Prime Time Love

Mark-T

Well-Known Member
I've been listening to this quite a bit, and I am enjoying it more than ever. Karen's vocals seem strong, the sax break is great, and all those background vocals! It all seems to come together and feels pretty contemporary. I can hear it on Made in America, maybe even as a replacement for Beechwood-45789. What do you think about this song?
 
While it's not the best song they ever did, I do like it quite a lot. It was a favorite of mine in '83 when the album was released, as well. If anyone needs any proof of Karen's voice being as strong as ever in 1980, this is it. There's nothing light or airy in her vocals at all, and the bridge to the song is very effective.
 
A song that I don't listen to often enough. It's pretty good - one of the better tracks on VOICE OF THE HEART - and found nowhere else.
 
If anyone needs any proof of Karen's voice being as strong as ever in 1980, this is it. There's nothing light or airy in her vocals at all, and the bridge to the song is very effective.

Although it’s one of my least listened to of their entire calatogue, compare Prime Time Love and others such as The Uninvited Guest and Two Lives with others like Strength Of A Woman and Back In My Life Again. What on earth was going on for there to be such a huge difference? Were the latter two recorded in the last sessions in early 1981, when her health was beginning to slide again? Because I can’t come up with any other rational explanation for the huge difference in the quality of her voice.
 
I've been listening to this quite a bit, and I am enjoying it more than ever. Karen's vocals seem strong, the sax break is great, and all those background vocals! It all seems to come together and feels pretty contemporary. I can hear it on Made in America, maybe even as a replacement for Beechwood-45789. What do you think about this song?

Karen sounds like she's having fun on it too. I agree that Richard's backgrounds are amazing. It's one of the few Carpenters tracks that actually grooves. Nice sax work too.

Ed
 
Definitely one of the stronger and more contemporary-sounding tracks from the Made in America sessions. Nice background vocals and one of Karen's best leads from the 1980/1981 sessions. I know some fans find the lyrics a bit corny in places, but they don't bother me.

This is the sort of song they should have been recording for and including on the album rather than things like 'When You've Got What It Takes', 'Strength of a Woman' and 'Beechwood'.
 
Definitely one of the stronger and more contemporary-sounding tracks from the Made in America sessions. Nice background vocals and one of Karen's best leads from the 1980/1981 sessions. I know some fans find the lyrics a bit corny in places, but they don't bother me.

This is the sort of song they should have been recording for and including on the album rather than things like 'When You've Got What It Takes', 'Strength of a Woman' and 'Beechwood'.


I totally agree with you. Prime Time Love comes as a fresh breeze. Exactly the kind of material a Made in America album should have had, if they really wanted to humor the market with a comeback in 1981.

I just remember I used to have this song as background music of my answering machine back home when I was like 16! 😆
 

If I was producing MIA in 1981, Prime Time Love would be the Album Opener. Forget Those Good Old Dreams as album opener—-that would be shoved into the vault, or even arranged completely differently, maybe for a future album, but Prime Time Love would be Prime Time. Actually, maybe instead of the album being called Made In America it would be called Carpenters: Prime Time Love!


And it would be the 6th single from the album, with its B-side (or maybe promoted as a Double-A side) Lovelines.
 
^^^ It sounds SO good!
Yes! The 38XB-4 1st press sounds beautiful. I can't listen to "Voice of the Heart" on any other CD anymore.

(The 2nd press of 38XB-4 is identical to the "1st press" Denon-for-U.S. press--doesn't sound as good imho.)
 
For me, where "Two Lives" and "Prime Time Love" especially shine on the 1st press CD is in the drums. They're a bit brighter than the later remasters, but they're not peak-limited at all. You really hear a lot of the layers of sound on all of the tracks, but these two in particular.

By the way... I did SoX de-emphasis for my YouTube videos but am not as happy with that result as I am with Stereo Lab. More than happy to discuss more in PM if anyone is interested in learning more about VOTH and de-emphasis!
 
Yes! The 38XB-4 1st press sounds beautiful. I can't listen to "Voice of the Heart" on any other CD anymore.

(The 2nd press of 38XB-4 is identical to the "1st press" Denon-for-U.S. press--doesn't sound as good imho.)

WOW! Those drums really do open up nicely, don't they? You can really hear the hi-hat here! That pressing is a "must find". I also think the vocal is a little more open without being too bright. Thanks for sharing!

Ed
 
Official YouTube video of the Remastered Classic:



Sorry, I don't hear any difference at all.
 
Official YouTube video:



Sorry, I don't hear any difference at all.


The YouTube clip is from the "Remastered Classics" and that's been bus-compressed a little bit. The previous CD versions haven't been. For the most part, I'm glad I saved by AM+ versions as those are my "go to", though I do have the "Now and Then" set also which I dearly love for visual reasons... :wink:
 
Official YouTube video:



Sorry, I don't hear any difference at all.

There is a difference. I was just listing on the internal speakers of my iPhone SE (2020). On the Remastered version, Karen’s vocal sounds more integrated into the backing vocals and instrumentation, and has a fuller sound. The Japanese 1st pressing seems to have Karen’s vocals “floating” over the rest of the song (kind of like cartoon, viewing the finished cartoon versus seeing the seperate layers, and Karen’s vocal has a sharpness to it. Also o, on parts I could hear a doubling or seperate bg vocal.
 
Yep. Uh-huh. Sure.

Big, big difference on the internal speakers of an iPhone...
 
I mean, I could publish waveforms of both the 1983 first press and the Remastered Classics rip. I think Tom is right, but I perceive it as a layered sound (like how oil settles above water)—the AM+ and Remastered Classics sound more integrated, likely because of peak limiting. Just my two cents tho.
 
I never actually found much that is distinctive or appealing in this recording - typical album filler: second rate, very hackneyed lyrics, a routinely generic melody, far too often used Carpenter background vocals, far too short Sax solo (cut off when just getting started)...the only thing that makes it interesting and listenable is the fact that Karen is singing it - and even so, she is not challenged here at all but could have done this while sleepwalking...
 
I mean, I could publish waveforms of both the 1983 first press and the Remastered Classics rip. I think Tom is right, but I perceive it as a layered sound (like how oil settles above water)—the AM+ and Remastered Classics sound more integrated, likely because of peak limiting. Just my two cents tho.
I've looked at the waveforms. All they show is extremely few instances of any peak limiting in both the AM+ and the Remastered Classic. I don't believe any human could detect those few peaks, and those are my two cents.
 
Back
Top Bottom