THE OFFICIAL REVIEW: "LOVELINES" (SP-3931)

[Chris May]

“LOVELINES”​

Catalogue Number: A&M SP-3931
Date of Release: October 31, 1989
Chart Position: U.K.: #73
Album Singles: "Honolulu City Lights"/"I Just Fall In Love Again"
"If I Had You"
Medium: Vinyl/Cassette/CD​

Track Listing:

1.) Lovelines 4:28 (Temperton)
2.) Where Do I Go From Here? 4:24 (McGee)
3.) The Uninvited Guest 4:24 (Kaye/Tweel)
4.) If We Try 3:42 (Temperton)
5.) When I Fall In Love 3:08 (Heyman/Young)
6.) Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night 4:03 (Lawley/Dorn)
7.) Remember When Lovin' Took All Night 3:47 (Farrar/Leikin)
8.) You're The One 4:13 (Ferguson)
9.) Honolulu City Lights 3:19 (Beamer)
10.) Slow Dance 3:35 (Margo)
11.) If I Had You 3:57 (Dorff /Harju/Herbstritt)
12.) Little Girl Blue 3:24 (Rodgers/Hart)

Album Credits:

Produced by Richard Carpenter, except #1, 4, 7 and 11: Produced by Phil Ramone
Tracks #1, 4, 7 & 11:
Recorded at A&R Recording Studios, New York, New York; A&M Recording Studios, Hollywood California; and Kendun Recorders, Burbank, California
Engineered by: Jim Boyer, Glenn Berger, James Gutherie and Ray Gerhardt
Assistants: Bradshaw Leigh, Chaz Clifton, Dave Iveland, Ralph Osborne, Randy Pipes and David Crowther
Selections #4 & 6 remixed by Phil Ramone & Jim Boyer in M.E.S.M.
Selections #1 & 11 remixed by Robert De La Garza; Assistant: Greg Goldman
Tracks #2, 5, 8 & 12:
Recorded and mixed at A&M Recording Studios
Engineered by: Ray Gerhardt and Roger Young; Assistant: Dave Iveland
Mixing engineer: Robert De La Garza; Assistant: Greg Goldman
Tracks #3, 6, 9 & 10:
Recorded and mixed at A&M Recording Studios
Tracks 3 & 6 engineered by Roger Young; Assistants: Dave Iveland and Robert De La Garza
Tracks 9 & 10 engineered by Roger Young; Mixing engineer: Robert De La Garza; Assistant: Greg Goldman
Mastered by Mike Reese at A&M Mastering Studios
Art direction: Chuck Beeson; Design: Peter Grant; Photography: Norman Seeff (front cover), Ed Caraeff (back cover)
Special "thanks": Greg Goldman, Roger Young, Robert De La Garza, Ray Gerhardt, Ron Gorow, Peter Knight, Karen Ichiuji, Roberta Kleine, Nancy Sorkow, David Alley and Billy Jones / Ardel Travel

Karen A. Carpenter Memorial Foundation
P.O. Box 1368
Downey, CA 90240

 

[newvillefan]

Cool, I've been waiting a while for this one to come round!

Considering this is an album of leftovers, I consider it to be one of my favourite Carpenters albums. I bought this quite early on in my new found addiction, and immediately fell in love with it, from the classy cover to the choice of songs. I remember this was one of the first times I had read Richard's liner notes, and really liked the way he detailed the story behind each song, for example the 'flip of a coin' which decided whether 'You're The One' made the Passage album or not.

For me there are a couple of 'chill factor' moments on this collection, the main one is on 'The Uninvited Guest'. Listen to the line 'just like the old song torn between two lovers' and more specifically, the way Karen pronounces the word 'song' - it's so sensuous and sends a shiver right through me every time.

I love Richard's remix of Lovelines, and until Karen's album saw the light of day, didn't realise how radical a remix it was. He cut and pasted the bassline so it starts with the opening bars instead of 4 bars in, and Karen's vocals are much better mixed. They sound so much warmer and the backing vocals aren't right in your face. Very clever really, since the remix means (and this also applies to If I Had You) that these two songs sit much nicer with the sound of the Carpenters songs that feature right alongside them on the album. In other words, they don't sound out of place, I think Lovelines sounds like it could be a Carpenters song (albeit an ambitious one!).

