Post by Rick Henry on May 19, 2004 1:41:28 GMT -5
"A Song For You" established the Carpenters as worldwide superstars. The album reached #4 in the U.S., #13 in the U.K. and #5 in Japan. In the U.S. this was their third album in a row to sell over a million copies. To this day many fans consider "A Song For You" to be one of the Carpenters' top 3 best albums ever. The album was released on June 22, 1972 and to date has been certified triple platinum.
A SONG FOR YOU (Leon Russell):
Many popular music legends have recorded this song including; Cher, Bill Medley, Ray Charles, and Andy Williams, though the Carpenters rendition remains the definitive recording. Richard's arrangement is absolutely amazing, with a steamy sax solo which sends the song soaring into a higher plane. Karen Carpenter put every ounce of her heart and soul into this impeccable vocal performance. She sings with maturity, depth, sunlight and darkness. The combination of Richard's music and Karen's voice give this song that inescapable chill factor which is evident in almost all the Carpenters' music.
TOP OF THE WORLD (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis):
From the opening pedal steel guitar chords to Karen's sweet and lilting voice "top Of The World" is an instant classic. It has an easy going rhythm which can bring sunshine to the gloomiest of rainy days.
At first the Carpenters didn't consider "Top" strong enough for release as a single. Though after it had been a #2 country hit for Lynn Anderson, and their own recording receiving heavy radio airplay they were convinced to release it as a single. Released on september 17, 1973 (an entire year and three months after "A Song For You", it's parent album was released), "Top Of The World" was an immediate hit which shot straight to #1 in the U.S. and Canada and #5 in the U.K. In the U.S. the song sold over a million copies and was certified gold. Only a month before "Top" hit #1 "The Singles 1969-1973 was released and topped both the U.S. and U.K. charts. In the U.K. the album remained at #1 for an astonishing 17 weeks.
HURTING EACH OTHER (Peter Udell / Gary Geld):
Released as a single on December 23, 1971, six entire months before the album was finally released. "Hurting Each Other" was originally recorded by the Guess Who and released as a single in 1965 on the Scepter label. But it was Ruby and the Romantics 1969 A&M recording which captured Richard's attention. The Carpenters have gone on to record two other Ruby and the romantics songs; "Our Day will come" and "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore".
"Hurting Each Other" was the Carpenters' sixth consecutive million selling Gold certified single. It reached #2 for two weeks in the U.S., as well as reaching #1 on the Cashbox chart for sales. It also hit #4 for two weeks in Canada.
IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOMETIME (Carole King / Toni Stern):
The second single release from the album broke the Carpenters' string of consecutive top 3 hits. Released on April 13, 1972 "It's Going to Take sometime" reached U.s. #12 and #13 in Canada for two weeks. The song written by Carole King first appeared on her 1971 album "Music" which also included the hit "Sweet Seasons".
GOODBYE TO LOVE (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis):
"Goodbye To Love" made history for being the first pop ballad to contain a powerful rock fuzz guitar solo. This caught the attention of many Carpenters fans who wrote claiming they were disappointed that the Carpenters sold out to hard rock.
The person playing the solo and all the guitar parts is Tony Peluso. Karen and Richard met Peluso in 1971 when his band Instant Joy was backing Mark Lindsay (former lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders) who was the opening act for the Carpenters on their spring tour.
This was the first Richard Carpenter / John Bettis compostion to be relased as a single. It was their 10th top ten single and was released on June 9, 1972. It reached #7 in the U.S., #6 in Canada, and in the U.K. it was a double A-side with "I Won't Last A Day without You" which reached #9.
Richard wrote most of the melody while visiting London in the fall of 1971. The use of contrasting tones and long phrases makes it a very difficult song to sing. But Karen handles it with a natural ease and amazing control.
"Goodbye to Love" is a true musical masterpiece and is the fans favorite from this album. It was also one of Karen's personal favorites.
INTERMISSION (Richard Carpenter):
This 22 second a cappella piece is an humorous little break which was the closing on side one of the original 1972 vinyl record album release of the album "A Song for You". Richard wrote the lyrics and based the melody on "Crucifixus" by Antonio Lotti, a 17th/18th century Italian composer.
BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN (Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkins Jr.):
By the time you get to this song you are already very aware that "A Song For You" is a powerhouse album that is packed with hit after hit. In early 1971 Academy Award winning producer and director Stanley Kramer offered the title song to his next film; "Bless The Beasts And Children". The Carpenters wasted no time in recording the song and releasing it first as the b-side to the million selling hit "Superstar". "Bless The beasts and children" received so much airplay that it made it onto the billboard singles chart and reached #67. Along with this success the song was nominated for the Best Song Academy Award, but lost out to the "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes. Though Karen and Richard did appear on the broadcast of the awards show to perform their nominated song.
Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkins Jr. also wrote a song named "Cotton's Dream" for the "bless the Beasts And Children" soundtrack. A few years later "Cotton's Dream" was used as the theme for the television soap opera "The Young And The Restless". Then during the 1976 summer olympics the same song was used as the music for gymnast Nadia Comaneci. The song was renamed "Nadia's Theme" and released as a single which made the U.S. top ten.
FLAT BAROQUE (Richard Carpenter):
This sprite jazz influenced instrumental dates back to 1966 while richard was a music major at California State University Long Beach. "Flat Baroque" is one of the tunes K&R recorded in 1967 for RCA Records.
The 1972 recording features Richard on piano, Norm Herzberg on bassoon, and Karen spicing things up on the drums. Richard received a Grammy nomination for this arrangement of this song.
PIANO PICKER (Randy Edelman):
This songs suits Richard so well that you'd think he wrote it himself. Instead it was written by Randy Edelman who also wrote "I Can't Make Music" from the "Now & Then " album and "You" from "A Kind Of Hush".
I WON'T LAST A DAY WITHOUT YOU (Paul Williams / Roger Nichols):
By popular demand "I Won't Last A Day Without You" was released as a single on March 25, 1974. This was nearly two years after the album was released and was the sixth song from the album to make the U.S. charts. This once again proved the durability of "A Song For You". The song reached #11 in the U.S., #12 in Canada, and U.K. #32 (it had previously reached UK #9 in 1972 as a double a-side with "Goodbye To Love") . The song was also certified gold in Japan and won Japan's World disc Grand Prix award for Single Of The Year.
Several others have recorded the song including; Barbra Streisand, Maureen McGovern, and Al Wilson (as part of a medley).
CRYSTAL LULLABY (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis):
This delicate dreamy ballad features both Karen and Richard sharing lead vocals and was used as the b-side for the mega-hit "Goodbye To Love".
"Crystal Lullaby" was written by Richard and John in 1968 just beofre the Carpenters were signed to A&M Records.
ROAD ODE (Gary Sims / Dan Woodhams):
With "Road Ode" the album closes just as strong as it opens. On this song Karen's voice is filled with longing and passion. She sings with deep rich dark soulful tones and with a certain authority about the subject of living life on the road during a long concert tour. This song was recorded during a time when the Carpenters were performing over 200 concerts per year.
A SONG FOR YOU (Reprise) (Leon Russell):
With heavy echo added this 53 second reprise is a delightful reminder of what a wonderful album this is from beginning to end.
