⭐ Official Review [Single]: 26. "I BELIEVE YOU"/"B'WANA SHE NO HOME" (2097-S)

Which side is your favorite?

  • Side A: "I Believe You"

    Votes: 20 34.5%
  • Side B: "B'wana She No Home"

    Votes: 38 65.5%

  • Total voters
    58
It’s on my “Carpenters Jazz Side”
Playlist on my iPhone. I play it a lot. It includes Another Song, A Song For You, This Masquerade, The Karen & Ella Medley, Only A Fool, If I Had You,Prime Time Love, All I Can Do and others.
It would have been so great to hear them do an actual complete jazz vocal album, or Karen recording an album on torch songs. What could’ve been.....
 
It’s on my “Carpenters Jazz Side”
Playlist on my iPhone. I play it a lot. It includes Another Song, A Song For You, This Masquerade, The Karen & Ella Medley, Only A Fool, If I Had You,Prime Time Love, All I Can Do and others.
It would have been so great to hear them do an actual complete jazz vocal album, or Karen recording an album on torch songs. What could’ve been.....

That sounds like a great playlist. The Karen & Ella medley is brilliant! My nan is a huge Ella fan so I grew up with her music :love:
 
I meant Ordinary Fool, oops.
Also includes The Bacharach medley from the box set, Little Girl Blue, I do it for your love, B’wana She No Home, Stiil Crazy, and Last One Singin’ the Blues.
A fun playlist. I really liked their jazzy side. One song that really gets me very emotional is the longer version of “Make It Easy on Yourself “ from the Music Music Music special. Just wow!!!
 
So the 45 single is a little different from the "Passage" album?? Is the 45 single sounds like stereo?? Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
So the 45 single is a little different from the "Passage" album?? Is the 45 single sounds like stereo?? Matt Clark Sanford, MI
There's a thread somewhere here about this discovery. But I don't remember where.
The 45 single is the same as the vinyl LP both exhibit a more open cleaner sound with especially better highs. Karen has never sounded brighter than on these original vinyl versions. There is also some natural reverb which really opens the song up in my opinion. In this case reverb is a good thing.

I always felt all the CD versions which contain this track were too muddy and Karen just seemed buried in the mix. I also can't understand how this vinyl version got so messed up when it came time to put it out on CD. The only one that carries much of the vinyl version is the original 70's Passage CD. All the remasters just mucked it up.
 
I also can't understand how this vinyl version got so messed up when it came time to put it out on CD. The only one that carries much of the vinyl version is the original 70's Passage CD.

The "not-too-bad" CD version also shows up on the SWEET MEMORY set, but really, this one sounds better on original vinyl.
 
I ALWAYS have thought B'Wanna was an inspired choice for the Carpenters. Karen did a wonderful job on her interpretation. FLAWLESS really. It showed me as well what I had always suspected that Richard and Karen could have produced a wildly successful JAZZ album. Oh MAN to hear a FULL album of Karen singing from ELLA'S songbook or Billy Holidays Catalog would have been beyond compare. Or Karen could have hired the reigning Jazz greats of the day, gone in the studio and produced a work that would have been a major release. An instant CLASSIC that would have withstood the test of time. A JAZZ release would have been far superior to Karen's solo effort and could have positioned her for a GRAMMY! (Given a record producer that could have helped Karen find the PROPER keys for Ms. Carpenter to sing in!) Somehow Karen forgot the "the money was in the basement" meaning she was known for her LUSH lower register. Coulda -Shoulda -Woulda!! Ah well... I'm thankful for what we do have from her.. :dancing::rolleyes:
 
^^^ Yeah, forget country. They could have made an astounding jazz album. Imagine all the riches they had to choose from. With her beautiful contralto voice, Karen would have nailed songs like The Very Thought Of You, Fly Me To The Moon or Embraceable You. But it’s not just the material they could have picked. Imagine the arrangements! Richard could have produced the album and brought veterans like Billy May and Nelson Riddle on board as arrangers.

Sit back, close your eyes, turn this up and imagine for a moment it was Karen’s voice that came from the speakers instead of Ella’s...

