Now & Then (The Carpenters album)

Last updated

Now & Then
NowthencarpGOOD.jpg
Studio album by
The Carpenters
ReleasedMay 1, 1973
Recorded1972–1973
Studio A&M (Hollywood)
Genre Pop
Length37:46
Label A&M
Producer
  • Richard Carpenter
  • Karen Carpenter
The Carpenters chronology
A Song for You
(1972)		Now & Then
(1973)		 The Singles: 1969–1973
(1973)
Singles from Now & Then
  1. "Sing"
    Released: January 13, 1973
  2. "Yesterday Once More"
    Released: May 16, 1973
  3. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
    Released: 1974
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Rolling Stone (Unfavorable) [2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Now & Then is the fifth studio album by the American music duo the Carpenters, released on May 1, 1973. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart on July 21, 1973, [4] and ranked No. 20 on the Cash Box year-end pop albums chart. [5] The title, suggested by Karen and Richard's mother Agnes, was taken from a leftover song that did not appear on the album. [6]

Contents

Background

As an outgrowth of the Rick Nelson "Garden Party" incident,[ citation needed ] an oldies revival occurred in pop music by 1973, and Side B of the album is an oldies medley. The medley starts with the Carpenters' original song "Yesterday Once More". Tony Peluso, the Carpenters' guitarist who made his debut on the 1972 album A Song for You , is heard as a radio DJ throughout the medley, which includes such songs as "The End of the World", "Dead Man's Curve", "Johnny Angel" and "One Fine Day".[ citation needed ] Peluso was also heard as a DJ on the Carpenters' "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" recording in 1977. The medley also features Mark Rudolph, a cousin of the Carpenters, as the listener who calls in during "Guess the Golden Goodies Group Contest".[ citation needed ]

Now & Then is one of only two albums for which Karen Carpenter performed all or most of the drumming, the other being Offering (later re-released as Ticket to Ride). She plays all of the drum tracks with the exception of "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", for which the session drummer Hal Blaine played drums.[ citation needed ]

The album was released on May 1, 1973, the same day on which the Carpenters performed at the White House following a state dinner for West German chancellor Willy Brandt.

Singles

The album's lead track, "Sing", was written by Sesame Street 's frequent composer Joe Raposo. Karen and Richard had first heard the song while on the set of a Robert Young television special. A&M Records did not wish to release it as a single, but Richard insisted, confident it would be a hit. "Sing" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 21, 1973. [6] [7]

Richard wrote "Yesterday Once More" after hearing the melody in his head while driving one day. The temporary lyrics for the chorus, which he intended to change later, were kept after the lyricist and former bandmate John Bettis told Richard, "This 'Sha-la-la-wo-wo-wo' stuff sounds pretty good!" [6] The single peaked at No. 2 on July 28, 1973, [8] and became the duo's biggest worldwide hit. [6]

"Yesterday Once More" was issued as a promotional single in the UK in 1973 [9] and "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" was issued as a promotional single in the UK in 1974. [10]

Cover

The LP album has a three-panel cover that folds out, showing a panoramic view of Karen and Richard Carpenter driving past the Carpenter family home on Newville Avenue in Downey, California. Karen and Richard had bought the five-bedroom house for their parents in 1970. Karen collapsed in the upstairs bedroom of the house while suffering the heart attack that ultimately killed her in 1983. The property also contained an annex, now destroyed, that was Richard and Karen's home studio and housed their awards and certification plaques.

In February 2008, fans created a worldwide awareness campaign about the impending demolition of the Carpenter family house that appears on the album cover, which had become a tourist attraction.[ citation needed ] The home's owners, who had purchased it in 1997 from Richard Carpenter after his mother's death in 1996, were frustrated with fans coming to the house and asking to be shown around, and they wanted to raze it.[ citation needed ]

The car pictured on the cover is Richard's 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ("Daytona"). He later sold the car, but bought another of the same type in 1995.[ citation needed ]

Critical reception

Rolling Stone , praised the second side of the album, noting that "side two's the big time here, where America's foremost schmaltzrockers get back to da rootz..."Fun Fun Fun" has got some badass Chuck Berry guitar that really gets on the case. I'll be damned if it didn't blow me right off the stool first time I heard it." The review conceded that "side one ain't quite as exciting, but it's got its moments." [11]

