Carpenters - Horizon. Any love for this album?

HORIZON was the first Carpenters album where I felt a tiny hint of being let down. The production was sublime. The bookending of "Aurora" and "Eventide" fit in with their prior methods of album construction. "Please Mr. Postman" was already familiar on two counts - it was an oldie cover, and it had been out for more than six months prior to the album, so it already felt old and familiar when the stylus first hit the LP.

The new single "Only Yesterday" was already hitting radio hard when HORIZON was released and it is probably, on any given day, my favorite Carpenters record, so where's the let down?

OK, so strip those two out because they are already familiar, and you get this for a new album:

1.) Aurora 1:33
3.) Desperado 3:37
5.) I Can Dream Can't I 4:58
6.) Solitaire 4:39
7.) Happy 3:48
8.) (I'm Caught Between) Goodbye And I Love You 4:04
9.) Love Me For What I Am 3:30
10.) Eventide 1:32

The bookended tracks, while sublime, are really just one song split in two, so we're only now left with seven new songs. In the UK that would only be half an album!
Now look at the tempo of the remaining tracks. Slow, very slow, slow, very slow, slightly uptempo, slow, slow. The criticism that this album often gets is that it was too slow and it's easy to see why.

And then there's the matter of the backing tracks, particularly on "I Can Dream, Can't I". This was the first case of any Carpenters record using someone other than Karen and Richard doing the backing tracks with their overdubbing technique. That technique worked for me and was one of the main reasons I was drawn to their sound. Now here's this backing chorus that wasn't Karen and Richard and frankly it really disappointed me when I heard it.

At the time, I wasn't overly familiar with the big band style of having a lead vocalist backed by a chorus of others for the middle of the song, so in retrospect I recognize the brilliance of the arrangement meant to sound like a throwback to the big band era. But it's still a slow and dreamy song on an album filled with slow songs.

When "Solitaire" was played on the radio, I of course gravitated to it as I did anything Carpenters. It was never a favorite, but it was great to hear every few hours while it was on the charts. But I never got the same feeling listening to it on the HORIZON album, and it took me years to figure out why. The single version that Richard prepared has a subtle entrance of a guitar figure at about the 1 minute mark, and a minimal addition of an organ playing later on. Something about those two minor changes make all the difference to me and when the single first appeared on the US GOLD compilation, I was again fond of the song. It gets the award for "Most Improved".

I can't say the same about "Postman". The pinched sonics on the single are just kind of irritating and I prefer the album version.

As I said, the production and arrangements of everything here is top notch, but it somehow doesn't quite float my boat, so I understand those who think that HORIZON might have been the turning point for Carpenters and their remaining output never rose to the level of what went before.

 

What a great post. Thanks for that.

 

I don't dislike Horizon, but it seems like such a sad album, all the way down to the cover shot. Karen's vocals are amazing as normal and Only Yesterday is a classic but overall it just seems to be the most depressing album in their catalog. (IMO)

A large step down from the previous albums....

 

Well, I have to say it's my favorite album by them. But you have a point...strip out those songs and there isn't as much meat on the bone for sure. But...you could say that about a lot of albums if you removed a hit or two. And, I really love the bookends personally, and it really NEEDS Please Mr. Postman as it's kind of a downer album. So, put the stuff you stole back and bam, you have imo their best album.

 

While I agree that it's "not fair" to strip an album of two tracks and then judge it, at the time it's just the way the cookie crumbled for me. Those two superb uptempo tracks were already out and big hits. They weren't the new part of the album, and what was left was pretty uninspiring from my point of view. Believe me, as a moderator on a Carpenters forum, I know full well that HORIZON is a fan favorite. I just never felt that strongly about it and saw it as a turning point.

 

"A Song For You" was my favorite Carpenters album until I heard "Horizon." It is indeed too short, and the bookends are the same song with different lyrics, but it all still works for me. "Only Yesterday," "Happy," and the two songs that follow "Happy" are some of my favorite Carpenters tunes. And as others have mentioned, the album sounds stunning. I thought it was a great return to form after the rather luckluster "Now And Then."

 

After A Song For You this is my favorite Carpenters rekkid. Happy is one of my all time favorite Carpenters tunes. The 3 singles are all keepers. Lurve it!

 

First of all, I love, in one way or another, every Carpenters album through Made In America. My favorite wavers between Carpenters and A Song For You. I see the word somber used by quite a few to describe Horizon and it is an apt description. Anyone familiar with Postman and Only Yesterday was in for a surprise as pretty much every other song was rather slow and forlorn. Still, I've always been especially drawn to Solitaire (being already familiar with the Sedaka version) and I Can Dream Can't I for those very qualities. Karen's vocal on Solitaire is heartbreaking and ICDCI is so expertly produced that i would love for them to have recorded an entire album in that vein.
And just for the record, I like Goofus, too.

