Disc Two:
This is the re-release cover -- the original had gone out-of-print, and when it was reissued several years later, the original cover (above) had been replaced with this one.
Anthology is a four-disc collection from Japan, and it is the most important collection out there next to From the Top. Like From the Top, it has a nice mixture of hits and album tracks. Unlike From the Top, there isn't much unreleased material here.
The thing that makes this collection so outstanding is the sound quality. The songs just sparkle with freshness here. Many of the songs overlap very slightly with each other, also. For example, the version of "Close to You" on this album concludes with a new piano solo segue, and the final note of that solo occurs at the same time as the first note of "Ave Maria."
The version of "Goodbye to Love" here is also different than any previously-released version. If you listen to any other version of the song, you don't hear Karen take a breath before her first word. Since she comes in before the piano, Richard wondered why they didn't include her intake of air on the original recording, so he went back to the original master tapes to listen to it. What he found was that his count, leading into the song, was audible through Karen's headphones, and her breath occurs at the same time as Richard is counting. So on Anthology, you get to hear Richard's count and Karen's breath before she starts singing.
Two tracks on Anthology had never appeared on an album before this one: "Honolulu City Lights" and the "Bacharach/David Medley (Live)." "Honolulu City Lights" was released later that same year on Lovelines, and the live medley has subsequently only been released on the Reader's Digest compilation. The Bacharach/David medley is the full-length concert version of the medley, not the short version that was included on the album Carpenters. It includes more songs, and longer versions of songs in the medley. This live recording isn't completely live, however. When Richard pulled out the master of this show from the Riviera in Las Vegas, 1974, he discovered that some of the parts had not been recorded -- the bass, piano, "kick" drum and backing vocals were not on the tape! So in 1989, Richard went into the studio and recorded new bass, piano, kick drum and backing vocals, creating a part-live, part-studio performance that is absolutely flawless.
There is one mistake in the packaging; the back of the CD case lists "On the Balcony of Casa Rosada/Don't Cry for Me Argentina" as being track 4 on disc 4. We only have the "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" portion of the song on this collection, not the "Casa Rosada" introduction to it.
Anthology was re-released a couple of years later with a different cover, but an identical track list.
Produced by Richard Carpenter, Karen Carpenter and Jack Daugherty
Return to the Carpenters Album Index.