THE OFFICIAL REVIEW: "NOW & THEN" (SP-3519)

[Chris May]

“NOW & THEN”​

Catalogue Number: A&M SP-3519
Date of Release: 05/09/73
Chart Position- U.S.: #2; U.K.: #19; JAPAN: #1
Album Singles: "Sing”/"Druscilla Penny”
"Yesterday Once More"/”Road Ode”
Medium: Reel/Vinyl/8-track/Cassette/CD​

Track Listing:

1.) Sing 3:20 (Raposo)
2.) This Masquerade 4:50 (Russell)
3.) Heather 2:47 (Pearson)
4.) Jambalaya (On The Bayou) 3:40 (Williams)
5.) I Can’t Make Music 3:17 (Edelman)
6.) Yesterday Once More 3:50 (Carpenter/Bettis)
7.) Oldies Medley:
a. Fun, Fun, Fun 1:32 (Wilson/Love)
b. The End Of The World 2:25 (Dee/Kent)
c. Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home) 1:43 (Greenwich/Barry/Spector)
d. Deadman’s Curve 1:40 (Berry/Christian/Kornfeld/Wilson)
e. Johnny Angel 1:30 (Duddy/Pockriss)
f. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes 1:45 (Weisman/Wayne/Garrett)
g. Our Day Will Come 2:00 (Hilliard/Garson)
h. One Fine Day 1:40 (King/Goffin)
8.) Yesterday Once More [Reprise] 0:48 (Carpenter/Bettis)

Album Credits:

Produced by: Richard & Karen Carpenter
Arranged & Orchestrated by: Richard Carpenter
All Vocals: Richard & Karen Carpenter
Keyboards: Richard Carpenter
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Karen Carpenter
Flute & Tenor Sax: Bob Messenger
Baritone Saxophone: Doug Strawn
Recorder: Tom Scott
Lead Guitar: Tony Peluso
Guitar: Tony Peluso & Gary Sims
Steel Guitar: Buddy Emmons & Jay Dee Maness
Oboe & Bass Oboe - English Horn: Earl Dumler
Voice of D.J.: Tony Peluso
Engineered by: Ray Gerhardt, Assistant: Roger Young
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman
Art Direction: Roland Young
Photography - Front Cover: Jim McCrary
Illustrations - Front Cover: Design Maru; Inside Cover: Len Freas
Special thanks to: The Jimmy Joyce Children's Chorus on Sing, Ron Gorow, Hal Blaine: Drums on Jambalaya

 

[Dave]

The "MOR Neurosis" has taken over! But in a good way! Karen & Richard stretch out of the box, introducing pop songs w/ country pedal steel ("Top Of The World"--a big hit, as well!), a re-working of a country ballad ("Jambalaya"--an ascension of what would give rise to seeing fit to covering another one "Goofus", an album later), while introducing yet "another Medley", given that while one of Bacharach songs worked well, another one was given a try, this time "Oldies" (and perhaps one of the first uses of the term, given how these songs of the '50's & '60's suddenly qualify at the time!) while some conventional balladry, on the "Now Side" ranging from the well-known Leon Russell's "This Masquerade" to the obscure Randy Edelman's "I Can't Make Music", and a nice touch is the children's song "Sing" (from SESAME STREET, complete w/ kids chorus) and the sweeping, swooping, up-beat "Yesterday Once More", book-ending the "Medley" on that "Then Side"!

A good, Four-Star, effort...! The market was fair game for a work like this offering a few pleasant surprises, if it was more lean & conventional, compared to "the immortal brother & sister's" previous efforts!


-- Dave

 

[song4u]

I remember reading that Richard and Karen only recorded the oldies medley to fill that side of the album because they didn't have the time to look for new material. They topped it off with Yesterday Once More. While I loved it, as did all Carpenters fans I'm sure, as I recall some non-fans wondered why such talented people resorted to such old material. They expected more.

 

[newvillefan]

A patchy, hit and miss album for me. I love 'Yesterday Once More' and 'This Masquerade' but when it comes to 'Sing' and 'Jambalaya', I can take them or leave them. 'Heather' is just pure filler. The medley is a great novelty on the first listen, but I rarely if ever play it these days and the DJ chatter is just annoying. The most frustrating thing is that the songs in the medley that really suit her voice ('One Fine Day', 'End Of The World', 'Our Day Will Come') are just too short. I'd rather have heard any or all of them as proper, full-length versions.

One of the things I did love about it though is the gatefold sleeve, that was a great idea especially as it splashed the Newville House right across all three parts when opened out.

 

[aaflyer98]

I Love side 1. I wish side 2 had been Carpenters Originals instead of oldies, even though they are nice.

