| Post Card | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 21 February 1969 | |||
| Recorded | October–December 1968 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 41:34 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Producer | Paul McCartney | |||
| Mary Hopkin chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Post Card | ||||
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Post Card is the debut album by Mary Hopkin. It was produced by Paul McCartney and released by Apple Records in February 1969 in the UK and in March 1969 in the US. [1] It reached number 3 in the UK and number 28 in the US. [2] [3]
In 1968, Hopkin performed on the British television talent show Opportunity Knocks . Her performance was watched by Twiggy who mentioned to Paul McCartney about signing her when he talked about the new record label the Beatles had founded. After receiving a telegram, saying to ring Peter Brown at Apple Records, Hopkin, not having heard of either of them, initially did not until her mother insisted several days later. When she rang, she was put through to McCartney who invited her to come to London to sign a contract. However, Hopkin did not recognise it was McCartney and at first was hesitant until he told her to ask her mother who almost dropped the telephone when McCartney added who he was. After signing to Apple, McCartney suggested a song he had found several years prior called "Those Were the Days" that might suit Hopkin. [4] It was recorded in July 1968 and released the following month, and went on to thrust Hopkin into the limelight, topping the charts in the UK and worldwide. [5]
Following the success of "Those Were the Days", Hopkin and McCartney set about working on her debut album. Recording began in October and finished in early December, [6] [7] and took place at EMI Studios (later renamed to Abbey Road Studios), Trident and Morgan Studios. The album includes a number of old show tunes, such as "Lullaby of the Leaves" and "Someone to Watch Over Me", which were among the favourites of McCartney's father, Jim, and which McCartney thought Hopkin would sing well. However, Hopkin has been somewhat critical of the song selection, saying that "Paul was quite right to encourage me, but I don’t think my vocals were suited to some of the songs, which I felt were a bit too sophisticated for me". [8] [9]
The album also includes three songs written by Donovan. Two of them, "Lord of the Reedy River" and "Voyage of the Moon", were written for Hopkin, and the third "Happiness Runs (Pebble and the Man)" had previously been recorded by Donovan. [8] Donovan also performs the acoustic guitar and provides backing vocals on these songs, and Hopkin has described them as her favourites on the album. [10]
"The Puppy Song" was written by Harry Nilsson for Hopkin at the request of McCartney. At the time, Nilsson's records were being listened by everyone at Apple and he sent over "The Puppy Song". Hopkin's version proved popular at Apple and it was allegedly in the running to be released as Hopkin's follow-up UK single, but this ended up being the McCartney-written song "Goodbye". [9] Nilsson later recorded his own version on his album Harry , and it also became a number-one hit for David Cassidy in 1973.
Hopkin sang in Welsh on "Y Blodyn Gwyn", which she described as "a traditional tune that we did at school" and one "they always sing at the eisteddfods". [9] [11] She also sang in French on "Prince en Avignon", later saying that "I loved the song before I did it. It’s the track I least like, but not because of the song, simply because I don’t like me on it". [11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [13] |
| Mojo | [14] |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable) [15] |
| Tom Hull | B [16] |
It was originally hoped to release Post Card in time for the Christmas market, before being pushed back to early in the New Year of 1969. [17] [7] The album was eventually scheduled for release on 21 February 1969 in the UK. [18] A launch party took place at the Post Office Tower in London on 13 February 1969 which was attended by a number of rock stars including Jimi Hendrix, Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton, Donovan and McCartney. Hopkin was also presented with a gold disc for one million sales of "Those Were the Days". [19] [11] Post Card was released in the US on 3 March, ten days after its UK release. [1] "Those Were the Days" was not included on the UK release of Post Card, but it was included on the North American release, replacing "Someone to Watch Over Me". [1]
The album cover depicts a photograph of Hopkin taken by McCartney's future wife Linda Eastman at Kew Gardens. McCartney then asked postcard-making company Valentine's to make a limited edition of postcards with this picture. [8]
The reissue in 2010 included both "Those Were the Days" and "Someone to Watch Over Me", as well as four bonus tracks, including "Turn! Turn! Turn!", which was the B-side of "Those Were the Days", and Hopkin's second single "Goodbye" with its B-side "Sparrow". [20] The final bonus track was a previously unreleased version of "Fields of St. Etienne" which had been intended as Hopkin's third single in September 1969, but it ended up being cancelled on her request as she felt it was not in keeping with her musical vision, She later recorded a much simpler version of the song with McCartney which was released as the B-side to "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" in 1970. [9] Alongside the reissue of Post Card, four versions of "Those Were The Days" in Italian, Spanish, German and French were released as a digital download. [21]
Retrospectively, AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger deemed "Lord of the Reedy River" to be one of the album highlights. [12] Rolling Stone critic John Mendelsohn regarded Hopkin's voice as being well-suited to the Donovan songs, although he considered the songs themselves to be "ponderous and over-long". [22] Unterberger felt that the only problem with the album was that it contained too many pre-rock standards, in accordance with McCartney's tastes, which were not as well suited to Hopkin as more simple folk songs. [12] Mendelsohn praised McCartney's production as much as Hopkin's singing. [23]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lord of the Reedy River" | Donovan | 2:37 |
