Showing posts with label touch me when we're dancing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label touch me when we're dancing. Show all posts

June 16, 2026

Carpenters Revisited: A Fresh Look at Made in America (Part Two)

In April of this year,  I published my Revisited / Fresh Look review of the Carpenters album Made in America. This hotly debated musical collection easily divided fans of the duo almost as much as the views of Karen Carpenter's one and only solo album. Let's consider one more idea regarding their 1981 comeback album. Read the Made in America (Part One) review if you need a refresher before we move ahead.

A nicely colorized version of a sweet photo.

I can't decide which was the bigger production,
the wedding or the Made in America album.
Neither one performed as well as hoped.

Watching the 1981 album go up and quickly down the U.S. Billboard charts was a very frustrating experience. As I wrote earlier, it's not a bad album, but it's not a great one. After all, how bad could it be when Karen's voice it there? But the consumers and radio programmers all but said "We're done with them" after the initial limited success of the only solid hit single Touch Me When We're Dancing. The album of origin did not fare as well as the single.

In the U.S., this song was single number 3.

Just look at the album's journey up and down the Billboard charts: 

Week                 Date                         Position

1                        July 4                         99  (The album's debut.)
2                        July 11                       85
3                        July 18                       79
4                        July 25                       71
5                        August 1                    61
6                        August 8                    54
7                        August 15                  52  (The album's peak.)
8                        August 22                  62
9                        August 29                  64
10                      September 5              81
11                      September 12            78
12                      September 19            78
13                      September 26          155
14                      October 3                 155
15                      October 10               186  (Last week on the charts.)

Compared to Passage, the new album was a disappointment. Back in 1977, the very adventurous album debuted on October 22nd, charting at Number 98. Its peak was Number 49 on  December 3. The album's last week on the chart was January 28, ending its 15 week run at Number 117. In essence, both albums were fairly equal performers, making the duo's highly anticipated comeback album a relative failure.

The initial Japanese single. But the last one in America.

Were the album's singles successful elsewhere on the globe? Definitely better in Japan and in the U.K., as expected. While A&M Records in the U.S. began the Carpenters comeback by issuing Touching Me When We're Dancing, the Japan took a different tactic which relied on their past success. They chose Beechwood 4-5789. Their love of the Oldies was well established, and the Now & Then album was one of the duo's best sellers in the Land of the Rising Sun, so this choice would seem like a no-brainer.


It was a different story in Brazil. There, A&M executives restarted the duo's career with (Want You) Back in My Life Again. In every market, the Richard Carpenter / John Bettis collaboration Because We Are In Love (The Wedding Song) was the flip side of the first single's release.


No doubt that music market is different in each different locale and region, and so are our own individual preferences. With that thought in mind, let's move forward.


Back in 1981, looking at the singles and album's modest success gave fans an opportunity to wonder why this occurred. So, now many years later...

 

It's time for us to "Create your own version of Made in America" or even "Made in America Redux". This is something hard core fans at the great A&M Corner forums have been doing ever since more and more of the songs recorded have been released on other Carpenters projects. There's even been some creative photoshop projects envisioning a new look for the album cover and insert. 

The core of it all, the focus of any album, begins with the music.

Listed below are the songs recorded for the album that have seen the light of day as of the time of this article. They're listed in order of the dates work was first begun on each number. The songs are:

“When It’s Gone (It’s Just Gone)” 
“Two Lives”  
"Touch Me When We're Dancing"  
“Prime Time Love”  
“Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night”  
“When You’ve Got What It Takes”  
“Somebody’s Been Lyin’” 
"Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)" 
“Strength of a Woman”  
“(Want You) Back in My Life Again”  
“Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore”  
“The Uninvited Guest”  
“Make Believe It’s Your First Time (Carpenters version)”  
“The Rainbow Connection”  
“Beechwood 4-5789”  
“Those Good Old Dreams”
"At the End of a Song" 


However, just to make this more interesting, in addition to the ones recorded in 1980 and 1981, there are also the following songs to choose from. These are selections from the planned 1979 album and others that up to 1983 remained in the A&M vaults:

"You're the One" 
"Sailing on the Tide (#2)"
"Dancing in the Street"
"Leave Yesterday Behind"
"Thank You for the Music"
"Slow Dance"
"When I Fall in Love"
"Little Girl Blue"
"Where Do I Go from Here"
"Ordinary Fool"

Now we're ready.

Signing autographs in London.

Imagine you are Richard Carpenter working alongside Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss to come up with the best line up possible for your oh so important comeback album. Your choices will determine what's presented to radio programmers and the public. You are in charge of the project, but you have to create an album with the best possibility of bringing Carpenters back to the top of the charts. 

