Post by Rob813 on Nov 4, 2004 20:32:36 GMT -5
So we've looked at Ticket To Ride (Offering), Close To You and Carpenters. We now move on to album number four, A Song For You......and what an album it is!
A Song For You was released on June 22, 1972 and to this day is considered one of the top three Carpenter albums. Bucking conventional wisdom this album spawned six hit singles!!! What other album can that be said of? This was the album that established the Carpenters as worldwide superstars. It 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.
Let's see what all the fuss is about: (Please note this review is taken from Rick Henry's narrative from another part of this forum)
A Song For You - Leon Russell
Many popular music legends have recorded this song including Cher, Bill Medley, Ray Charles and Andy Williams. The Carpenter version remains the definitive recording of this song. Richard's arrangement is absolutely amazing, with a steamy sax solo which sends the song soaring into a higher plane. Karen put every ounce of her heart and soul into this impeccable vocal performance. 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 - Carpenter / Bettis
This is the reluctant hit. Originally Karen and Richard considered this a nice album track and no more. The countries D.J.'s and a large number of fans were vocal in their disagreement. They loved this song and refused to stop playing it. Finally released as a single on Sept. 17, 1973 (an entire year and three months after A Song For You was released) Top Of The World shot to the #1 spot on the U.S. charts! From the opening pedal steel guitar chords to Karen's sweet and lilting voice, Top Of The World is an instant classic. This is the definitive happy song and can bring sunshine to the gloomiest of rainy days.
Hurting Each Other - Peter Udell / Gary Geld
Released as a single on December 23, 1971, six entire months before the album was finally released. Richard orginally heard Ruby and the Romantics 1969 recording of this song which prompted him to record it. The Carpenters went 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 in the U.S. for two weeks.
It's Going To Take Sometime" - Carole King / Toni Stern
This was the second release from the album and broke the Carpenters string of consecutive top 3 hits. Released on April 13, 1972, it reached #13 in the U.S.
Goodbye To Love - Carpenter / Bettis
This was the first Carpenter/Bettis collaboration to be released as a single (on June 9, 1972). Goodbye To Love made history for being the first pop ballad to contain a powerful rock fuzz guitar solo. This caused the rock community to sit up and listen, but also caused many Carpenter fans to accuse the Carpenters of selling out to hard rock! The guitarist is Tony Peluso whom Karen and Richard met in 1971 while his band Instant Joy was backing Mark Lindsay, the opening act for the Carpenters on their spring tour.
This song was their 10th top ten single reaching #7 in the U.S. It was a double A-side with "I Won't Last A Day Without You" reaching #9.
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 acappella piece is a humorous little break which was the closing on side one of the original 1972 vinyl record album. Richard wrote the lyrics and based the melody on "Crucifixus" by Antonio Lotti, a 17th/18th century Italian composer. Richard has humorously stated that this is why he did not write any more lyrics to his musical creations!
Bless The Beasts And Children - Barry DeVorzon / Perry Botkins Jr.
In early 1971 Academy Award winning producer and director Stanley Kramer offered Karen and Richard the title song to his next film, Bless The Beasts And Children. The Carpenters wasted no time recording this song and releasing if first as the b-side to the million selling hit "Superstar". Bless The Beasts 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 Best Song at the Academy Awards. Karen and Richard appeared on the awards show broadcast to perform their nominated song. Unfortunately it lost out to the "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes.
Flat Baroque - Richard Carpenter
This sprite jazz influenced instumental 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.
This 1972 recording features Richard on piano, Norm Herzberg on bassoon and Karen spicing things up on drums. Richard received a Grammy nomination for this arrangement of this song.
Piano Picker - Randy Edelman
This song 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 "Now and Then" and "You" from "A Kind Of Hush" albums respectively.
I Won't Last A Day Without You - Paul Williams / Roger Nichols
By popular demand this song 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!!! It reached #11 in the U.S.
Crystal Lullaby - Carpenter / Bettis
This delicate dreamy ballad features both Karen and Richard sharing lead vocals and was used as the b-side for the megahit "Goodbye To Love". It was written by Richard and John in 1968 just before the Carpenters were signed to A&M Records.
Road Ode - Gary Sims / Dan Woodhams
With this song the album closes just as strong as it opens. Karen sings this song with longing and passion, displaying a certain authority on 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.
A Song For You proved that there was real substance to the success of the Carpenters. Critics and fans love this album and for good reason. Chocked full of extraordinary music it proves once and for all time why Karen and Richard are the very best.
