⭐ Official Review [Album]: "A SONG FOR YOU" (SP-3511)
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⭐ Official Review [Album]: "A SONG FOR YOU" (SP-3511)
BeeBee1
Well-Known Member
The remix for Crystal Lullaby is the real gem!
From This Moment On
Well-Known Member
This is where I display my ignorance. I didn't know there's a remix. My knowledge of remixes is limited to my copy of From The Top.
http://carpenters.amcorner.com/ lists all of the remixes and where they can be found. Just look up each song individually - or by album.
Harry
From This Moment On
Well-Known Member
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Now, just today I listened to the US 45 single of I Won't Lat A Day Without You, and loved it.
It is brilliant through and through. So, outside of the obvious fact that it was already on the Song For You LP,
this pop masterpiece should have charted much higher. Compared to other artists on the charts in 1974, this one
blows them away!
Found some stats:
Record World 9 - 1974,
US Billboard 11 - Apr 1974 (12 weeks),
Canada 12 - May 1974 (7 weeks),
UK 32 - Sep 1972 (6 weeks),
POP 40 of 1974, US CashBox 99 of 1974,
US Radio 111 of 1974 (peak 11 6 weeks)
It is brilliant through and through. So, outside of the obvious fact that it was already on the Song For You LP,
this pop masterpiece should have charted much higher. Compared to other artists on the charts in 1974, this one
blows them away!
Found some stats:
Record World 9 - 1974,
US Billboard 11 - Apr 1974 (12 weeks),
Canada 12 - May 1974 (7 weeks),
UK 32 - Sep 1972 (6 weeks),
POP 40 of 1974, US CashBox 99 of 1974,
US Radio 111 of 1974 (peak 11 6 weeks)
Don Malcolm
Well-Known Member
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
"There is always a time and place when this will be the perfect record to put on. Many could use a little Carpenters in their collection, and this hit-studded near-concept album is their best work. You have to let down your guard and forget what you know about this group; they sound a little slick, sure, but they perform good honest songs, aren’t afraid of a little humor, and that voice…"
Blog posting regarding Song For You :
http://therisingstorm.net/the-carpenters-a-song-for-you/
Blog posting regarding Song For You :
http://therisingstorm.net/the-carpenters-a-song-for-you/
Last edited:
Natesmommy77
Active Member
arthowson
Well-Known Member
In the South, we'd say; "Bless his heart!" Richard has remixed practically everything.
Natesmommy77
Active Member
I concur! I'm from Knoxville, TN. I bless everyone's heart. Thanks, Chard! Bless your heart.
ullalume
Well-Known Member
According to the notes in Carpenters Perform Carpenter she also drummed on Crystal Lullaby as well .
...and that would be Richard's production and arranging talents at work. Plus to build on a thought above, it was Dougherty who apparently "phoned in" his work on Carpenters' albums. That much was clear from the Coleman bio.
Swore I replied to this thread but it must have been an earlier one. IMHO, if there is one definitive Carpenters album to have in a collection, it's this one. Strong from start to finish, and the lyrics certainly tap into their mindset at the time (busy in the studio, heavy touring--witness "Road Ode", etc.). And there's the early power balled "Goodbye To Love".
Now for the life of me, I cannot find a clean vinyl copy of this. I've tried locally but just about all copies were abused. If I cannot find anything out in Ann Arbor, I am going to hit Discogs and hope for the best. Ideally I'm after a clean, first-pressing promo copy, but that will be difficult. In my last hunt for this album, I noticed a few things about the cover. There is the original textured cover with envelope flap, smooth cover with envelope flap (second pressing? reissue?), then a standard smooth album jacket as a reissue with the white/silver A&M label. I could tell from spindle marks all over the labels that they were played on crappy equipment back in the day (someone "hunting" around with the record to find the record changer spindle).
How about a British test pressing:
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=602283
Only $250.00...
Harry
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=602283
Only $250.00...
Harry
That'd be a good collectible. 
I only own one test pressing (an ECM Records test pressing of As Falls Wichita... by Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays), and I received it as a gift. It still had the typewritten information sheet inside the jacket.