 

[Harry]

Apparently this album was a huge favorite in Japan, so much so that they've themed box sets around it.

I recall thinking the side two medley was kind of neat, showing a side of the Carpenters that we hadn't seen before - the ability to effectively mimic other performers. At the time we'd heard of their big influenes being the three B's, Bacharach, Beatles and Beach Boys. We'd heard their take on Beatles songs, they'd done a number of Bacharach tunes - here was their opening song of the medley being a take off on the Beach Boys, "Fun, Fun, Fun." And as a bonus, we got Skeeter Davis, The Crystals, Shelley Fabares, Ruby and the Romantics and others, all framed within the fabulous "Yesterday Once More" track and reprise.

Now, I have to say that while my initial appraisal was quite favorable, the whole oldies medley thing actually wore rather thin, rather quickly. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to just do it in concert and not devote the whole side of an album to it. Maybe a better idea would have been to make the oldies thing a special EP record that fans would have been eager to purchase. That would have made it a nice collectors item back in the day.

So after a time, to me it seems that NOW AND THEN sort of became a half-album, with one sensational song opening up side two, and a collection of so-so tracks making up side one. "Sing" was catchy the first few times through and also wears thin. It took me years to appreciate "This Masquerade" - I'd dismissed it as a slow song without much oomph.

"Heather" was familiar from the TV commercials that had spawned it, but it was after all just an instrumental that could have been on a 101 Strings or Mantovani album. It wasn't uniquely Carpenters.

"Jambalaya" was kind of fun, and "I Can't Make Music" was another ballad that I didn't really latch onto for years (the remix on TREASURES (Jp) is really neat.)

Even the first time through the album, I remember thinking: "'Yesterday Once More' - that's the big hit single from this album." And of course it turned out to be true. But the album version was quite different from what appeared on the single. Extra guitar and oboe fills were added, and of course the revving engines were removed as the song fades out. Still a brilliant song - and one which has been the title or lead-off track to many a Carpenters compilation.

The entire Oldies medley was remixed for the FROM THE TOP disc, and most of the tracks appear not only remixed, but without the DJ and/or sound effects in the Readers Digest set from 1997.

Harry

 

[Chris May]

Well said once again Harry.

My story with this album, like with many others is personal. I was getting into the Carpenters at a very young age as a result of the Karen Carpenter Story. I'd remembered hearing the unmistakeable magic in songs like 'Close To You', 'We've Only Just Begun', 'Superstar' etc. I didn't actually own my own copy of a Carpenters album at that point, but one day when taking a family trip to see relatives, my step father played one of the cassette tapes from his collection in the car, and it was this album.

I'll never forget hearing the A-side, particularly songs like 'Heather' and 'This Masquerade', and loving the mood they provided while on the drive. But I most remember being very anxious to hear that 'sound' that I'd become enthralled with as we listened on thru the rest of the album.

As much as I appreciated hearing 'Yesterday Once More', I have to say that after listening thru the entire album, and subsequently having played that album over and over again following that trip, I never quite got the same feeling of magic when listening to these songs as I had with songs from the previous three or four albums. A mood album, definitely and 4-stars for concept. Still very well produced and a staple with Carpenters' fans all over the world.

-Chris

 

[newvillefan]

This is interesting, someone did an extended mix of 'Our Day Will Come', looping the verse, which at least makes it feel like a fuller version of the song, clocking in at 3m27s.

 

[Harry]

^Fun with editing. I love this kind of stuff.

Harry

 

[Toolman]

I preferred (and still do) the "Then" side...although I definitely agree that they should have been able to come up with more strong originals. The medley works for me for a number of reasons: the songs are well-chosen; they trade leads, both sounding completely at home with the material; and, as others noted with "A Song for You", they approach it with a nice sense of humor. From this point forward, the Carpenters definitely made too many trips to the oldies well, but in 1973 it was fresh. And I appreciated how the medley seemed to say, "We have rock 'n roll roots, too."

The "Now" side...always loved "This Masquerade" and liked "I Can't Make Music". The rest of it...eh. There's "Sing", from Sesame Street, and "Heather", from Geritol commercials, both giving it a Lawrence Welk feel. "Jambalaya" is a great cajun party song that I'm not sure works so well with a lush treatment (nor does it fit the LP's concept, having been a hit in 1952 for both Hank Williams and Jo Stafford...older than the Side B oldies!). Yes, I know...big, big hit in many other countries.

 

[Mark-T]

Our Day is one of my favorite songs off the album. So glad to have this mix!

 

[Geographer]

Once again, I find myself in the minority here. I really like "Heather." As someone said, it has "mood." I liked Carpenters experimentations into the world of instrumentals and wish they had done more. "Jambalaya, " though is a bit on the corney side and would have better kept in the vaults until "A Kind of Hush" LP was released. That song would have been a fine fit on that album.

