THE OFFICIAL REVIEW: "PASSAGE" (SP-4703)

[Chris May]

“PASSAGE”​

​

Catalogue Number: A&M SP-4703 ​

Date of Release: 09/23/77 ​

Chart Position- U.S.: #49; U.K.: #12; JAPAN: #7 ​

Album Singles: "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song”/"I Have You”​

"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft"/"Can't Smile Without You"​

"Sweet, Sweet Smile"/"I Have You"​

Medium: Vinyl/Reel/8-track/Cassette/CD​

Track Listing:

1.) B'Wana She No Home 5:29 (Franks)
2.) All You Get From Love Is A Love Song 3:46 (Eaton)
3.) I Just Fall In Love Again 4:02 (Dorff/Herbstritt/Sklerov/Lloyd)
4.) On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada/Don't Cry For Me Argentina 7:57 (Webber/Rice)
5.) Sweet, Sweet Smile 3:00 (Newton/Young)
6.) Two Sides 3:27 (Davis)
7.) Man Smart, Woman Smarter 4:21 (Span)
8.) Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft 7:07 (Klatuu)


Album Credits:


B'Wana She No Home:
Piano: Pete Jolly
Electric Piano: Larry Muhoberac
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Ron Tutt
Percussion: Wally Snow & Tommy Vig
Conga: Jerry Steinholtz
Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso
Tenor Sax & Alto Flute: Tom Scott
Vocal Arrangement: Gene Perling

All You Get From Love Is A Love Song:
Electric & Acoustic Piano: Richard Carpenter
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Ed Green
Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso & Ray Parker
Conga: Tommy Vig
Percussion: Jerry Steinholtz
Tenor Sax: Tom Scott
Background singers: Karen & Richard Carpenter, Julia Tillman, Carlena Williams, Maxine Willard

I Just Fall In Love Again:
Electric & Acoustic Piano: Richard Carpenter
Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Ron Tutt
Oboe: Earl Dumler
Harp: Gale Levant
Overbudget Philharmonic: Peter Knight, Conductor
Gregg Smith Singers: Gregg Smith, Conductor

On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada/Don't Cry For Me Argentina (From the opera Evita):
Overbudget Philharmonic: Peter Knight, Conductor
Gregg Smith Singers: Gregg Smith, Conductor
Announcer: Dennis Heath
Peron: William Feuerstein
Che: Jonathan Marks

Sweet, Sweet Smile:
Bass: Joe Osborn
Fiddle: Bobby Bruce
Banjo: Larry McNealy
Drums: Ron Tutt
Tack Piano: Tom Hensley
Acoustic & Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso

Two Sides:
Electric Piano: Richard Carpenter
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Ed Green
Acoustic Guitar: Lee Ritenour & Jay Graydon
Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso
Pedal Steel Guitar: Jay Dee Maness

Man Smart, Woman Smarter:
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Ed Green
Piano: Leon Russell
Tack Piano: Richard Carpenter & Tom Hensley
Steel Drums: Vince Charles
Percussion: Tommy Vig
Baritone Sax: David Luell & Kurt McGettrick
Tenor Sax: Jackie Kelso
Electric Guitar: Tony Peluso
Conga: King Erickson

Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem Of World Contact Day):
Acoustic & Electric Piano: Richard Carpenter
Synthesizer: Richard Carpenter
Drums: Ron Tutt
Bass: Joe Osborn
Electric Guitar & DJ: Tony Peluso
Oboe: Earl Dumler
Overbudget Philharmonic: Peter Knight, Conductor
Gregg Smith Singers: Gregg Smith, Conductor

Produced by: Richard Carpenter
Associate Producer: Karen Carpenter
Arranged and Orchestrated by: Richard Carpenter
I Just Fall In Love Again, On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada / Don't Cry For Me Argentina and Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft Orchestrated by: Peter Knight
Vocals: Karen & Richard Carpenter
Engineered by: Ray Gerhardt, Roger Young and Dave Iveland
Mastering Engineer: Bernie Grundman
Special Thanks to: Ed Sulzer, John Bettis and Ron Gorow
Art Direction: Roland Young
Design: Junie Osaki
Cover Art: Lou Beach

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You could start by saying that this new Carpenters album is the most daring, innovative, surprising, serendipitous and satisfying one they've yet made.

