Singles That Shouldn't Have Been Singles

[Michael Hagerty]

In defense of "It's Going To Take Some Time" - remember, Carole King's Tapestry was sort of the Thriller of its day....so covering it and releasing it as a single surely made a lot of sense at the time.....it's pretty mellow, but not out of place with so much on the radio in those days.....

"It's Going To Take Some Time" was on the follow-up to Tapestry, Music. The story I've heard is that Carole was recording at A&M and Richard stuck his head in the booth and heard her recording it...made sure that she didn't plan to use it as a single, and went to work on his own arrangement.

I think even Carole knew it was fairly lightweight. And she only issued one single from Music, "Sweet Seasons". My personal fave is the title track:




As for "It's Going To Take Some Time", my favorite version of that is actually an instrumental from Gabor Szabo in 1973:

 

[Michael Hagerty]

And it was. For John Fogerty..ex of Creedence Clearwater Revival, who released it in late 1972 as a single under the name 'The Blue Ridge Rangers'. It went to #16 in Billboard, #11 on KHJ in Los Angeles (which Karen and Richard listened to). It had just left the charts as "Now and Then" was released. In fact, it's possible they recorded it after hearing Fogerty's version on the radio.

And since I figured out how to imbed, here's The Blue Ridge Rangers' version of "Jambalaya":

 

[Harry]

"It's Going To Take Some Time" was on the follow-up to Tapestry, Music.

D'oh! Of course it was on MUSIC, but it had come out just after TAPESTRY dominated the airwaves with its THRILLER-like reach. Anything Carole did at that point in time was much like the effect Michael Jackson held just after THRILLER, so, in the scheme of things, MUSIC felt a lot like TAPESTRY, Part II.

I remember that MUSIC, and the selections there-on, got a lot of airplay on the FM station that I listened to back then. The minute it came out, it was so highly anticipated after TAPESTRY's success, that it just became part of the aural landscape of the day. Even the packaging of MUSIC was similar to TAPESTRY. MUSIC featured shots of Carole and her dog, while TAPESTRY had pictures of Carole and her cat. Both were gatefolds too.

Anyway, enough justifications of my mental cobwebs - I still stand by the decision to release the song as a single, and I guess I hear the same thing that Richard did all those years ago.

Harry

 

[SongForYou]

It's interesting to see that several of you feel "It's Going To Take Some Time" was not a strong choice for a single. I've always felt that way about it as well. I wanted to like it more, but just felt it was lacking. It's rather bland. I like the song, but surprisingly it was just this past month that I was listening to it again and found myself appreciating it much more. I like the alternate vocal take that was used in the surround version on the SACD. Karen's take on it sounds a bit more free and more energized somehow.

I have to agree about "Goofus" taking the cake as the absolute worse choice for a single. "Those Good Old Dreams" seems like a poor choice as well.

Michael Hagerty, I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the latter single choices. Yes, I guess there was just one too many "Sing's" and "Mr. Postman's" in that batch. : ) I love those songs, but "Masquerade" would have been much better for the Carpenters in the long run.

I think Those Good Old Dreams is actually a great single (at least for that uneven album). It sounds like a standard, old fashioned Carpenters track.

 

[SongForYou]

Just to give it some support, I always liked Goofus. Not as a single, but as a cool album cut. My vote for worst single is "Back in my life again". While I like the song, the production of the record was so bland. It really seemed tame compared to what was on the radio at the time. Not one of Richard's finest moments.

Back In My Life Again today sounds very dated and it makes total sense as a single, as they wanted to appeal to that cheesy, early '80s sound. It does feel bland, with that " home exercise video" sounding tune. But it's okay.

 

[newvillefan]

The thing with Made In America is that they went too far back to the cheeseball sound of their early days. It was never going to work on radio in 1981 or 1982. Touch Me When We're Dancing was just too classy for radio to ignore, but Those Good Old Dreams, Beechwood and (Want You) Back In My Life Again? They were so lightweight and inconsequential that I'm not surprised radio didn't touch them with a barge-pole.

Richard listened to Herb and Jerry about going back to 'bread and butter' songs but took it way too much out of kilter with the current musical vein. To hear Those Good Old Dreams in 1981 must have been almost laughable. He did himself and Karen a disservice really in that respect. He should have probably tried an alternate route like the one Linda Ronstadt went down, maybe an album of standards to catch the industry unawares as he had in 1972 with Goodbye To Love.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I remember that MUSIC, and the selections there-on, got a lot of airplay on the FM station that I listened to back then. The minute it came out, it was so highly anticipated after TAPESTRY's success, that it just became part of the aural landscape of the day. Even the packaging of MUSIC was similar to TAPESTRY. MUSIC featured shots of Carole and her dog, while TAPESTRY had pictures of Carole and her cat. Both were gatefolds too.


