⭐ Official Review [Album]: "HORIZON" (SP-4530)

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 54 48.2%
  • ****

    Votes: 39 34.8%
  • ***

    Votes: 15 13.4%
  • **

    Votes: 2 1.8%
  • *

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Total voters
    112
I know that I’m a lone reed here but I always felt that “I Can Dream Can’t I” didn’t belong on Horizon.

I love the song but this was suppose to be a pop album and this song sounds very old fashioned, from another era. She knocks it out of the park but it was best suited for a whole album of old standards they could have done. It further cemented them into easy listening where they wanted top 10 radio. They could have arranged Tryin’ and gave it a contemporary pop flavor maybe even could have been a single for radio.
 
I know that I’m a lone reed here but I always felt that “I Can Dream Can’t I” didn’t belong on Horizon.

I love the song but this was suppose to be a pop album and this song sounds very old fashioned, from another era. She knocks it out of the park but it was best suited for a whole album of old standards they could have done. It further cemented them into easy listening where they wanted top 10 radio. They could have arranged Tryin’ and gave it a contemporary pop flavor maybe even could have been a single for radio.
Maybe putting TTGTFA on Horizon and moving I Can Dream Can't I to Hush could have helped both albums at the time....
 
I know that I’m a lone reed here but I always felt that “I Can Dream Can’t I” didn’t belong on Horizon.

I love the song but this was suppose to be a pop album and this song sounds very old fashioned, from another era. She knocks it out of the park but it was best suited for a whole album of old standards they could have done. It further cemented them into easy listening where they wanted top 10 radio. They could have arranged Tryin’ and gave it a contemporary pop flavor maybe even could have been a single for radio.

I'm glad it's on Horizon, and I don't mind 'Postman' being on there either. They help to give the album a little more variety. To me, "I Can Dream Can't I" fits because of its luxurious quality that seemed to be present in a few of the other tracks as well. Of course a lot of that was due to their style on Horizon and Karen's voice quality at the time. I think "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" would've worked nicely in there as well. While it was yet another ballad, it has an edge thanks to the great guitar solo as Bartog739 said.
 
Her voice on Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again would fit perfectly on Horizon but it’s another ballad. Where would it have fit and flowed? They needed another upbeat song like Happy.
They could have finished "Sailing on the Tide" to balance out adding another ballad in "Feeling Again". The version we have on VOTH is from the Passage sessions, but they had made an earlier attempt on "Tide" for Horizon. I wonder how it would have sounded if it were included and had a Horizon feel...
 
Maybe putting TTGTFA on Horizon and moving I Can Dream Can't I to Hush could have helped both albums at the time....

I think that would have made Hush even more draggy. I remember a review of the album in the UK music press, I think it was in NME, and the headline read "Cool Carpenters only coasting".
 
They could have finished "Sailing on the Tide" to balance out adding another ballad in "Feeling Again". The version we have on VOTH is from the Passage sessions, but they had made an earlier attempt on "Tide" for Horizon. I wonder how it would have sounded if it were included and had a Horizon feel...
Are you speaking of the demo version (unmixed) of Sailing on the Tide that surfaced?
 
Are you speaking of the demo version (unmixed) of Sailing on the Tide that surfaced?

I don't think I've ever heard that?!

All I'm aware of is that they had attempted the song in 74/75 for Horizon but never finished it.
They tried again for Passage but passed it by again. It's this second version, originally intended for Passage, that's on VOTH.
 
I will mention my first trip over the Horizon. Back in 1975 I saw it in a Kmart shopping center in the middle of June, I was pleasantly surprised for I had no idea that it was on the way. I listen to the album repeatedly and in between television shows I watched that day, I’d listen to it again and before bed, I listened again. What’s surprised me, even though I loved I’m Caught Between Goodbye and I Love You and Love me for What I Am, I was shocked that I kept going back to Solitaire for I felt Love Me For What I Am would have been a very successful mainstream single at the time, against Jani’s Ian’s At Seventeen. And, it surprised me when Solitaire was the next single, and I loved the new additions to the arrangement but was not happy that the radio stations often played the album version. I do feel that a lot of people who were fans missed out on the musical genius of this album because their popularity began to fade after 1974 but Please Mr Postman’s popularity and Only Yesterday gave me hope for a new hip style. I feel Solitaire would have fared better without the Sedaka fiasco, but as others have stated in retrospect, their personal issues took root. Nevertheless, all their songs and future songs I looked forward to regardless of what I expected at 15. To this day, when someone does not know the Carpenters and I want to promote Karen, this is the album I suggest and have even bought to give to others to sell the magic of the Carpenters. They always look up the other albums on their own as a result of listening to the this album. So, the magic continues….

