⭐ Official Review [Album]: "NOW & THEN" (SP-3519)

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 17 19.5%
  • ****

    Votes: 49 56.3%
  • ***

    Votes: 20 23.0%
  • **

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • *

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    87
I just listened with my Jabra over ear headphones (instead of my AirPods) and now I can hear Karen's voice in both channels. 👍 In Yesterday Once More, the sound changes in the chorus when Karen sings "still shines" and when she sings "as they melt the years away". Maybe they were trying to achieve something with the overdubbing.
Yeah! I think the same phenomenon happens on the “Singles: 1969-1973” quad!
 
Yeah! I think the same phenomenon happens on the “Singles: 1969-1973” quad!
I believe I addressed this in another quad thread. What's going on here is the mixing engineer on these—not having full insight into what should have stayed in the mix and what should have been omitted—left portions of certain tracks active in the mix, which otherwise should have been muted.

This is why things like strings, additional (or alternate) vocals, keyboards, etc. pop up from time to time in places, unheard otherwise in the album and single mixes. It's not at all uncommon when producing a record to have certain parts recorded in places where there may be some uncertainty as to whether or not to keep it in the mix.

The quads will reveal quite often various places where Karen's vocals are either doubled (or perhaps an entirely different take left) on the master, and muted in the final 2-channel album mix. Again, hence the reason Richard was never a fan of these. :)
 
Here is a Quad version of I Can't Make Music. I own this quad LP album, but can't play it.
Anyway, seems to me that this is not 3:17 in length. Besides the alternate harmonica take at the end,
is the song also sped up on the quad version ?
 
Here is a Quad version of I Can't Make Music. I own this quad LP album, but can't play it.
Anyway, seems to me that this is not 3:17 in length. Besides the alternate harmonica take at the end,
is the song also sped up on the quad version ?

Thank you for sharing! It definitely sounds like this tape is running a little fast. I don't believe my quad LP runs this fast.
 
New Music Express, September 22,1973 (page 17, UK magazine):
Excerpts...
"If it's muzak you're looking for, look no further...."
"The Carpenters are quintessential muzak..."
"Karen possesses the perfect set of vocal chords...absolutely no sense of feeling..."
"The arrangements are always dainty...."
"...sterilized for your own protection...."
"The Carpenters don't look like anything and this can only help their music..."

Here:
 
And, now it makes sense why Heather appeared on Now & Then album.
"...the increasing trend towards either instrumentals or extended solos..." (Cashbox, 1973).
Cashbox magazine June 2, 1973:
Picks of the Week
CARPENTERS (A&M 1446) Yesterday Once More (3:50) (Almo/Hammer & Nails/Sweet Harmony, ASCAP -R. Carpenter, J. Bettis)
"Needless to say, this will be another million seller for America's famous brother -sister team who have been delighting audiences for years.
Perhaps more powerful than ever, this hook will knock everyone out. Single is already charted. Flip: No info. available
."
THE BIG THREE
1. YESTERDAY ONCE MORE-CARPENTERS
2. KODACHROME-PAUL SIMON
3. BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY

Billboard November 3, 1973:
The "Now & Then" album and "Yesterday One More" by the Carpenters
were the best -selling LP and single, respectively, as of August 25, according to a Japan -wide record dealers poll conducted by "Record Monthly"
and announced in its October 1973 issue..."
 

The 9 Best Radio Station Albums​

The Weeknd’s new album, Dawn FM, uses radio as a narrative device. But he’s not the first to do it.
BY AL SHIPLEY
January 13, 2022

6. The Carpenters – Now & Then (1973)
"This may have been the first really popular work of ‘60s nostalgia. The entire second half of the brother/sister duo’s fifth album
was taken up by the single “Yesterday Once More” and an interlinked medley of hit songs from 1961-64, including classics by the Beach Boys, Bobby Vee,
and the Chiffons. Carpenters guitarist Tony Peluso plays the part of the radio DJ escorting you through the oldies, with Richard and Karen’s cousin
Mark in a cameo as a listener who calls into the station..."
Source:
 
Funny that N&T would come up fresh. I have been listening to Side Two a lot! Richard's vocals are great on it- and of course, Karen sounds incredible. Oh for a full-length version of Our Day Will Come. Classic.
 