The one other obvious standout track for me is 'Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night', which I think was so difficult to actually mix at the time that it was shelved. Only in the 1980s, as studios became more sophisticated, did Richard go back and finish it off. Superb song, one of their most ambitious and one of my favourites. I might be wrong, but I also think Siedah Garrett's vocal was added after Karen's death, so she never got to hear the excellent difference it makes having her additional background vocal.

My favourite song from the whole album though would have to be 'Slow Dance'. From the first time I heard it I totally adored it. It's such a sweet, heartfelt love song and Karen's reading makes it even more so. When she sings the line 'I never thought you'd come my way, I never though I'd hear you say 'dance with me'' it always makes me melt. Every compilation album I have done for family and friends has always included this song somewhere.

My last remark would be about 'Honolulu City Lights'; I got hold of the unsweetened demo a few months ago and was staggered to hear Karen exclaim right at the end of the take 'that was good!'.

My only question about this is why Richard remixed Lovelines and If I Had You, but left the remix to Phil Ramone in the case of the other two solo tracks, both of which sound identical to the solo mixes anyway.

All in all, I give this a 4 out of 5

Stephen

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I gave it 5 stars. I;m with Stephen that even though these are left over stuff, it still feels like it was the last studio album instead of MIA. I also have the LP of this which was hard to find unopened and sounds great on LP.

My most favorite tracks are "Where Do I Go From Here?" To this day I can't get the lyrics out of my head, I can be at work and not have listened to this album for weeks and weeks and then I'll be singing the song, I just LOVE the lyric. "You said our love was more than time...It's colder now...The trees are bare and nights are long, I can't get warm since you've been gone...I can't stop singing sad songs.

OMG Karen was ever good talking about singing sad songs as she was actually singing them, she was born to sing sad songs, it was in her voice. I absoutely love that song. I also love how Richard incorporated the sound of rushling leaves when the opening, the sounds go from left to right and all around, just amazing to me.

My other fav is "You're the One" oh man what a gem of a song, to think this was hiding from us until it appeared on this LP. That song sends chills up my spine and goosebumps on my skin. Karen is so intimate in her reading that you can close your eyes and she is before you, literally. Great Album!!!

 

[Mark-T]

One of my very favorite Carps albums.
Some of these outtakes from MIA are better than the songs that made it: "
Kiss Me" stands out., especially. "Where Do I Go from Here" is beautiful- and "When I Fall in Love" still gets me after all these years.
The oniy downsode for me- "Remember When Lovin Took All Night"- cheap and sleazy lyric...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Some of these outtakes from MIA are better than the songs that made it

Very true, I consider this a much better album than MIA.

 

[Chris May]

I love Richard's remix of Lovelines, and until Karen's album saw the light of day, didn't realise how radical a remix it was. He cut and pasted the bassline so it starts with the opening bars instead of 4 bars in...

Truthfully, I don't think he cut and pasted at all. If you listen to the original mix of "Lovelines", I think there is some bleed-through of what *was* the bass line, but was intentionally muted for the first (4) bars for dynamic effect. So in essence, the bass was already there, and Richard decided to keep that track active from the downbeat.

 

[Harry]

I agree with the sentiments that LOVELINES actually turned out better than some of its predecessors, and I wasn't expecting that or even the album at all.

Back in 1989, in those pre-Internet days, I was fairly unconnected from things giong on in Hollywood. I had no idea that Richard Carpenter had produced three other albums that year (AKIKO, SCOTT GRIMES and VERONIQUE). Well, actually I DID know about SCOTT GRIMES since I found that one in a record store - can't imagine how!

But I had no idea that Richard had worked on preparing another Carpenters album at all. Other than Scott Grimes, my last "contact" with Richard Carpenter was his solo album back in 1987.

1989 was the year I finally took the plunge into marriage. My wife and I were given a "wedding" by her aunts in the Chicago area, so it was there that we all assembled in November of that year, on Thanksgiving weekend. Thursday was the traditional Thanksgiving day feast, and Friday was to be an off day with some last-minute shopping to do. We found ourselves at Woodfield Mall, a giant shopping Mall in Chicago's western suburbs. As I normally do, I headed for wherever the store kept Carpenters records and was thoroughly surprised to see a new title - LOVELINES.

Since we still had the wedding to get through, and then we were off for a honeymoon cruise, and portable CD players were fairly rare, I decided to wait until my return home a week or so later before buying the CD. But hardly more than a day went by after returning home before I went out and bought that disc.

