tomswift2002
Well-Known Member
Whenever I hear this track, I always think that at the very end, where the guitar goes “duh-duh” there should be the sound of high heels clicking on the sound booth floor as the walk out the door (and I get a mental picture of an open door with light from the outside hall streaming in as the rest of the room is in darkness and all I see is the sillohette of the lower part of Karen leaving, from about just above the elbow down.Didn't miss it, intentionally omitted it as it wasn't going to be in the album; but if you want my review on that one too, here goes:
Last One Singin' The Blues, fittingly a blues-y arrangement type of track, and despite delivering a great performance both musically and vocally, lyrically it takes a theme that has been tied to Karen on quite a number of Carpenters numbers and perhaps due to how contradictory would have been to put this one along with the themes the other tracks are touching, that's why it was left off the album: singing about the blues, about loving somebody in whom she finds the devil, the best she has met when it comes to fiction, a person that plays with her off and then on again. And she also states something that has been heard before: well someday I won't play, I'll just have to look at you with different eyes if all I do is catch you in the same old lies; and, just like those familiar tunes, it doesn't seem that she will actually do something, she just stays in someday, despite that she doesn't really want to be the last singing the blues.
Of course this topic reminds me of just how many good tracks Karen recorded in 79-80, and how pathetic MIA sounds in comparison to her solo album and it’s outtakes. Really, MIA should’ve been made up of the solo tracks, along with “Touch Me When We’re Dancing”, “Beechwood” And “(Want You) Back In My Life Again”.
If I was producing Made In America in 1981 I would have this line up for the album:
Side 1
Prime Time Love
Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore
Don't Try To Win Me Back
The Uninvited Guest
If I Had You (but remix it so that it ended cold)
Leave Yesterday Behind
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
Remember When Loving Took All Night
The Rainbow Connection
Side 2
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (aside from keeping Karen's lead track, and the opening drum line (but with added reverb and more stereo separation), I'd re-record the instruments and backing vocals, so that this was a very upbeat dance track, kind of like what Richard did in 1991, but eliminating the disco entirely)
Lovelines
Beechwood 4-5789
Looking For Love* (again a re-record, possible a Richard lead)
I've Got Rhythm
You're Just In Love (just as it appears on As Time Goes By, with Richard dueting with Karen)
Touch Me When We're Dancing
Slow Dance
*if it was written I might even consider Something In Your Eyes with Richard on lead.
Single Releases:
Single #1 If I Had You/Don't Try To Win Me Back (this would be issued shortly after starting the project, as aside from some light editing, they are already ready to go)
Single #2 I've Got Rhythm/Leave Yesterday Behind (to tie-into the Carpenters 1980 TV special)
Single #3 My Body Keeps Changing My Mind/You're Just In Love (this would be released within the month prior to the album's release)
Single #4 The Rainbow Connection/Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Single #5 Touch Me When We're Dancing/Making Love In The Afternoon
Single #6 Prime Time Love/Lovelines
Single #7 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore/The Uninvited Guest
Single #8 (non-album single) Do You Hear What I Hear? (duet with Richard)/I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (keep Karen's vocal track from 78, but re-record the instruments, including adding bells to the track)
With Singles 5 & 8, the three tracks that were not on MIA would just be single-only tracks, with a possibility of hinting at what might come in the future, with the Christmas tracks being released somewhere around October/November 1980.