Another great mix from this guy Mario, I’m wondering how many of these he’s done because he can even improve on the great remixes Richard’s done:

 
I must admit, this is an album I have grown to enjoy more and more throughout the years.
Having the 'road-group' perform as studio-musicians (Medley) gives this album the scent of a "live" album (one-take, side two).
Whether or not the song Sing is your 'cup-of-tea,'
if you really listen and dissect it musically, you might hear the stroke of genius of it !
Yesterday One More, what can I add to describe it, it's a classic.
The cover, had it been anything but a reinforcement of their "image" (whatever that term implies)...
this album cover and not the enclosed music might have played a small part in falling fortunes through the 1970s (in USA).
Just a thought.
 
Jambalaya...
Richard Carpenter:
"It's fun to listen to and fun to sing. That's why I chose to do it. It worked very well for Karen and the Carpenters' multi-harmony sound. "
Here:

I couldn't agree more with Richard !
 
Just put my original 1973 LP on the turntable. Still sounds GREAT!
Of course, Karen stands out. But I'll say Richard's vocals on The Night Has A Thousand Eyes is fantastic. One of his best.
 
Just put my original 1973 LP on the turntable. Still sounds GREAT!
Of course, Karen stands out. But I'll say Richard's vocals on The Night Has A Thousand Eyes is fantastic. One of his best.
I like the Now & Then album, but, for me, it has two very dubious song selections.

I like Sing ... Along with the Beatles Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, probably the most pernicious
ear-worms ever to have been inflicted upon mankind ... But, should (the) Carpenters
have recorded/released it? Hell, no!

Re: Jambalaya (On the Bayou) ... I've never liked the song (Light and fluffy. Lacks what I
call 'emotional clout'. Compare it with, say, Yesterday Once More - and the contrast is
painfully obvious.)

The rest of the album's fine (I even like Richard's vocals, and that's saying something.)

Taken out of context, Fun, Fun, Fun and Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)
aren't particularly good songs ... but, in the context of the 'Yesterday Once More' medley,
they work perfectly.
In other words, I wouldn't change a note of the medley.

Re: Johnny Angel ... Imagine hearing Karen sing for the first time (I believe she recorded
this when she was 22!)
The 'problem' is her vocal maturity - for she sounds like a woman in her forties.
The question then arises: Were Karen's vocals too mature for this type of material (namely:
a song dealing with a teenage girl's desire for a boy)?
In other words, someone who had never heard Karen sing (until now) may very well be
asking themselves:
"Why is a woman, in her forties, pretending to be a teenage girl?"

Re: The End of the World ... Great. (The version, on You Tube - Talk of The Town, 1974 - is
remarkable.)

Re: This Masquerade ... On You Tube, there's a guitarist by the name of Walter Rodriguez
Jr. He's re-arranged This Masquerade into a 'jazz guitar' (fingerstyle) version. Check it out,
if you like. I even purchased a copy of the arrangement from him (I play it pretty badly,
though.)

Steve.
 
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) ... I've never liked the song (Light and fluffy. Lacks what I
call 'emotional clout'.
I have noticed over the years that "Jambalaya" is often dismissed by those who are not from the United States. The song has country/folk roots which probably doesn't play too well across the pond. In fact, there are compilations in the US that have it and other international versions that don't, right?
 
...

Re: Johnny Angel ... Imagine hearing Karen sing for the first time (I believe she recorded
this when she was 22!)
The 'problem' is her vocal maturity - for she sounds like a woman in her forties.
The question then arises: Were Karen's vocals too mature for this type of material (namely:
a song dealing with a teenage girl's desire for a boy)?
In other words, someone who had never heard Karen sing (until now) may very well be
asking themselves:
"Why is a woman, in her forties, pretending to be a teenage girl?"...
Karen's voice had reached full maturity by age 22 or 23 or 24, but it wasn't the fading voice of a 40 year old. It was a voice that had slam-dunked RAINY DAYS and SUPERSTAR. Yes, it deserved better material than JOHNNY ANGEL. But somebody had to show the the world how good the song could sound if sung by a world class vocalist, rather than a low-talent actress with absolutely no musical ability. It was like an older sister showing her sibling how it's really done. Who would you rather hear sing this teenage angst song? I can't imagine anyone listening to Karen sing this (or any song) and wondering how old she sounds. When Karen sings one doesn't think or contemplate or wonder - one listens and feels.