I immediately liked the great bulk of the album, surprised that songs of this quality had languished in the vault for this long. One song, I'd heard before, but was puzzled by is "Honolulu City Lights." That one had my head spinning for weeks/months when I heard it on an Alentown Easy Listening station while waiting around in a car dealer's showroom. The voice of Karen Carpenter was unmistakeable on this song but in my excitement I forgot the lyrics or any semblance of what the song was about. All I could remember was "...on a loo-loo city something or other." I thought about calling the radio station, but never got around to it. No-one at my radio station had a clue about this mystery Carpenters song. I figured it was a rarity of some kind that that particular radio station had come up with and stuck in its rotation. Anyway, I was happy to find it on this "new" album.

Later on, I managed to procure both a promo copy of the CD (with an actual "Promotional Use Only" legend printed on the face of the CD), and a vinyl LP copy, also a promo copy.

Harry

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Would Lovelines be the last of the Carpenters albums to appear in vinyl? I think it was. Would it be correct to say that this LP was the least # produced out of all the Carpenters Lp's? I wonder too if there were ever any 45's produced from this LP?

...who ownes a watch exactly like the one Richard is wearing on the cover...

 

[Harry]

Would Lovelines be the last of the Carpenters albums to appear in vinyl? I think it was. Would it be correct to say that this LP was the least # produced out of all the Carpenters Lp's? I wonder too if there were ever any 45's produced from this LP?

...who ownes a watch exactly like the one Richard is wearing on the cover...

I'm pretty sure that LOVELINES was the last Carpenters album pressed on vinyl. After that it was compilation-city for the digital age. It would be nice to have a pressing on vinyl of AS TIME GOES BY, just to have all of their main albums on that one format.

Harry

 

[thestitch]

Oh, how much I've enjoyed reading all your posts here, since this is a favorite album. Harry, how nice that you have such great memories of finding it in a record store! Under the circumstances, how could you forget!

My pick for the greatest song on the album is a tough one, because so many are outstanding. The old standards When I Fall in Love and Little Girl Blue give me goosebumps. Honolulu City Lights brings back memories of our one and only trip to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary. You're the One has to be the one I pick, however. I really can't put it into words, but it touches me so much when I hear it.

Thanks, Chris, for putting this album next for discussion!

Marilyn

 

[Roland Chayer]

I wonder too if there were ever any 45's produced from this LP?

I have a non-regular 12" (LP size) single of "You're The One/Merry Christmas Darling/(They Long To Be) Close To You" dated from 1990. It was only licensed for the UK though.

 

[Dave]

Well-"Cobbled Together" and reminiscent of Karen's Solo Album... A lot of tracks such as Honolulu City Lights which could'a been a worthy follow-up to Passage, album-wise...

Little Girl Blue is sure better sung here than any Screetchy-Sounding Janis Joplin singing it... The album seems geared towards Big Band, some Standards and just a few Torch Songs... When I Fall In Love, Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night and Remember When Lovin' Took All Night are good, well-sung examples of such... More prescious moments are You're The One, If I Had You, Slow Dance and If We Try...

Pleasant Balladry and very much, had it been right after Passage it might have been a good answer to "what might'a been"...



Dave

 

[no1kandrfan]

A great album of previously recorded material, and our first opportunity to hear Karen's solo work. I was lucky enough to find this in vinyl as well!

"Where Do I Go From Here" is superb! As previously stated, the arrangement is incredible, and Karen's vocal is one of her best - perfect range; perfect performance.

"If I Had You" boggled my mind - especially now that I can listen to it with multiple speakers and hear the various layers of Karen's backing vocals - Richard's remix is far superior to Phil Ramone's.

My all-time favorite Carpenters song is "You're The One" - flawless. I often listen to this one with a headset in a darkened room - just me and Karen; I get goose bumps each and every time. I love this song so much my license plate is a variation on the title!

Mike

 

[newvillefan]

"If I Had You" boggled my mind - especially now that I can listen to it with multiple speakers and hear the various layers of Karen's backing vocals - Richard's remix is far superior to Phil Ramone's.

I would definitely agree with that Mike. That song is so sophisticated, I was actually really pleased Richard put it on the English release of 'Interpretations' because I think more people should hear it. Shame it didn't make it to the US version of that collection.

Stephen

 

[Roland Chayer]

I was actually really pleased Richard put it on the English release of 'Interpretations' because I think more people should hear it. Shame it didn't make it to the US version of that collection.

