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

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 51 49.0%
  • ****

    Votes: 36 34.6%
  • ***

    Votes: 13 12.5%
  • **

    Votes: 2 1.9%
  • *

    Votes: 2 1.9%

  • Total voters
    104
I listened to this entire album a day ago. In my earphones, it was quite the experience. Karen's gorgeous, rich voice, up front and center. Richard's tasteful and restrained arrangements and production. Still a masterpiece.
 
I'd love to know where this video is too, of which Chris-An Ordinary Fool references. Please, Chris, do tell!

I did a little searching and finally found it....we talked about this back when all the clips were released on youtube around the anniversary date. It's not a whole video of Horizon, it's just a very short clip of Karen and Richard talking and she is wearing the same shirt as the cover photo for the Horizon album. I've never seen the clip before and even better that it had to be around that same time period. Here is the discussion link and then the link to the video. The clip appears at 1:40 through 2:10. Be sure to also watch the final interview of Karen from 83 at 10min 43 seconds, it's the clearest copy of the last video of Karen. :sad:

http://www.amcorner.com/forum/threa...rage-of-karens-death.12914/page-3#post-116857



Many thanks again to Ken Bertwell for providing these video clips, see his post here
http://www.amcorner.com/forum/threa...rage-of-karens-death.12914/page-5#post-117461
 
Horizon is indeed my favorite album. P.M.P. seems out of the place with the other songs on this album. One of her best, for her voice was spot on!
 
Hmm. What do people make of Karen in that January '83 clip? Sure, she looks tons better in terms of weight, but her eyes don't look alive. Like she's on auto-pilot.
 
Hmm. What do people make of Karen in that January '83 clip? Sure, she looks tons better in terms of weight, but her eyes don't look alive. Like she's on auto-pilot.


To me she looks haggard, still emaciated and far beyond her true years in that clip. No two ways about it, she was far from being out of the woods, even by January 1983.

I often wonder, if she had survived and was alive and well today and looked back on videos like this from the latter period of her life, what she would really think about her own appearance? :confused:
 
From time to time I reflect on the entrance photo taken upon my arrival in rehab years and years ago. If Karen was anything like me, that photo is a stark reminder of what was and served as the catapult of what was to come after tried and true success. I'm still inspired to offer something today by the rich legacy shared by Karen and others. I've known many who've had second chances and yet for some it takes many seconds to flourish. All that said, Karen loved her solo photo shoot and I believe she commented to a friend that she thought she really looked pretty. On to Horizon as this topic, again I say stunning replication on the lp cover. I've mentioned before that upon our meeting in winter of '78 she looked equally as beautiful and delightfully enchanting. Gone were the undereye circles of the HUSH cover and present were sparkling diamonds, clear, focused and an absolute gorgeous brown. What a challenge before us when we become responsible for a poor belief system.
 
There is a very brief film of Karen taken on the same night as the Grammy photo session (Jan. 11th, 1983), where she is kind of throwing her hair back. It's from a Star Magazine commercial from shortly after her passing, and she's only on the screen for about 2 seconds. It's very quick, but Karen looks really beautiful. So much better than she'd looked just a year earlier.

I think this particular clip we're talking about had especially poor lighting, but we also know she had been through total hell by the time of her passing. Unfortunately, the damage had been done.

I'll see if I can find the Star clip and will try to post it.
 
For those that are unaware,there is a finished HORIZON outtake in the vaults,"Try And Win A Friend".Not sure if it was finished in 1975 or after Karen's death.Barbra Streisand did a version of it in the 70's-and it was just recently released.It's a typical HORIZON-style "draggy" ballad.
 
Seemed like Barbra Streisand was regularly covering Carpenters songs. But I do not know of an instance where they covered one of hers.
 
Only instances where Carpenters had recorded tracks Streisand had previously recorded were on their Christmas albums.
Of course they weren't 'originally' Streisand recordings/hits.
 
Try And Win A Friend ? Hmm. HORIZON outtake in the vaults? Hmmm. Typical HORIZON-style "draggy" ballad? Hmmmm. Bring it on!!! Them thar draggy ol ballads suit me just purfickt!!! Now getting it from the vault to my ears, that's the tricky part.
 
A Carps album "out of the typical box"... "Aurora" & "Eventide" book-end this album much like A Song For You more than on Offering/Ticket To Ride, almost making a difference...

The "Carpenterized" vocal group make as good harmonies on "I Can Dream..." as Karen & Rich could do, so if they wanted a Choral, they did better than just "OK"...