Here's the assignment given to you by the label boss: Choose at least three singles, and limit yourself to ten songs total for the album.  

Of course there is more to making an album a best seller than just the music. How do you present yourself in the best light possible? So, assignment number to is to create a strong visual look for the album.

Lastly, if you can, you must retain Made in America as the title of the album.

I'll start with the visual versus the audio side of things.

The front cover. 

From a visual standpoint, Karen and Richard are on the cover in a real photograph. This is very important because they are clearly no longer teenagers but young adults and need to be presented as such after a long time out of the public eye. There's nothing sweet or sugary here. The optics are fresh and contemporary with just a hint of whimsy provided via the use of the light sky behind them. The frame could be replaced with a thin line inserted about half an inch from the edges, but I liked the overall feel of it better with some weight added. The Made in America script is clean and stylized, but it feels personal too. A very nice touch that I chose to keep.

My favorite album cover is Horizon, as I think it represents Karen and Richard in the best light possible. Much more serious and moody. But a similar approach wouldn't work on Made in America where the contents are relatively optimistic, light, and even inconsequential. The contents and the visual arts have to work in harmony. 

The wallpaper a la A Kind of Hush in burgundy.
A very classy element that I wish they'd continued to use.

In blue, if you prefer.

In a nod to the past, the wonderful Carpenters "wallpaper" becomes a standard part of album packaging going forward. This was first used on A Kind of Hush. It is "branding" but in a very elegant manner. The investment of extra time, effort, and finances subtly communicates "This artist is important to us!" 

The interior of the gatefold album... with some help from AI.


The sleeve. The opposite side is lyrics and production credits.
Does anyone out there have a nice, crisp version of this photo?
Let me know please...

And thanks to Ned Nickerson, it is now a reality!

The inside sleeve provides another photo opportunity as does the interior gatefold. I considered adding the new logo first seen on the Only Yesterday 45 sleeve, but I decided against it. As much as I like it, that era was over.

The vinyl.

The custom label for the record features David Willardson's artwork. He's a gifted artist and in small doses for this purpose, his art does communicate well. As part of a bonus, this image as well as the cover are available as a poster for fans through the official fan club.

The back cover. Inspired by one of the new selections on the album.

Now for my musical selections. As you pick your musical choices for the comeback album, feel free to make up your own rules. 

The following were my guidelines. I wondered what would come together if 1- I left off I Believe You as it was released in 78; 2- Because We Are in Love was left as a special "B" Side for the first single, and 3- I could only replace one additional song (making for three total).

Here's what I came up with:

1 Touch Me When We're Dancing (Single #1- Late Spring)
2 Those Good Old Dreams
3 Strength of a Woman
4 (Want You) Back in My Life Again (Remixed Single #2- Summer)
5 When You've Got What It Takes


6 Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night (Single #3- Fall)
7 When it’s Gone (It's Just Gone)
8 Prime Time Love
9 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore (Single #4- Early 1982)
10 Somebody’s Been Lyin'

In my mind, the first single should lead off the comeback album. It's the one that will probably get the most radio play and probably be most remembered from this particular album. This is especially true if the follow up singles are not successful. 

Side One is a fairly close representation of what Richard imagined, only adding in one song originally on Side Two and moving the last number to be the closer of the entire disc.

Side Two feels entirely different with better, stronger selections with a bit more edge. It misses the juvenile feel and lyrics of Beechwood 45789 but closes out with the very adult lyrics and feel of Somebody's Been Lyin'.  

In my view, the whole album is punchier, looser, and with a more pop radio friendly sound. The follow up singles would still find their home on Adult Contemporary radio and those charts, but without the ultra soft, ultra processed feel that could relegate them to the trash bin of pop radio. This is particularly true of selections 1, 4, 6,8, and 9 that remove the airbrushed feel of the original choices with instrumental breaks that are lively and diverse and an overall more powerful drum work. 

The most important new elements are stronger vocals from Karen. She feels more invested and present. Richard is more vocally impactful and involved. Although it feels fresh and new, the production also feels more "traditional" Carpenters. Karen's famous alto appears more often.  There's also more diversity in style, all to the benefit of the collection and how it would be perceived.

What would be your choices?

In contrast to the previous Fresh Look at Karen's solo album, by the time I had completed my new revisited review of Made in America, I was not interested in listening to the collection for a very long time. The album is pretty, it has some nice elements, and it represents a wonderful season in my life. But it does not have the drawing power of their previous releases. In fact, at completion of Part One and Part Two, I've had relatively little interest in listening to the duo at all.

Karen and Richard were wise to quickly go back in the studio to work on their next album. Sadly, we all know what happens and what album comes next in 1983. Now if I can only get myself in the mood to dig into the research! Made in America wore me out!

