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Post by Rick Henry on Jul 16, 2006 10:40:10 GMT -5
 Following in JohnnyAngel's footsteps I have come up with a poll. I have chosen what is historically* the favorite album track from each Carpenters studio album (tyhat would be from "Offering" to "Made In America").
Which is your favorite album track?
*Just a brief explanation of what I mean by historically. These songs were chosen because they are fan favorites, received radio airplay and/or have been reviewed favorably by music critics. Several of these songs have also been listed as "missed singles". Missed singles are songs which fans feel should have been singles. Such as "I Just Fall In Love Again" tops the list of "missed singles" - most fans feel Carpenters should have released this song as a single. Myself included. I feel Carpenters' recording of this song makes Anne Murray's version sound quite pedestrian in comparison.
With that said... What is your favorite album track? |
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Post by beaner on Jul 16, 2006 13:17:09 GMT -5
"All of My Life" has always been one of my favorites and the Ticket to Ride album was one of the first that I purchased for myself so I've sure listened to it many many times and not once did I ever get tired of it.
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jul 16, 2006 20:41:07 GMT -5
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Post by Moe on Jul 17, 2006 0:04:41 GMT -5
 Although I like all of these tracks, I will choose "I just fall in love again." I love this song from start to finish and wish they had released it as a single, just to see what kind of chart action it received. Karen's voice is so vulnerable at the beginning of the song and builds as she tears through the final chorus, accompanied with full orchestration. I am a big fan of Anne Murray's, but her rendition does not hold a candle to Karen and Richards.
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Post by wisejester7 on Jul 19, 2006 11:46:05 GMT -5
ACK!! How can I pick A favorite track when each song has it's own merits. Even if you could pick one track it would change with mood and life circumstances.
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Post by Rick Henry on Jul 19, 2006 13:59:30 GMT -5
ACK!! How can I pick A favorite track when each song has it's own merits. Even if you could pick one track it would change with mood and life circumstances. You are so right wisejester. It's hard to narrow it down to one - that's why I haven't chosen one yet.
I have though narrowed my choices down to three. "Road Ode", "Desperado" and "Boat To Sail" - but of those three I'm having a hard time choosing one. |
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Post by JohnnyAngel on Jul 20, 2006 9:33:38 GMT -5
High Five Rick!!
Great topic for a poll!!!
It's very tough!! I've chosen "Maybe it's you" 'cause I always felt this might have been a single. the song is great and has all the Carpenters' spices. I almost pick "This masquerade" but I already consider a hit
Regards
Jorge
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Post by smoothie2 on Jul 20, 2006 23:08:29 GMT -5
???totally agree with you Tim on this one.. I think I first heard it on the Now and Then album. |
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Post by enigma on Jul 20, 2006 23:10:45 GMT -5
well alot of my favorite album tracks are not on the list but of the ones on the list it was a photo finish between Road Ode and Maybe Its You. Maybe its you won out just barely I guess because its more sweet as opposed to the power ballad style of Road Ode and I love the ocean immagry of Maybe its You which gave it the slight edge that made me vote for it,   |
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ThomB
CERTIFIED GOLD MEMBER
Posts: 110
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Post by ThomB on Aug 1, 2006 20:17:19 GMT -5
Road Ode is my favorite album track.
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Post by Prisoner_Walking on Dec 26, 2006 19:01:29 GMT -5
I am a big "Desperado" fan - this one has to be my favorite recording on the list, but contraversially I suspect, I don't think any of the songs you have chosen Rick are "missed singles" except for "Let Me Be The One" - that would have been a hit if released in 1971.
I feel that "I Just Fall In Love Again" would have been too show-song-esque...too orchestral for a single.
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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 26, 2006 23:48:13 GMT -5
I am a big "Desperado" fan - this one has to be my favorite recording on the list, but contraversially I suspect, I don't think any of the songs you have chosen Rick are "missed singles" except for "Let Me Be The One" - that would have been a hit if released in 1971.
