🎵 AotW Carpenters HORIZON (A&M SP 4530)

[Dave]

Carpenters
HORIZON
A&M SP4530

SIDE 1:

1. Aurora 1:33 (Carpenter/Bettis)
2. Only Yesterday 4:12 (Carpenter/Bettis)
3. Desperado 3:37 (Henley/Frey)
4. Please Mr. Postman 2:50 (Garrett/Holland/Gorman/Dobbins/Bateman)
5. I Can Dream Can't I 4:58 (Kahal/Fain)

SIDE 2:

1. Solitaire 4:39 (Sedaka/Cody)
2. Happy 3:48 (Peluso/Rubin/Bettis)
3. (I'm Caught Between) Goodbye And I Love You 4:04 (Carpenter/Bettis)
4. Love Me For What I Am 3:30 (Bettis/Pascale)
5. Eventide 1:32 (Carpenter/Bettis)



Produced by Richard Carpenter
Associate Producer: Karen Carpenter
Arranged & Orchestrated by: Richard Carpenter
All vocals: Richard & Karen Carpenter
Keyboards: Richard Carpenter
Drums: Karen Carpenter & Jim Gordon
Bass: Joe Osborn
Guitar: Tony Peluso
Tenor Sax: Bob Messenger
Baritone Sax: Doug Strawn
Steel Guitar: Thad Maxwell & Red Rhodes
Harmonica: Tom Morgan
Oboe & English Horn: Earl Dumler
Harp Gayle Levant
Engineered by: Roger Young & Ray Gerhardt, Assistant: Dave Iveland
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman
Special thanks to Ron Gorow

"I Can Dream Can't I" Arranged by Billy May & Richard Carpenter,
Orchestrated by Billy May
Bass: Joe Mondragon
Drums: Alvin Stoller
Keyboards: Pete Jolly
Vibes: Frank Flynn
Guitar: Bob Bain
Background Singers: Sue Allen, Jerry Whitman, Allan Davies, Gene Merlino

Art Direction: Roland Young
Photography: Ed Caraeff


Availability: Vinyl/Reel/8-track/Cassette/CD


HORIZON entered the Billboard Top-200 on 6/6/75, peaking at Number 13 in the US, Number 1 in the UK and Number 1 in Japan, according to Joe Whitburn's 'Top Pop Albums'...



Dave

 

[Chris_Sydney]

Still my favourite album (although 'Voice Of The Heart' rates very highly as well). Did my avatar give it away?!


x

 

[Harry]

Reposted from my "official review" from 2005:

Four stars for me and here's why.

I began listening to the Carpenters' recordings basically from the beginning, so sometime in late 1969. "Ticket To Ride" had gotten airplay on a local radio station, and then "Close To You" hit and I'd followed them faithfully, eagerly awaiting each new release.

I'd been constantly impressed and delighted with each album in succession, with all of them becoming favorites up through the prior release of SINGLES 1969-1973. That album was kind of a watershed mark for me - a high that would be nearly impossible to top - and in my view HORIZON just missed that mark.

"Only Yesterday" had been a single in advance of the album, so it was already a known quanitity for me. That left the judging of the album to rest on the remaining tracks, and for me it was a bit of a slow-down. Prior to HORIZON, the last thing that Carpenters left us with was the incredible energy of the oldies medley on side two of NOW & THEN. Since SINGLES was a retrospective, it reinforced all of the greatness that had come before.

"Only Yesterday" continued that fabulous energy as the next single - and then came the balance of HORIZON. "Please Mr. Postman" was a good uptempo follow-up to "Only Yesterday", but it wasn't an original song, nor was it at least unknown - so it felt like a bit of an extention to the oldies medley to me. That was neither good nor bad at this point - just explaining how I felt about it at the time.

So that left "Aurora", "Desperado", "I Can Dream, Can't I", "Solitaire", "Happy", "I'm Caught Between Goodbye And I Love You", "Love Me For What I Am" and "Eventide" as the *rest* of the album.

"Happy" had a bit of energy, but something about the song itself didn't quite grab me back then. The rest of the songs were slow ballads - and some were the slowest of slow: "Solitaire", "I Can Dream, Can't I" and "Desperado".

With the album bookended by the soft "Aurora"/"Eventide", the whole effort came off as a bit understated, particularly after the rowdiness of the Oldies Medley on the prior album.

Maybe that was a good thing - and I think it was. It's just that at that time, my initial impression was that HORIZON was a bit of a downer album - a feeling that's stuck with me all these years.

The other disappointment for me on HORIZON was hearing, for the first time, backing vocals that weren't done by Karen and Richard (on "I Can Dream Can't I)." Those overdubbed backing vocals were an initial hook that brought me into the Carpenters' fold, and here was that hook being abandoned for the first time. Sublimely so, perhaps - I happen to think that "I Can Dream Can't I" is an amazing track, perfectly executed - I just felt a bit abandoned by the use of someone other than Karen or Richard in that role.

