The Singles... That never were

I find all the discussion about "I Just Fall In Love Again" to be quite interesting. It is a great song and I also like "You." I think one of the problems with either song being good enough to be a single were the final mixes. The entire "A Kind Of Hush" album suffered from less than wonderful mixing.

For me, "Horizon" was the best album in terms of sound and production. I found the original LP of AKOH to be a big letdown in this regard. It sounds mushy and not dynamic. On CD, it is the same.

I think "You" with a better mix could have been at least a top 20 hit. IJFILA for me was just too 60's easy listening sounding. Anne Murray's version sounded more contemporary.
 
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I find all the discussion about "I Just Fall In Love Again" to be quite interesting. It is a great song and I also like "You." I think one of the problems with either song being good enough to be a single were the final mixes. The entire "A Kind Of Hush" album suffered from less than wonderful mixing.

For me, "Horizon" was the best album in terms of sound and production. I found the original LP of AKOH to be a big letdown in this regard. It sounds mushy and not dynamic. On CD, it is the same.

I think "You" with a better mix could have been at least a top 20 hit. IJFILA for me was just too 60's easy listening sounding. Anne Murray's version sounded more contemporary.
I like your assessment on Hush, but feel a rock opera style mix that it almost became could have penetrated the charts. It is too soft in places. Mid way through the song it begins to pick up to the point where it should have started.
 
Maybe It's You, Let Me Be The One, A Song For You, from the early days would of made fine singles.

Two Sides, You're The One, Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night from the latter days would of made nice Carpenters singles.

The RPO version of "I Just Fall In Love Again" would of made a fine single, with a great video to boot in 2019 to promote the RPO album in
the USA.
 
I always thought Baby It’s You was too slow and plodding to be a single. There’s no real hook in it.

I don't know. It is slow but it's a powerful performance, with a real depth to it that's in keeping with other singles like 'Superstar' and 'Rainy Days and Mondays' from their earlier career. It might have stood a chance as a single, albeit that it's certainly less immediate than 'Close to You' or 'We've Only Just Begun' (although that's true of everything else on the Close to You album too - there's no other clear smash single on there in that vein).

Very glad 'Help!' was never a single. It's one of those songs that just gets worse the more I hear it. I really dislike the arrangement and Karen's doubled vocal is really offputting and one of her least attractive leads. Had it been released before 'Close to You' as was allegedly the plan, I'm pretty certain this forum wouldn't exist as their career would never have got going in the first place!
 
I don't know. It is slow but it's a powerful performance, with a real depth to it that's in keeping with other singles like 'Superstar' and 'Rainy Days and Mondays' from their earlier career. It might have stood a chance as a single, albeit that it's certainly less immediate than 'Close to You' or 'We've Only Just Begun' (although that's true of everything else on the Close to You album too - there's no other clear smash single on there in that vein).

Very glad 'Help!' was never a single. It's one of those songs that just gets worse the more I hear it. I really dislike the arrangement and Karen's doubled vocal is really offputting and one of her least attractive leads. Had it been released before 'Close to You' as was allegedly the plan, I'm pretty certain this forum wouldn't exist as their career would never have got going in the first place!

I love Help! I don’t mind her double tracked vocal because the sole focus of the song isn’t her emotional performance. The dizzying baroque arrangement is dark, jagged and a fantastic experiment on a album full of variety.
 
Help! suffers from being a really muffled recording. I’ve never liked it. One of the poorest-recorded tracks on the album. The remasters did zero to remedy that.
 
Help! suffers from being a really muffled recording. I’ve never liked it. One of the poorest-recorded tracks on the album. The remasters did zero to remedy that.
I wonder if that’s because “Help” was recorded so soon after the “Offering” sessions. “Offering” was mastered pretty badly, when you think that there is a lot of distortion on the album. When I got the pink “Ticket To Ride” a few months ago, when the album went from “We’ve Only Just Begun” to “Your Wonderful Parade”, the opening to YWP was extremely noisy (and I don’t mean the crowd noise, but it sounded like there was a lot of tape hiss). It was like going from a CD to an audio cassette with no-Dolby noise reduction.
 