Stephen

*Off topic comment..., :

That explains why someone at my forum told me that he had "Reason To Believe" on his "Interpretations" CD and I said "It's not on mine, but it's on my "Interpretations" DVD though". Stephen... Your explanation just made me realize that the Canadian version of the "Interpretations" CD is probably the same as the UK one. What's a little weird is that the person who has that other version also lives in Canada.

 

[newvillefan]

That's right Roland, England and Canada got the same 21 track compilation and the US got the 16 track version. Silly really, not sure why there had to be two. We got more for our money!

Stephen

 

[Harry]

It has to do with royalty payments. The US recording industry pays songwriters and performers on a per song basis, whereas other countries and regions pay on a per-album basis. That's why US releases have, historically, had fewer tracks. It's purely a monetary issue. It's why the Beatles early albums were shortened by Capitol from the standard UK number of 14 songs down to 10 or 11.

The UK/Canada was first to release the INTERPRETATIONS title. When it was decided that the US wanted in on the action too, Richard was asked to pare down the track list for US consumption. As compensation, I suppose, we got the updated, remixed-in-stereo version of "From This Moment On".

Harry

 

[newvillefan]

Thanks for the info Harry!

I remember that it was quite a successful album here, we got two different commercials on TV for it, which featured a woman painting a portrait and snippets of the songs on the album. The only time I heard their version of 'Desperado' played on TV!

Stephen

 

[Roland Chayer]

As compensation, I suppose, we got the updated, remixed-in-stereo version of "From This Moment On".

Harry

The Canadian one says that it was remixed on June 9, 1994..., engineered by Roger Young.

 

[Harry]

The US version was remixed a few months later.

Harry

 

[Chris May]

I think I'd mentioned this before, but several years ago, I produced some sessions with [at the time] one of Capitol's staff engineers, Bill Smith while we were recording at both A&M as well as Capitol.

Bill was Roger's assistant engineer while Richard was assembling the Interpretations album. On the remix of "From This Moment On", you will also hear the addition of the "stereo" piano, replacing the earlier "mono" track. Bill said Richard was a 'monster', in that he took nearly (30) passes at recording the new piece, to match it perfectly with Karen's vocal.

 

[newvillefan]

I remember you saying that before Chris, I love to hear stories like that from people who were actually there, so to speak!

 

[Bruno]

Before voting, I gave the LOVELINES CD another listen, which I hadn't done fore some months, perhaps even years.

I voted, that this is for me the best Carpenters album out of all. My favorite tracks are THE UNINVITED GUEST and WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

Can't understand, why they were originally considered as outtakes.

I remember finding the vinyl LP of LOVELINES in early 1990 at SATURN, the biggest record store in Cologne. I knew, that someday a new album would be released, but holding it in my hands for the very first time was very exciting. I rushed home and played it over and over again.

Soon afterwards, I ordered the CD. I remember the day it arrived in the mail. I was in a hurry going to university, so I took the CD with me and opened it during a break.

For months, this was the most played CD in 1990 for me. My poor neighbours in the students flat house complained sometimes and begged me to play something else for a change, so they got some tunes by Neil Diamond or Barry Manilow instead.

This was the year of the German reunification, and it was the year, when Germany became Soccer World Champion for the third time.

And this was the year, when I finished university at last and went straight into unemployment for several months.

Bruno
looking back on how it was in years gone by.....

 

[Geographer]

This is one of my all-time favorite Carpenters albums (the others being Close to You, Carpenters, and Made in Ameria). I was shocked at the overall quality of the album which was lacking in later releases and, clearly, there were at least four single-quality songs (IMHO). Cheif among them were Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night (which should have been the first single). If I Had You was a good choice and both Where Do I Go From Here and You're The One should have followed. Of course, A&M, as always, did a less than steller job in promoting Lovelines. There are some misses in the collection, however; such as Lovelines, but overall an excellent album.

As was Bruno, I too was in college at the time and actually was late to class while I listened to the complete album before going to sit in my Algebra class (no worries as I did finally pass with a C+).

 

[CraigGA]

I have always liked all the "vault" recordings. Even if Karen was still alive making music, I would like these gems. I have always been addicted to her voice and it is why to this day, for the past 36 years, with all the new artists, etc. I still listen to the Carpenters.

I liked the solo efforts, but if Still Crazy After All These Years and Last One Singing the Blues joined If We Try and If I Had You, the project would have been stronger in my opinion, but I am sure we all have different favorites.

I just like them all. Karen gave a song purpose.

Craig