 180-gram vinyl.  All original artwork from each album has been painstakingly replicated.

The Vinyl Collection from the Carpenters is due in stores on November 17.  Pre-order links can be found below!

Carpenters, The Vinyl Collection (A&M/UMe, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Links TBD)

Albums include:

  1. Ticket to Ride (Offering) (1969)
  2. Close to You (1970)
  3. Carpenters (1971)
  4. A Song for You (1972)
  5. Now & Then (1973)
  6. Horizon (1975)
  7. A Kind of Hush (1976)
  8. Passage (1977)
  9. Made in America (1981)
  10. Voice of the Heart (1983)
  11. Lovelines (1989)
  12. The Singles 1969-1973 (1973)
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Joe Marchese
Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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5 thoughts on “Voice of the Heart: Carpenters Vinyl Box Set Due in November”

  1. At 165.75 at Amazon, that is under $14 per album which is a great price considering what new vinyl goes for these days.

  2. Rokin Robin of Locksley

    Joe, are these the original album versions/mixes, or Richard Carpenter’s later re-tweakings, where he changed things, recorded new parts, and remixed stuff? Thanks much…

    1. Hi Robin, the press release didn’t make any mention – one way or another – but we will be sure to report back as soon as we obtain a definitive answer.

  3. Hi Joe,

    What about the two Christmas albums? Why not include them as well for their complete album collection?

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