Customer Reviews

From the Top

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"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.

This Box set is great.It starts from 1965 to 1982.It goes year to year.The first CD is the begining of the Carpenters. At first they didn't even know that Karen could sing,and they were winning awards for just playing Drums,Piano and Base. All of the Carpenters hits are in here,and we get to hear three of Karen's songs from her solo album. "If I had you" is so much better on this CD then Karen's album.Richard remixed the sound so much clearer,and kept the fantastic ending as it should have been. Also,we get the great Oldies but Goodies medly from the "Now and Then" album,and a taste of the Carpenters Christmas Mega Hit,including the beutifull,"Little altar Boy." My favorite is from the 1980's Carpenters special,"Music,Music,Music." The medley is a masterpiece.The last song will tear you heart apart. Its the last song Karen ever recorded in April of 1982 called "Now." This isn't even the way the song was ment to be,just a lead vocal to help the musicians with the record. This Box set is a must for anyone who loves great music,and anyone who is a Carpenters fan like I am.

When I purchased this 4 CD box set, I had NO idea I would treasure it this much! There are two things to love about this compilation; the music and the booklet that's included. Being a Carpenter's fan for 25 years, I figured I knew/heard/seen everything! Boy, was I wrong. I love the way Richard chose to present the 67 selections chronologically, from 1965 through 1982. I had NO idea Karen was only 16 years old when she sang "Looking For Love" and "I'll Be Yours", recorded in 1966. My favorite is "You'll Love Me", from 1967. I was just amazed at the talent both Karen and Richard possessed as teenagers! And the booklet is packed with photos of the duo as well as Richards thoughts/comments he wrote about each title. (All 67 of them!) I definetly recommend "From The Top" for all Carpenter's enthusiasts; you won't be disappointed.

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

I like the box set but it should have had more of their best tracks. For example,tracks like Crystal Lullaby,Drusilla Penny,Flat Baroque,Heather,Help,Love is Surrender,Saturday,Road Ode,Oldies Melody etc(I could go on a while!) could have been put on the box set with 4 cds. After all,4 cds can contain a lot of songs. One unkind reviewer in America,at the time of release of the set, really unfairly canned the Carpenters because she judged them on this box set which doesn't contain all their best songs. A box set should represent their absolute best. As I said,I like the box set(with The Carpenters superb vocals and production,it has to be good)but with so many tracks only available in Japan I hope that Richard can go for the ultimate next time and that is-live tracks,best songs and rare gems.

I didn't believe this album when I heard it. From that American critic, I would have thought of this set as a real dud. WRONG! This is one of the finer collections of songs! Sure, I beleive there are a few songs that are left off that certainly should not have been. But besides that, I was really impressed. I have all the main studio albums and will soon be getting "Live in Japan", "Live at the Palladium", and the "Anthology". Even if I got those titles, I don't think I would have been satisfied without the terrific compilation of songs in "From the Top".

The idea of "From The Top" was a good idea, but not too well executed. I have the large four cd set, I know that since its initial release the package has changed some. Looking very closely at the artwork of the original release, there are titles of songs hidden on the cover. I read the titles and songs mentioned, and missing, are "A Song For You," and "As Time Goes By." A volume two is not in the works, although there are rumors stating that there will be a release of unreleased recordings slated for late 1999. Let's hope it's everything we want it to be. "From The Top" is good in the beginning, the early tracks are a blast. Because of programming space, the disc should have been a little fuller, featuring strong album cuts from the first three albums. This could have been Richards' showcase for his remixing skills, he did take some advantage of that. The remaining three discs get thinner and thinner. When all else fails, re-release all the hits and remix all of them ala "Hurting Each Other." I feel that overall a boxed set is a milestone, a volume that expresses the best work an artist can do, the milestone should have the best engineering available. The remastering and sound levels are uneven. Sonic enhancment was not fully used. Songs like "Let Me Be The One," "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song," and "Touch Me When We're Dancing" took full advantage of the sonic enhancement, the bulk of the material sounds like they were merly cd transfers. I think Richard knew of the flatness of the boxed set and released "Interpretations" to off-set the poor masters. To hear how the Carpenters should have been remastered, buy the re-releases. "From The Top" will eventually be forgotten. Karen's solo release has sealed its doom.

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.

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.

The criticisms of this set mystifies me. Just hearing Karen's early efforts make it worthwhile. But there's also the original versions of songs redone for their first A & M album and much else, and nearly all their great recordings. MY copy sounds great. I believe we get more unreleased music later this year.