Another listen to their previous albums - beginning with the last two, the superb A Kind Of Hush and the sublime Horizon, then continuing all the way back to their debut LP, Ticket To Ride - will reinforce the conclusion that Karen and Richard's records have of course always had the qualities listed above, combined with impeccable taste and a quality of production that made their work a standard against which to measure that of their contemporaries. Taken as a whole, the Carpenters' recorded output makes up an oeuvre in which all pieces fit, in which daring adventurousness and taste have equal place.

Be that as it may ...

This is still the most daring, innovative, surprising, serendipitous and satisfying Carpenters album yet.

"This time there's more different sounds than ever before," Richard says. "I like many kinds of music, and I tried to include a lot of them in this album."

To be sure, there are plenty of "traditional" Carpenters-type tunes on these two sides: Steve Dorff's rueful I Just Fall In Love Again, Scott Davis' Two Sides, Juice Newton's countrified Sweet, Sweet Smile, and Steve Eaton's All You Get From Love Is A Love Song.

But even these are approached from angles slightly out of the ordinary. Note, for instance, Tom Scott's highstepping on All You Get From Love Is A Love Song. Two Sides, Richard's personal almost-favorite on the album, can be enjoyed for its face-value romantic irony, but at the same time it extends the emotional territory explored on the Horizon LP; and the lyric's suggestion of the duality of affairs is especially appropriate for Karen to sing, because the ambivalence enclosed by the song is a nice approximation of the chimerical quality of her own art - as soon as you think you've categorized her, she reveals another aspect of her range, one you'd overlooked or forgotten for a while.

Consider Man Smart, Woman Smarter. The Harry Belefonte calypso favorite is here totally transformed into a torrid, teasing, taunting rocker that jolts along like the first motorcar to come to Tobago. Karen performs like a native to the genre born, while King Ericson pounds the congas, Leon Russell pounds the ivory, Vince Charles works the steel drums, ex-Johnny Otisite Jackie Kelso jams on tenor, and weird vocal snatches boil and bubble out of the speakers.

Then there is B'wana She No Home. Michael Franks' sinuous, subtle, droll explication of the master-servant problem - another eye-opener: jazzy, seductive, and a spontaneous triumph, elegantly executed with the assistance of pianist Pete Jolly and flautist-tenorist Tom Scott, who trade choruses in one of the album's several "live" cuts.

"When recording, we usually begin with bass, drums, piano, and build from there," Richard explains, "but on several of these tracks, almost the whole thing was recorded live all at once, with just brass and strings overdubbed later. Certain pieces call for that."

One such definitely was Don't Cry For Me Argentina, from the Webber-Rice opera Evita. Some 150 people participated in the recording of this number, including members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and a 50 member singing group under the direction of Gregg Smith. The orchestration was by Peter Knight, an Englishman best known in this country for his recorded work with the Moody Blues. Singers and orchestra were assembled on the A&M Records soundstage, in front of microphones that led into the control booth of Studio D. "You get a beautiful sound that way," says Richard, "a much more open sound than you could get in a recording studio." The presence of press turned this "monster date" into instant news: the crispness of the production and playing, and Karen's powerful vocal, make for an instant favorite. Karen projects both worldly knowledge and unexpected innocence, sophistication combined with the pain of lost illusion. I doubt any other version could equal this one's poignance and authority; it becomes immediately definitive.

