CARPENTERS SINGLES 1969-1973 RARE ORIG '73 A&M/MONARCH WHITE LABEL PROMO LP MINT

$

59

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 300  LISTED ITEMS

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·       THE CARPENTERS – THE SINGLES 1969-1973 - ORIGINAL 1975 A&M RECORDS STEREO LP SP-3601

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·       *** ULTRA-RARE WHITE LABEL PROMO ***

·       *** IN ADDITION,  THE PROMOTIONAL EMBOSSED COVER CLEARLY IDENTIFIES THE ITEM AS PROMOTIONAL ***

·       VERY RARE WEST COAST PRESSING (MONARCH PRESSING PLANT, LOS ANGELES)

·       ORIGINAL A&M LABEL (60’s and early 70’s style), WITH THE CARPENTERS LOGO, WHITE PROMOTIONAL VERSION

·       THIS ALBUM CONTAINS ORIGINAL MIXES OF THESE CLASSIC SONGS – NOT THE REMIXES DONE IN 2004 BY RICHARD CARPENTER

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER

·       ORIGINAL, THIN CARDBOARD COVER (NO THICK CARDBOARD COVERS WERE EVER PRODUCED FOR THIS TITLE)

·       MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-M1/-M1'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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There's a certain inherent sadness listening to this concise 12-song collection of the Carpenters' early hits, especially as it opens with "We've Only Just Begun," with its hopeful, dreamy lyrics -- for it was never supposed to be definitive, just the first of at least two such collections. But changes in the public's taste and a slackening (though never a disappearance) of hits for the duo, and Karen Carpenter's death in 1983, made this the first and only real mass choice for a Carpenters collection. Ten of the duo's dozen Top Ten hits are present, from "Close to You" to "Top of the World," with their gorgeous and original slow ballad interpretation of "Ticket to Ride" and their cover of Carole King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" thrown in to offer a slightly wider perspective. Listening to this material, it's easy to accuse the Carpenters of being hopelessly retro even in their own time -- bear in mind that "We've Only Just Begun" and "Superstar" being contemporaneous with the Allman Brothers' At Fillmore East and Eat a Peach and you get the idea. But the lush melodies brought out in Richard Carpenter's arrangements and Karen's singing are justification in themselves.

(REVIEW REPRINTED COURTESY OF BRUCE EDER, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

Despite being dismissed as being lightweight and poppy, the music of Richard and Karen Carpenter aged with infinite grace and (at one point in early-to-mid seventies) even outsold the Beatles. Karen's untimely death in 1983 changed all this; people started realizing that Carpenters created one of the more lasting bodies of work; songs that were incredibly well crafted, composed, arranged and executed; songs performed with uncanny sense of "economy of sound". General public started longing for Karen Carpenter's wonderful, one-of-a-kind, bell-like voice which will NEVER be replicated and duplicated; Richard's songwriting and arranging skills are also being seen in a new, more friendly light these days. Lately, Carpenters have been enjoying a well-deserved renewal in popularity and interest - and even somewhat of a cult status - and are more likely to be seen as one of three or four  (along with Bee Gees, Abba and Fleetwood Mac) decade-defining acts of the 70's. This, their first "Greatest Hits" package, was released in 1975 to enormous critical and popular acclaim, and remains one of the top-20 best selling albums of all time. And, why not: virtually every song that we now associate with the Carpenters sound, and with the mellow 1970's is here.

THE WHITE LABEL PROMO, RADIO STATION-, AUDITION OR DEMONSTRATION COPIES AND RELEASES (such as the one we have here) were often distributed to the radio stations before the record was released to the public, sometimes as much as four months ahead. These records are generally considered to be the "first among equals": the VERY FIRST generation and the VERY FIRST pressings of the particular title; a PROTOTYPE and the earliest known official pressing of the record.

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And finally, a trivia question: did you know that Carpenters were the BEST-SELLING ACT of the first half of the 1970s? Nobody outsold the brother & sister duo: NOBODY!  Not Elton John, not the Rolling Stones, not ABBA, not Led Zeppelin, not Rod Stewart. With no less than 12 (count 'em!) chart-topping Billboard hit singles released between 1970 and 1975, the siblings reigned supreme and without any significant competition!

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·                               CONDITION:

·                               THE RECORD

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL  AS  NEAR MINT. Some VERY LIGHT AND SUPERFICIAL abrasions – mostly sleeve scuffs -  are (barely) visible, but are probably inaudible,  and do not affect visual integrity or beauty of the vinyl. The original luster is very much intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           White Promo Label version of this title is much rarer that a regular, commercially released, version of this title. We estimate that stock copies of this album outnumber promo copies by a ratio of at least 200:1. (the retail copies of this album sold like hotcakes an in $hitloads, and A&M had very little incentive to additionally advertise the album via white label promos; this is the first, the one and the only white label promo of this album we have seen in 47 years of collecting)

(d)          Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·                               THE COVER

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT EXCELLENT OR VERY GOOD++ (VG++).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has JUST A HINT of ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 2.

-        Cover has a visible "wrinkle"(crease)  in one of the corners.  (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-        Cover has a light "wrinkle" (crease)  in one of the corners.

-        Cover has two corners slightly dinged (nothing significant)

-        Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine  (nothing significant)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

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