 

[A&M Retro]

"Now and Then" holds a special place in my mind, as the album was released just a few weeks after I saw the Carpenters perform live in Kansas City (4/21/73).

I remember running through the AM dial just before the album came out, and, strangely, the song that came blaring out of the speakers was "Da Doo Ron Ron" from the album. I had my tape recorder handy to record the new single, "Yesterday Once More", and caught that tune instead. The album was being previewed as "Album of the Week" on one of the local top 40 stations.

I knew instantly it was one of the songs from the show I'd just seen, and being 11 years old at the time, thought for a second it was a tape of my concert. Needless to say, I was THRILLED when the album came out, as it was like having a recording of the concert. Being that my brother accidentally dropped my tape recorder as we entering the arena (and broke it) a few weeks before, this album provided some comfort for the lost opportunity to record the show.

"Heather" was a tune I would play endlessly on the piano, as I could play 'by ear' along with the records. My Dad especially loved that tune, so it got plenty of airplay at our house. "Yesterday Once More" and "Sing" were also big favorites at the time.

I personally like "I Can't Make Music" the best of all the songs on the album today, despite the "Waltons" sound to the harmonica. Karen's vocals on that tune are stellar. "Jambalaya" and "Sing" haven't aged as well, but "This Masquerade" still sounds classy as hell.

I give the album (and the cool cover) four stars.

 

[Harry]

The fully opened tri-fold cover:



Harry

 

[Chris Mills]

I've only two things that I don't like about this album, "Heather" and that harmonica at the end of "I Can't Make Music". Karen's vocals are superb on so many songs, "Our Day Will Come", Yesterday Once More", "End of the World", "Johnny Angel", "This Masquerade" and "I Can''t Make Music". I'm sure the studio euipment must have been modified between the recording of this album and " A Song For You", this album was just beautifully engineered with Karen's voice out front.

Having said that, reverb was used to great effect for the remix of the oldies for "From The Top", although the roaring engine at the beginning of "Deadman's Curve" didn't sound too clever after the remix. Also when "This Masquerade" was remixed, the flute solo in the middle of the song instead of coming out of the right and left channels creating a haunting dual sound to the flute, it just sort of ended up in the centre, really noticed listening on headphones.

I really enjoyed the oldies, most of them I'd never heard before, so for me they weren't really oldies, and the highlight, which still gives me goosebumps, is the reprise of "Yesterday Once More", it's so simple, but it worked.

The tri-fold cover is amazing, I sat there for hours looking at it, pity this wasn't a double album with a vinyl record in each end of the tri-fold, but I think they struggled to get enough material for this album. Also there are two great photos of K&R on the inside, showing them seperately on the two ends of the tri-fold, with album credits in the middle.

In the UK "Jambalaya" had alot of radio play when released as a single, "Yesterday Once More " was on the radio almost everyday when it arrived on the UK charts, but as for "Sing", when released it just didn't work very well in the UK, think it must have been the childrens choir and all that "La La La La", a bit too sweet and pleasant for British tastes, but I did love Karen's vocals on "Sing".

Must be noted that Karen played drums on every song except for "Jambalaya" and Jack Daugherty was ommited from the album credits, production credits went rightfully to Richard and Karen, a step in the right direction, showing off their talents and their involvement in creative process.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm in the "mixed bag" camp on this album and pretty much agree with Harry on the side-one songs. "This Masquerade" and "I Can't Make Music" are great. "Sing" was kind of nice but a little too kids-y to be a real keeper for me.

I am in the apparent minority who really enjoys the DJing on side 2. Maybe it's because I always thought I would make a good DJ, I don't know. But I think the Tony Peluso bits are cool.

For a home-made compilation, I made a shortened version of the medley. I took out "Deadman's Curve," "Johnny Angel" and "The Night has a Thousand Eyes" which are my least favorite songs in the medley. The way I edited it was, when Peluso says "let's listen closely to the mystery voices in Clue # 10" I cut it immediately after the jumble of "voices," and then picked it up again just as he says "All right, right now I've got Mark Rudolph of North Hollywood......." So you hear "....Clue #10! (mystery voices) All right, right now I've got Mark Rudolph....." It makes the whole thing make sense and it shortens the medley considerably, and preserves all of the songs in the medley I like the best.

I'm kind of surprised that Peluso's screamin' guitar solo at the end of "Da Doo Ron Ron" doesn't get more notice. This was clearly a sequel to his solo in "Goodbye To Love," with him even using what sounds like the same guitar.