But surely the most unexpected entry here is the Carpenters' adaption of Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft, a paen to galactic communication written by the Beatles-influenced group, Klaatu. Richard chose this song for three reasons: "I'm a Beatles fan, a Klaatu fan, and a science fiction fan." Again, his arrangement is orchestrated by Knight. Richard purposely avoided the kind of electronic devices with which Klaatu conveyed the illusion of outer space. "They employed a lot of sound effects - tape delay, things like that - and did all their sweetening with synthesizer. I wanted to use the real thing." So Tony Peluso (who also portrays the confused disc jockey) plays his Appollonian guitar over swelling cosmic threnodies, swirling violins, pipe organ, choir, classical piano and a marching band - Charles Ives goes to Mars! Somehow it all seems as natural as catching a wave.

And there it is: exactly three months' labor, from the first vocals on Love Song to the final mix of Occupants - a potpourri of the Carpenters' special abilities and interests.

"We really had fun with this album," Karen says.

- Tom Nolan

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Don't Cry For Me Argentina:

For their second rock opera, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice - the creators of Jesus Christ Superstar - have chosen another story of a controversial historical figure whose popular appeal, dramatic flair, and social impact give an added dimension of emotional complexity to their music. Maria Eva Duarte Peron, the second wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, was born in the small town of Los Toldos into a poor family. At the age of 16, she came to the capitol city of Buenos Aires and rapidly achieved stardom as a radio and motion picture personality. Her Cinderella story background and her personal charisma helped her establish an enormous popular following in Argentina. She used this popularity to help her husband be elected President of Argentina in 1946. The Maria Eva Duarte de Peron Welfare Foundation, which she founded in 1947, provided millions of dollars for poverty relief, in a fund-raising effort clouded by scandals. When she died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 33, she achieved national status of virtual sainthood.

The musical selection from Webber and Rice's opera which appears on Passage, On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada / Don't Cry For Me Argentina, captures Juan and Evita Peron in their victory appearance at the Pink palace (Casa Rosada) after the 1946 Presidential Election. In Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Evita assures the crowd that she has not forgotten her lower class origins. She asks her beloved Descamisados (shirtless ones), as she referred to the poorest of the poor, to continue to love her: "Don't keep your distance." At the end of this emotional plea, she offers as proof of her sincerity the statement, "But all you have to do is look at me to know that every word is true." This line embodies the themes of Evita: the deceptiveness of political imagery, the persuasiveness of her personal warmth, and the irony of her life, which is inextricably intermingled with the history of Argentina.

- Digby Diehl

 

[Chris Mills]

This is my favourite Carpenters album, never tire of listening to it. The mix of different types of music, the orchestration, Karen's vocals, just blend together to create a superb album. The only complaint would be the very long sax piece on "Man Smart, Woman Smarter", seems to go on forever, and when that high pitch noise kicks in, think it's a tin whistle, that's when my claws come out.

Outstanding track would be "Calling Occuputants", a total suprise, couldn't fault it, and my favourite Carpenters recording. Karen's vocals are terrific on "Argentina", much better than Julie Covington's and Madonna's, could have been a big hit in the UK for R&K.

The introduction of Peter Knight into the recording team is like a breath of fresh air, he was able to add much needed influence in developing the evolution of the Carpenter sound. The laid back feeling of the previous album "Hush" is replaced with a new found energy, who would have thought Richard was reaching rock bottom not long after recording this album.

Karen and Richard should be very proud of the work that went into making this album, it just shines brighter than all the other albums.

 

[manofsteel1979]

It's not my favorite of all their records (A SONG FOR YOU is my fave), but it stands as the last great album they did (not counting CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT, of course). It's probably my third or forth favorite battling it out with CLOSE TO YOU, with HORIZON being number two.