I just want a good, clean, rarely (if ever) played original pressing. There were so many of these pressed, I don't see why it should be so difficult.
I avoid imports (mainly for US artists) since nobody can say what tape copies they used for mastering, and the record club pressings I've heard on vinyl have all sounded very strange and/or noisy.
I did see a listing for a sealed copy for $30. But it did not mention if it is an early pressing. That is one reason finding a promo is preferable: promos are often some of the first copies off of the stampers.
I only own one test pressing (an ECM Records test pressing of As Falls Wichita... by Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays), and I received it as a gift. It still had the typewritten information sheet inside the jacket.
I just want a good, clean, rarely (if ever) played original pressing. There were so many of these pressed, I don't see why it should be so difficult.
I avoid imports (mainly for US artists) since nobody can say what tape copies they used for mastering, and the record club pressings I've heard on vinyl have all sounded very strange and/or noisy. I did see a listing for a sealed copy for $30. But it did not mention if it is an early pressing. That is one reason finding a promo is preferable: promos are often some of the first copies off of the stampers.
Rick-An Ordinary Fool
Well-Known Member
How about a British test pressing:
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=602283
Only $250.00...
Harry
Get it Harry!!!!
I don't know about the rest of you but stuff like this always makes me want to hear if there are any differences on this test pressings compared to the original release on LP. So intriguing.
Guitarmutt
Well-Known Member
My no. 2. After Close To You. This is an amazing album that everyone should listen to with open ears. For me, "intermission" is a little too silly, but as someone previously noted, it's probably more effective on vinyl: Hey You, flip the record! Play side two!
Maybe it's also just that I love Side one. That concept Richard talks about gets me every time. I have a playlist on my iPod that is an expanded Song for You playlist with songs on the same arc from their entire oeuvre ending with the reprise. It's 25 songs or so, instead of 5.
Anyway, yes I am a Carpenters dork too.
Let me know if you are curious about the song list. I will post it.
Maybe it's also just that I love Side one. That concept Richard talks about gets me every time. I have a playlist on my iPod that is an expanded Song for You playlist with songs on the same arc from their entire oeuvre ending with the reprise. It's 25 songs or so, instead of 5.
Anyway, yes I am a Carpenters dork too.
Let me know if you are curious about the song list. I will post it.
Guitarmutt
Well-Known Member
Well, thank you. I will. I have always enjoyed making mix tapes for others, and it is so easy now with computers. I decided late one night recently to expand upon ASFY's concept. I mean there are so many songs here that fit the entire arc of falling in and out of love. My only other criteria was that it be no more than an hour long. And yes, there is one weird entry towards the end that doesn't quite fit, but . . . well I love the segue into ASFY (reprise).
A Song For You
Top Of The World
For All We Know
I Won't Last a Day Without You
We've Only Just Begun
Crystal Lullaby
Baby It's You
Hurting Each Other
Leave Yesterday Behind
This Masquerade
Another Song
It's Going To Take Some Time
I'll Never Fall In Love Again
Goodbye To Love
Crescent Noon
Road Ode
A Song For You (Reprise)
Looking at this now, it is scandalous I didn't include anything from Horizon, but again, so many great songs.
Test pressings could be a crap shoot. You'll have the same mix. But the mastering may change. Maybe it was cut too low and there is too much surface noise. Maybe it was cut with too much high frequencies and it distorts. It could have out of phase bass information that might cause the stylus to jump out of the groove. There could also be issues with the pressing equipment. Any number of things that could go wrong at the cutting or pressing stages are examined via a test pressing as part of quality control; it is a test of the manufacturing process. The one advantage to a good test pressing is that it is usually one of the first, if not the first, record to come off of the stamper. The stampers wear the more they are used, and the first stamper made will be more exact than later stampers made from the same "mother". (Some record companies used stamper numbers in the dead wax, such as RCA; the only 1S/1S RCA I have is a Mancini soundtrack LP.)
Promo vinyl often comes off the first set of stampers, and are among the earliest to be pressed (so they could be sent out to media and record stores for reviews and previews ahead of release day), which is why they are sometimes preferable.
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