Product Description

Featuring a surprisingly poignant cover photo of a suburbanhouse--not unlike the Downey, California homestead in whichKaren and Richard Carpenter grew up--NOW AND THEN is a concept album about the music that inspired Karen and Richard intheir childhood. Besides the hit single "Sing" and a charming take on Hank Williams' "Jambalaya", the centrepiece of NOW AND THEN is Richard Carpenter and John Bettis' nostalgic "Yesterday Once More.
The song opens and closes a side-long medley of early-'60s pop hits that includes the Beach Boys' "Fun Fun Fun", Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World", the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" and Jan and Dean's "Deadman's Curve". Also included are Shelly Fabares' "Johnny Angel", BobbyVee's "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", Ruby and the Romantics' "Our Day Will Come", and the Chiffons' "One Fine Day". Given Karen's immense skills as an interpretive singer, not one of the covers is less than interesting, and most are flat-out wonderful.

Track Listing

1. Sing
2. This Masquerade
3. Heather
4. Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
5. I Can't Make Music
6. Yesterday Once More
7. Fun, Fun, Fun
8. The End Of The World
9. Da Doo Ron Ron
10. Dead Man's Curve
11. Johnny Angel
12. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
13. Our Day Will Come
14. One Fine Day
15. Yesterday Once More

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3220 in Music
• Released on: 2007-12-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 37 minutes

Customer Reviews

A career high
'Now and Then' was without a doubt one of the peaks of the Carpenters' career. 'Yesterday Once More' is probably one of their most popular and enduring tunes, but there are plenty of lesser-known gems. 'This Masquerade' is simply sublime, one of the best things the Carpenters ever did. Randy Edelman's 'I Can't Make Music' is both melancholic and gorgeous, while the arrangement of 'Heather' is lush and moving. Most of what's left is covers of oldies lifted up several notches by those wonderful Karen Carpenter vocals. Great stuff. So why not 5 stars? Well, much as I love the Carpenters, I've never quite been able to forgive them for the sickly, cloying horror of 'Sing'. I know other reviewers view it with affection, but for me it's an embarrassment in a back catalogue which otherwise is an embarrassment of riches.

Skip the first track, however, and 'Now and Then' is 5-star stuff all the way...

Mark Rudolph - you are right !!!
This album is in my view the best original album the Carpenters ever recorded (i.e. not a compilation). Every track is a winner. Here's the rundown...

Sing - Joe Raposos uplifing singalong complete with childrens choir never fails to lift the spirits. Those Carpenters mushy harmonies are right to the fore here too.

This Masquerade - Another classic song written by Leon Russell. Karens vocal reaches right into the words which were very effectively used in the Karen Carpenter story film to overlay her brief marriage.

Heather - Think of the tune ' Sleepy Shores' and this Johnny Pearson instrumental is in the same vein. Lush orchestral passages build the music to a moving crescendo. A wonderful middle track to what was side one of the original lp.

Jambalaya - A country and western flavored 'yee-hah' type song is in complete contrast to other songs on this album but is all the better for it.

I can't make music - For me the most underrated Carpenters track ever recorded. It doesn't appear on any compilations and I have never heard it on the radio. Karens vocals are superb and soar in the final chorus. A hidden gem.

Yesterday once more - Soundtrack of a lifetime; Richard Carpenter & John Bettis' only original track on the album needs no eulogies here. An absolute classic.

Mdeley - We then had most of side two of the album taken up with a sequence of cover versions of big hits from 1963. Guitarist Tony Peluso provides the DJ interludes to each track and also the 'Guess the golden oldie' mystery quiz. An unfortunate chap called Mark Rudolph gets to take part and unfortunately guesses the mystery voice incorrectly as the Four Seasons. At this response, Tony the DJ proclaims "Mark Rudolph, you are WRONG !!!". The cover songs include golden goodies such as 'Fun fun fun', 'One fine day', 'Our day will come', 'Johnny Angel' and best of all Karens moving rendition of the Skeeter Davis track 'The end of the World'. The final notes of 'Our day will come' disappear down a murky tunnel and fading back in is a slowed down version of 'Yesterday once more' with the line 'When I was young I'd listen to the radio' repeated several times before itself fading to nothing.

Quite simply a masterpiece.

Fabulous
This album is one of the best albums of all time. YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (along with ONLY YESTERDAY) has got to be the finest pop song ever written. The Carpenters' recording of THIS MASQUERADE has got to be the definitive version. This is just a must own album.