It was a breath of fresh air and proved they had many new musical avenues to explore. The only two songs on the album I don't care much for are "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", mostly because of the overblown intro.( Otherwise, Karen's performance far outclasses Olivia Newton-John's version on her MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER album.)and "Mans Smart Women Smarter" because it goes on wayyyy too long. However the rest of the album? Perfection. "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" is probably one of my all time favorite Carpenters songs and should have been a much bigger hit. Had it been released in early 1975 as a single, it would have been a smash hit. "Sweet Sweet Smile" was kinda silly, but so catchy you can't help liking it. "Bwana She No Home" is such a Non-Carpenters recording...but that's what makes it so good. It's a shame "Just Fall in Love Again" was never a single for R&K. I'll never buy that it couldn't have been edited down for radio. Anne Murray did a great job with it and had a hit, but it should have been Richard & Karen's come back single. "Two Sides" is another missed opportunity as a single. So stripped back just largely driven by acoustic guitar and Karen's delivery of a pretty mature song.

"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" ... What more can be said of this song? Epic. Pure Epic. Yes, I know it was a remake of a Klatuu song, but I see more than a bit of a Beatles influence. In fact this song could have easily have been written by Lennon and McCartney in their heyday. The Piano Bridge in the middle evokes "A Day in The Life" from SGT. PEPPER and knowing their affinity and admiration of The Beatles, I doubt it was an accident. The only thing that takes away from it is the DeeJay bit at the beginning, but I still get a little laugh out of Richard's ad-Lib as the Alien , "We'd Like to Make Contact With You..... Baby." For a guy known to be very serious, it's nice to see that Karen wasn't the only one in the duo with a sense of humor.

Again, great album. It's a shame that their next ( and "last") pop album, MADE IN AMERICA, was so "paint by the numbers" and so unambitious.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

As a Michael Franks fan anyway, I really do like their version of "B'wana".....I'm sorry they didn't get to do more exploring in this musical vein - it is very close in spirit to the best late 70s/early 80s Manhattan Transfer jazz-pop, still some of my favorite music.

 

[Toolman]

Liked it a lot from day one. Agree with most of the mild critiques that have been made about it (but also remember spending a lot of time listening to the winding close of "Man Smart" to pick out the weird sound effects...train whistle, fighter plane, etc. Fun stuff.)

Favorite tracks: B'wana, Two Sides, Occupants. Enjoy "All You Get" but it's a bit too close to the earlier version done by the Righteous Brothers.

Don't think "I Just Fall" would've done anything for them at radio, though. Anne Murray had momentum that K&R did not. K&R's version is nice, and I really enjoy the guitar solo, but by the final chorus it's over-the-top. Would've been much better without the chorale.

Can't listen to "Man Smart" now without picturing that silly "Space Encounters" production number with Suzanne Somers. Pity they followed up such a good LP with such a goofy TV special.

 

[Harry]

This was a very different album, including the packaging. You had to look hard to even find the CᴬᴿᴾᴱᴺᵀᴱᴿS logo on the back.

"I Just Fall In Love Again" would have had to have been re-done to be a single in my humble estimation; certainly the lead vocal track would have had to have been replaced. Karen sounds very nasal on that track, as though she were getting over a head-cold or allergy attack, so I can understand why it was not released as a single. I still like the track - it just wouldn't have the magic as a single.

My favorite go-to track on PASSAGE has to be "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" - it's like a sequel in sound to "Only Yesterday", another favorite. I also loved "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" when it first came out, but I fear it's worn thin over the years. Nonetheless, while doing the listening for research for the Carpenters Recording Resource, when I got to this song on the SACD, there were the goosebumps all over again.

I guess one could look at some of these tracks as Karen-solo recordings, with Richard nowhere to be found in the instrumental tracks. Pete Jolly, Tom Hensley, and Leon Russell are on hand to handle some piano work, and this is the only album with no Richard Carpenter-composed tracks.

For some unknown reason, "On The Balcony.../...Argentina" was slowed down slightly for the Remastered Classics CD release of thos album, while the LP and the old A&M CD are at a slightly faster speed.

