⭐ Official Review [Single]: 9. "IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME"/"FLAT BAROQUE" (1351-S)
- Thread starter Chris May
- Start date
Now reading:
⭐ Official Review [Single]: 9. "IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME"/"FLAT BAROQUE" (1351-S)
The A-side is clearly the better song here but like some of you guys I feel it's certainly one of their weaker singles, and even fairly weak for an album cut. It's hard to think of it as just being a deep cut when we know it wasn't, but I think as a album cut and especially as an A-side, it's just way too bland and demo-ish without really an punch to it. Karen sounds fine but the lyrical subject matter and arrangement don't really give her voice anything interesting to do. When compared to the depth of feeling/exhilaration of Hurting Each Other (one of their best songs ever and a song also from that era) it looks even worse.
Easy to see why it stalled at #12, and ruining their string of Top 10.
Easy to see why it stalled at #12, and ruining their string of Top 10.
John Adam
"A House Is Not A Home"
If this would of been later in their career, this song would of been blamed as the single that did them in. Luckily they were on a hot streak and really fortunate it charted (even) at #12 pop. It doesn't pack much emotional wallop.
There are much better Carole King songs than this one. Karen sings it adequately of course, but I also find it best left as an album cut.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
Great observation and I think you're right. They got away with it this time only because they were on a winning streak.
To be fair, 'It's Going to Take Some Time' is a perfectly nice song (it's no madness of a single like 'Goofus'!). It just lacks something. I remember that I first heard it on The Singles 1969-1973. It was the only song on there I didn't recognise, but it also felt out of place musically, as if it lacked the necessary credentials to feature on there.
I always felt that 'I Won't Last a Day Without You' should have been on that album instead (technically it was a double A-side single with 'Goodbye to Love' in the UK in 1972), as that song was far stronger and would have worked perfectly on the singles album - it stuck out like a sore thumb on the 1974-1978 collection when it was included on there.
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Amusingly, I listened to Dishwalla's 1994 version this morning,
I very much like what they did with the song ! They added the pizzazz.
I always wondered if Richard Carpenter selected the song simply intending to feature
that flute solo (Bob Messenger) as its stand-out.
The song cries out for a major re-interpretation with the Royal Philharmonic !
I very much like what they did with the song ! They added the pizzazz.
I always wondered if Richard Carpenter selected the song simply intending to feature
that flute solo (Bob Messenger) as its stand-out.
The song cries out for a major re-interpretation with the Royal Philharmonic !
Another Son
Well-Known Member
I knew ‘It’s Going to Take Some Time’ and was very fond of it as a little boy at the time it was a single. I used to sit up and listen when it was played on the radio. I liked the mention of trees and winter time and birds on a telephone line. I remember that I had no idea what Karen was singing in the line, “I’ll learn how to bend”. A few years later, when I was given ‘Great Hits of The Carpenters Volume 2 1969 to 1973’ for my eleventh birthday, ‘It’s Going To Take Some Time’ was a familiar and much-liked song first time I played the album. I am fond of it to this day.
Yes, I enjoy Dishwalla's version too. One of the few bright spots on the tribute album and (dare I say it) probably superior to the Carpenters' version.
Also just heard the C's 1989 remix and though I used to dislike it for the datedness of the 80s keyboard, it doesn't bother me anymore and the whole track sounds much more richer and alive. Karen's vocal sounds much better too, whether it's the reverb or sharpening of the sound she sounds more effective than the blandness of her use on the original.
Interesting reading all of the different observations about this single. I, for one, went crazy over it the very first time I heard it. I was 10 at the time, and remember hearing it while driving home from Cub Scout baseball. I scrounged up 62 cents (plus tax) and got a ride to K-Mart to buy it. 
While it probably hasn’t aged as well as many other singles from their golden period, I still love it.
While it probably hasn’t aged as well as many other singles from their golden period, I still love it.
Carpe diem
Well-Known Member
Kacfan
Well-Known Member
Did they ever perform it’s going to take some time this time in concerts ? The only other top 20 song that has not been performed live is solitaire and that is post 1975 and also Karen wasn’t crazy about it. So given how much they toured up until 1974, and this was a 1972 hit, why didn’t they perform this song live?
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
It would be interesting to see a list of tracks from the albums spanning 1969-1976 (for me "the touring years") that were never performed in concert. Solitaire is an obvious one that springs to mind. On the flip side, they performed Don't Be Afraid in concert in 1976, which is a bizarre choice.
There must be lots they never performed. They weren't really an act that focused on playing lots of new songs from each new album whenever they toured apart from the singles - and even some of those, like 'It's Going to Take Some Time', I don't think were ever performed live.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
I should have "singles", not just any album tracks otherwise there would probably be around 100. Are there any others singles aside from Solitaire and It's Going To Take Some Time? It would have been amazing to hear them perform Calling Occupants live!
I'm sure most of the singles up to 1976 other than those two were performed at some stage, although a few of them like 'I Won't Last a Day Without You' were only performed as part of a medley rather than in full. Was 'Only Yesterday' performed in full when they toured in 1975?
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
It was indeed. Harry posted the ‘live’ version of ‘Only Yesterday’ from 1975 recently. Could be time for a re-post because it’s awesome!
Hearing ‘Occupants’ in a ‘live’ setting would have been extraordinary. Great thought, Stephen! If things worked out very differently for Karen, I’m sure we would have experienced just that.
Hearing ‘Occupants’ in a ‘live’ setting would have been extraordinary. Great thought, Stephen! If things worked out very differently for Karen, I’m sure we would have experienced just that.
goodjeans
Well-Known Member
...thank you for this post Harry. You captured the excitement that I felt hearing a new Carpenters song on the radio.
Similar discussions