I love Help! I don’t mind her double tracked vocal because the sole focus of the song isn’t her emotional performance. The dizzying baroque arrangement is dark, jagged and a fantastic experiment on a album full of variety.

You're right, it's not an emotional performance on 'Help!', but the vocal just sounds quite unpleasant and not very 'Karen'. Stephen is right that it sounds muffled too. The arrangement is just a total miss for me. I'm not wild about their arrangement on 'Walk On By' in the Bacharach/David medley either, which has something of the same 'frantic' feel of what they did on 'Help!', although I at least admire their take on 'Walk On By' more as a) it works somewhat better than 'Help!' and b) at the very least it's an impressive attempt to rethink what is effectively an untouchable performance and arrangement on Dionne's version.
 
I’ll respectfully disagree wholeheartedly.

‘Help!’ rocks effectively and it showed another side to their talents. It was also very contemporary for the times. The harmonies are shimmering and Karen’s enunciation is very different. Lastly, it showed more of a rock edge than anything else they recorded.

In addition, ‘Help!’ was a KILLER opening track for their early concerts. It’s how they opened the show that I attended in ‘73 and the crowd was instantly on their feet.

I’ll agree it could use a remix. I’ve always wished Richard would tackle it.
 
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Considering that “Help” was suppose to be an “A” side, it’s surprisingly that it never got a “B” side release, except in Uruguay where it backed “Canta”.
 
"Help!" was a b-side in Japan as it appears on the lovely Japanese Single Box.
 
Agreed on "Help." It's one of my favorites and I always crank it to the max when it comes up in the iPod shuffle. I think R&K's version is way better than the Beatles' own version.

Good lord their version is eons better than the Beatles! I hate when people believe that they could do nothing less than brilliant genius because they’re THE BEATLES. I can’t stand that mindset. They didn’t really hit their stride until the later 60s and even then it’s not as if every song was perfect.

I wish Karen’s lead wasn’t so muffled but other than that it’s an amazing example of the variety of textures and tones they could handle before ennui kicked in.
 
Considering that “Help” was suppose to be an “A” side, it’s surprisingly that it never got a “B” side release, except in Uruguay where it backed “Canta”.

It would have totally helped reshape their image I feel. Or at least give people the understanding that they weren’t just workmanlike hitmakers.
 
I’ll respectfully disagree wholeheartedly.

‘Help!’ rocks effectively and it showed another side to their talents. It was also very contemporary for the times. The harmonies are shimmering and Karen’s enunciation is very different. Lastly, it showed more of a rock edge than anything else they recorded.

In addition, ‘Help!’ was a KILLER opening track for their early concerts. It’s how they opened the show that I attended in ‘73 and the crowd was instantly on their feet.

I’ll agree it could use a remix. I’ve always wished Richard would tackle it.
I love this track.
 
It would have totally helped reshape their image I feel. Or at least give people the understanding that they weren’t just workmanlike hitmakers.

It wouldn't have worked releasing another Beatles' cover so soon after 'Ticket to Ride' though. If anything it would have given them less identity rather than more at this stage.
 
Good lord their version is eons better than the Beatles! I hate when people believe that they could do nothing less than brilliant genius because they’re THE BEATLES. I can’t stand that mindset. They didn’t really hit their stride until the later 60s and even then it’s not as if every song was perfect.

I wish Karen’s lead wasn’t so muffled but other than that it’s an amazing example of the variety of textures and tones they could handle before ennui kicked in.


I 100% agree ! The Carpenters "Ticket To Ride" is miles better than the Beatles. Don't get me wrong, I think Lennon/McCartney were fantastic song writers, wrote brilliant songs.... I just prefer their songs being performed by other artists like all the Carpenters versions, even Nancy Sinatra did some versions better IMO like "Day Tripper," "Run For Your Life" and "Something". I Just really don't like the Beatles delivery of their own songs, I think they're very overrated, I don't find them particularly good singers .... Now I'm going to run and take cover !

But I don't feel "Help" would have been a good single choice, definitely a good album track, a B-side is also a good place for it.
 
Here's a "never were" and "never should be". Bootleg vinyl. Don't reward these thieves.

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Harry, I don't know what's worse? Profiting from Karen's unreleased solo tracks or the Magic Lamp label used over a decade late !
 
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