Harry

 

[A&M Retro]

I bought "Passage" the day it came out, and it was nowhere to be found other than in the Carpenters bin at "Record Bar". And they only had one copy. That was rather unsettling, considering the fact that just two years prior, "Horizon" was placed at the entrance. A&M certainly didn't promote the album nearly enough. But I do remember an excellent review from Paul Grein in Billboard.

That being said, "Passage" has grown on me a LOT since it first came out. I liked the album very much in '77, but didn't appreciate the experimental stuff as much as I do today. Now I can listen to "B'Wana She No Home", and I can truly appreciate Karen's great lead vocal and the fantastic arrangement. I wasn't into jazz/calypso at age 15 when it was first released, but 35 years of further listening has made me see the light.

"Occupants" blew me away when I first bought the single. LOVED IT. Still do. I prefer the single version, as the DJ intro can be a bit annoying. But I do love the "Ah's" at the end of the long version. Incredible.

"Two Sides" remains a firm favorite to this day, as well as "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song", my all-time favorite Carpenters single. I remember thinking the Carpenters were getting pretty 'hip' with that song, and noticed Karen was singing with some background singers on that track. Made me anticipate the new album coming out even more. I couldn't wait for the album to come out.

The only real dog on the album is "Man Smart, Woman Smarter", which just goes on too long. Strangely enough, I liked it a little better with the extra verse Karen sings in the "Space Encounters" special. Would be nice if Richard could remove the boring sax solo and replace it with that extra verse Karen sings. Wishful thinking....

 

[song4u]

I still get a little laugh out of Richard's ad-Lib as the Alien , "We'd Like to Make Contact With You..... Baby." For a guy known to be very serious, it's nice to see that Karen wasn't the only one in the duo with a sense of humor.

I wondered what that last word was.

I remember, back in the day (1977), going to the movies and seeing the "Calling Occupants" video showed before a movie. I can't remember now what the movie was - probably Close Encounters of the Third Kind - but I was so surprised that they actually showed that video in the theater! Those of us who were 'real' Carpenters fans were mostly on the D/L about our love for their music, and to see it on the movie screen like that was so cool.

 

[Rudy]

This one ranks as my #2 favorite album, a tie with Horizon.

As a Michael Franks fan anyway, I really do like their version of "B'wana".....I'm sorry they didn't get to do more exploring in this musical vein - it is very close in spirit to the best late 70s/early 80s Manhattan Transfer jazz-pop, still some of my favorite music.

I agree--I'm a fan of Franks also. I hadn't known his music when I first got this album, but it wasn't long until I started listening to WJZZ and they mixed some Franks into the mix. It is an interesting and unusual pick--of all the tunes Franks had up until that point, it has to be the most unlikely. But on the other hand, songs like "Eggplant," "Popsicle Toes" and even "Monkey See, Monkey Do" had a bit too much double-entendre. "Antonio" is a beautiful song but doing topical/biographical songs was not in their nature. "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Mr. Blue" would have been too slow.

"All You Get From Love" was the first track I heard--AC radio played it quite a bit before the album came out, and we grabbed the single at a local store a few weeks later.

Still not totally sure of "Balcony"...although one could argue it is authentic since it is part of the musical production. It does seem out of context with the rest of the album.

"Sweet Sweet Smile" is a great upbeat song, and "Two Sides" a nice follow-up. But the one song I skip was "Man Smart, Woman Smarter." Huge disappointment since I was used to the versions that Harry Belafonte had done in the 50s (where the lyrics actually meant something). I only learned several years ago that Carpenters did a near note-by-note copy of the version by Robert Palmer, which explains why it is so noisy and the lyrics go nowhere. The original lyrics actually would have been a bit racy back in their day. And yes, this could have faded out at least a minute sooner since it just treads water.

"Calling Occupants" is a neat track, although by now the DJ section is a bit played out. As a kid, though, who could not resist memorizing the whole sequence.

