The formula behind the Carpenters' albums was starting to get fairly routine -- a hit single and an oldie or two (which sometimes was the single) surrounded by some well-produced soft pop/rock, driven by electric piano, strings, and a guitar solo or two cropping up.
"There's a Kind of a Hush" and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" are the two most memorable tracks on this pleasant, well-sung, and well-played, but basically bland, album, A Kind of Hush.
There are virtues here -- "You" has a good guitar solo by Tony Peluso, and the vocals on "Sandy" are radiant, but this record was where the real rot began to set into the Carpenters' fortunes, in terms of remaining connected to rock.
Instead of covering Leon Russell's or Carole King's contemporary material, they're doing songs like "Can't Smile Without You" -- the latter is very sweetly sung by Karen Carpenter, and gets a lyrical but spare arrangement from Richard Carpenter, but they needed something more credible to the under-30 audience (and especially material that, if not attractive to guys in that age range, at least wouldn't make them self-conscious about listening to it with their girlfriends) on this album, and it wasn't here.
If you close your eyes, it's possible to imagine Captain & Tennille, not to mention Debby Boone, taking lessons from this release, although Karen's voice was still beyond comparison with any of them.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouRandy Edelman | Carpenters | Play | 03:47 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 2 | SandyJohn Bettis, Richard Carpenter | Carpenters | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 18 MB |
| 3 | GoofusWilliam Harold, Gus Kahn, Wayne King | Carpenters | Play | 03:09 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 4 | Can't Smile Without YouChris Arnold, David Martin, Geoff Morrow | Carpenters | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 15 MB |
| 5 | I Need to Be in LoveJohn Bettis, Richard Carpenter, Albert Hammond, Mike Stoller | Carpenters | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 19 MB |
| 6 | One More TimeLewis Anderson | Carpenters | Play | 03:32 | 8 MB | 15 MB |
| 7 | Boat to SailJackie DeShannon | Carpenters | Play | 03:31 | 8 MB | 17 MB |
| 8 | I Have YouJohn Bettis, Richard Carpenter | Carpenters | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 9 | Breaking up Is Hard to DoHoward Greenfield, Neil Sedaka | Carpenters | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 10 | There's A Kind Of Hush | The Carpenters | Play | 03:06 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 33 mins | 78 MB | |||||
| 33 mins | 172 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Anderson | Composer |
| 2 | Chris Arnold | Composer |
| 3 | John Bettis | Composer |
| 4 | Ed Caraeff | Photography |
| 5 | Karen Carpenter | Associate Producer, Drums, Vibraphone, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 6 | Richard Carpenter | Arranger, Composer, Keyboards, Orchestration, Producer, Vibraphone, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 7 | Carpenters | Primary Artist |
| 8 | Frank DeLuna | Mastering |
| 9 | Jackie DeShannon | Composer |
| 10 | