Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
I think will always have a love/hate relationship with Made in America.
Fully understanding that everything I have to say will be met with strong disagreement by someone, somewhere, here are some brief thoughts on each song:
Even as a Carpenters fan, Made in America was my last CD of the studio albums. (I still, to this date, don't have a "Remastered Classics" copy of this CD.) I only got what I consider to be a definitive copy today in the mail, which is an AM+ CD issue. This album has some shining moments; I go back and forth because the production technology is clearly there, but some of the production choices leave me wanting something a little less "shiny."
Fully understanding that everything I have to say will be met with strong disagreement by someone, somewhere, here are some brief thoughts on each song:
- Those Good Old Dreams – I first heard this song when I got my Gold: Greatest Hits DVD and enjoyed the music. Of course, a big plus of this video was seeing all of the childhood photos of Richard and Karen. However, it did make me sad to see Karen emaciated. To this day, I still like this song, even though I'm not usually one for country. (Oddly, Carpenters + slide guitar have always worked for me in a way that it never has for any other artist.) The original LP version (which is heard on "Gold: Greatest Hits") will always be the definitive version for me.
- Strength of a Woman – The Carpenters have had little moments of progressive politics, particularly with regard to second-wave feminism (this song, "Man Smart, Woman Smarter"). This song is a nice album filler to me, and the message that "sometimes it takes the strength of a woman to understand the weakness of her man" is much appreciated.
- (Want You) Back in My Life Again – This song has always given me the most '80s vibe of any Carpenters. Considering what it was, a product of the early '80s, it's more album filler to me. Points to the Carpenters for using a real drummer and not a beat machine.
- When You've Got What It Takes – I've always liked this song (preferably sans chimes). To me, the lyrics of this song represent, again, the confidence and self-assuredness of a woman. It's nice that at least Karen could play the role of a confident woman in the record studio in moments like this song. On earlier CD pressings, and on the LP, the stereo soundstage is so wide, and the lack of peak limiting makes parts of this song sound like Karen and Richard are soaring (just like on the album cover for MIA). The version sans chimes can be found on disc 1 of "Magical Memories of the Carpenters." I've also uploaded it to YouTube here:
- Somebody's Been Lyin' – See above. I usually love Richard's lush arrangements. In this case, it sounds like Richard forced himself to push this song to almost 4:30, similar to how a college student may force themselves to write a 20-page paper, even though they can only come up with 10-15 pages of good content.
- I Believe You – I know that this song gets included on a lot of compilations; it doesn't do much for me, though. The second half of the song seems to be a variation of the first half; again, it feels like they had about 2:20 of good, original arrangement, then everything after that was recycled.
- Touch Me When We're Dancing – Nice, sensuous, sultry single. Although I love the clean open of this album, I have to say, it fits really nicely with "For All We Know" on the YOM compilation, due to them having the same key (G major).
- When It's Gone – Karen's voice is buried in this song. Between the reverb and the guitar in both left and right channels, I have a hard time understanding Karen here. Again, the song repeats and pushes five minutes; it doesn't have to be this long imho.
- Beechwood 4-5789 – I know some folks on this forum detest this song hehe, but the Carpenters' was the first version I heard (again, on the Gold: Greatest Hits DVD). The music video was very 1981, with the colors and the greenscreening (bluescreening). The song is upbeat, which I appreciate very much. That being said, I can see how others (still) do not appreciate Karen being double-tracked here, and I would concur.
- Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song) – I don't have strong feelings one way or another about this song (again—I recognize that forum members do very often have strong feelings about this song). It's very heavy on the strings and woodwinds and not much else, which is a detracting factor of most of MIA, in my opinion. I could also do without the OK Chorale.
Even as a Carpenters fan, Made in America was my last CD of the studio albums. (I still, to this date, don't have a "Remastered Classics" copy of this CD.) I only got what I consider to be a definitive copy today in the mail, which is an AM+ CD issue. This album has some shining moments; I go back and forth because the production technology is clearly there, but some of the production choices leave me wanting something a little less "shiny."