Harry

And this got me to wondering how MUSIC didn't quite duplicate TAPESTRY's success...so I dove into Google Books' archive of back issues of Billboard magazine, and here's what I found:

MUSIC went to #1 in a hurry on the album charts and spent three weeks there. But Don McLean's AMERICAN PIE album and THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH knocked Carole down to #3 and held her there for several weeks. When BANGLADESH cooled, MUSIC moved back to #2, but only for a week, when it traded places with BANGLADESH again.

Then Neil Young's HARVEST did what no one else could do, bumping AMERICAN PIE out of the #1 spot. By this point, it's mid-March, MUSIC's been out for four months, and the following week, AMERICA, NILSSON SCHMILSSON and PAUL SIMON all blew into the top 6. MUSIC slid to #8.

The following week, MUSIC's 18th on the Billboard LP charts, the Allman Brothers' EAT A PEACH and Roberta Flack's FIRST TAKE hit the top 10 and MUSIC fell to #11.

Most of it was simply a different world a year later...Carole didn't have the stage to herself...there was a deluge of big albums right on her heels. TAPESTRY really only had STICKY FINGERS, CARPENTERS and EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY to fend off.

But there was also a strategic mistake: Ode waited until six weeks after the LP's release to issue "Sweet Seasons" as the first and only single. It should have been out either with or just ahead of the album....which would have allowed for a second single (which they should have done) right about the time the album was on the brink of falling out of the top 10.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

The thing with Made In America is that they went too far back to the cheeseball sound of their early days. It was never going to work on radio in 1981 or 1982. Touch Me When We're Dancing was just too classy for radio to ignore, but Those Good Old Dreams, Beechwood and (Want You) Back In My Life Again? They were so lightweight and inconsequential that I'm not surprised radio didn't touch them with a barge-pole.

Richard listened to Herb and Jerry about going back to 'bread and butter' songs but took it way too much out of kilter with the current musical vein. To hear Those Good Old Dreams in 1981 must have been almost laughable. He did himself and Karen a disservice really in that respect. He should have probably tried an alternate route like the one Linda Ronstadt went down, maybe an album of standards to catch the industry unawares as he had in 1972 with Goodbye To Love.

Stephen, I would have to agree with you. It looked so unnatural to see them singing (Want You) Back In My Life Again? on The Merv Griffin Show for not only how terrible Karen looked but everything about that performance it looked like they were doing the same thing they did back in 75. Looking back at that time, here we have Olivia Newton-John promoting her Physical LP which is huge at the time w/ a concert schedule to boot and if you have ever heard the songs from Olivia's Physical Lp other than the song Physical, there are some major pop/rock sounding, harder edged songs that have actually stood up against time. It's such a well rounded LP from harder edged songs to some ballads as well that it shows how diverse Olivia could become as an artist. She was afraid she would lose fans with the lyric content of Physical but she only won fans over. It was a risk at the time for Olivia. It worked well for her.

It's obvious Karen wanted those risks as well or she never would have recorded her solo album. I would imagine it was hard for Richard though because he not only had himself to think about but Karen, the band and the whole image and then A&M also, He probably thought if it wasn't broke let's not rush to change at this point to lose fans with a standards album when the oldies have served us well in the past. I agree with you though because as an artist you should look for some change, I just don't feel that the material on MIA was a comeback album so to speak.
If only Karen had not got married, released her solo album at the time, it could have sparked energy back into Carpenters, Karen never would have left Carpenters, she was so good vocally as an artist she could have done both every few years, record solo, then record Carpenters. If only her health was better. Too many "if's". Yet it's what makes us wish if only......

 

[Toolman]

The thing with Made In America is that they went too far back to the cheeseball sound of their early days. It was never going to work on radio in 1981 or 1982. Touch Me When We're Dancing was just too classy for radio to ignore, but Those Good Old Dreams, Beechwood and (Want You) Back In My Life Again? They were so lightweight and inconsequential that I'm not surprised radio didn't touch them with a barge-pole.

Richard listened to Herb and Jerry about going back to 'bread and butter' songs but took it way too much out of kilter with the current musical vein. To hear Those Good Old Dreams in 1981 must have been almost laughable.

Definitely agree. I always thought the Carpenters sound would work well with light soul such as "Ooh Ooh Child" (Five Stairsteps) -- not suggesting they should have covered that particular song, though it would've sounded great, but experimented with the style. Karen as the white female Barry White...