I Can Dream, Can’t I is icing….I am listening now…and because of your comments, have already listened to Happy!
 
I'm glad it's on Horizon, and I don't mind 'Postman' being on there either. They help to give the album a little more variety. To me, "I Can Dream Can't I" fits because of its luxurious quality that seemed to be present in a few of the other tracks as well. Of course a lot of that was due to their style on Horizon and Karen's voice quality at the time. I think "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" would've worked nicely in there as well. While it was yet another ballad, it has an edge thanks to the great guitar solo as Bartog739 said.
I enjoy Trying To Get the Feeling Again, but I feel the arrangement would have been different in 1975. Honestly, I am glad it surfaced when it did!
 
Even though I have shared my emotions on this album in the past, I am grateful to still have the ability to revisit it and bathe in the feeling it still creates! Thank you for over 50 years of a first time listen!
 
Karen @ 3:28 "That was good" 💛
I could cherish an entire album of "spoken word outakes." The others I can think of are "I need to get into a serious mood here" and the cheek clicking thing from Make Believe It's Your First Time from Voice of the Heart and the 1990 remix of Let Me Be The One -"Figure out what the rest of the melody is...I'll sing it." I love that stuff.
 
I could cherish an entire album of "spoken word outakes." The others I can think of are "I need to get into a serious mood here" and the cheek clicking thing from Make Believe It's Your First Time from Voice of the Heart and the 1990 remix of Let Me Be The One -"Figure out what the rest of the melody is...I'll sing it." I love that stuff.
Me, too! It's so cool to get a glimpse inside both the recording sessions, as well as a glimpse into Karen's personality while recording. There must be a lot of those spoken moments yet to be heard.
 
Me, too! It's so cool to get a glimpse inside both the recording sessions, as well as a glimpse into Karen's personality while recording. There must be a lot of those spoken moments yet to be heard.
It's good to know that through all the strife, pain and ultimate tragedy- as well as their brave and bold resilience through it - they did have some genuine fun while creating this perfect popular music that we all still love, around the entire world, throughout our whole lives. Even the most incidental moments can be revered. What great people Karen and Richard were.
 
I could cherish an entire album of "spoken word outakes." The others I can think of are "I need to get into a serious mood here" and the cheek clicking thing from Make Believe It's Your First Time from Voice of the Heart and the 1990 remix of Let Me Be The One -"Figure out what the rest of the melody is...I'll sing it." I love that stuff.
You forgot, Last One Singing the Blues.
“Just an Zinch Slower, Lib (Liberty DeVitto, the Drummer), and Don't Forget the Break!
 
This one's not a song, and not from Horizon but as long as we were talking about fun outakes this one kind of counts (from The Essential Collection) :)

 
This one's not a song, and not from Horizon but as long as we were talking about fun outakes this one kind of counts (from The Essential Collection) :)



Fun fact: the caller Mark Rudolph you hear referred to in these outtakes is the brother of Mary Rudolph, daughter of Agnes' sister Bernice and later Richard's wife.
 
And he dated Patty who worked along with Ev and Agnes at the Newville home, fan club. She was 16, and he was 18 or 19. His nickname was Bear, as in Powered By Bear. Her parents didn’t like it, so they sent her to Europe for the summer, and he went on tour with Carpenters. He came back with a new girlfriend, Patty said. So that ended their relationship. He has passed on now. She was a really good tour guide at the 55th.
Her Carpenters tour jacket has really faded.
She also got to drive whatever car Richard left in the driveway or garage to run errands, or take Agnes around town, as she didn’t drive. To nervous for her, Patty said. Lucky girl.

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Yes! Good eye. The neighbor who now lives in what was part of the house before it was sold, and divided, did most of the talking, as the ladies didn’t speak fluent English, or very shy. Still it was kind of them to let all of us invade their territory for an hour. They answered many questions we had too.
 
Yes! Good eye. The neighbor who now lives in what was part of the house before it was sold, and divided, did most of the talking, as the ladies didn’t speak fluent English, or very shy. Still it was kind of them to let all of us invade their territory for an hour. They answered many questions we had too.

I never forget a pretty girl with dimples :)
 
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