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

HOW WOULD YOU RATE THIS ALBUM?

  • ***** (BEST)

    Votes: 1 3.8%
  • ****

    Votes: 12 46.2%
  • ***

    Votes: 7 26.9%
  • **

    Votes: 5 19.2%
  • *

    Votes: 1 3.8%

  • Total voters
    26
Status
Not open for further replies.

Chris May

Resident ‘Carpenterologist’
Staff member
Moderator
“PASSAGE”​

sp4703.jpg
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/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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

=============================================================

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
 
I'd been fairly bored by the two previous Carpenters albums, so when this came out I was really pretty excited to get it on the turntable. I was hoping for a return to the variety, the adventurous spirit and the overall artistry of A SONG FOR YOU.

It had a lot going for it:
- Different logo
- Unusual (for Carpenters) album title
- Gatefold cover (usually a sign of something special)
- Offbeat song titles
- Special plastic-lined paper innersleeve
- Extensive liner notes

Well, I was let down. The album has variety all right, but it stumbles around in so many directions that it never knows which way it's going. The whole thing is so overblown. It's like they threw everything but the kitchen sink at the wall, hoping something would stick. Unfortunately, not much did.

I can't count a single tune from this record on my list of Carpenters faves. In fact, it contains the one song that ALWAYS makes me reach for the "skip" button: "Calling Occupants." How Tony Peluso could be so fun to listen to on NOW AND THEN and so annoying on this song, is beyond me.

Sorry to start off this thread with a "bad" review, but hey, you want official, you got it. But maybe this will get a nice debate going....fire away folks! :D
 
Mike--you better duck! :D

Anyway, this was one of my favorites when it came out--in fact, I own it on cassette, LP and CD (two copies of it), and I may have to check, but when I bought a bunch of 8-tracks a few years ago, this may have been in it also.

I don't think I like it now as much as I used to, but it still has high points. It was an artistic stretch IMHO. Opening with a Michael Franks song, you knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary Carpenters album. I would say that the only song that grates on my nerves is "Man Smart, Woman Smarter". It is a remake of a noise (and IMHO, tasteless) version by Robert Palmer; I grew up with Harry Belafonte's version, and the lyrics on that version actually have some meaning (and some sly humor that would have been considered risqué back in the late 50s when it was first released).

I still do like "Calling Occupants", even with Tony Peluso's DJ part on the beginning. I'm still undecided about "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"; KC does a nice reading of it, but I don't know if the whole balcony scene really works here. It did take some guts to put this on the album though.

My favorite track is probably "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song". Notable here, though--there isn't one Carpenter/Bettis track on the whole album, nor is there anything by the Nichols/Williams songwriting team either.
 
An Uplifting Turnabout! Right after the "quietude" of the last releases, A Kind Of Hush and Horizon... A bit, Over-The-Top, yet a very welcome Change Of Pace...

Steve Eaton recorded some of his songs at A&M Recording Studios when recording his Hey Mr. Dreamer album, and that's how Art Garfunkel recorded his "Rag Doll" (which at first was going to be the Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons song) and The Carpenters did his "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song"... (We'll pass on "We're All Powered By The Same Old Juice", thanks...) A favorite "should'a been hit" included on both the Classics, Vol. 2 and Yesterday Once More 2-CD sets...

"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft", without the D.J. & Alien "Observing Our Earth" dialog gets so much radio airplay--and I don't think the dialog is really as repetitious as the D.J narrating the "Oldies Medley" as much as I think "...Interplanetary Craft" seems to be getting TOO MUCH play on my favorite station... :winkgrin:

"On The Balcony Of The Casa Rosada/Don't Cry For Me Argentina" was a daring Career Risk, the way it's presented--different from Olivia Newton-John's version which came a bit before it and a far cry from Madonna doing it years later... (Wonder how long before anyone like Britney Spears, Celene Dione, Christine Agulierra or Ciara (Sierra) ever cover it... But for Richard & Karen it's one that worked....