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This is part of a continuing series on the albums of Karen and Richard Carpenter. There are so many stand alone posts highlighting different aspects of their career, recordings, rare photographs, and life that I've lost count. 

Below is the list of my "Revisited /Fresh Look" reviews and then my initial ones a decade earlier. Each have different photos and clippings.

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May 15, 2022

Karen Carpenter's Rarest Performance

Here's the long missing, pretty rare, 1981 live performance by Karen and Richard Carpenter on French television. The other song the duo presented was Touch Me When We're Dancing from their newest album Made in America. In the past, this selection has become unavailable, removed, or given the studio recording as the main track. 

No doubt that Top of the World is one of the Carpenters most loved songs, and this version almost sounds as if its a new recording. Karen Carpenter's rich contralto is instead higher, softer, and brighter, than the A&M Records original. Catch it here before it disappears again.

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2025 Note: This is part of a continuing series on the music and lives of Karen and Richard Carpenter. There are so many stand alone posts highlighting different aspects of their career, recordings, rare photographs, and life that I've lost count. 


Below is the list of my "Revisited /Fresh Look" reviews, the more extensive articles than my initial ones a decade earlier. Each have different photos and clippings and focus on various aspects of the individual disc's creation, promotion, and public reaction.

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November 16, 2017

Unseen Karen Carpenter

Given she had such a short life, Karen Carpenter was constantly at the end of a photographer's camera. Here's a photo I had never seen before from Norman Seeff, a man known for his more rock and roll clientele. 

The year was 1981, and she and her brother Richard Carpenter were nearing completion on their new album, Made in America. The beloved duo had not had a non-Christmas album since 1977, so their public seemed to be ready for something new. The disc was better received over in the U.K. and in Japan than it was at home, but the first single Touch Me When We're Dancing was a pretty solid return to the charts, making the Top Twenty for four weeks. 

Smaller but in color.

This photo and others in similar clothing from the session didn't make the cut. But they were used for the 1989 release of Lovelines, coming on the heels of the Karen Carpenter Story. In two years, A&M Records will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Carpenters first release, Offering (later renamed Ticket to Ride). Maybe we'll see more unseen Karen then. And hear more unheard recordings as well. Until then, the new Vinyl Collection presents the major Carpenters releases in album form. A treat for collectors.

(You can read about Karen's last days here.)

(Photograph copyright Norman Seeff.)
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August 25, 2010

Carpenters Made in America: Can't Go on Living A Memory

Many times over the last month or so, I have wanted to finish writing this post on the Carpenters' first release of the 1980's: Made in America. Funny thing is, my favorite music discussion board at A&M Corner, has been constantly abuzz with threads concerning the album and particularly it's third single, (Want You) Back in My Life Again.

Not only did the intelligent and insightful responses there make me listen to the album several times, they also challenged me to write a better article! But I had to let some time lapse to get a better grasp on the disc. All said, go there and join the boards- you'll be amazed at what you'll learn from the industry insiders and hard core A&M Records fans that post there. So, let's dig into it...
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 The house that Herb Alpert built alongside businessman Jerry Moss was a house divided: on one hand, Karen and Richard Carpenter were much appreciated for their "cash cow" status. On the other, it was well known inside the music industry that although Alpert loved them, it was somewhat of a disgrace to have them on the label. After all, the Carpenters weren't rock and weren't cool, but as the old adage goes, "Money Talks". In the early to mid 70's no one made the label more money. Or perhaps anyone on any label. Worldwide.

Their greatest hits collection, The Singles 1969 - 1973 established the duo for the ages, but subsequent albums ran the gamut from being definitive works ("Horizon" and "Christmas Portrait") to relative filler ("A Kind of Hush") to clearly out of touch with what was popular on the charts ("Passage") and desperate to establish a new image. 
October 28, 1978 Billboard ad for "I Believe You".

The last single from Karen and Richard was the beautiful but unsuccessful "I Believe You" in 1978. They sounded great here, but times and taste had changed. The old school torch song was an even bigger flop than "Goofus".
Leaving their 70's success and entering into the 80's, things were tough for our favorite duo from Downey, California. Karen's later revealed struggle with anorexia nervosa, her abandoned solo album with Phil Ramone, and Richard's eventually successful battle with prescription drugs, meant that the career had to take second place to their personal lives. By the time work had finished on their comeback album in 1981, two and a half years had passed. This would be alright for superstar caliber artists a decade later, but it was much too long for their season of popularity.

