A surprising number of musicians involved in the early wave of punk rock liked the Carpenters when they were kids —liked at least some of their music—and preserved that affection into their music-making years. It was a guilty pleasure for many and the secret fondness leaked out little by little over the years—in a nod to the fuzztone guitar solo...

During the CD sales boom of the '90s, labels didn't need much of an excuse to release a tribute album, and although most of the decade's compilations were cheap cash-ins, a handful are true treasures. 1994's If I Were a Carpenter, which I found buried in a dollar bin in a Florida record store last month, remains a cherished relic from the era. It was an oddity from the start, assembling a slew of ...