"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" discovery

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Rudy

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As some of you know, I think the version of this song from Passage has got to be one of the worst renditions of this song in recorded history. But I may have figured out that they only covered this song based on someone else's poor rendition of it. I was at a store yesterday, and heard a version that sounded like typical mid 70's pop/rock, and it was just about identical to the Carpenters' version, including the way the original lyrics were rewritten.

Did some searching this morning, and discovered that this song was originally recorded in this arrangement by none other than the late Robert Palmer.

So I guess the short story here: I can't blame anyone in the Carpenters' camp for writing this arrangement and changing the lyrics...instead, they did almost a note-by-note copy of the Palmer version. (Which is questionable itself, but Palmer's recording of it is in such bad taste compared to the original... :shake: )

I still don't like this version no matter who records it. Hear Belafonte's two original versions if you want to hear how it should sound.

Here's a link to the album at Amazon (which has a sound clip of it):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001FV8

:shake:
 
I remember Robert Palmer in one interview was upset that this arrangement / style of Man Smart ...had been recorded by Carpenters :o

This is a case of Richard as stated in the recent Japanese 35th Aniv Box Set not being creative enough with writing , selecting and arranging material for 1977 /1978 period and now regrets some of the song choices / arrangements / production :confused:

Peter
 
PJ said:
This is a case of Richard as stated in the recent Japanese 35th Aniv Box Set not being creative enough with writing , selecting and arranging material for 1977 /1978 period and now regrets some of the song choices / arrangements / production :confused:

That was also mentioned in Ray Coleman's book--the creative energy level wasn't up to where it should have been for the "Passage" album, due to Richard's various "issues" during that time. The arrangements were close enough--Richard really didn't have to do much more than translate Palmer's sound to Carpenters'. It DID seem odd to me that, as much as they enjoyed older songs, they would not rearrange this song as drastically as this. Now that I know Palmer's came first, it makes sense.
 
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