The album arrived to much industry fanfare, but with a slowly breaking Top Twenty single, "Touch Me When We're Dancing", it was going to be an uphill battle to get the Carpenters a Top Ten album. Ah, but the single! Just hearing Karen's voice after so much time was a treat! As a young twenty something madly in love with my soon to be wife, I couldn't get enough of the song, but it remained hard to find on the radio. When the full album was released in June, I was right there at the local Licorice Pizza store in to buy it. 

What was it with the cover? Had the A&M promotion folks gone mad? Why an illustration, even if it was fairly well done? After the previous two album covers had displayed artwork versus a photograph of the duo, you would think the record company would desire something different. (The recent photo sessions created a fairly up-to-date image for them, and these shots have been used for compilations years later.) No matter- the album was mine, and home I went to plug in the earphones for my traditional first listen.

 From the opening bars of "Those Good Old Dreams", the Carpenters I had known and loved were back. The artistry was there; the warm familiarity was there; and most importantly, the Voice of the generation was back.

In hindsight, that is much of the problem with this collection. Karen and Richard were stuck here in a time warp of their own making. The album relies on an old formula, almost as if Richard looked at their largest hits and then found songs that sounded similar: "Those Good Old Dreams" equals "Top of the World"; "Strength of a Woman" begins eerily familiar to "Superstar"; and the most obvious comparison is covering "Beechwood-45789" a la "Please Mr. Postman". Yet, these newer recordings have much less emotional and sonic impact than the ones that came before them. I really like the first two of the three songs mentioned, but then again, I can find good in most things.

 Made in America was certainly a pretty enough album, but much like Hush, it was far too soft for contemporary popular radio. The sound of it lacked "bite"; everything seemed to be softer, sweeter, and almost airbrushed. The drums, the horns, almost all of it. Even Tony Peluso's great guitar work had sadly lost its rock edge. Karen and Richard were no longer relative to the times.

 The album's lyrics were cautiously optimistic at times, betraying the overall sunshine feel of the music. When viewed as a whole, there's a good amount of trouble brewing beneath the surface. Even Karen's wedding song to Tom Burris, Because We Are in Love, hints at uncertainty and fear. (Wish Karen would have listened to herself and ditched the guy! And ditched the song. It is one of my least favorites of all their recordings.) The same could be said in hindsight for the buoyant looking portrait on the cover. Something just didn't feel right- and no one but family and industry insiders knew the truth.


Single number one eventually creeped up to number 16, with each additional release doing much worse than the one before it. For the hardcore fan, it was so much in the same vein of earlier recordings that the disc was enjoyable but ultimately added nothing to their body of work. The one different sounding cut was the Doobie Brothers - ish (Want You) Back in My Life Again, and it ends up sounding more like a plea to radio programmers and fans of old, in spite of some impressive work by Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tennille and Ian Underwood of the Mothers of Invention.


That said, there was some maturing to be found in the lyrics but without the sexual explicitness many artists thought was necessary to survive the times. (That is one aspect of Richard's production and song choice I have always appreciated, and one that has made me really dislike some of Karen's solo work. Not the voice, but the lyrics.)

"Somebody's Been Lyin'" in particular, is a poignant look at the end of a relationship. There's not too many songs in the Carpenters' catalogue where Karen takes some responsibility for the end, although "This Masquerade" from the Now & Then disc hints the breakup is near for those very reasons. Again, the newer song has some depth, but it is not as sophisticated as their earlier recording.

 It was clear that A&M didn't know what to do with the album or the artists at this point, as the album headed down the charts as quickly as it rose. Karen and Richard headed off to Europe and South America for promotion, maybe even stops in Japan (a place of strong fan devotion); I'm not sure. The videos for the singles went from average to plain out awful, but at least they were in the public eye once again.
Sadly, this was Karen's last released recording while she was alive. Made in America is probably the weakest album in their collection, the one most desperate, the one that got away. It should have been more, it should have been better. Many of the unreleased songs recorded for the album were stronger than the ones that made the cut. The disc made for a nice addition to my collection, and I played it regularly. Of course, my own wedding was coming soon, so it didn't have as much turntable time as earlier albums.

 A little over a year and a half later, the girl with the golden voice would be gone. Too bad she couldn't have passed with a blockbuster hit as her latest release. Guess you really "can't hold on, living a memory".

Even though this would be the end of the duo, Richard continued on, as will the reviews of Carpenters' discs both as a duo, with solo works, and other artist productions on tap as well. Stay tuned.  
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2025 Note: This is part of a continuing series on the music and lives of Karen and Richard Carpenter. There are so many stand alone posts highlighting different aspects of their career, recordings, rare photographs, and life that I've lost count. 

Below is the list of my "Revisited /Fresh Look" reviews, the more extensive articles than my initial ones a decade earlier. Each have different photos and clippings and focus on various aspects of the individual disc's creation, promotion, and public reaction.

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