⭐ Official Review [Single]: 9. "IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME"/"FLAT BAROQUE" (1351-S)

Which side is your favorite?

  • Side A: "IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME"

    Votes: 58 92.1%
  • Side B: "FLAT BAROQUE"

    Votes: 5 7.9%

  • Total voters
    63
I do love Masquerade and A Song for You....two of my favorites. Because of that, I am probably biased in my feelings whether they would have been a hit or not...

I did look up the Billboard year end songs of 1972. The First Time Ever I saw Your Face ended the year at #1 with a radio edit of 4:15.

Jonathan
 
Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know the single version of Flat Baroque is the version that appears on Carpenters: The Complete Singles.
 
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Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know the single version of Flat Baroque is the version that appears on Carpenters: The Complete Singles.

We'll agree to disagree. See posts 18 through 25 in this thread where we detail the differences in the single mix - and I've just re-verified that the single mix IS NOT on THE COMPLETE SINGLES - certainly not on my copy.

The two mixes are very close in sound to a casual listening. It's only detailed listening (such as with headphones) that will reveal the differences, most notable at around 0:18.
 
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We'll agree to disagree. See posts 18 through 25 in this thread where we detail the differences in the single mix - and I've just re-verified that the single mix IS NOT on THE COMPLETE SINGLES - certainly not on my copy.

The two mixes are very close in sound to a casual listening. It's only detailed listening (such as with headphones) that will reveal the differences, most notable at around 0:18.
I stand corrected, I have gone back and listened again, and I could tell the difference, thank you Harry.
 
Nobody would get any argument from me about ASFY being a great song and an excellent performance by K&R, but it's just not "hit single" material. As stated above, it doesn't have a melodic hook, and it's too slow for mainstream radio. Trust me on this one: the sax solo, terrific as it is, would have had people tuning out in droves. The soft, cold opening would have also worked against it for radio play. The length wouldn't have been too much of an issue as singles were getting longer by this time (after all, the Beatles topped 7 minutes years earlier with "Hey Jude").

Now having said all of that, it IS possible they could have turned it into an FM hit. For those readers who aren't ancient, FM in those days was way more "freeform" and the format loved songs that were moody, or longer, or had interesting arrangements -- all of which ASFY has. The thing that would have worked against FM action happening, however, is the Carpenters' pesky image -- FM was all about "cool" acts, not necessarily singles acts, so they were either too white-bread or too mainstream for FM at that time

Bottom line, as great as "A Song For You" is, many songs just work better as album cuts and that's one of them.
Won't Last a Day would have been a better single instead of IGTTST.... or AS4Y... I was displeased that it was released in 1974 - but imagine it would have gone to number 1 in '72.
 
It is interesting that on the 1978 Space Encounters TV Special,
Richard's keyboard performance for Piano Picker
is apparently newly recorded--thus, different from other recordings.
Actually, most of the song appears to be entirely new (vocals, etc.).

Listen, at 34m:
 
Its Going To Take Some Time. Chart Facts,

Australia. 24
Canada. 13
Hong Kong. 4
Japan. 48
Malaysia. 1
USA. 12
 
It is interesting that on the 1978 Space Encounters TV Special,
Richard's keyboard performance for Piano Picker
is apparently newly recorded--thus, different from other recordings.
Actually, most of the song appears to be entirely new (vocals, etc.).

Listen, at 34m:

I never thought about it, but did Richard due the arrangement for John Davidson's version of Just the Way You Are? Paging @Chris May...
 
It's Going To Take Some Time

Karen sings this song beautifully, but the song is so MOR. I think this was the one that was trying to tell Karen and Richard you should stay away from, if you want to stay relevant on pop radio stations.
 
What exactly qualifies a music group/artist as a "singles act"? Is it that they had very well known high charting singles?

Well, this question is two years old and the questioner isn't a member here anymore, but what the heck.

A "singles act" is basically any act that is mostly famous for its hit singles. (Some singles acts never even release any albums.) Other acts are "album acts," known mostly for their albums, even though they may generate a hit or two in their time. Pink Floyd is a perfect example of an "album act."