"Please Mr. Postman" was the big hit & the centerpiece, and my fav', too--coming in right in the year that Capt. & Tennielle's "Love Will Keep Us Together" was blazing the charts, so the two songs out there like that made '75 a very cheery year!

Horizon was clearly the underdog effort, w/ the experimentation toned down, but really warming up for what would come on Passage!

(Well, there was the ordinary platitude of A Kind Of Hush, at least to brace you for what's to come...!)


-- Dave
 
Such memories this album evokes in me. It was the very first full-length album I ever listened to by the duo.
It is my favorite of all, even though it is a bit heavy on the ballads. Karen's voice just incredible.
I listen to this album at least once a week! The album artwork is classy and sophisticated, just as the sound inside.
I'm not a huge fan of Desperado, but Karen does sing it beautifully.
Karen's vocals on this LP are very much "chill-factor" material.
The finale of "Love Me For What I Am" , "...I must be free..." gets to me every time.
And, those opening notes on "Only Yesterday".
I could go on, but there is so much I love about this album.
 
Interesting observation(s):
I have three separate (original pressing, later pressing and a promo pressing)
Japanese vinyl pressings of Horizon album.
The three albums are subtly different, as the time stamps on each song differ from one another from album to album.
Oftentimes as much as five to ten seconds difference.
On one of the LP's the Flap overlaying the cover does not completely hide the printing of the musician's
names underneath.
And, of course, there is a big beautiful poster which accompanies one pressing.
The Japanese pressings are always a pleasure to behold.
 
Yes, Chris.
That is indeed the Japanese Promo Vinyl, although mine did not
have the A&M Compendium enclosed (brown booklet/upper right corner in photo),
and, you can find it much cheaper than the above ebay listing.
 
In my opinion, this is their best album. I like every track on this album, which is a rarity for me with any album. There is something about the way this record was recorded and mixed that made it sound more realistic than other recordings from back in the day. I can think of loads of LPs that were popular in the 70's that I wouldn't ever care to listen to again, but this one I could just listen to for days and days. This album has a kind of darker edge to it and I honestly think that The Carpenters needed to reflect that in their music more often. I wish that 'Trying to get the Feeling Again' would have been on this one.

The rock critics of the 70's really tried to kill the Carpenters and we know their efforts were in vein. I can't help but get a small kick out of how their music has survived and outlived what a lot of stoned/jaded so-called cool people thought was important.

Freddie
 
Well, ok. I will say straight away, I dislike Postman in this context. Overall, it fits with Dancing in the Streets and can't Buy Me Love, neither of those were ever singles or on albums. Horizon has a vision it seems: melancholy, sad, hopeful.

Well ok, thematically, lyrically, it fits, but...... Musically?

Personally, I love the sad yet hopeful feeling. Looking back, in particular, it feels apt. It hints at difficulties unknown, by us then. But the songs, melodies, singing, ideas are strong and beautiful.

I remember the magic of 'Only Yesterday' on the radio. So unique! 'Desperado' is mediocre at best, but Karen is beautiful.

Side 2 is amazing. I love the jazz, a sign of things to come: of what might have been. Still so much hope.

The bookends just remind me of Offering, a Song for You. They just make me want to drop the needle on the groove again and again and again. Then, eventually, Postman, even reluctantly found its place of acceptance, and Desperado, though I still struggle with the Eagles. I like Joe Walsh though.

Ok I'm confused.
 
Horizon... THIS is the knid of music Karen and Richard should have kept doing!
Hush was WAYYYYY to soft. Great vocals and musicianship. but TOO EASY Listening.
 
I am, perhaps, in the minority, but the inner sleeve photo of Karen and Richard for Horizon
always distilled a sense of depth and darkness for me.
Karen's beauty and those piercing eyes radiated mystery and longing.
I never really took note of the clothing beforehand! (Except knowing they both liked the color Yellow).
 
I am, perhaps, in the minority, but the inner sleeve photo of Karen and Richard for Horizon
always distilled a sense of depth and darkness for me.
Karen's beauty and those piercing eyes radiated mystery and longing.
I never really took note of the clothing beforehand! (Except knowing they both liked the color Yellow).
I agree, and they simply look tired. Plus, in the yellow pic (as I'll call it) Richard's eyes really scream, "take the damn picture already!".

Sometimes I wish I had a time machine so I could just go back and gently take Karen aside to say, "you are a beautiful and amazing woman!"
 
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