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A Song for You

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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:

A Song for You

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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Albums

  • Artist: Carpenters
  • Rating: StarStarStarStarHalf Star
  • Release Date: 1972 06
  • Total Time: 36:50
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The duo's best album, and the place to start beyond the hits compilations. Up to the release of A Song for You, the Carpenters' success had seemed an awesome if somewhat fluky phenomenon, built on prodigious talent, some beautifully crafted pop sensibilities, and a very fortunate choice of singles -- their albums Close to You and Carpenters, though they were top-sellers, both seemed just a bit thrown together. Then came A Song for You, a seemingly unified concept album written and recorded during a frantic period of concert activity, and brimming with lovely musical ideas even more lovingly executed, laced with good humor, and enough hits of its own to have established any artist's career on its own. And even in between the hits, the album was built on material that could have made a whole career for anyone. The duo's version of a then-new Carole King song, "It's Going to Take Some Time," not only became a hit single but helped them in the "cool" department, Carole King being about the hottest musical personality there was at that particular time. One song, "Top of the World," which Richard Carpenter had only visualized as album track, became an unexpected hit single and one of the most popular songs of the decade. And where the Close to You LP had included some beautiful album tracks ("Crescent Noon," " "Maybe It's You"), A Song for You was dripping with masterpieces, including "Crystal Lullaby" and "Road Ode"; Richard Carpenter's "Piano Picker," a confessional piece sung by the composer, also marked the high point of his solo vocal contributions to the duo's music. Even the two cuts that reach back into the past -- the soft jazz instrumental "Flat Baroque," a 1966-vintage Richard Carpenter composition that he resurrected for this release, and "Bless the Beasts and the Children," the B-side of "Superstar" from more than a year earlier (written for a Stanley Kramer movie) -- slot in perfectly among the new songs. The high point of their recording career, A Song for You marked the last time that their music (and the only occasion that one of their albums) would be accepted in the rock world on its own terms, without the duo's squeaky-clean image and sound, and middle-class dorkiness becoming a drag on their sales and image. A Song for You has been released several times on CD, the best of which by far is the 1999 A&M remastering with new notes and full lyrics. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

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Wikipedia on Answers.com:

A Song for You (The Carpenters album)

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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
A Song for You
Studio album by The Carpenters
Released June 13, 1972
Recorded 1971–72
Genre Pop
Length 37:17
Label A&M
Producer Jack Daugherty Productions
The Carpenters chronology
Carpenters
(1971)		 A Song for You
(1972)		 Now & Then
(1973)
Singles from A Song for You
  1. "Bless the Beasts and Children"
    Released: August 12, 1971
  2. "Hurting Each Other"
    Released: December 23, 1971
  3. "It's Going to Take Some Time"
    Released: April 13, 1972
  4. "Goodbye to Love"
    Released: June 19, 1972
  5. "Top of the World"
    Released: September 17, 1973
  6. "I Won't Last a Day Without You"
    Released: March 25, 1974
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone (Not rated) [2]

A Song for You is the fourth album released by the Carpenters, released on June 13, 1972. According to Richard Carpenter, "A Song for You was intended to be a concept album (of sorts) with the title tune opening and closing the set and the bookended selections comprising the 'song'."[3]

In Cash Box's Top 100 Albums of 1972, A Song for You was ranked #26.[4] A special gold-plated disc CD of A Song for You was later sold to the general public.

Six songs were released as A-side singles internationally: "Hurting Each Other", "It's Going to Take Some Time", "Goodbye to Love", "Top of the World", "I Won't Last a Day Without You", and "Bless the Beasts and Children".

Contents

Information on the songs

"Hurting Each Other", a cover of an obscure Ruby & the Romantics tune, was the first single issued from A Song for You in early 1972, and reached number two, becoming the Carpenters' sixth straight gold single. A cover of Carole King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" followed and peaked at number 12, and was followed by the number seven hit "Goodbye to Love", which was refused airplay on some easy listening radio stations because of a fuzz guitar solo by Tony Peluso. The song had a significant impact on the power ballad songs which followed. The album also included the Carpenters' version of the Academy Award nominated title song from the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children, which had already charted at number 67 on the Hot 100 as the flip side of the duo's version of "Superstar".

