⭐ 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
A subtle title, when you think of it. That one word brings to mind the first stanza of the song, and then it's up to the listener to interpret what that might mean, in relation to the album. "As we eye the blue horizon's bend, earth and sky appear to meet and end, but it's merely an illusion. Like your heart, and mine, there is no sweet conclusion". Some examples of thoughts that the album title, and that first stanza of 'I Can Dream, Can't I?', might inspire:- The scope of the music on the album is endless; Music knows no boundaries; the music on the album covers a wide range of complexities of relationships - "There is no neat conclusion"; the album covers a range of styles; Karen and Richard weren't going to be confined by one style of music; boundaries are illusions; or, as GaryAlan said, the music inspires awe, as what you see when you look towards the horizon in an area of nature inspires awe.

Interesting thought, GaryAlan.
 
Could someone confirm if Horizon was the first Carpenters album to be recorded at 30 inches per second (ips)? The bright (but not too bright!) highs make me think that this rumor is true. Horizon to me was the peak of Carpenters album mastering. The technology was superior, they weren't yet outsourcing backup vocals to the OK Chorale... from first listen to today, Horizon probably remains my favorite album, from start to finish, with the Tan Album (Carpenters) at a close second. (Had they recorded the Tan Album on 30 ips tape, the Tan Album would probably be my favorite, actually!)
 
Richard mentions in the 'A&M Compendium', July, 1975, Special Issue, that they were recording at 30 inches per second around the time of producing 'Horizon' and it sounds as if this might have been a new thing to them, although he doesn't state that. He also says that, at that time, they were going to Dolby "...right from the ground up, where we used to wait until we would go to the two track to use it". (This was to make a quieter recording, with less tape hiss).

He states, too, that they were using 24-track. He then says, "Anytime you use Dolbys all the time, being very sophisticated equipment, you have more breakdowns than you used to have. One breakdown, at least, per night, with one thing or another. The board, or the tape machine, the Dolbys, a mike, or whatever".

And Karen says, "We're into using different mikes for backgrounds, different mikes for leads. There's so much to get into; all the things that we never had time, or stopped to take time to get into".

You can see that the recording process, as you might expect, would have been very different back then from what it is today.
 
Score another Carpenters' #1 in 2021:
I Can Dream Can't I reaches #1 somewhere in the world today, Dominica:

Dominica, NOT the Dominican Republic but a separate independent nation, has a population of around 70,000 people. It fascinates me how a relatively obscure (to most, not to us fans) song like this becomes a #1 on this island nation. It is a former colony of Great Britain, so that might be a partial explanation given the duo's popularity in that country. Does one person say "hey, listen to this," shares it with friend or neighbor and it goes "viral?" Is it played on local radio?
 
Those romantic Dominicans. Who would have ever guessed? Thanks Gary.
I was today years old when I learned that "Dominican" of Dominica is pronounced "dom-i-NEE-can" as opposed to the "Dominican" of the DR ("do-MIN-i-can").
 
i just love this album! at first this was my least fav album but now i listen to this whole album every day. i like those opening and closure songs? (idk what to call them) and i think the songs are very well mixed, some of them like 'only~' and 'postman' are very bright, some are much deeper like 'solitare' 'love me~' and 'desperado'. also 'im caught~' n 'i can't dream~' are soo calming and i really like it! but my fav song in this album is definitely 'happy'. it really makes me happy! and idk why but i feel like i've heard that song before.. it's very familiar to me and i like that.
 
^^I loved that song the first time I heard it---late 1974--
I still love it ! As far as I am concerned, a pop music masterpiece.
And, Karen looks incredibly happy and healthy.
 
If you have the Now and Then quad, do Jambalaya next. It has the best quad mixing of any cuts other than the oldies medley. There’s a yee-haw towards the end you don’t hear on the stereo version. The flute is cool too. I know Newville Fan will appreciate the tune even more then he does now. Lol Great job!
 
If you have the Now and Then quad, do Jambalaya next. It has the best quad mixing of any cuts other than the oldies medley. There’s a yee-haw towards the end you don’t hear on the stereo version. The flute is cool too. I know Newville Fan will appreciate the tune even more then he does now. Lol Great job!
I wish I had all of the Carpenters' quad LPs! Unfortunately, for the time being, I only have Singles 1969-1973 and Horizon on quad (the former in SQ, the latter in CD-4).
 
Well definitely try to find Now & Then too sometime. It’s the best mixed of the 3 vinyl albums here or Japan. I like Horizon, but it’s hit and miss on the tracks. Happy and Only Yesterday are the two stand out tracks. Love the quad synthesizer on Happy.
 
Well definitely try to find Now & Then too sometime. It’s the best mixed of the 3 vinyl albums here or Japan. I like Horizon, but it’s hit and miss on the tracks. Happy and Only Yesterday are the two stand outs on the album. Love the quad synthesizer on Happy.
Seconded! Not sure if you knew this too, but "Only Yesterday" retains Karen's original take on the line "the pain I was going through, but waitin' was all my heart could do." It's a very slight difference, but it gives it a different flavor. I wish I could post a quad version overlaying the official music video, but YouTube's copyright system forbids it.

I'd like to find their quad albums, but they're definitely hard to come across—especially one in good condition. Any suggestions?

(I was lucky to find quad Horizon at my local used record store for $4. It was in pristine condition when I bought it like 10 years ago.)
 
Only eBay or Discogs. They can be expensive, but reasonably priced copies come up for sale every few weeks. All the Japanese versions are all CD-4 format. The mixes are slightly different, and can be pricey.
 
Only eBay or Discogs. They can be expensive, but reasonably priced copies come up for sale every few weeks. All the Japanese versions are all CD-4 format. The mixes are slightly different, and can be pricey.
I would love to buy more records at the moment but I have too many. I'll have to sell some before I buy more :sad:
 
I revisited my quadraphonic (CD-4) Horizon LP last night. I re-digitized the album with my new shiny Audio-Technica stylus :)

I wish I could share "Only Yesterday" with you, but every time I upload that video, YouTube blocks it!

So here's "Please Mr. Postman" instead :)


Thanks, I have only seen a few clips in this exotic format, but they sound great. Would add this to my playlist.
Forgive me this, but I just got my first LP last month, and I am still very newbie to this kind of sound :).
 
I revisited my quadraphonic (CD-4) Horizon LP last night. I re-digitized the album with my new shiny Audio-Technica stylus :)

I wish I could share "Only Yesterday" with you, but every time I upload that video, YouTube blocks it!

So here's "Please Mr. Postman" instead :)


Thank you for sharing this!
 
It's always nice to hear those familiar songs in a slightly different way. Keep 'em coming if you can (pretty please :))
 
It's always nice to hear those familiar songs in a slightly different way. Keep 'em coming if you can (pretty please :))
The other song I really wanted to share and upload was "Only Yesterday," but YouTube blocks the video worldwide due to copyright (probably since it's already uploaded to their official VEVO account).
 
I revisited my quadraphonic (CD-4) Horizon LP last night. I re-digitized the album with my new shiny Audio-Technica stylus :)

I wish I could share "Only Yesterday" with you, but every time I upload that video, YouTube blocks it!

So here's "Please Mr. Postman" instead :)


aww thanks a lot for posting this! love it sm and i wish i could hear only yesterday too.. stupid youtube ugh
 
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