Today, I look on the album from a historical perspective, and for me it's just off the pinnacle of that SINGLES album - a curve, if you will that rises from TICKET, continuing through to the peak at SINGLES, and then starting the downward slope at HORIZON. I know how many fans out there think of HORIZON as one of the best, if not THE best album from our favorite duo, and I certainly can understand where that comes from. It just didn't quite make it for me, in my humble opinion.

So what changes would I make to then envision HORIZON as the perfect album? I might have saved "Deseperado" for a future album, and include something else in its place - perhaps a more midtempo song. I'd also have gotten Karen and Richard in the studio to record and overdub the backing vocals for "I Can Dream Can't I". Then a re-arrangement of the track order, and for me, it might have been that perfect album.

Harry
NP: HORIZON, Carpenters

 

[Mike Blakesley]

When I first saw this record, I was surprised that "Postman" was included in it. At that time, some major artists (Elton John comes to mind) were putting out singles that didn't go on any albums. Since it had been several months since "Postman" came out, and "Only Yesterday" was a new single at the time, I figured they'd save "Postman" for a future Hits compilation.

I was a bit disappointed in this album because my favorite thing about the Carpenters was the variety and "adventurousness" of their earlier albums. You never knew what you were going to hear next. With HORIZON, they scrapped pretty much all of what (for me) had made them great, except for Karen's vocals, of course. This album plays it a bit too safe as an MOR album and doesn't "have fun" like the previous two albums did.

This is all because Richard realized that Karen was the star of the show, so he ceded the spotlight completely to her. Therefore, he picked songs that would showcase her vocals and relegated himself to the background. Too bad, because I enjoyed most of the songs he sang lead on...they broke the albums up and lent some humor to the proceedings a lot of the time.

I probably like the album quite a bit less than Harry does, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some brilliance. For me the high point is "Solitaire," I never get tired of listening to that one. "I Can Dream, Can't I" would probably take second place. As for the two singles...I like "Postman" fairly well, but it doesn't really make my list of favorites. "Only Yesterday" sounds way too busy and overproduced for my taste...like I said, I enjoy the earlier simpler sound of their early albums more. I agree with Harry, it's a bit of a downer considering what had come before.

 

[song4u]

My favorite track on Horizon is Desperado. Karen's vocals on that song give me chills.

 

[Dave]

I'm quite certain there was some attempt to make this a "fun" album... Just that with the newfound ambitions and a change of pace in making the album "More Karen", came The Carpenters being More M iddle O f the R oad and with that things just took a more Serious Turn and came out in a more Somber Tone...

"I Can Dream, Can't I" just shows that Karen can be more conversant with "other background vocalists", other than Richard's and her own... "Desperado" shows that "covering Eagles" seems to have been "in" with the amount of "Best Of My Love" covers floating around, and Judy Collins and Linda Ronstadt, among others making "Desperado" their own, though Karen displaying it in a more loving and lilting way... "Only Yesterday" and "Please, Mr. Postman" sure seem to be the Catchy Chart-Climbers, and rightly so, with the Pop Charts loaded with a lott'a songs by a lott'a good acts...

Somehow, unlike the previous efforts and the previous Carpenters hits, this, whether Single-wise, or Album-wise is not exactly a "miss", but something that unfortunately just got Lost in the Shuffle... A trend which set the pattern of Carpenters albums to come...



Dave

 

[Johnny Angel]

I think that Karen was at her "best voice" on the HORIZON album... But like Harry says, this is a SLOW album. Check out the track listing again:

SIDE A

1. Aurora (slow)
2. Only Yesterday (energetic)
3. Desperado (slow)
4. Please Mr. Postman (energetic)
5. I Can Dream Can't I (slow)

SIDE B

1. Solitaire (SLOW!)
2. Happy (energetic)
3. (I'm Caught Between) Goodbye And I Love You (slow)
4. Love Me For What I Am (slow, but energetic on the chorus)
5. Eventide 1:32 (slow)

So you have two slow songs placed together, one from Side A and one from Side B. Perhaps if an energetic song had started off Side B... This album might have benefited by the inclusion of Trying to Get the Feeling Again, though I think it would qualify as another "slow" ballad. I also wonder if it would have had that rousing guitar bridge back in 1975... I can still remember the pleasant surprise of This Masquerade on the NOW & THEN album... Another "jazzy" song like that would have helped HORIZON immensely...

It's ironic that one of Karen's all-time best performances, SOLITAIRE, is the performance that really drags the album down... (Side note: When I was in college, I selected this tune on the jukebox at the college gathering place. Beore the first verse had finished, someone walked up and unplugged the jukebox to cancel it. When I yelled in protest, he said, "It's too slow! I came here to have a good time..." ) I wonder if SIDE B had opened with HAPPY, if it could have elevated the mood brought down by I CAN DREAM, CAN'T I...?

