Made in America. A profitable Album ?

[newvillefan]

Hi
Is it true that Made In America was karens favourite Album ? And why does richard regard at their best album they recorded? I mean it sold poorly and to be honest the songs they picked were not particulary strong .I think Passage was a better album.Thoughts anyone?

I think Richard considers it their most ambitious album hence their best.

 

[Harry]

Harry, is there something on this site I'm missing that has the official sales records for each album with citations? Would be useful. A lot of numbers are thrown around.

Official sales numbers are considered the private information of the record company. It's only when certifications are dealt with and thrown around that we get to peek into those totals. And numbers can be made to look differently, depending on how someone *wants* them to look. Our government is famous for this sort of numbers-fudging.

Anyway, whatever numbers ARE out there that are tossed around, I don't consider the information reliable enough to clog up the Resource. Too many questions - not enough hard, definite answers.

Harry

 

[Dave]

Seems as though you could just as easily deem profitability in terms of image:

Richard and Karen seemed to be left as '70's Easy Listening/MOR-fodder... Karen's solo and posthumous releases done in a decade such as the '80's were deemed by critics as drivel...

Made In America and whatever successors the duo could put out were good efforts, but in terms of marketability, just came out at the wrong time... And my main criticism would be Made In America's oddly-programmed song-sequence...


-- Dave

 

[Made In America]

I'm new to this thread but an old-timer when it comes to what was happening in the 70's and 80's concerning record sales since I worked at a record store and was in charge of ordering media during this time frame. The music industry was in a major slump in the early 80's due to the "death of disco", a really bad economy, and the popularity of country music. Even albums reaching #1 by major acts (Fleetwood Mac, for example) were not selling well. "Made In America" is a good album that simply came out at a bad time. Five singles from that album reached the Billboard Hot 100 and only "A Song For You" had more (six) - excluding Greatest Hits albums. If released in the 70's, the album would have easily made it to gold. Michael Jackson finally gave the music industry a shot in the arm in 1983 with "Thriller".

 

[adam]

Hi
I wonder if Made In America was released in 1978 do you think it would have been a bigger hit?.Thoughts anyone