I feel that "I Just Fall In Love Again" would have been too show-song-esque...too orchestral for a single. What you say is true to a point. Though songs like "Desperado" and "This Masquerade" throughout the years have received much favorable critical praise. When "Horizon" was released critics were expecting "Desperado" to be released as a single. "I Just fall In Love Again" is another one of those songs which received outstanding reviews and it even received a minor amount of radio airplay as an album cut. Richard has also mentioned that he wanted to release the song as a single - but didn't because of it's length. It's reasons like this that make several of these songs possible missed singles. I feel had "Desperado" been released it would have been a bigger hit than "Solitaire". "I Just Fall In Love Again" - combined both the atmospheric orchestral sound (which was quite popular in 1977) with a moving electric guitar solo - this song was very much in tune with it's time period and I feel would have been more popular on the charts than "Calling Occupants..."
As mentioned above historically some of these songs (about half of them) are historically "missed singles" for one reason or another. They either received airplay as an album track or received favorable reviews from critics as choice for single. Or Richard himself spoke about releasing as a single.
Though "missed single" is not what this topic is about - this is a topic about favorite album track from each Carpenters studio album (which would be the albums from "Ticket To Ride (Offering) to "Made In America"). The tracks chosen in this poll are not my choices but what have been voted on in several polls and discussions which have been done here on The Carpenters Online.
The latest poll which we did back in October 2006 now shows these songs as the favorite album cut from each studio album:
"All Of My Life" from "Ticket To Ride"
"Crescent Noon" from "Close To You" (this song seemed to gain much popularity in the past six months with fans)
"Sometimes" from "Carpenters"
"Road Ode" from "A Song For You"
"This Masquerade" from "Now And Then" (this is the all-time favorite album track - according to the fans.)
"Desperado" from "Horizon"
"Boat To Sail" from "A Kind Of Hush" ("One More Time" is a close second)
"Two Sides" from "Passage"
I have to do more research to get the favorite album track from "Made In America" - as none of the songs from MIA made our top 40 list.
Next poll I do for favorite album track will include these songs. |
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Post by GoodOldDreams on Dec 27, 2006 10:06:45 GMT -5
Lyrically and musically, "This Masquerade" is one of my all-time favorite songs. With a sophisticated and smoky instrumental accompaniment, it showcases Karen's deep "basement" voice very well, and Richards' whisper at the end "... and we're lost in this masquerade..." reminds me of a classic B&W mystery/detective movie in the film nor mode. The line "we try to talk it over but the words got in the way" conveys the irony and challenges of trying, but not always succeeding, in deeper interpersonal verbal communications. "This Masquerade" is typically associated George Benson's bluesy-jazzy hit rendition of it, but as much as I generally like George Benson's music, the Carpenters' version is the definitive one for me, beating out also other versions by Leon Russell, Helen Reddy, etc. "This Masquerade" was on the flip side of the single "Please Mr. Postman," one of the Carpenters' biggest hits worldwide. I wonder how much of this could really be attributed to "This Masquerade." |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Dec 27, 2006 12:23:45 GMT -5
Ooooo- GREAT thought, Dreams. I wonder, too - how much of the success of "Postman" might have been due to the B side of the single (This Masquerade)? A good topic for discussion. Tim 
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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 29, 2006 16:14:52 GMT -5
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Dec 29, 2006 16:43:02 GMT -5
Ooooo- GREAT thought, Dreams. I wonder, too - how much of the success of "Postman" might have been due to the B side of the single (This Masquerade)? A good topic for discussion. Tim My thought on this is that a very small percentage of sales for "Please Mr. Postman" the single was because of "This Masquerade".
Reason is by the time PMP was released most die-hard fans already owned "This Masquerade" on the album "Now And Then". Also it was PMP which was getting the mega airplay throughout the world - therefore people in general were more familiar with PMP at the time.
As for myself I bought PMP, when it was released, solely for PMP as I did already had "This Masquerade", plus PMP at that point was not on any album.
Back to Favorite album Track...
