Passage

Passage
Studio album by The Carpenters
Released	October, 1977
Recorded	1977
Genre	Pop, jazz, easy listening, adult contemporary, country
Label	A&M
Producer	Richard Carpenter
The Carpenters chronology
A Kind of Hush (1976) Passage (1977) Christmas Portrait (1978)

Passage is the eighth album by American popular music duo Carpenters. Released in 1977, it produced the hit singles "All You Get from Love Is a Love Song", "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" and "Sweet, Sweet Smile".

This album was a considerable departure for the siblings and contained experimental material such as the Klaatu cover "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" single - which reached #32 in the US but was a top ten hit in much of the world (and prompted numerous letters to the Carpenters asking when World Contact Day was scheduled^[1]). Nonetheless, it was their first album to fall short of gold standard in the US.

The Carpenters' version of "Sweet Sweet Smile" (written by an up-and-coming singer/songwriter named Juice Newton) was picked up by Country radio and put the duo in the top ten of Billboard's Country chart in the spring of 1978.

Background and recording

Prior to the album's recording, a search was made for a new Carpenters producer, prompted by the band's decreasing popularity and Richard Carpenter's struggling with production duties (caused by his addiction to sleeping pills).^[1] However, according to Richard Carpenter, "not one major producer would sign on; radio was not quite as friendly at that time to our type of sound and to be honest, my track record on the whole was a tough act to follow. Accordingly, I remained producer, but I did try to approach this new project from a different angle, hence my selection of songs for this album made Passage a bit of a departure from our previous recordings."^[1]

Richard Carpenter recalled that "Don’t Cry For Me Argentina" was "submitted to us by the publisher, and I immediately felt it was perfect for Karen, though now I feel differently, as I believe the song doesn’t linger long enough in a lower register, a great area for Karen's voice. We contacted England's late, great Peter Knight to orchestrate the song, and two others on Passage. Peter flew to Los Angeles to conduct the L.A. Philharmonic for the recording. (Due to a contractual agreement their name was not allowed in the credits, hence the credit of the “Overbudget Philharmonic”). Between the 100-plus member “Phil” and the 50-voice Gregg Smith Singers, the recording session had to take place on the A&M Sound Stage, and was wired into Studio D."^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Track listing

Side One

1. "B'wana She No Home" (Michael Franks) (5:36)
2. "All You Get from Love Is a Love Song" (Steve Eaton) (3:47)
3. "I Just Fall in Love Again" (Stephen Dorff, Larry Herbstritt, Harry Lloyd, Gloria Sklerov) (4:05)
4. "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada/Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice) (8:13)

Side Two

1. "Sweet, Sweet Smile" (Juice Newton, Otha Young) (3:02)
2. "Two Sides" (Scott E. Davis) (3:28)
3. "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Norman Span) (4:22)
4. "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (Terry Draper, John Woloschuk) (7:06)

Singles

• All You Get from Love Is a Love Song (US Hot 100 #35, US Adult Contemporary #4) US 7" single (1977) A&M 1940

1. "All You Get from Love Is a Love Song"
2. "I Have You"

• Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day) (US Hot 100 #32, US Adult Contemporary #18) US 7" single (1977) A&M 1978

1. "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)
2. "Can't Smile without You"

• Sweet, Sweet, Smile (US Hot 100 #44, US Adult Contemporary #7, US Country #6) US 7" single (1978) A&M 2008

1. "Sweet Sweet Smile"
2. "I Have You"

• Don't Cry for Me Argentina CA 7" single (1978) A&M 8629

1. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"
2. "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)

References