Carpenters-Singles 1969-73 CD-4

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Xdevo1973

Active Member
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
96
Location
New Jersey
I just received a pristine copy of the CD-4 pressing of Carpenters-Singles 1969-73 from Japan. It really does indeed sound very nice. A great mix and no sandpaper quad here. Karen's voice sounds right there in the room. The quad mix isn't overly studio aggressive, just natural sounding. It's so much better than the SQ pressing.
 
I never understood the logic in the mixing decision of having the drum kit in both left channels and the bass in both rights. They do this on "Now & Then" as well, except for a few songs during the Medley where the drums are firmly seated in the rear channels.

I too have the Carpenters' Singles CD-4 from Japan and it sure is a treat.
 
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I'm also looking to buy this album on vinyl as there's a unique version of "Goodbye To Love" on there!

Apparently, while Carpenters were out on the road doing one of their concert tours, someone at A&M was given the task of taking the Carpenters albums and converting them into quad. Not knowing, or for one reason or another, the wrong take "leaked" through on that mix.

So on the original release (and all others since then) there's a line that Karen sings "All the YEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..." But on the Quad versions (8-track and vinyl) the out-take version that she sings goes "All the TEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..."

(The out-take version is also on the Quad 8-track of the "A Song for You" album)
 
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I can't say I was ever a huge Carpenters fan, but I picked up a cheap copy of this and was blown away by how great it sounds. Plus, who can resist all those great early singles? (I didn't know that about "Goodbye to Love," either. Thank you!)
 
I'm also looking to buy this album on vinyl as there's a unique version of "Goodbye To Love" on there!

Apparently, while Carpenters were out on the road doing one of their concert tours, someone at A&M was given the task of taking the Carpenters albums and converting them into quad. Not knowing, or for one reason or another, the wrong take "leaked" through on that mix.

So on the original release (and all others since then) there's a line that Karen sings "All the YEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..." But on the Quad versions (8-track and vinyl) the out-take version that she sings goes "All the TEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..."

(The out-take version is also on the Quad 8-track of the "A Song for You" album)

Welcome to the forum billyress. Hey, that's a first post with a good bit of info that I certainly was unaware of.
 
Thanks for the welcome.

I've found out a bit more info about it...

The first few albums they recorded were put on quad 8-track tape, ("Close to You" to "Horizon") but only "Singles 1969-1973" "Now & Then" and "Horizon" were released on quad vinyl in the US, and the "Singles 1969-1973" and "Now & Then" in Japan.

Although, there is a catalogue number of a quad version of "A Song For You" on vinyl released in Australia/New Zealand - SAML 934561Q. (But that looks like a very rare release to get your hands on!)

Apparently, they used the out-take version for the main releases and instead of singing the whole song again Karen just sang that line and Richard edited the corrected bit in.

Since I've learned this, if you listen really carefully when it comes to that section, I can hear a slight dip in the sound where it was inserted... Or is that just my imagination?
 
I'm also looking to buy this album on vinyl as there's a unique version of "Goodbye To Love" on there!

Apparently, while Carpenters were out on the road doing one of their concert tours, someone at A&M was given the task of taking the Carpenters albums and converting them into quad. Not knowing, or for one reason or another, the wrong take "leaked" through on that mix.

So on the original release (and all others since then) there's a line that Karen sings "All the YEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..." But on the Quad versions (8-track and vinyl) the out-take version that she sings goes "All the TEARS of useless search have finally reached an end..."

(The out-take version is also on the Quad 8-track of the "A Song for You" album)

Wow! Just bought The Singles quad album off eBay and it arrived today. I listened and you're absolutely right! She says TEARS instead of YEARS. Cool. She has an amazing voice and the album sounds excellent (even if it is used.)
 
I have always thought the Carpenters' quad productions are close to, if not actually, the best quad arrangements made. Ticket to ride in discrete is just amazing. Starts out is near mono, goes into a nice stereo, then the chorus is just incredible. Moody Blues comes close in some cases, but the engineers at A&M just got it right.
 
According to Richard Carpenter, all those Carpenter QUAD masters perished in that Universal 2008 fire. So better hold onto those CD~4 and Q8's as we will never hear those gorgeous QUAD absolute master tapes replicated onto a modern digital medium AGAIN!


On June 1, 2008, a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, an American film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California.
 