 

I like "Horizon" a lot - much more than I thought I would. It contains one of their songs ever, the cover of "Solitaire", which I think is sublime. I haven't noticed the differences between the album and single version, but I'll try to listen to the album again. (Any excuse...) I think the sequencing of the album is rather good, and one of the reasons it works.

 

Nice to hear another big fan for Solitaire...it is very close to my favorite Carpenters song and I loved it even as a teen when it was new. Don't care for Sedaka's version, though I like him in general.

 

Totally agree....it flows just perfect, and Please Mr. Postman is a nice break at the right time for an otherwise pretty serious listen. A masterpiece of an album imo.

 

Has their version of Desperado grown on you anymore yet?

Glad the album is striking a chord with you. I'd have felt bad if you disliked it as I was the one who recommended it to you.

Have you heard A Kind Of Hush? It's a little lighter than Horizon, but has a few standout tracks. You, Sandy and Boat To Sail are worth the price of the album alone.

 

Andy Williams had a top 10 hit with Solitaire here in 1974. Probably the reason the Carpenters version didn't perform well a year later. I like Andy's take on the song, though.

 

Yes and no. I still feel that it's a beautiful version, but for me it lacks the earthiness of both The Eagles´ and Linda Ronstadt's version. Karen does nothing wrong - but the song needs more "grit", I feel.

The album is great, including "Desperado". It flows so effortlessly, and you never get the chance to tire from perfection. It's a perfect slice of music. Glad I bought it, so you have nothing to worry about. "It's all good," as we never say in Norway.

No, I haven't heard "A Kind of Hush", but it's one of the albums on my "to get"-list.

 

If you do get A Kind Of Hush at some point, let us know what you think of it.

 

I think most Carpenters songs should be listened to with a sense of the demons that were haunting Karen.
They take on a whole new meaning in that light.

 

It's true when Karen died, many of the songs took on a darker, sadder meaning. When she was alive they were just great pop songs. They still are, of course, but you can't help be more moved by the lyrics now.

 

Over the years I have come to enjoy Horizon a lot. I skipped over it at the time of release, but when I did finally pick it up I came to consider it a solid addition to their catalog. A Kind of Hush I don't like as much. They seem to be running on fumes at that point to me. All the bad things that I knew nothing about back then probably contribute to my feeling that AKOH and Passage feel very spotty to me. Too many remakes of well known songs and rather weak originals when there are any.

 

Yes,they became windows into her soul.

 

Certainly, my liege. I think I´ll buy the remaining Carpenters albums as SHM-CDs. I really liked the sound of the "Horizon" SHM-CD.

 

They supposedly use the 1998 remasters the standard CDs have, but Japanese CDs often sound better than the rest, don't they?

 

My favorite Carpenters album, aside from Singles 1969-1973. I love "Happy".

 

"Horizon" is just a perfect album and the Carpenters most cohesive. It's a tad short and could've easily taken "Sailing On The Tide" to help break up the somber tone (Postman and Happy aside) of it. Richard was thinking too much of those "hairs standing up on the back of the neck" moments in choosing material so I understand why some fans were turned off by it. Overall, it works better as a whole listening experience than when its chopped into pieces. It would've easily sold double what it did had it been released with "Postman" or "Only Yesterday" but waiting until "Solitaire" was its death nell. Too slow a song to entice casual fans to pick up the album and plus I'm sure many had bought both prior singles so they might have just picked up "Solitaire" on 45 instead if they liked it. The "A Kind Of Hush" LP that followed is almost too perky positive by comparison. I still say "Goofus" should've been the first sign to everyone that Richard was on Ludes when he decided to make that a single. The song choices on that one were too lightweight and then everything that followed was good but no patch on the 1970-1975 era.

 

Goofus tried to hark back to the quirkier songs on their early albums. It just sounded weird and forced on A Kind Of Hush, though. I do like a handful of the tracks. I Need To Be In Love, You, Sandy, Boat To Sail and I Have You. Their version of Can't Smile Without You lacks something, though.

 

Yeah, their version makes me appreciate what Barry Manilow did with his to turn it into a hit - not that K&R did bombast much - but their version is very flat by comparison. The cover of "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" would've been better had they done the slow 76 remake version Neil hit with. I'm actually surprised they even recorded another Sedaka song after the hard feelings of the 1975 touring fiasco...