 
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I just got in the mail this morning a German promo copy of this single on the CBS labela. The back had this write up

CBS -Blitzinformation. CARPENTERS

Karen und Richard CARPENTER sind das erfolgreichste Geschwister-paar der Popmusik. Seit 10 Jahren liefern sie Hit auf Hit — die Palette reicht von „We‘ve Only Just Begun“ über „Postman“ bis hin zu „Sweet Sweet Smile“, einem Song, der dem deutschen Publikum noch in bester Erinnerung ist. Die vorliegende Single ist der neueste US-Erfolg der CARPENTERS von denen im Januar eine neue LP zu erwarten ist.


(English translation)
CBS - Lightning Information. CARPENTERS
Karen and Richard CARPENTER are the most successful siblings of pop music. They've been delivering hits on hit for 10 years - the palette ranges from "We've Only Just Begun" to "Postman" to "Sweet Sweet Smile," a song that is still best remembered by the German audience. This single is the latest US success of the CARPENTERS, from which a new LP can be expected in January.

Also, CBS did a better marketing job with the single jacket as it’s purple with a photo of Karen in a blue suit leaning against a post and Richard in a blue & white cowboy button up shirt and navy pants, with his left arm stretched out behind Karen and touching the same post. In the US A&am just used a generic A&M jacket framing the 45’s center label.

It’s interesting how CBS was promoting a new album for January 1979.
 
Also, CBS did a better marketing job with the single jacket as it’s purple with a photo of Karen in a blue suit leaning against a post and Richard in a blue & white cowboy button up shirt and navy pants, with his left arm stretched out behind Karen and touching the same post.

images
 
Kind of interesting that “We’ve Only Just Begun” was mentioned, seeing as it didn’t chart in Germany. A better selection would’ve been “Yesterday Once More”, which hit #21. Postman hit #10 and was their biggest hit in Germany, while Smile hit #22.

“I Believe You” didn’t even chart in Germany. So if a new album had been released by the Carpenters in 1979, would CBS have released it after the negative reception to its lead single.
 
My vinyl album from Brazil called “Just Hits” 1982, has that same picture on the back side as the German I Believe You. The cover is the pic used on the Made In America inner sleeve, similar to the one made in Australia. The label is tan with Columbia going around 6 times. A tiny A&M logo at the top. The album cover says Columbia on the bottom rt. corner. The back has A&M on the bottom rt. corner. Interesting.
 
Tom, my point was that the record was still on an A&M label - it was merely pressed by CBS in Germany. They wouldn't have had anything to do with promotion or marketing. Many, many US records on the A&M label were pressed by Columbia pressing plants, but the marketing and promotion all happened at A&M. Your post said it was on "the CBS label".
 
Tom, my point was that the record was still on an A&M label - it was merely pressed by CBS in Germany. They wouldn't have had anything to do with promotion or marketing. Many, many US records on the A&M label were pressed by Columbia pressing plants, but the marketing and promotion all happened at A&M. Your post said it was on "the CBS label".
Did you take a look at that link? This was a CBS promo 45 on the CBS label.

Blitzinformation was CBS’s German Promo label in the 1970’s.

When was the last time you saw a lightning bolt on an A&M issued record that was only pressed by CBS or another label? As far as I know, A&M never used a lightning bolt or had a label called Blitzinformation (English: “Lightning Information” ).

 
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No, sorry. I looked at the Discogs link. But I see the Trevor Thurlow link. Why is it sideways?

It's still an A&M record, licensed to be issued in Germany by CBS. I would never call that a "CBS label".

BwanaGermanyy.jpg
 
No, sorry. I looked at the Discogs link. But I see the Trevor Thurlow link. Why is it sideways?

It's still an A&M record, licensed to be issued in Germany by CBS. I would never call that a "CBS label".

BwanaGermanyy.jpg
Sorry but it’s a CBS issue. It’s only the “A” side that has the CBS lightning bolt. A&M may’ve licensed it to CBS, but CBS was in full control of marketing.
 
It's a CBS pressing of an A&M Record. I'm done with this.
 
I just noticed, but on the record label, CBS forgot the ‘S’ on ‘Carpenters’, so any copies without the sleeve, or DJ’s reading from the label, would be assigned to or call ‘Carpenter’ —- maybe that’s why it didn’t do anything in Germany.
 
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