I still have not decided on one yet - I am still stuck on either "Road Ode", "Desperado" or "Boat To Sail". That would make sense! Thanks for your insight into this, Rick. |
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Post by GoodOldDreams on Dec 30, 2006 23:45:44 GMT -5
Ooooo- GREAT thought, Dreams. I wonder, too - how much of the success of "Postman" might have been due to the B side of the single (This Masquerade)? A good topic for discussion. Tim My thought on this is that a very small percentage of sales for "Please Mr. Postman" the single was because of "This Masquerade".
Reason is by the time PMP was released most die-hard fans already owned "This Masquerade" on the album "Now And Then". Also it was PMP which was getting the mega airplay throughout the world - therefore people in general were more familiar with PMP at the time.
As for myself I bought PMP, when it was released, solely for PMP as I did already had "This Masquerade", plus PMP at that point was not on any album.
... Since it was already released on the album "Now and Then", it might seem logical to speculate at first that "This Masquerade" in and of itself would not have contributed significantly to generate additional public interest in the subsequent sales of "Please Mr. Postman" as a single. However, if you consider how "Top of the World" was first released just as an album cut on the "A Song for You" album, and then subsequently remade into a single by popular demand, it was significant enough to generate the first big Richard Carpenter-John Bettis penned hit, a surprise even to Richard and Karen. Apparently there ARE sizable numbers of people who would buy either one or both versions of "Top of the World". There are a few other considerations and mitigating factors as well. "This Masquerade" had the benefit of additional exposure through the TV special "Music Music Music", with Ella Fitzgerald singing it as a duet with Karen, which may have sparked the interest of a wider audience than the just die-hard fans. Also, there are many people who might buy a single for a specific song they like, but not commit to buying a whole album mixed with other previously unheard album cuts. (In fact, in the past, I tended to target my purchases toward the "Greatest Hits" or singles of many other musical artists, just so that I won't be disappointed by the hit-or-miss album cuts, and waste my money in the process.) In short, "This Masquerade" might have a larger hidden audience and fan base than readily apparent because of how it was packaged with other songs in an album or a single B-side form. |
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Post by Rick Henry on Dec 31, 2006 0:05:25 GMT -5
Since it was already released on the album "Now and Then", it might seem logical to speculate at first that "This Masquerade" in and of itself would not have contributed significantly to generate additional public interest in the subsequent sales of "Please Mr. Postman" as a single. However, if you consider how "Top of the World" was first released just as an album cut on the "A Song for You" album, and then subsequently remade into a single by popular demand, it was significant enough to generate the first big Richard Carpenter-John Bettis penned hit, a surprise even to Richard and Karen. Apparently there ARE sizable numbers of people who would buy either one or both versions of "Top of the World". There are a few other considerations and mitigating factors as well. "This Masquerade" had the benefit of additional exposure through the TV special "Music Music Music", with Ella Fitzgerald singing it as a duet with Karen, which may have sparked the interest of a wider audience than the just die-hard fans. Also, there are many people who might buy a single for a specific song they like, but not commit to buying a whole album mixed with other previously unheard album cuts. (In fact, in the past, I tended to target my purchases toward the "Greatest Hits" or singles of many other musical artists, just so that I won't be disappointed by the hit-or-miss album cuts and waste my money in the process.) In short, "This Masquerade" might have a larger hidden audience and fan base than readily apparent because of how it was packaged with other songs in an album or a single B-side form. True... though "Music, Music, Music" aired in 1980 which is more then five years after the release of PMP - so I don't think this exposure did anything for the sales of Postman.
Yes, I agree that "This Masquerade" is by all means a hugely popular song - but as for sales of "Please Mr. Postman" - that came primarily due to the heavy airplay of Postman and the fact that Postman at that time was not on any album. I do agree though that "This Masquerade" did (to a degree) give the sales of Postman some helps - but still the majority of people who bought that single bought it for Postman.
I would guestimate - though - that of any of the b-sides "This Masquerade" is likely the most popular and did actually give the sales of PMP a boost - but even if Postman would have had "Heather" or "Piano Picker" on the b-side - it would have still been the mega-hit that it was - the timing was right and it was a brand new song -the first in over a year - Postman was a hot property in it's time of release.
As it is, on it's own "This Masquerade" is quite a popular and classy song and certainly deserves it's place on the numerous Carpenters compilations that it has been on. |
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