All the same things that you say about Karen sounding too old to sing JOHNNY ANGEL could easily be said about her singing CLOSE TO YOU, with its longing, pineing teeneybooper lyrics about girls stalking an angel come true boy in town.
 
Karen's voice had reached full maturity by age 22 or 23 or 24, but it wasn't the fading voice of a 40 year old. It was a voice that had slam-dunked RAINY DAYS and SUPERSTAR. Yes, it deserved better material than JOHNNY ANGEL. But somebody had to show the the world how good the song could sound if sung by a world class vocalist, rather than a low-talent actress with absolutely no musical ability. It was like an older sister showing her sibling how it's really done. Who would you rather hear sing this teenage angst song? I can't imagine anyone listening to Karen sing this (or any song) and wondering how old she sounds. When Karen sings one doesn't think or contemplate or wonder - one listens and feels.

All the same things that you say about Karen sounding too old to sing JOHNNY ANGEL could easily be said about her singing CLOSE TO YOU, with its longing, pineing teeneybooper lyrics about girls stalking an angel come true boy in town.
I wasn't suggesting that Karen had "the fading voice of a 40 year old", JohnFB, or denigrating
the song at all ... Just the opposite (Like I said, I wouldn't change a note of the 'Yesterday
Once More' medley.)

I was only trying to say that Karen's vocal maturity was just too good for what could (or
should) be expected of any 22 year old - for singers don't usually (But this is Karen we're
talking about!) reach their peak in their early 20's (More often than not, they do so in
their 30's.)

I've heard other versions of Johnny Angel, and, of course, I much prefer Karen's version.
It's just that she makes the other versions sound relatively juvenile (Perhaps, that was
what I was trying to say.)

Why I mentioned Karen's vocal maturity is that, sometimes (say, when I'm listening to
Crescent Noon - recorded when Karen was, I think, 19!!!), I can't help but wonder:
"How on earth can this voice possibly mature/improve any more? And she's only
19".

Sorry, JohnFB, if I caused offence. None was intended.

By the way, I liked the video you sent me of Allison Krauss (It's refreshing to hear a
female singer who doesn't feel the need to 'belt it out').
 
I've heard other versions of Johnny Angel, and, of course, I much prefer Karen's version.

I love the multi-track effect used on this song when you listen to it through headphones. The opening multi-layered ‘Johnny Angels’ go from one ear to the other and remind me of the recording technique used for the ‘magnificos’ on Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
 
I love the multi-track effect used on this song when you listen to it through headphones. The opening multi-layered ‘Johnny Angels’ go from one ear to the other and remind me of the recording technique used for the ‘magnificos’ on Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
The 'problem' (note the scare quotes :)) in listening to Karen sing is that she's just too good.

I've mentioned (in a previous post) that it took me a long while to tolerate other singers -
having heard Karen (Indeed, I even found Sinatra intolerable, at first! Yes, Sinatra!!!
Intolerable? Sinatra? ... Oh, hark at ME!!!)

I mean to invest in a relatively decent stereo system - just so that I can hear Karen's voice
with even greater fidelity.

Re: Bohemian Rhapsody (from Queen's A Night at the Opera album.)

I read somewhere that the song's 'operatic section' consists of approx. 180 overdubs.
Apparently, the song took 2 - 3 weeks to record (7 days per week; 10 - 12 hours per
day ... or something like that.)
If you haven't heard the album, check out The Prophet's Song, if you like.
It's by Brian May - and like Bohemian Rhapsody, is vocally completely over the top.
 
I have noticed over the years that "Jambalaya" is often dismissed by those who are not from the United States. The song has country/folk roots which probably doesn't play too well across the pond. In fact, there are compilations in the US that have it and other international versions that don't, right?
You've got a point, Harry ...

When a song-title consists of four words and it forces me to look up two of the words
("Jambalaya" and "Bayou") in a dictionary, this would, no doubt, have affected my
view of the song.
 
Apparently, the song took 2 - 3 weeks to record (7 days per week; 10 - 12 hours per day ... or something like that.)
If you haven't heard the album, check out The Prophet's Song, if you like. It's by Brian May - and like Bohemian Rhapsody, is vocally completely over the top.

Yeah I’ve heard The Prophet Song, almost a forerunner to Rhapsody. And it did take three weeks to record - they did that many vocal overdubs on the tape that it wore so thin it became transparent. Nowadays it can’t even be played (even after baking), or it would disintegrate due to its condition.
 
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