"Touch Me When We're Dancing" and "Strength of a Woman" sort of moved in that direction, and I thought they were terrific (overlooking some problems with the lyrical theme of "Woman"). When "Those Good Old Dreams" came out as a single, I knew whatever momentum they'd regained from "Touch Me" was thrown right out the window, at least as far as having any sort of presence and credibility on Top 40 radio.

 

[Mark-T]

The concluding Wedding Song should have remained a "B" side exclusive, not the closer to a comeback album. Hate the song- too much fluff and no substance. Not the way you want to rebuild a career...

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I think the short version is that there were choices they could have made from '72-'76 in terms of single releases that would have helped their image. To do better beyond that would have required different choices in what they recorded, in many cases.

And new art direction for the LP covers after Horizon (hell, for everything before and after Horizon) would have been helpful, too.

 

[Dave]

The shrieking, shrill "Druscilla Penny"!!!! How "Non-Single" should have been THAT????


-- Dave

 

[Michael Hagerty]

The shrieking, shrill "Druscilla Penny"!!!! How "Non-Single" should have been THAT????


-- Dave

If I had to bet, I'd say that was A&M's way of making sure stations didn't flip "Sing".

 

[Graeme]

Beechwood 45789. Never liked it and after I'd seen the video I disliked it even more.

 

[Dave]

If I had to bet, I'd say that was A&M's way of making sure stations didn't flip "Sing".

Well, then, don't flip "Look To Your Dreams" ('cause "Make Believe It's Your First Time" is on the other side--but then again, the side of that '45' which I love, is completely opposite!)...!


-- Dave

 

[Rudy]

And new art direction for the LP covers after Horizon (hell, for everything before and after Horizon) would have been helpful, too.

From what I've read, Richard would probably agree with you.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

"It's Going To Take Some Time" was on the follow-up to Tapestry, Music. The story I've heard is that Carole was recording at A&M and Richard stuck his head in the booth and heard her recording it...made sure that she didn't plan to use it as a single, and went to work on his own arrangement.

Oops - I love Carole King, but for some bizarre reason, I never owned Tapestry and have never listened to it all the way through...

 

[Rudy]

Oops - I love Carole King, but for some bizarre reason, I never owned Tapestry and have never listened to it all the way through...

I owned Tapestry on SACD but never could get into it. Not my type of music, nice as it was.

 

[Dave]

What I had was a Carol King 2 CD set which had all the tracks from Tapestry w/ other songs from other albums, a non-LP single "Pocket Money" and a few other rarities including a song or two done Live w/ James Taylor ("You've got a friend", most likely)...

But the 2010 reunion of Carol King's "Tapestry Tour", was probably a must-see!


-- Dave

 

[Harry]

What I had was a Carol King 2 CD set which had all the tracks from Tapestry w/ other songs from other albums, a non-LP single "Pocket Money" and a few other rarities including a song or two done Live w/ James Taylor ("You've got a friend", most likely)...
-- Dave

I have that two-disc Carole King set called THE ODE COLLECTION.

Harry

 

[Calvin R Murty]

I have the CD and laser disc of "Tapestry Revisited" which had the songs from Tapestry performed by artistes like Amy Grant, The Bee Gees and The Manhattan Transfer.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I owned Tapestry on SACD but never could get into it. Not my type of music, nice as it was.

I'm glad to hear someone else say that. I respect Carole King immensely. But Tapestry bored me. I didn't think Music was a terribly strong album, but I loved the title track (play the video I embedded earlier in this discussion), and I liked Jazzman and Nightingale (her singles from 1974 and 1975 from the Wrap Around Joy album). I get interested in Carole when she indulges her jazz side.

 

[Rudy]

I'm glad to hear someone else say that. I respect Carole King immensely. But Tapestry bored me. I didn't think Music was a terribly strong album, but I loved the title track (play the video I embedded earlier in this discussion), and I liked Jazzman and Nightingale (her singles from 1974 and 1975 from the Wrap Around Joy album). I get interested in Carole when she indulges her jazz side.

I do like her songwriting, quite a bit. But I'm more a product of late 70s and early 80s music, so when your interest tends to run to jazz fusion, funk, R&B, punk and new wave, the nicest way I could put it is that the performing style on Tapestry is not "of my generation". I did grow up with Latin, instrumental and jazz in the house, so even that is removed from her style.

 

[Harry]

Heh. I saw the trailer today while riding home from our mid-day meal and thought of this thread.



Harry

 

[Michael Hagerty]

"We Make The Earth Move."

"Your Lawn Is Now A Tapestry of Rich and Royal Hues."

"Smackwater Jack Bought a Shotgun (he's our bill collector)."