Yesterday Once More: Greatest Hits 1969-1983

Track Listing

Disc 1

1. Yesterday Once More

2. Superstar

3. Rainy Days And Mondays

4. (Want You) Back In My Life Again

5. Ticket To Ride

6. Goodbye To Love

7. Bless The Beasts And Children

8. It's Going To Take Some Time

9. There's A Kind Of Hush

10. Sweet, Sweet Smile

11. I Won't Last A Day Without You

12. For All We Know

13. Touch Me When We're Dancing
14. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem Of World Contact Day)

Disc 2

1. I Just Fall In Love Again

2. This Masquerade

3. Hurting Each Other

4. Please Mr. Postman

5. I Need To Be In Love

6. Make Believe It's Your First Time

7. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song

8. Top Of The World

9. Because We Are In Love (The Wedding Song)

10. We've Only Just Begun

11. Those Good Old Dreams

12. Sing

13. Only Yesterday

14. (They Long To Be) Close To You

My Thoughts : First and foremost, Karen Carpenter possesd a rare vocal ability that none other superstar has, that is - her angelica voice, so pure with open, honest emotion and an ever constant tinge of melancholy/sadness. Secondly, Richard Carpenter wonderful arrangment and composition brings out the best of the duo.

Back in the late 60's, the sister and brother group known as The Carpenters were one of the seventies best loved groups. Their first hit "Ticket To Ride" (a Beatles hit), released in 1969 did moderately well for their label A&M, but it wasn't until 1970 that the song "(They Long To Be) Close To You" shot straight up the charts to number one followed a few months later with another hit "We've Only Just Begun". The following year produced yet more hits for The Carpenters with "Superstar", "Rainy Days And Mondays" and "For All We Know", establishing The Carpenters as one of the most popular groups of the early seventies. Throughout the decade the hits continued and The Carpenters had accumulated 10 gold singles and 11 gold albums in the United States.

For any Carpenters fan, this is a wonderful addition to the collection. Using 27 songs, one gets all of the best Carpenters material. While it is called a Greatest Hits collection, my concern is that so many of the lesser known tracks make the cut. Namely "Back in My Life Again" and "Those Good Old Dreams" were not substantial hits, however, its still a good showcase of her work . Notably missing is the Carpenters' version of "Solitaire" and "A Song For You".

Most of the Carpenters hits release only contain 1 cd which i think do not do the justice like "The Single 1969 - 1981" release in year 2000 which merely contain only 21 songs. But with the release of "Carpenters Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition" in year 2005, notably these double disc certainly has surpasses other previous double-disker, including the formerly just mention in this column "Yesterday Once More : Greatest Hits 1969-1983" .

Carpenters Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition is by far the strongest Carpenters collection available. The album cuts are well chosen, with such old favorites as "Let Me Be The One", "A Song For You" and "Jambalaya". Also previously not release in greatest hits "Mr Guder", "Karen's Theme", "Maybe Its You" and "California Dreamin"

DISC 1

1. Superstar

2. Rainy Days And Mondays

3. Top Of The World

4. Maybe It's You

5. Let Me Be The One

6. Reason To Believe

7. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)

8. Leave Yesterday Behind

9. Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore

10. Bless The Beasts And Children

11. It's Going To Take Some Time

12. Rainbow Connection

13. Only Yesterday

14. Sweet, Sweet Smile

15. There's A Kind Of Hush

16. California Dreamin'

17. Solitaire

18. We've Only Just Begun

19. This Masquerade

20. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft

DISC 2

1. Yesterday Once More

2. Please Mr. Postman

3. Hurting Each Other

4. I Need To Be In Love

5. Merry Christmas, Darling

6. Close To You (They Long To Be)

7. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song

8. Sing

9. Make Believe It's Your First Time

10. Ticket To Ride

11. Goodbye To Love

12. I Just Fall In Love Again

13. I Believe You

14. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again

15. For All We Know

16. Touch Me When We're Dancing

17. I Won't Last A Day Without You

18. Mr. Guder

19. Song For You, A

20. Karen's Theme (original)