The Carpenters were a brother and sister, active as a vocal and intrumental duo between 1969 and 1983. Richard Carpenter is a respected singer-songwriter, producer and musician, whilst his sister Karen had one of the most distinctive and best loved voices in music history, she was also an accomplished drummer. Known professionally as simply 'Carpenters', Richard and Karen were the number 1 selling American music act of the 1970's, and released ten albums between 1969 and 1983, as well as Christmas, live and compilation albums.
Karen Carpenter tragically died in 1983 from cardiac arrest, due to complications of anorexia nervosa, which she had battled for many years. At the time of Karen's death very little was known or understood about eating disorders, it is widely thought that Karen's story sparked enough interest and subsequent awareness, that todays more enlightened view of eating disorders is in some small way a result of Karen's death.
Richard posthumously released an album of Karen's solo tracks in 1996, and has also released or overseen Carpenters duo albums, as well as many compilations since Karen died.
40/40 is a compilation double album consisting of forty tracks, celebrating forty years since Richard and Karen signed their recording deal with A & M Records. The album was released in Japan in April 2009, and had a worldwide release in October 2009, all tracks have been digitally remastered. Since the release of the album, many fans have complained about the omission of the track 'There's A Kind Of Hush', so for this posting it has been added as a bonus.
For those who may question the relevance of this music in respect to todays artists, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Shania Twain, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, LeAnn Rimes, Anastacia, Mary J. Blige, Kelly Jones of Stereophonics and Johnny Borrell of Razorlight, are just some of todays artists who have have listed Karen Carpenter as a huge influence on their careers.

Carpenters - 40 / 40 [Disc One]

Carpenters - 40 / 40 [Disc Two]

The songs from this box set are everything from the Richard Carpenter Trio recordings from 1965 to their biggest hits in the early 1970s to the last song ever recorded by the Carpenters : "Now". This box set included some rare tracks including radio interviews, contests and commercial jingles.

CD2

Track Listing:

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. The 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. (They Long To Be) Close To You
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. A Song For You
20. Karen's Theme

Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition is a two-disc compilation released by The Carpenters in early 2004.Each CD has 20 songs on it, thus it has a total of 40 songs. The second has a rare picture of Richard and Karen sitting in their car in circa 1974, with a white bar at the top saying "Gold", with the Carpenters' logo at the top right corner.

Download - The Carpenters - Gold (CD #1)
Download - The Carpenters - Gold (CD #2)