Billboard called it "a unique concept -that of placing a series of new versions of old tunes such as "Johnny Angel" and "Our Day Will Come" in the form of an old DJ radio show with DJ and everything sets this LP far above other LP's. Some radio stations are playing that entire side as a separate "show:" But the flipside is also jammed with hits and Karen Carpenter's charming voice, clear and melodious, virtually turns this LP into a classic...this should be another million-seller for the duo." [12]

In their review, Cashbox stated that "this collection has Karen and Richard vocalizing through the history of rock and roll on the entire second side of the album. To say the least, their renditions of such rock classics of "Da Do Ron Ron", "Johnny Angel" and "Fun, Fun, Fun", among others are letter perfect. The first side includes their current smash single "Sing" as well as other very possible future hits, "I Can't Make Music" and "This Masquerade". Karen and Richard have never sounded better and this album is truly destined for the goldmine." [13]

Bruce Eder of AllMusic was more critical of the album, noting that "it was with the release of Now & Then that the Carpenters lost any pretense of being even dorky cool...whatever the reason, from the moment of the release of Now & Then, listeners under 30 buying a Carpenters album would have good reason to go to a neighborhood where no one knew them to make the purchase, and hide it from their friends." [14]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sing" Joe Raposo 3:20
2."This Masquerade" Leon Russell 4:50
3."Heather" Johnny Pearson 2:47
4."Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" Hank Williams 3:40
5."I Can't Make Music" Randy Edelman 3:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Yesterday Once More Medley" [a]
"Yesterday Once More" (John Bettis, Richard Carpenter) (3:50)
a. "Fun, Fun, Fun" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) (1:32)
b. "The End of the World" (Arthur Kent, Sylvia Dee) (2:25)
c. "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector) (1:43)
d. "Dead Man's Curve" (Jan Berry, Roger Christian, Wilson, Artie Kornfeld) (1:40)
e. "Johnny Angel" (Lyn Duddy, Lee Pockriss) (1:30)
f. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (Benjamin Weisman, Dorothy Wayne, Marilynn Garrett) (1:45)
g. "Our Day Will Come" (Bob Hilliard, Mort Garson) (2:00)
h. "One Fine Day" (Carole King, Gerry Goffin) (1:40)		 18:05
7."Yesterday Once More (reprise)"Bettis, Carpenter0:58

Personnel

Technical

Charts

Decade-end charts

Chart (1970s)Position
Japanese Albums Chart [30] 25

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Japan (Oricon Charts)—514,000 [31]
Netherlands (NVPI) [32] Platinum100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [33] Gold100,000^
United States (RIAA) [34] 2× Platinum2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. ↑ The medley lengths are sourced from the CD, where all parts are individual tracks.

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References

  1. ↑ Eder, Bruce. Now & Then at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  2. ↑ Fletcher, Gordon (July 5, 1973). "Music Reviews : Now and Then by the Carpenters". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide . New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p.  140. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  4. ↑ "Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Albums - 1973". Cash Box. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Schmidt, Randy (2012). Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter. Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-85712-769-3.
  7. ↑ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  8. ↑ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Carpenters - Yesterday Once More".
  10. ↑ "Carpenters - Jambalaya (On the Bayou)".
  11. ↑ "Rolling Stone — Now & Then review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Album Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. No. 26 May 1973. p. 52. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Album Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. No. 26 May 1973. p. 33. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Now & then - Carpenters | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic .
  15. ↑ "Carpenters - Now & Then Front Cover Illustrator". Facebook .
  16. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 . St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  17. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4877". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Carpenters – Now & Then" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  19. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
  20. ↑ "Yamachan Land (Japanese Chart Archives) - Albums Chart Daijiten - Carpenters" (in Japanese). Original Confidence. December 30, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  21. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Carpenters – Now & the Then". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Carpenters Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Cash Box Top 200 Pop Albums" (PDF). Cash Box . August 4, 1973. p. 39. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1973" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  26. 1 2 "Top-ten of the Japanese Year-End Albums Charts 1970-1974" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  27. 1 2 "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Top Pop Albums of 1973". billboard.biz. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  29. ↑ "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1974" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  30. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  31. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  32. ↑ Van Der Beek, Frans (June 8, 1974). "Amsterdam". Billboard. p. 48. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  33. ↑ "British album certifications – Carpenters – Now and Then". British Phonographic Industry.
  34. ↑ "American album certifications – Carpenters – Now and Then". Recording Industry Association of America.
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