I consider this album to be one that broke the mold. While I miss songs by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams, and even Carpenter/Bettis, it took a lot of chances. At this point in my life, A Kind Of Hush is where they jumped the shark and became more stuck in MOR and, like mentioned earlier, even the "comeback" of Made In America was too cookie-cutter to be effective. I also would say that in my own ranking, this would be the "last great Carpenters album", flaws and all.

 

[Bobberman]

The first song from this i heard on radio was calling occupants and rememinded me of star wars and the whole sci-fi thing my brother and i were into at the time i was 10 in1977 and i liked all you get from love is a love song when i got my cd version of passage i agree man smart woman smarter could have been done better i like belafontes version best but the carpenters version is ok considering and me and everyone in my class in school mostly the girls liked sweet sweet smile that,was a big favorite to us so all i loved the dj routine of calling occupants at the beginning tony peluso really cracks me up even to this day i liked his bit on the yesterday once more medley and the outtakes from the box set from the top for me personally this album still has something for everyone and one of their best .. and in my opinion one of the best albums of 1977

 

[RainyDays]

PASSAGE is somethin' else! All You Get... should have been a sure-fire hit single and deserved a lot more popularity and attention than it did. How did it fail? It's awesome.

B'Wana may be a bit long, but it's fresh, fun, and sexy.

Sweet, Sweet Smile can feel a tad generic, but the energy makes up for it I think.

 

[Calvin R Murty]

Passage will always be special for me...because it was the first Carpenters LP I ever bought, in 1978 (we only got a record player the year before, in 1977. Prior to that, it was cassettes all the way). From that point on, I hunted high and low for the LPs that came before Passage and kept track of all that came after. My collection of studio LPs, live LPs and the two Singles LPs is now complete, with some others here and there, like Asia only releases and RC's Solo. I liked nearly everything on that LP except "Man Smart..." - it was a bit too long. They could have edited the long outtro and squeezed in something else, methinks!

 

[byline]

"Passage" has always held a special place in my heart. Clearly they were trying new things, trying to get a handle on a new direction for their career ... all while battling daunting personal demons of which I was not aware at the time (though I sensed that something was wrong, just couldn't pinpoint what it was). "Passage" is such a classic, in terms of '70s LP programming. You had the major-production bookends of "Argentina" and "Occupants" ... with so much gorgeous music filling out Sides 1 and 2. "B'Wana" was done in a style that I wish they could have explored more; I have long loved Singers Unlimited, and Gene Puerling's jazz vocal arrangement ranks right up there with his best Singers Unlimited work. While not a perfect album, "Passage" includes such challenging material that I'm impressed that Karen and Richard took it on. I would have preferred that they continue on this more experimental path, rather than the safer one they pursued on their before and after albums, "A Kind of Hush" and "Made in America."

 

[Rudy]

I forgot to mention that this is the Carpenters album that I own on four different formats, more by chance than anything else. I got it right after release on cassette (which of course never sounded the greatest). Replaced that with the LP. When CDs came along, it was the first Carpenters title I bought on CD (which I replaced with the Remastered Classics version). Several years ago, I purchased a lot of about 30 pre-recorded 8-track tapes, and Passage was among them. I've never located this on reel-to-reel tape, but I figure I might as well look for it just to be complete.

If you've never heard it, here is Robert Palmer's version--still not a fan of it, but at least at 2:30 in length, it is just the right amount:



Now, here is the real version of the song, with the unbutchered lyrics. Consider this was recorded in the late 50s, the lyrics are a bit ahead of their time. The last verse especially. Be sure to turn up the volume for a few seconds after he sings, "Eyes was blue..." This version is from Harry Belafonte's Calypso album. Once you watch the video, there is an alternate, faster version that clocks in around 2:36 that was recorded several years earlier with tamer lyrics.



