Favorite Tracks from Passage

The first two were easy "B'wana She No Home" and "Two Sides" are without a doubt my favorites from the album... but third was a tough choice between "Argentina" and "Sweet Sweet Smile"... I ended up going with Smile" as it fits my personality quite well... upbeat and fun.

I do want to give kudos to "Argentina" as it is a spectacular recording. Peter Knight's orchestration and arrangement of the song is simply divine and Karen's vocal performance is amongst her very best. A true classic all the way!

I can't believe how popular "B'wana She No Home" has become. On this poll it is the favorite song from "Passage" with "Two Sides" coming in second. A few years back I don't think "B'wana She No Home" would have even ranked that high.

You might have something there Timo... not only the video, but I've also been touting the song's musical intricacies and excellence for the last two or three years and I think finally quite a few fans (even many that do not participate in this forum) have come to realize that "B'wana She No Home" is not a novelty song... but actually an extremely well crafted jazz-fusion tune.

I remember on a forum (back in 2001) someone referred to "B'wana She No Home" as a novelty song. That's when I knew that the song was being wrongfully misrepresented.

Now, that's a very good question. I never thought of that one. "Horizon" sold extremely well in the U.S. and throughout the world and had it's standard three hits on it. Had "Horizon" been followed up with a strong album Carpenters would have remained at least in the Top 15 (U.S.). "A Kind Of Hush" just did not have any songs strong enough to keep the interest in the U.S. I have always looked upon "I Need To Be In Love" as the song that lost it for the Carpenters. I remember a friend saying after hearing the song on the radio (in 1976) that she thought that was the worst song she had ever heard by Carpenters and that it was just too sad sounding. The song came on right after the Four Seasons' "December 1963" so it sounded especially "sad" after such an upbeat song. after "I Need To Be In Love" it seems all interest in Carpenters died out and you hardly ever heard them on the radio anymore.

As it is "Passage" came out after "A Kind Of Hush" and it was definitely a big step forward after the lackluster "Hush" and the album cover was far more appealing than the cutesy "Hush" cover... but it was just too late after "Hush" the public just was not ready to latch back on to Carpenters. A lot of fans had been lost in 1976.

Had "Passage" been released in 1976 I think it would have done extremely well. "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" would have been the single after "Solitaire" and I think it would have caught people by surprise and the song would have been a solid top ten hit. I also think "Sweet Sweet Smile" would have been at least top 15. "Calling Occupants..." on the other hand still would have just barely cracked the top 40... and not because it's a bad song... but because it's just a bit too out there. Actually "Calling Occupants..." made it into the Southern California top ten... it was played quite a bit out here and on radio stations that generally did not play Carpenters. Southern California radio programmers were very much willing to bring Carpenters back into the loop with "Passage" as "All You get From Love..." and "Sweet Sweet Smile" were both very popular in So Cal... but the rest of the U.S. just did not seem ready to re-embrace them.

After the spectacular "Passage" Carpenters "shot themselves in the foot" with "I Believe You"... a very nice song... but hardly material to be a hit.

You are so right on Cinscorp... "I Believe You" was just too lightweight. It is a nice song and Karen does sing it wonderfully but it is album filler (basically all of "Made In Amercia sounded like album filler to me... but that's another topic at another time).

I agree they should have released "Two Sides" as a single, it would have been much more effective in attracting radio airplay and the tune is just absolutely awesome... one of their very best..

By the way Peter Knight did not compose the arrangement for "I Believe You", this was a work by Paul Riser.