| 2. | "Happiness Runs (Pebble and the Man)" | Donovan | 2:03 |
| 3. | "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" | Ray Noble | 3:43 |
| 4. | "Y Blodyn Gwyn" | Richard H. Jones, Edward John Hughes | 3:08 |
| 5. | "The Honeymoon Song" | William Sansom, Mikis Theodorakis | 2:07 |
| 6. | "The Puppy Song" | Harry Nilsson | 2:42 |
| 7. | "Inchworm" | Frank Loesser | 2:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "Voyage of the Moon" | Donovan | 5:52 |
| 9. | "Lullaby of the Leaves" | Bernice Petkere, Joe Young | 2:33 |
| 10. | "Young Love" | Ric Cartey, Carole Joyner | 2:11 |
| 11. | "Someone to Watch Over Me" | George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | 2:02 |
| 12. | "Prince en Avignon" | Jean-Pierre Bourtayre | 3:20 |
| 13. | "The Game" | George Martin | 2:40 |
| 14. | "There's No Business Like Show Business" | Irving Berlin | 4:03 |
| Total length: | 41:34 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lord of the Reedy River" | Donovan | 2:33 |
| 2. | "Happiness Runs (Pebble and the Man)" | Donovan | 2:01 |
| 3. | "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" | Noble | 3:42 |
| 4. | "Y Blodyn Gwyn" | Jones, Hughes | 3:06 |
| 5. | "The Honeymoon Song" | Sansom, Theodorakis | 2:05 |
| 6. | "The Puppy Song" | Nilsson | 2:42 |
| 7. | "Inchworm" | Loesser | 2:31 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "Voyage of the Moon" | Donovan | 5:52 |
| 9. | "Lullaby of the Leaves" | Petkere, Young | 2:32 |
| 10. | "Young Love" | Cartey, Joyner | 2:09 |
| 11. | "Those Were the Days" | Gene Raskin | 5:07 |
| 12. | "Prince en Avignon" | Bourtayre | 3:19 |
| 13. | "The Game" | Martin | 2:37 |
| 14. | "There's No Business Like Show Business" | Berlin | 4:01 |
| Total length: | 44:17 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Those Were the Days" | Raskin | 5:10 |
| 2. | "Lord of the Reedy River" | Donovan | 2:39 |
| 3. | "Happiness Runs (Pebble and the Man)" | Donovan | 2:05 |
| 4. | "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" | Noble | 3:46 |
| 5. | "Y Blodyn Gwyn" | Jones, Hughes | 3:11 |
| 6. | "The Honeymoon Song" | Sansom, Theodorakis | 2:09 |
| 7. | "The Puppy Song" | Nilsson | 2:44 |
| 8. | "Inchworm" | Loesser | 2:37 |
| 9. | "Voyage of the Moon" | Donovan | 5:56 |
| 10. | "Lullaby of the Leaves" | Petkere, Young | 2:36 |
| 11. | "Young Love" | Cartey, Joyner | 2:15 |
| 12. | "Someone to Watch Over Me" | Gershwin, Gershwin | 2:06 |
| 13. | "Prince en Avignon" | Bourtayre | 3:23 |
| 14. | "The Game" | Martin | 2:43 |
| 15. | "There's No Business Like Show Business" | Berlin | 4:13 |
| 16. | "Turn! Turn! Turn!" ("Those Were the Days" B-side) | Pete Seeger | 2:51 |
| 17. | "Goodbye" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | 2:27 |
| 18. | "Sparrow" ("Goodbye" B-side) | Benny Gallagher, Graham Lyle | 3:12 |
| 19. | "Fields Of St. Etienne" (previously unreleased version) | Gallagher, Lyle | 3:48 |
| 20. | "Quelli erano giorni" (digital download) | Raskin, Diano | 5:11 |
| 21. | "Que tiempo tan feliz" (digital download) | Raskin, José Carreras Moysi | 5:10 |
| 22. | "An jenam Tag" (digital download) | Raskin, Heinz Korn | 5:10 |
| 23. | "Le temps des fleurs" (digital download) | Raskin, Eddy Marnay | 5:09 |
| Total length: | 80:31 | ||
Musicians
Technical
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [24] | 24 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [2] | 3 |
| US Billboard 200 [3] | 28 |
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The Beatles' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beatles that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Starting with vinyl releases in the 1970s, through CD issues in the late 1980s, and continuing with digital downloads starting in the mid 1990s, the Beatles have been, and continue to be, among the most bootlegged artists.
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Mary Hopkin, credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be signed to the Beatles' Apple label.
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"Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album No One's Gonna Change Our World and later, in a different form, on their 1970 album Let It Be, the group's final released studio album. The original version featured on two different albums both titled Rarities: a 1978 British release and a 1980 US release. It was also included on their 1988 album Past Masters, Volume Two. The song has been covered by many artists, including David Bowie on his 1975 album Young Americans, which featured contributions from Lennon.
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"Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968 it was released as a mono non-album single, backed with "The Inner Light". The song was recorded on 3 and 6 February 1968, before the Beatles left for India, and its boogie-woogie style signalled a more conventional approach to writing and recording for the group following the psychedelic experimentation of the previous two years.
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"The Puppy Song" is a Harry Nilsson song that appeared on his album Harry released in August 1969. Nilsson originally wrote this song at Paul McCartney's request for Mary Hopkin, an 18-year-old singer that McCartney had signed to Apple Records and whose first album, Post Card would feature her version of Nilsson's song. David Cassidy released his version as a double A-side single with "Daydreamer", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1973.
Earth Song/Ocean Song is the second album by Mary Hopkin, released in October 1971 by Apple Records. It was released over two years after her first album, Post Card, and would be her last for eighteen years.