Finally if you haven't heard the laid-back groove of the original "B'wana, He No Home", here's Michael Franks showing how it's done. For some reason, the two versions of this on YouTube run slightly slow, so his voice does not sound quite right.

 

[aaflyer98]

A different album, and one that I loved! I remember hearing "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" on my Grandma's car radio and all I could remember the first time was ..."Dirty old shame"! I enjoyed the album after buying it on the day of release. Concerned about not seeing the C's Logo, but again, Grandma who was a smart cookie said 'its on the back...perhaps they are trying to change their image". Smart woman. The only song I didn't care for (and still don't) was Man Smart Woman Smarter.
Also, in hindsight, could have done without the "Balcony of the Casa Rosada" and replaced it with another song. And of course, "the Choir" on "I just fall in Love Again". lose the CHOIR! Oh well, all in all it was and still is a FUN album to listen to.

 

[AM Matt]

Canadian trio The Stampeders also did "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" either in 1977, 1978 or 1979 but it is not on YouTube. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[toeknee4bz]

I remember reading somewhere (or maybe it was Casey Kasem talking about it on radio) that "Sweet, Sweet Smile" was originally intended as a joke. SOME JOKE! It went to top 10 on the country chart in 1978. I guess Karen and Richard had the last laugh!

 

[toeknee4bz]

I was also surprised to find Lee Ritenour and Jay Graydon on guitar credit on "Two Sides". Both of these guys are stellar guitar players on just about everybody's albums in the 1970s, most notably Steely Dan... but to have them guest on a Carpenters record... that's pretty special.

 

[newvillefan]

It's a shame "Just Fall in Love Again" was never a single for R&K. I'll never buy that it couldn't have been edited down for radio.

I've tried this and it's actually impossible to do, without making the join so obvious. Because of its structure and orchestration, you'd either have to cut the whole first chorus and second verse and go straight to the second chorus, or edit out the second chorus and replace it with the final one, where the choir and huge orchestration kicks in. The difference in ambiance between the first half of the song and the second is massive, mainly because of the choir, so the 'join' would be totally noticeable.

 

[A&M Retro]

The oboe intro could have been edited out. Sort of like how Richard edited out the piano intro to "I Need To Be In Love" for that single. But I agree it's a tough one to shorten.

 

[RainyDays]

The oboe intro could have been edited out. Sort of like how Richard edited out the piano intro to "I Need To Be In Love" for that single. But I agree it's a tough one to shorten.

The piano opening for INTOBIL is one of the best things about the track.

 

[A&M Retro]

You know, I was thinking the exact same thing! Great minds think alike.

 

[Dave60640]

To me "Passage” will always be a K&R album, not an A&M album. Probably why I still like it so much. When you look at the albums where R took the marching orders from the M in A&M such as AKOH and MIA, the "magic" and "spark" weren't as apparent as this album, Christmas Portrait and say, Close To You...where our fave duo did what THEY felt and wanted to express. Without being under that big thumb they really created some great stuff! They meant it and you felt it!

 

[RainyDays]

You know, I was thinking the exact same thing! Great minds think alike.

Of course they do! It gives the track a deeper feel and you feel it before Karen begins telling her autobiographical story.

 

[RainyDays]

To me "Passage” will always be a K&R album, not an A&M album. Probably why I still like it so much. When you look at the albums where R took the marching orders from the M in A&M such as AKOH and MIA, the "magic" and "spark" weren't as apparent as this album, Christmas Portrait and say, Close To You...where our fave duo did what THEY felt and wanted to express. Without being under that big thumb they really created some great stuff! They meant it and you felt it!

PASSAGE totally isn't more of the same (not that AKOH was bad) and even the major absence of the classy-as-hell logo/cutie pie pictures shows that this was something of a passion project. Only a few tracks I really like/love, but its ambitious and great to discuss. I'm with Harry and many others in saying that "All You Get From Love..." holds up amazingly well and is outstanding, and SHOULD HAVE BEEN A BIG HIT!