Additional personnel includes: Ray Parker Jr. (guitar); Tom Scott (tenor saxophone); Hal Blaine (drums).

Producers: Jack Daugherty, Richard Carpenter, Karen Carpenter.

Compilation producer: Richard Carpenter.

Recorded between 1970 & 1997. Includes liner notes by Richard Carpenter.

Usually the name Gold: Greatest Hits means "avoid this album." Many times small labels will buy the rights to some obscure songs by a big-name artist and then release it under that very title. But despite the name, this collection keeps the crap in the middle of the album, buried between the good stuff. In fact, this is a really good retrospective of this band. The dark and lonely ballads that Karen Carpenter sing take center stage, pushing brother Richard's pop contributions to the background. The album starts strong enough, featuring several of their biggest hits, including "Superstar," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Goodbye to Love," and "It's Going to Take Some Time." And the album ends with more big hits, such as "Top of the World," "(They Long to Be) Close to You," and "We've Only Just Begun"; even their Klaatu cover, "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft," makes it. But the middle is a danger zone of filler, featuring forgettable tracks like "Please Mr. Postman" and its ilk. But this collection has the requisite amount of good Carpenters songs to make it worthwhile, and anyone who does not have these songs on album should give this a listen. ~ Bradley Torreano

Look no further for the definitive Carpenters collection; this two-disc, 40-song beauty tops them all. Not only do you get all of the band's hits (and they had many), but lots of equally great, lesser-known tracks sweeten the pot. Karen Carpenter's pure, gentle voice, and brother Richard's smooth-but-sophisticated arrangements and keyboards provided the signature sound of the soft-pop 1970s. You could put this collection into a time capsule for a hundred years and accurately inform subsequent generations of what AM radio sounded like in the '70s. This anthology is also a tribute the great talents of the Paul Williams/Roger Nichols songwriting team, from whose pens flowed "Rainy Days and Mondays," "We've Only Just Begun," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," and other mellow, tuneful gems--some of the classiest pure pop music of the era. Over the course of GOLD, the Carpenter's entire career is covered, and sparkling, ornately arranged melodic delights are in no short supply.