"Sweet, Sweet Smile" is a nice Country Flavored track and I would sure like to hear it as often as "Calling Occupants..." Nice that you can get it on both 2-Disc-sets, YESTERDAY ONCE MORE and CLASSICS, VOL. 2...

And I guess you can consider "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" and "B'wana She No Home" novelty numbers--this was going to be a way different album that what you expect to hear; the liner notes give a hint, as well as a "warning"...

While "Two Sides" and "I Just Fall In Love Again" are the pleasant balladry that gave The Carpenters, yet another trial run up the charts, though nowhere near as close as that "Golden Era" that made up "Their Greatest Hits", from '69 to '73...

Which is why I gave this 3-Stars: A new way of presenting new material sung in the old familiar way, by our old friends, Richard & Karen... Still another "magic and tragic side-step" from their normal modus opreandum, but another dimension that if we hadn't seen, may just have been as passive and flacid (though still listenable) as the two albums before it... Now if only that "said-to-be-unreleased" album (...which had the recording of "Honolulu City Lights", among others) could have followed...


Dave
 
In retrospect, I really like "Passage". It's different to listen to now as opposed to 1977 when I first got the LP. I LOVE "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song", and at age 14 (in 1977) requested it to all of the radio stations in Riverside, CA and LA area- over and over again!
"Bwana She No Home" I really grew to like this song! At first...not so much, but it's got a style and sass all it's own and Karen makes it a fun to listen to song.
I really wanted "I Just Fall In Love Again" to be a single (and for reasons which we now know, was not possible due to the time length of the tune.) Thought that could have been a huge hit (ain't that right, Anne Murray!).
"Two Sides" I love for sentimental reasons...and it was a more traditional Carpenters song.
"Sweet Sweet Smile" still gets played in country/western dance bars today..occasionally (although no way near as much as "Those Good Old Dreams"...which can fill a 2-step dance floor in seconds!)
As for "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"... I like it without the "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada" intro. Never got in to that.
Also, I like "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" a lot...but without the whole DJ/Tony Peluso intro. Just wasted space.
"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" is a tune I wasn't crazy for then and I still don't care for it now.
This album was interesting and a new direction..or several directions, which is cool. It, like some of the other Carpenters albums, was too short in my opinion and could have at least had one or two mores songs on it.
4 Stars ****
 
"Passage" always sounded like a collection of one-offs instead of a cohesive album. The individual songs are pretty good but nothing like the material on the earlier albums.
 
I recall the "hit single", "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song", pre-dating the PASSAGE album, and I had a copy of that 45 early. The album itself was quite a surprise, from seeing the artwork without the familiar logo, to the unexpected song titles, and finally to the actual album sound itself.

I actually kinda liked most of the album (but could lose the opening to the EVITA number!) and thought it was quite an ambitious project. Unfortunately it didn't seem to do what it was designed to do - move Carpenters out of the slush and back into radio's good graces. "All You Get..." got a small bit of airplay, but that was it here in the 'big city." I don't recall "Sweet, Sweet Smile" doing anything - perhaps it was big in country markets. "Calling Occupants" was ignored on radio here, and the single version remains unreleased on CD - it's quite a bit shorter and features no DJ opening. I do recall really liking that song at the time. It's worn a bit thin over the years, but in the right context it can still provide that "cill factor" for me.

The other thing that somewhat continued to bother me was the use of backing singers instead of the lush overdubs of Karen and Richard that, to me, defined their sound. It was there to some degree, but not totally like it used to be in the earlier part of the decade.

Overall, a four-star effort for me.

Harry
 
Yes, where did some of these background singers come from...?! :freak: I can see the use of a choir on "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", but on "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft", "All You Get From A Love Song" and "I Just Fall In Love Again", it's hard to believe Karen & Richard weren't enough... :confused:


Dave

...still a "Challenging Listen"... :love:
 
I gave this one 4 stars. Even though it was a bit uneven, as already stated, I was very excited to hear some totally different stuff - especially after the somewhat disappointment, for me, of their last album.