There's a third, hybrid category of acts that are famous for both singles AND albums -- the Beatles being a great example of that, having had many hit singles plus albums that are world-famous and still renowned today. Others would be the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and of course the Carpenters.
 
It is interesting that on the 1978 Space Encounters TV Special,
Richard's keyboard performance for Piano Picker
is apparently newly recorded--thus, different from other recordings.
Actually, most of the song appears to be entirely new (vocals, etc.).

Listen, at 34m:

I always liked this version of Man Smart, Woman Smarter!
 
^^I have never cared for the song. Were it not Karen Carpenter singing it, I would never
have thought twice about it. Then, again, I am not a Carole King fan, either.
But, to each his own !
 
Okay, an epiphany, of sorts, this morning.
I listened to the Song For You LP (twice) this morning.
It is an all-time favorite album, so listening twice was easy.
In any event, it occurred to me that my lukewarm response to
It's Going to Take Some Time, is less about the song and more about its placement on this album.
It falls between Hurting Each Other and Goodbye To Love. And, that is what struck me.
Those two songs are power-houses, both in terms of arrangement and in terms of vocal strength.
The song sandwiched in between--IGTTST--is simply lackluster in comparison !
If I simply listen to the 45, divorced from the album, IGTTST becomes palatable.
 
I like the song, but I think you're right, GaryAlan!
Had it been placed on Side Two, not only would it have fit in better, it would have made that side stronger.
 
It's Going to Take Some Time, is less about the song and more about its placement on this album.
It falls between Hurting Each Other and Goodbye To Love. And, that is what struck me.
Those two songs are power-houses, both in terms of arrangement and in terms of vocal strength.
The song sandwiched in between--IGTTST--is simply lackluster in comparison !

I'd agree. It would have been better placed on side B away from those two sparkling gems. I would have maybe put Bless The Beasts And Children between them instead, as I’ve always thought it was a really weak side B opener. I would have placed I Won’t Last A Day Without You as the first song on that side.
 
Yep. There's something to be said for original order. It's the way things were originally, and the way they should always be.

There have been examples over the years where albums have been re-released with different running orders for supposedly one reason or another. Those out-of-order albums are always met with purists, perhaps like me, moaning about the order of the tracks being disturbed. One fairly recent example from a decade ago is Herb Alpert's RISE. When Shout Factory redid it, the order was bounced around a bit to accommodate and extra bonus track's inclusion at the end. Rather than have the two so close together, they moved the track earlier in the running order. Just sounds wrong to me.

Thankfully, the Herb Alpert Presents version restored it all to the way it should be.

I can just imagine the histrionics we'd hear if A SONG FOR YOU came out in an altered running order.
 
I don't have any problem with the placement of 'It's Going to Take Some Time' on the A Song For You album per se, although I would say that in general I don't feel the running order on the album is very balanced. Side 1 is so singles-heavy that Side 2, while it definitely has its moments, feels noticeably less strong in comparison. And putting 'Piano Picker' next to 'Flat Baroque' in particular really slows down the momentum. The Tan album did a better job of ordering the disparate styles and slotting in the non-Karen vocal tracks.
 
I took a listen to the MFSL cd today. I rarely listen to this cd,
as the remixes simply are anachronistic (IGTTSTTT and Top Of The World, for instance).
But, it does give one pause regards the album A Song For You.
Upon album release, June 13th, 1972,
neither Top of the World nor I Won't Last A Day Without You had been released as 45-Singles.
The original album, LP, is really superb (even if tracks 4,8,& 9 are less so, imho).
So, herein, I suppose, an attempt to "beef up" or update (as of Oct 1989) the sonics for
It's Going To Take Some Time.
 
You'll also find the exact same remixes in the CD Collection from the UK.
 
Upon album release, June 13th, 1972, neither Top of the World nor I Won't Last A Day Without You had been released as 45-Singles.
The original album, LP, is really superb (even if tracks 4,8,& 9 are less so, imho).

I'm not sure if anyone has confirmed this but the Spotify versions of the studio albums contain all the original album mixes - no remixes as far as I'm aware.
 
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