I am also big fan of the "Yesterday Once More" reprise. A nice bit of production there. I wish they had done "bookends" like that on all the albums...it brings the proceedings to a close in a very classy way.

 

[Mark-T]

The 8 track version includes a longer ending on Da Doo Ron Ron, and I wish Richard would have used it on some compilation. Does anyone remember that?

 

[Mark-T]

And by the way, I am loving this extended remix of Our Day Will Come. If the editor of the song reads this site, PLEASE do continue to work your magic on other songs! You are gifted- and we are blessed!

 

[Rudy]

I'm in the "mixed bag" camp on this album and pretty much agree with Harry on the side-one songs. "This Masquerade" and "I Can't Make Music" are great. "Sing" was kind of nice but a little too kids-y to be a real keeper for me.

Agreed on "Sing." When we got this album at home, I had outgrown the age of Sesame Street and used to cringe any time I heard that song. Still do a little, but at least I can listen to it now. The only song I really like is "This Masquerade." And to be honest, I can't even remember what anything else on side one sounds like, and have no real desire to listen to them either.

The medley side is what had me hooked on this album as a kid. The DJ shtick wears thin now, but it is one of those things I still like to hear every so often. And I like all of their covers of the oldies. The reprise I don't care for, however--for some reason it seems dirge-like coming at the end of all those upbeat songs. What would have worked better in my opinion would have been to fade "Yesterday Once More" in just before KC sings "...But they're back again, just like a long-lost friend." At least it would have ended the album on an upbeat note; to me that ending reprise is like closing a casket, throwing a pall on the entire album. To this day I can't stomach it.

 

[Dave60640]

One of my favorite "summer time" lps. It's fun, light-hearted and engaging. Every song make me feel and/or remember something from my past... Now & Then indeed!

 

[Harry]

The DJ shtick wears thin now, but it is one of those things I still like to hear every so often. And I like all of their covers of the oldies.

You'd probably like the Oldies Medley from THEIR GREATEST HITS AND FINEST PERFORMANCES, the Readers Digest compilation. Each song was remixed in 1990 and then recompiled there without the DJ or sound effects. It unfortunately misses "Da Doo Ron Ron", but does include a bunch of their other "castanet" oldies-type songs within the framework.

The reprise I don't care for, however--for some reason it seems dirge-like coming at the end of all those upbeat songs. What would have worked better in my opinion would have been to fade "Yesterday Once More" in just before KC sings "...But they're back again, just like a long-lost friend." At least it would have ended the album on an upbeat note; to me thhis at ending reprise is like closing a casket, throwing a pall on the entire album. To this day I can't stomach it.

Wow - I think this has to be the first time I've ever heard of anyone not liking the reprise. You're probably in a very small minority on that front. Most of us really love that treatment that gently closes the side of the LP and ties it up with an audio bow.

Harry

 

[Rudy]

You'd probably like the Oldies Medley from THEIR GREATEST HITS AND FINEST PERFORMANCES, the Readers Digest compilation. Each song was remixed in 1990 and then recompiled there without the DJ or sound effects. It unfortunately misses "Da Doo Ron Ron", but does include a bunch of their other "castanet" oldies-type songs within the framework.

It would be neat to mix those extra songs into the album version of the medley. It is so tightly sequenced that I can't imagine how I'd pull off editing it.

 

[Dave]

Yow, I forgot about "Heather"--and a mighty fine instrumental-answer to "Piano Picker", too! (Well, "I Can't Make Music" is another Randy Edelman homage, to which that songwriter must be someone whom Rich was enamored of...!)

Was "Heather" one of Carpenters' first "instrumental" songs? I once had that on a B-Side of a single, too!


-- Dave

 

[Rudy]

Anniversary!

Now & Then was released 29 years ago today.

http://behindthegrooves.tumblr.com/post/22732502239/on-this-day-music-history-may-9-1973-now

My "twin bro" Jeff has a cool blog with several daily posts about the current calendar day in music history, well worth following.

 

[BarryT60]

I give it an A+. Probably because it was the very first K & R album I purchased on my very own... My sister got Carpenters, and brother ASFY... so - for me - this was THE one. Heather, a blip on the radar screen - but the others, all incredible and loved. The album to me - stands the test of time, in that Yesterday Once More is a stunning piece of material from the wrting, the production - and the historical significance... Sing, a hit with commercial popularity... Masquerade, one somg than many feel shoul dhave been the third single, and the oldies medley... well that stuff was great material - and it was great to sing along with! Plus - I took up drumming the summer of my 13th year - and it was a great tutorial album for a newbie on percussion.... The iconic cover, and the fact that it was the prequil to The Singles LP - make it a standard bearing highlight to their career... And did I say it was the first album I ever bought with my very own grass-cutting money?????