The album's biggest hit single, the number one smash "Top of the World", was not issued until over a year after the album's release. According to Richard Carpenter, who co-wrote the song with John Bettis, the reason for the song's late release in the U.S. was that he had misjudged the song's commercial appeal, but was proven wrong when the Carpenters' "Top of the World" became a hit in Japan in 1972 and Lynn Anderson's cover reached #2 on the U.S. country charts in 1973. The song went through a few minor revisions, including a slight remix, before it was finally released as a single in the U.S. The Carpenters' treatment of the much-covered Paul Williams/Roger Nichols composition "I Won't Last a Day Without You" also got a belated single release in 1974, and peaked at number eleven on the Hot 100.

With the exception of "Bless the Beasts..." which peaked at number 26 on the AC chart, all of the album's charted singles made either number one ("Hurting Each Other", "I Won't Last a Day Without You") or number two on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album and its singles were also successful internationally; "Goodbye to Love" and "I Won't Last a Day..." made the top ten on the UK Singles Chart as a double A-side, and "Top of the World" made the Oricon singles chart in Japan on three separate occasions (#21 in 1972, #52 in 1973, and #83 in 1996).

Track listings

LP

Side 1
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "A Song for You"   Leon Russell 4:42
2. "Top of the World"   John Bettis, Richard Carpenter 2:56
3. "Hurting Each Other"   Gary Geld, Peter Udell 2:46
4. "It's Going to Take Some Time"   Carole King, Toni Stern 2:55
5. "Goodbye to Love"   Bettis, Carpenter 3:50
6. "Intermission"   Carpenter 0:22
Side 2
No. Title Writer(s) Length
7. "Bless the Beasts and Children"   Perry Botkin, Jr., Barry DeVorzon 3:07
8. "Flat Baroque"   Carpenter 1:45
9. "Piano Picker"   Randy Edelman 1:59
10. "I Won't Last a Day Without You"   Roger Nichols, Paul Williams 3:55
11. "Crystal Lullaby"   Bettis, Carpenter 3:58
12. "Road Ode"   Gary Sims, Dan Woodhams 3:50
13. "A Song for You (Reprise)"   Russell 0:53

Cassette

Reel to reel


Singles

  • "Hurting Each Other"
US 7" single (1971) A&M 1322
  1. "Hurting Each Other"
  2. "Maybe It's You"
  • "Bless the Beasts and Children"
JP 7" single (1972) AM-114
  1. "Bless the Beasts and Children"
  2. "Help"
  • "It's Going to Take Some Time"
US 7" single (1972) A&M 1351
  1. "It's Going to Take Some Time"
  2. "Flat Baroque"
  • "Goodbye to Love"
US 7" single (1972) A&M 1367
  1. "Goodbye to Love"
  2. "Crystal Lullaby"
  • "Top of the World"
US 7" single (1973) A&M 1468
  1. "Top of the World"
  2. "Heather"
  • "I Won't Last a Day Without You
US 7" single (1974) A&M 1521
  1. "I Won't Last a Day Without You"
  2. "One Love"

Charts

Peak positions

Chart Position
Australian Kent Music Report Chart[5] 6
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[6] 5
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[7] 5
UK Albums Chart[8] 13
U.S. Billboard 200[9] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1972) Position
U.S. Billbard Top Pop Albums[10] 78

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Japan (Oricon Charts) 102,000[11]
United States (RIAA)[12] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ^ Eder, Bruce. A Song for You (The Carpenters album) at Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  2. ^ Stephen, Holden (1972-12-12). "Carpenters: A Song for You: Music Reviews". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20090107222303/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thecarpenters/albums/album/107556/review/6067644/a_song_for_you. Retrieved 2012-02-18. 
  3. ^ "A Song for You" CD Insert
  4. ^ Cash Box YE Pop Albums – 1972
  5. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. 
  6. ^ "Item Desplay - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". RPM. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4183&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. Retrieved 2012-02-19. 
  7. ^ a-カーペンターズ "- Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - Carpenters" (in Japanese). 2007-12-30. http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album2012/al_carpenters.html a-カーペンターズ. Retrieved 2012-02-21. 
  8. ^ "Chart Stats - Carpenters - A Song for You" (PHP). UK Albums Chart. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=37418. Retrieved 2012-02-19. 
  9. ^ "allmusic ((( A Song for You > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r3362/charts-awards. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 
  10. ^ "Top Pop Albums of 1972". billboard.biz. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/archivesearch/article_display/855843?imw=Y. Retrieved 2012-02-10. 
  11. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9. 
  12. ^ "American album certifications – Carpenters – A Song for You". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22A+Song+for+You%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)
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