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I was going to "like" that post but I don't like that news at all. Always bad to lose master tapes of anything, especially these.
 
I was going to "like" that post but I don't like that news at all. Always bad to lose master tapes of anything, especially these.

Instead of 'like' you can use the:(emoji ......because that expresses my feelings as well Tom.

Sad thing is, Richard had all those QUAD master Carpenter tapes in his possession to remix Carpenters Singles for mch SACD and had he NOT returned them on time, as requested by Universal, they would've survived that horrific conflagration.
 
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Sad thing is, Richard had all those QUAD master Carpenter tapes in his possession to remix Carpenters Singles for mch SACD and had he NOT returned them on time, as requested by Universal, they would've survived that horrific conflagration.

The Carpenters Singles 5.1 mix has nothing to do with the quad masters - it's a fresh remix from the original multi-track masters (with some re-recorded parts thrown in). Those tapes may be lost, but the various albums mixed for quad back in the '70s (The Singles, Now & Then, A Song For You, etc) could still exist.
 
The Carpenters Singles 5.1 mix has nothing to do with the quad masters - it's a fresh remix from the original multi-track masters (with some re-recorded parts thrown in). Those tapes may be lost, but the various albums mixed for quad back in the '70s (The Singles, Now & Then, A Song For You, etc) could still exist.

My info came from an article in which Richard Carpenter himself stated that had he NOT returned those masters on time, they wouldn't have perished in that fire.


Q-Eight
2K Club - QQ Super Nova

Since 2002/2003
JoinedSep 30, 2003Messages2,977LocationCastlegar, BC, Canada
Jun 11, 2019
Recordings by Elton John, Nirvana and Thousands More Lost in Fire

I watched an interview with Richard Carpenter from a few years back and he came out very adamantly that most, if not all of the Carpenters multitracks burned in this fire. He somewhat blamed himself and his punctuality as he felt it necessary to return the tapes he'd borrowed for the SACD project on time. Had he hung onto them for another week, they may not have burned.

As this article states and suggests, much more burned than initially reported
 
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I've heard that many artists actually bought their master tapes from UMG, giving them full control over reissues, remixes, etc. I thought Richard would have done that But the SACD "Singles" has the best-sounding surround mixes of those tracks that I've heard. Richard should be proud.
 
My info came from an article in which Richard Carpenter himself stated that had he NOT returned those masters on time, they wouldn't have perished in that fire.


Q-Eight
2K Club - QQ Super Nova

Since 2002/2003
JoinedSep 30, 2003Messages2,977LocationCastlegar, BC, Canada
Jun 11, 2019
Recordings by Elton John, Nirvana and Thousands More Lost in Fire

I watched an interview with Richard Carpenter from a few years back and he came out very adamantly that most, if not all of the Carpenters multitracks burned in this fire. He somewhat blamed himself and his punctuality as he felt it necessary to return the tapes he'd borrowed for the SACD project on time. Had he hung onto them for another week, they may not have burned.

As this article states and suggests, much more burned than initially reported
While the multitracks may have burned, maybe the Quad masters still exist? He wouldn't have needed those to mix the 5.1 SACD. Ah, the mysteries of Quad...
Edit: whoops, just saw that scjorne already said this 😬
 
Thanks for the welcome.

I've found out a bit more info about it...

The first few albums they recorded were put on quad 8-track tape, ("Close to You" to "Horizon") but only "Singles 1969-1973" "Now & Then" and "Horizon" were released on quad vinyl in the US, and the "Singles 1969-1973" and "Now & Then" in Japan.

Although, there is a catalogue number of a quad version of "A Song For You" on vinyl released in Australia/New Zealand - SAML 934561Q. (But that looks like a very rare release to get your hands on!)

Apparently, they used the out-take version for the main releases and instead of singing the whole song again Karen just sang that line and Richard edited the corrected bit in.

Since I've learned this, if you listen really carefully when it comes to that section, I can hear a slight dip in the sound where it was inserted... Or is that just my imagination?
I remember an ad that appeared in BILLBOARD when A&M was readying their first quad LP's. "A Song For You" was listed as being in the loop for release on a QS LP, but of the albums listed in the ad, only Joan Baez's "Come From The Shadows" saw the light of day. By the time A&M finally released more quad on records, they had gone to SQ, then CD-4. Sadly, "Song" never made it to quad vinyl in any format in the US.
 
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