You also have to take the cover of HORIZON into consideration. It was the first time I had ever seen a photo of a serious Richard and Karen. Karen never looked lovelier... but when you view the cover while listening to the songs, the songs border on depressing...

 

[Harry]

With the album clocking in at under 35:00, and two of the "songs" being short album bookends, and the total number of tracks only totalling 10, I think the album needed at least one more song to maybe finish it off.

One more energetic, or fast, or happy Carpenters-type song with a lot of neat overdubbed choruses would have done the trick. Maybe even just a reworking of a Bacharach tune from their medley.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I only have this album on LP, so I just went in and listened to the Amazon sound samples of it. One thing that struck me is how short the album is. Under 35 minutes, at a time when albums were pushing over the 40 minute mark regularly. Given that two songs (the bookends) are essentially the same song with different words, and one ("Please Mr. Postman") was six months old when the album came out, the briefness of the album is all the more evident.

This record needed one or two more uptempo songs, and maybe one Richard vocal and possibly an instrumental. If they'd taken out "Desperado" as Harry suggests, and put in about four songs worth of the more adventurous material (like they had on A SONG FOR YOU, for example), things would have been better.

That's just my 2¢, I realize that many folks think this album is near-perfect. That's what makes the online community fun, the differences of opinion.

 

[Harry]

Two minds - as if they were only one...

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Wow, that's amazing!

 

[Chris_Sydney]

I posted this last year, and my feelings haven't changed!

The Carpenters never got it more right. 'Horizon' is a flawless album from beginning to end and would feature prominently amongst my favourite LPs of all time. Karen's voice is sensational, probably the best vocals she ever committed to record. That low alto is still present in all its glory and Richard's production was still clean enough to let Karen shine without negating the record's commercial appeal.

The album cover is my favourite Karen and Richard photo, and probably one of my favourite album covers full-stop. The slight grainy quality, the natural lighting, and both Karen and Richard looking very candid and unposed. I love it. It's also nicely indicative of the darker feel the album went for in terms of song selection and Karen's performances. No cheesy smiles or twee oldies like 'Jambalaya' in sight (I think 'Please Mr. Postmas' was well chosen and has dated much better than a lot of their covers).

'Aurora' and 'Eventide' are gorgeous bookends for the album. I wish someone would edit them into one track because they're both over far too soon. That opening lyric of Karen confessing 'morning opens quietly...' gets me every time. It's like someone opening the bedroom blinds just a crack to see the light filter in and flood a sliver of the room. Those blinds get thrown open at a couple of places throughout the album's duration ('Only Yesterday', 'Please Mr. Postman', 'Happy') but otherwise Karen as the protagonist in the drama seems happy to remain curcled up in the darkness. The two standout songs for me are 'Desperado' and 'Love Me For What I Am'. 'Desperado' is a standout because of Karen's vocal performance. It blows me away how she managed to sound so intense and passionate but still remain restrained on the lyric 'don't you feet get cold in the winter tiiiiiime'. I want someone to make a montage video set to the Carpenter's version of this song out of scenes from 'Brokeback Mountain'. I hadn't thought of the association before the other night when Dad heard me playing the song and commented on how well the lilt of the song, the harmonica, and the lyrics suit that film. That final line 'you'd better let somebody love you before it's too late' is about as heartbreaking as Ennis' 'Jack, I swear...'

'Love Me For What I Am' also sports a fantastic vocal from Karen, but it's Richard's production that takes it to another level. The soft, fragile voice calmly and objectively reflecting on a relationship in the verses, before morphing into a strong assertion of the inevitable in the chorus. 'If you're only using me to feed your fantasy, you're really not in love, so let me go'. Richard's treatment of Karen's voice there is sensational. Easily one of my favourite Carpenters songs for those very reasons.

'Solitaire' always reminds me of 'Nature Boy' at the beginning. 'There waaaaaas a boy... a very strange, enchanted boy'. hahaha. I used to be a big supporter of this song but I think it's slowly becoming one of my least favourites on the album. The album version seems to lack a little something. 'Happy' is infectious without ever heading into cheesy territory, a triumph in itself for such an earnest love song. That song reminds me of summer and I rarely tire of it.

I definitely think this was the Carpenters at their peak. I don't really consider them an albums group, as a good greatest hits plays much better than any of their studio releases, but no studio record is anywhere near as consistent or satisfying as 'Horizon'.


x

 

[Johnny Angel]

I have an account on YouTube as Ned Nickerson. Here's the video I made for Desperado

Carpenters - DESPERADO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ_egZyWkqI

and Solitaire

Carpenters - SOLITAIRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POzHeXJao8

 

[Dave]

Forgot to mention that "Solitaire" was a BALLAD, which along with "Please, Mr. Postman" and "Only Yesterday" was also getting the Regulation Radio Play...

And luckily it was a fitting piece to be included in their Love Songs compilation...

The "bookending" the album with "Aurora" and "Eventide" was also a nice idea and I really wonder where Richard & Karen came up with those titles for the two "beginning & ending" songs...



Dave