I, unlike many others, loved Bwana from the start. Karen's very seductive vocals displayed what she could do with her voice - of course we had more of that with the solo album later on, but up to that point there really wasn't anything that compared to it.

All You Get From Love... is one of my all-time favorites - still is. Karen's vocals were just different enough from her usual style; Tom Scott's great sax, and the additional singers on background really gave it a different kind of groove. I was in Hawaii for some time while that song was in release and it got a lot of airplay.

Sweet, Sweet Smile was played constantly on our local Los Angeles country radio - that's probably the only time I had one of my radio 'buttons' set to a country station!

I could certainly do without the opening of Evita, but I thought her reading was pretty good.

Two Sides is very well done, and Man Smart... while not a favorite, is fun to listen to every once in a while.

I Just Fall In Love Again is wonderful - the orchestration is perfect, and certainly much better then Anne Murray's take.

As already mentioned, the artwork is great, totally different. The local Music Plus store had a display to the right of the entrance which took up one whole corner - it can only be described a very wide set of stairs that went up to the ceiling. I walked in one day and, as usual, checked out the display. I recall seeing about 3 dozen album covers covering this display and was quite impressed by the design. Of course I really freaked when I realized it was the Carpenters new album! Wow.

Likewise, the full page ad for this album in People Magazine - also advertising their upcoming special - was another first, and very well done. I still have it!

I've never been a big Calling Occupants.. fan - Tony Peluso is a big reason, but overall I was never part of the 'space' craze that was going on at the time. It wasn't until I picked up the SACD - and had a sound system installed at home so that I could listen to it - that I truly appreciated that song. The arrangement is incredible, and I was finally able to completely understand why Richard was nominated for a Grammy.

My only complaint is that the record only contained 8 songs - way too short!

Mike
 
Loved Bwana from the first listen- fresh and intriguing. Still love it today.

All You Get- I was glad to hear something new when it came out, but I always felt this single lacked magic. Sax solo aside. "Dirty old shame" come on- this was 1977 and the lyrics scream 1940!

I Just Fall in Love Again- "retread material" for many years, 25 actually. I have a fresh appreciation for it now.

Argentina- horrible intro, blah song- but still the best version of it I have heard. It was mesmerizing live, however.

Sweet Sweet Smile- fun but nothing special.

Two Sides- Loss of interest by this point.

Man Smart- ugh! Even worse with Suzanne Somers.

Occupants- I've really tried to like this song. Even though I appreciate all the work that went into recording it, my only response is "WHY????"

Hadn't been this disappointed in a Carps album ever.
And the lack of photo made me angry.

In my opinion, this disc continued their downward slide by coming across as desperate.

That said, Passage made me love Christmas Portrait even more- and made my finding Made in America a treat I had been waiting for since Hush, 5 years earlier.

I almost never play this disc - unless I am playing Carps discs in chronological order.
 
Sidenote- Ron Tutt went to our church in Southern California, but I never got to meet him.
 
mstaft said:
In my opinion, this disc continued their downward slide by coming across as desperate.

Oh, come on Mark, tell us how you REALLY feel! :laugh:

So in a nutshell, would you say then that you in fact do *not* like this album? :wink:
 
Hi...

I think this album is good... but to my point of view is not the carpenters" best album.... it could have been better... (its only my oppinion...)

Even though is very innovating (have i spell it right??? i dont think so :confused: ) some new sounds... some of them simply amazing like "i just fall in love again" or "all you get from love is a love song..." but for me not the best album... maybe with some richard's new material on it would have been better...

just my oppinion

greetings to all

DANI
 
It seems redundant to address 'Passage' as an album seeing as it's such a collection of individual songs as so many of you haven't pointed out. This makes it very different to 'Horizon' and 'A Kind Of Hush' which, despite differing opinions on them, do have a tangible mood or feel. 'Passage' is, erm, a 'grab bag' (to be polite!) and I'm not sure Richard and Karen achieved everything the album set out to. That said, they certainly addressed the biggest criticism of 'A Kind Of Hush' in that it covered too much familiar ground. For this reason 'Passage' stands out from every other album the Carpenters ever released.

