Carpenters - Now & Then (1973)

Now & Then 

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Now & Then
Studio album by Carpenters
Released	May 1, 1973
Recorded	1972–1973 at A&M Studios, Hollywood
Genre	Pop
Length	36:57
Label	A&M
Producer	Richard Carpenter Karen Carpenter
Carpenters chronology
A Song for You (1972) Now & Then (1973) Live in Japan (1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(Unfavorable)[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]

Now & Then is the fifth album by the Carpenters, released on May 1, 1973. In Cash Box Year-End Charts of 1973, Now & Thenappeared at number 20 and the title for the album was suggested by Karen and Richard's mother, Agnes Carpenter.

Contents

  [show] 

Background[edit]

As an outgrowth of the Rick Nelson Garden Party incident, an oldies revival occurred in pop music around 1973, so Side "B" of the album featured an oldies medley. The medley starts with the Carpenters' original song "Yesterday Once More". Tony Peluso, the Carpenters' guitarist who made his debut on their 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". Peluso would also be heard as a DJ on the Carpenters' "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" recording in 1977.

The Now & Then album also featured Mark Rudolph, a cousin of the Carpenters, on the "Guess the Golden Goodies Group Contest", as the listener who calls in. This is also one of only two albums where Karen did most or all of the drumming - the other being Offering(later rereleased as Ticket to Ride) - although on this album, she plays all of the drum tracks with the exception of Jambalaya (On the Bayou), which had Los Angeles session drummer Hal Blaine on the drums.

Cover[edit]

The LP album featured a three-panel cover that folded out, showing a panoramic view of Karen and Richard Carpenter driving past the Carpenter family home on Newville Avenue in Downey, California. The car pictured on the cover was a 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ("Daytona") owned by Richard. (Richard later sold the original red Ferrari featured on the album cover, but bought another car of the same type in 1995.)

In February 2008, fans created a worldwide awareness campaign of the impending demolition of the Now & Then Carpenter house which had been made famous on the album cover and became a tourist destination. The home's owners, the Parras, who had purchased it in 1997 from Richard Carpenter, after his mother's death in 1996, had had enough of devotees turning up at the house and asking to be shown round, and they wanted to raze the main house. The five-bedroom house had been bought by Karen and Richard for their parents in 1970. It was an annex to the now-destroyed house in which Karen collapsed from the heart attack that killed her in 1983.

Track listing[edit]

Side one

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

6. "Yesterday Once More" (John Bettis, Richard Carpenter) – 3:50 (Total time with medley - 18:05)
   1. "Fun, Fun, Fun" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) – 1:32
   2. "The End of the World" (Arthur Kent, Sylvia Dee) – 2:25
   3. "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, Phil Spector) – 1:43
   4. "Dead Man's Curve" (Jan Berry, Roger Christian, Brian Wilson, Artie Kornfeld) – 1:40
   5. "Johnny Angel" (Lyn Duddy, Lee Pockriss) – 1:30
   6. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (Benjamin Weisman, Dorothy Wayne, Marilynn Garrett) – 1:45
   7. "Our Day Will Come" (Bob Hilliard, Mort Garson) – 2:00
   8. "One Fine Day" (Carole King, Gerry Goffin) – 1:40
7. "Yesterday Once More" (reprise) – 0:58

On CD as well as later LP issues of the album, the "oldies" covers are split off onto a separate track from "Yesterday Once More" and labeled as "Medley". On early editions of the LP the entire side is one band, on subsequent issues `Yesterday Once More is banded by itself and in later `70's and early `80s reissues, the side has three bands.

Personnel[edit]

• Produced by: Richard and Karen Carpenter
• Richard Carpenter – keyboards, lead and backing vocals, arranger, orchestration, producer
• Karen Carpenter – drums (except on "Jambalaya"), lead and backing vocals, producer
• Hal Blaine – drums on "Jambalaya"
• Joe Osborn – bass
• Bob Messenger – flute, tenor sax
• Doug Strawn – baritone saxophone
• Tom Scott – recorder
• Tony Peluso – lead and rhythm guitars, spoken word (DJ) on "Yesterday Once More"
• Gary Sims – rhythm guitar
• Buddy Emmons – steel guitar
• Jay Dee Maness – steel guitar
• Earl Dumler – oboe, bass oboe, English horn
• The Jimmy Joyce Children's Chorus – backing vocals on "Sing"
• Ray Gerhardt - engineer
• Roger Young - assistant engineer
• Bernie Grundman - mastering engineer
• Roland Young - art direction
• Jim McCrary - photography (front cover)
• Design Maru - illustrations (front cover)
• Len Freas - illustrations (inside cover)

Singles[edit]

"Sing"[edit]

• US 7" single (1973) – A&M 1413
  1. "Sing"
  2. "Druscilla Penny"
• JP 7" single (1973) – AM-175
  1. "Sing"
  2. "I Won't Last a Day Without You"

"Yesterday Once More"[edit]

• US 7" single (1973) – A&M 1446
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Road Ode"
• UK 7" promo (1973) – AM1446
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Road Ode"
• JP 7" single (1973) – AM-200
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Road Ode"
• JP 7" single (1973) – AMP-780
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Sing"
• JP 7" single (1973) – OH-134
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Superstar"
  3. "Top of the World"
  4. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
• MX 7" single (1973) – SP-125
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Road Ode"
• JP 12" single (1978) – CML3
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Please Mr. Postman"
• JP CD single (1988) – S12Y3014
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Superstar"
  3. "We've Only Just Begun"
• JP CD single (1992) – PODM-1025
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Yesterday Once More" (remix version)
  3. "Yesterday Once More" (original master karaoke version)
• JP CD single (1996) – POCM-1187
  1. "Yesterday Once More"
  2. "Yesterday Once More" (karaoke version)
  3. "Goodbye to Love"
  4. "Only Yesterday"

"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"[edit]

• UK 7" single (1974) – AMS7098
  1. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" – 3:40
  2. "Mr. Guder" – 3:17
• JP 7" single (1974) – AM-201
  1. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
  2. "Heather"

"This Masquerade"[edit]

• MX 7" single (1974) – SP-133
  1. "Please Mr. Postman"
  2. "This Masquerade"

EPs[edit]

Now & Then[edit]

• US 7" promo (1973) – A&M LLP 222
  1. "Oldies Medley" (part one)
  2. "Oldies Medley" (part two)

Chart positions[edit]

Weekly charts[edit] Chart (1973–75) Position Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 3 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[5] 2 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[6] 2 Japanese Oricon LPs Chart[7] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[8] 12 UK Albums (OCC)[9] 2 US Billboard 200[10] 2

Year-end charts[edit] Chart (1973) Position Australian Albums Chart[4] 12 Dutch Albums Chart[11] 19 Japanese Albums Chart[12] 5 UK Albums Chart[13] 12 US Billboard Top Pop Albums[14] 51 Chart (1974) Position Dutch Albums Chart[15] 26 Japanese Albums Chart[12] 4 UK Albums Chart[13] 25

Decade-end charts[edit]

Chart (1970s)	Position
Japanese Albums Chart[16]	25

Certifications[edit]

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Japan (Oricon Charts)		514,000[17]
United Kingdom (BPI)[18]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)[19]	2× Platinum	2,000,000^
^shipments figures based on certification alone