⭐ Official Review [Album]: "PASSAGE" (SP-4703)

How Would You Rate This Album?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 10 9.3%
  • ****

    Votes: 55 50.9%
  • ***

    Votes: 35 32.4%
  • **

    Votes: 7 6.5%
  • *

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • Total voters
    108
I'd been looking for that one for years, Chris! Used to have it with all my Carpenters clippings in a box. Yeah, the one that got lost when we moved to Denver...
 
From:
The Carpenters Go Country ? (1978 Country Music Magazine)
"Since Sweet, Sweet Smile there's been talk of the Grand Ole Opry. Karen is especially intrigued
by the possibility of a new audience. There are the TV specials and the Vegas show that needs to be
overhauled, but she's looking for something new--even considering TV roles."

Q: Have country radio stations called you for interviews?
A:Richard)" We did one with Bob Mitchell up in San Bernadino,KCKC."
Q:Has A&M Records done anything to push the country market?
A.(Richard)" Well, I think they hired some outside promoters for Sweet, Sweet Smile."
 
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Here is the Promo Ad for "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" Single Full Page Ad Billboard May 14, 1977

(This one had some white marks and may be off center a tad when it was scanned, didn't do any adjustments)
Harry, not sure if you want to do any adjustments or leave as is, what can you say it's 38 yrs old, ha

Billboard%20All%20You%20Get%20From%20Love%20Single%20Ad%20May%2014%201977.png~original
 
I've never seen this one before...so clever marketing or bad marketing ad for single? Why not show a photo of Karen and Richard but I guess this goes along with no photos from the Passage album.

Sweet Sweet Smile Promo Ad from Billboard Jan 28, 1978
That same Mona Lisa photo was used as the cover for the sheet music!
 
Regarding Sweet Sweet Smile, I don't know if I like it or hate it... But I do applaud it. At least it was a full page ad heralding the new release, and I'm sure it got a few heads turning...

I loved this song - and really liked watching it ultimately becoming the last Carpenters top ten hit. Two Sides would have been a brilliant follow-up.... but I digress....

Always loved the AYGFLIALS promo and single sleeve....

Say, I love this song, always have - always will... but am I the only one that felt that it was slightly more MOR than RC and the A & M community - particularly, for it's time? If this was released in 1975 it would have been a smash... but it almost feels too slick for it's time... I was a junior in high-school in the spring of '77 - so I had lots of 'in-your-face' observation.... It just always seemed too adult, too, mature, too - well.... too GOOD for the record buying populous at the time...
 
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Here is the Promo Ad for "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" Single Full Page Ad Billboard May 14, 1977

(This one had some white marks and may be off center a tad when it was scanned, didn't do any adjustments)
Harry, not sure if you want to do any adjustments or leave as is, what can you say it's 38 yrs old, ha

Billboard%20All%20You%20Get%20From%20Love%20Single%20Ad%20May%2014%201977.png~original

I can never see that logo big enough, it always looks great!
 
Thanks! I did not realize that was Weintraub's company. Speaking of which, does anyone think he (Weintraub) made a difference, positively or negatively, in the Carpenters' career at the time he took over? Was the die already cast at that point with Karen and Richard? Or did he add some value? The question just popped into my head and I wonder what the prevailing opinion might be out there (if any)!
 
Further, MOR (middle of the road) is synonymous with easy listening, and it has had a negative connotation at times. But not in my book!
 
This one had some white marks and may be off center a tad when it was scanned, didn't do any adjustments)
Harry, not sure if you want to do any adjustments or leave as is, what can you say it's 38 yrs old, ha

Cleaned it up a bit and posted it. Thanks!
 
Thanks! I did not realize that was Weintraub's company. Speaking of which, does anyone think he (Weintraub) made a difference, positively or negatively, in the Carpenters' career at the time he took over? Was the die already cast at that point with Karen and Richard? Or did he add some value? The question just popped into my head and I wonder what the prevailing opinion might be out there (if any)!
I have nothing to base this on - but 70s speculation from a teenager.... BUT - I think he schmaltzed things up a bit. The corny jokes on the specials and such... That all seemed to start when Management Three hit the scene... I could be wrong... But it just felt that way to me... Same with John Denver...
I would have loved the Music Music Music special first - or better yet, a Madison Square Garden performance, similar to Barbra's in Central Park - or Elvis' 73 special... Those seemed more serious - for the true artists that K and R were...
 
Let's hear it for Spokane!!!!!! Yes - I funnel through all the pages and read the fine print!!!!
Hey, I grew up in Spokane! Not exactly a hotbed of diversity in the 60's and 70's :wink: but I was able to see 2 Carpenters concerts there - 1972 at the coliseum and 1974 at the Opera House during Expo 74. Also saw Anne Murray in Spokane and I think that's where I saw John Denver 'in the round'. Spokane liked it's softer concerts.
 
In regards Jerry Weintraub,
I defer to Paul Grein (Goldmine, March 1991) again:
"..Karen and Richard's Specials did nothing to build or burnish their career.
They appear instead to have been designed strictly as a ratings-getting fodder for ABC.
The Carpenters should have demanded better scripts, guest stars, sketch ideas and staging concepts.
And, if they didn't have the power to make those demands, they should have.
Jerry Weintraub, who landed the Carpenters their deal with ABC, and ,
from all appearances did little else in his seven years as their manager---
should have seen to it.
 
How true! I guess in all fairness, however, these specials were a product of their time (from what I remember) with most variety TV shows gorging with corn and silly gags that weren't funny the first time around. It's interesting to look back at the C's and contrast how tightly they (mostly Richard) controlled their music, but seemingly let go and deferred other important matters to other individuals (business and personal) which led to ultimate downhill slide and loss. I think if Karen had been allowed to go with her gut instinct and follow her own desires, natural talents, and true personality or self, the outcome could have been different. Just my thoughts....have I had too much caffeine today or what? :shock:
 
Hey, I grew up in Spokane! Not exactly a hotbed of diversity in the 60's and 70's :wink: but I was able to see 2 Carpenters concerts there - 1972 at the coliseum and 1974 at the Opera House during Expo 74. Also saw Anne Murray in Spokane and I think that's where I saw John Denver 'in the round'. Spokane liked it's softer concerts.
On the radio play section of the Billboard - Spokane was listed as having heavy rotation on Calling Occupants. I'm going to say it's because of your requests! :)
 
On the radio play section of the Billboard - Spokane was listed as having heavy rotation on Calling Occupants. I'm going to say it's because of your requests! :)
I gotta say, in the later 70's, when I called our Top 40 station, KJRB, to request a new Carpenters single to be played, I tended to hear "That's not on our play list". I gradually migrated to soft rock stations where they would play Carpenters.
 
I witnessed the same behavior from Radio in the late 1970's. ( 1976 onward)
Had a very difficult time getting I Need To Be In Love played.
(But, I still say get rid of the Chorale and INTBIL would have charted higher.)
I'd get my entire family to call in to the Radio Station.
(Not that my family didn't figure me to be crazy !)
Recalling no problems with There's A Kind of Hush getting radio play.
Airplay for All You Get From Love Is A Love Song started out quite strongly, if memory serves.
In fact, all three singles from Passage got decent air-play, in these parts. (Central Florida).
 
Same here, too. I guess my OCD tendencies presented themselves at an early age with my hounding the Atlanta Top-40 stations at the time for them to play the latest releases. And I agree with your assessment that INTBIL would have been better all around without that darn Chorale!
 
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