'B'wana She No Home' continues to confuse me. I have no idea what it's about and get a little bit of a jolt everytime that first line starts up because Karen sounds uncannily like Frida from ABBA on a track from her first solo English album called 'I See Red'. (I realise that Karen's recording came first, but the similarities are scary. The album's called 'Something's Goin' On' and you can hear a clip of 'I See Red' here in case anyone's interested in freaking themselves out). I love Tom Scott's sax and flute solos but I have a bit of a thing for Tom Scott's musicianship anyway after hearing him play so much on Olivia Newton-John's records over the years. An intriguing, lengthy introduction to the Carpenters' most abitious release...

... whose confusion is quickly diffused by the glorious 'All You Get From Love Is A Love Song'. This is one of my all-time favourite Carpenters songs and I could watch the video over and over again. If I could have chosen one Carpenters track to be a bigger hit, it would have been this one. The chorus is infectious and after a few singles where the verses seemingly let down the rest of the song 'AYGFLIALS' is a return to form. One of the best 'pop' singles Richard and Karen ever issued and a song that, like all their greatest recordings, still packs a punch today.

'I Just Fall In Love Again' is a lovely song and the swell of strings in the chorus verges on being too much but never crosses the line. I agree it probably would have made a great single, although I don't dispute the single choices from 'Passage' at all. As a Dusty Springfield enthusiast I have to say I prefer her version which she recorded a couple of years later but the Carpenters do more than adequate justice to it. Sadly I can't say the same for 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. I know that Olivia included it on her 1977 album 'Making A Good Thing Better' with some consideration paid to the talk that 'Evita' was going to be made into a movie. I can't help but think that its inclusion on 'Passage' was perhaps done with the same intention. Of the two I think Olivia did a much better job and even Madonna managed to emote better on this one than Karen. It's one of the few times I think Karen dropped the ball in her interpretation; she sounds almost as if she's on autopilot and the fact that it drags on for over 5 minutes doesn't help.

'Sweet Sweet Smile' is adorable and you can't help but tap your feet and clap along to the 'I gotta know that you love me...' part. In fact that whole middle section rates as one of my favourite recorded Carpenters moments ever. My heart just inflates with happiness every time Karen sings 'I gotta knooo-ooo-oooow'. (Don't worry if you're scratching your head, I can't explain it either). 'Two Sides' is lovely and offers a unique take on 'the relationship lyric' whilst 'Man Smart, Woman Smarter' is one of those strange songs that I hate when it starts off and end up jiggling to as it draws to a close. As for 'Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft', I can't begin to tell you how much I love this song. The silly intro (which reaches its hilarious crescendo when the alien pauses and adds 'baby' to its decree) and the various musical moments that ensue over the next seven minutes. I love when Karen's voice sings the 'you've been observing our earth' line and it's echoed 30 seconds or so later by a morphed Richard. The whole thing is ridiculous and over-the-top in that endearingly seventies way. It's so earnest in its silliness that you can't help but love it.

The artwork is pretty cool (I'm a sucker for bold primary colours!) and if nothing else is a nice symbolic representation of the album's music: an entirely contrived attempt to do something different. For the most part, it works. 4/5.


x
 
Hey Chris

Excellent post!

'B'wana She No Home' continues to confuse me. I have no idea what it's about and get a little bit of a jolt everytime that first line starts up because Karen sounds uncannily like Frida from ABBA on a track from her first solo English album called 'I See Red'

I can't believe you made a reference to this Frida track, and that I had never made the comparison myself, but you're spot on with that remark. It does sound uncannily like Frida's reading of the Clannad song.