A Song For You was released on June 22, 1972 and to this day is considered one of the top three Carpenter albums. Bucking conventional wisdom this album spawned six hit singles!!! What other album can that be said of? This was the album that established the Carpenters as worldwide superstars. It 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.
Let's see what all the fuss is about: (Please note this review is taken from Rick Henry's narrative from another part of this forum)
A Song For You - Leon Russell
Many popular music legends have recorded this song including Cher, Bill Medley, Ray Charles and Andy Williams. The Carpenter version remains the definitive recording of this song. Richard's arrangement is absolutely amazing, with a steamy sax solo which sends the song soaring into a higher plane. Karen put every ounce of her heart and soul into this impeccable vocal performance. 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 - Carpenter / Bettis
This is the reluctant hit. Originally Karen and Richard considered this a nice album track and no more. The countries D.J.'s and a large number of fans were vocal in their disagreement. They loved this song and refused to stop playing it. Finally released as a single on Sept. 17, 1973 (an entire year and three months after A Song For You was released) Top Of The World shot to the #1 spot on the U.S. charts! From the opening pedal steel guitar chords to Karen's sweet and lilting voice, Top Of The World is an instant classic. This is the definitive happy song and can bring sunshine to the gloomiest of rainy days.
Hurting Each Other - Peter Udell / Gary Geld
Released as a single on December 23, 1971, six entire months before the album was finally released. Richard orginally heard Ruby and the Romantics 1969 recording of this song which prompted him to record it. The Carpenters went 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 in the U.S. for two weeks.
It's Going To Take Sometime" - Carole King / Toni Stern
This was the second release from the album and broke the Carpenters string of consecutive top 3 hits. Released on April 13, 1972, it reached #13 in the U.S.
Goodbye To Love - Carpenter / Bettis
This was the first Carpenter/Bettis collaboration to be released as a single (on June 9, 1972). Goodbye To Love made history for being the first pop ballad to contain a powerful rock fuzz guitar solo. This caused the rock community to sit up and listen, but also caused many Carpenter fans to accuse the Carpenters of selling out to hard rock! The guitarist is Tony Peluso whom Karen and Richard met in 1971 while his band Instant Joy was backing Mark Lindsay, the opening act for the Carpenters on their spring tour.
This song was their 10th top ten single reaching #7 in the U.S. It was a double A-side with "I Won't Last A Day Without You" reaching #9.
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 acappella piece is a humorous little break which was the closing on side one of the original 1972 vinyl record album. Richard wrote the lyrics and based the melody on "Crucifixus" by Antonio Lotti, a 17th/18th century Italian composer. Richard has humorously stated that this is why he did not write any more lyrics to his musical creations!
Bless The Beasts And Children - Barry DeVorzon / Perry Botkins Jr.
In early 1971 Academy Award winning producer and director Stanley Kramer offered Karen and Richard the title song to his next film, Bless The Beasts And Children. The Carpenters wasted no time recording this song and releasing if first as the b-side to the million selling hit "Superstar". Bless The Beasts 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 Best Song at the Academy Awards. Karen and Richard appeared on the awards show broadcast to perform their nominated song. Unfortunately it lost out to the "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes.
Flat Baroque - Richard Carpenter
This sprite jazz influenced instumental 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.
This 1972 recording features Richard on piano, Norm Herzberg on bassoon and Karen spicing things up on drums. Richard received a Grammy nomination for this arrangement of this song.
Piano Picker - Randy Edelman
This song 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 "Now and Then" and "You" from "A Kind Of Hush" albums respectively.
I Won't Last A Day Without You - Paul Williams / Roger Nichols
By popular demand this song 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!!! It reached #11 in the U.S.
Crystal Lullaby - Carpenter / Bettis
This delicate dreamy ballad features both Karen and Richard sharing lead vocals and was used as the b-side for the megahit "Goodbye To Love". It was written by Richard and John in 1968 just before the Carpenters were signed to A&M Records.
Road Ode - Gary Sims / Dan Woodhams
With this song the album closes just as strong as it opens. Karen sings this song with longing and passion, displaying a certain authority on 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.
A Song For You proved that there was real substance to the success of the Carpenters. Critics and fans love this album and for good reason. Chocked full of extraordinary music it proves once and for all time why Karen and Richard are the very best.
Here is a link to my original post about "A Song For You" from the ALBUMS: SONG BY SONG" board in it's original text. 
