In a 1975 interview, Richard Carpenter stated, "That album, I had finished in my mind years before we got the contract. That wasn't where I was at the time we signed, and some of it could have been a lot better, but you can hear that the ideas were there. Time-signature changes, extended solos, and things that we don't do now. I should've just forgotten it and gotten down to where I was at the moment. But it was like I had to do that album, I didn't care if we had gotten signed in 1980, that was what the first album was going to sound like. And that's what we did. And that's why there is such a big difference between the Close to You album and the Ticket to Ride album."

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Offering was released on November 9, 1969.  On the US Billboard album chart, it peaked at #150, while it reached #20 and #88 in the U.K. and Japan, respectively.  After the release and success of "Close to You", Ticket was repackaged and re-released.  The original artwork is more rare and is sought after by collectors.  "Ticket to Ride" was the only single released from this album.

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Karen, who was 19 years old, provided most of the lead vocals, sang back up vocals, played drums on all of the selections and bass guitar on two of them.  Richard, who was 21, sings on all of the songs, including some leads, plays keyboards, wrote 10 of the songs and arranged them all.

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I own three incarnations of this album.  I first purchased a copy of Ticket to Ride on February 9, 1984 (written on sleeve) from Walmart.  When I was young (before the internet) I would order albums from my local Walmart record department by calling them or stopping in the department.   I purchased it for $9.49. 

 

My second copy of this album is the original Offering album.  I purchased it on eBay...for little bit more than my first Ticket album.  :)   

 

My third copy is from The Vinyl Collection, which was a box set of the original vinyl albums produced on 180 gram vinyl and released by Universal Music in the fall of 2017.

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This is not my favorite Carpenter album, although it is extremely impressive considering their ages when it was recorded.  To me, the highlights of this album include "Eve", "Someday" and "All I Can Do".  While I do love the song "Ticket to Ride", I prefer the 1973 recording.