I've mentioned this before, but 'All You Get From Love Is A Love Song' is one of those songs that gives me goosebumps at the one specific point each time I hear it. Listen to the second half of the sax break, after the backing vocals 'look out, look out, future I cannot see'. Karen's high pitched 'oohs' and the two very subtle guitar twists are absolutely irresistible and do it for me every time. To the point where I often pause the CD and rewind it a few times to relisten to it :laugh:

I can't remember if I actually reviewed this album lol but it's not one I listen to often. It's kind of the Carpenters in their transition phase, I know that Star Wars was out the year it was released, which was probably partly the inspiration for the cover of 'Occupants', but for me there's not a lot on it that was suitable as single material at the time, apart from 'Love Song'. I'm actually really surprised it didn't chart higher, because it's so radio friendly.

Stephen
 
Stephen,

I'm so glad you hear the 'B'wana...'/Frida thing too! It freaked me out the first time I heard it because Karen's voice is usually so distinctive and all I hear on that first line is Frida.

I had no idea 'I See Red' was a Clannad cover! I knew Frida wasn't the first to do it but that's rocked my mind. What Clannad album does it grace?


x
 
I have listened to this album several times this week, and I was wondering about a few of the songs...

Don't Cry for Me Argentina and Calling Occupants, if I'm not mistaken, were recorded live with the orchestra and singers in the same room or soundstage(s) as Karen, correct? What about I Just Fall In Love Again? There's just a different sound with those songs that I just don't hear on any of the other songs...

If so, would they also qualify as "first takes?"

===============================

And BTW, I've created a video for Don't Cry For Me Argentina, if anyone's interested in watching it:

Carpenters - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ohBty79MY
 
Johnny Angel said:
Don't Cry for Me Argentina and Calling Occupants, if I'm not mistaken, were recorded live with the orchestra and singers in the same room or soundstage(s) as Karen, correct? What about I Just Fall In Love Again? There's just a different sound with those songs that I just don't hear on any of the other songs...

The way I understand it is, like with a lot of the "Christmas Portrait" sessions, the orchestra was recorded on the soundstage, while Karen simultaneously sang her "work" leads over in Studio "D" (they are very close in proximity based on the layout of the A&M lot). Karen then would of course go back and re-record everything afterward...
 
The way Karen and Richard recorded has always fascincated me... It almost makes me weep with frustration that I don't understand it all...

How does this work...? Does the orchestra hear her singing? Or are they just playing to a conductor, with no singer?

How does the recording isolate Karen's voice from the musicians...?

Can you explain, please?
 
Johnny Angel said:
The way Karen and Richard recorded has always fascincated me... It almost makes me weep with frustration that I don't understand it all...

How does this work...? Does the orchestra hear her singing? Or are they just playing to a conductor, with no singer?

How does the recording isolate Karen's voice from the musicians...?

Can you explain, please?

Ok, I'm gonna do my best here to talk in plain english! Hahaha...

There is a 2-way audio feed that is set up between the soundstage and the studio. See, all of the mics used to record the orchestra and singers were routed into a studio anyway. There was no "recording" gear IN the soundstage itself. The soundstage was utilized for larger productions, where the acoustics and space were a MUST. The instrumentation that was being played was usually routed into either studio "A" or "D", and recorded on tape in the control room in one of those studios. Karen would be IN the studio (and not the soundstage), and could communicate with the conductor (who would have his own mic) as well as all of the instrumentation being fed into the studio console from the soundstage. All of the instrumentalists as well as Richard, and the conductor can also hear Karen from the studio through their headsets. Make sense? All the while, Karen as well as the orchestra are being recorded to 2" tape. On a side note, eventually as A&M grew, they added a second 2" tape machine, giving them an additional 24 tracks, making a total of 48 to record all of this stuff on. To answer a question from earlier, Karen still went back in afterwards and RE-recorded her lead vocals to perfection for most of the recordings.
 
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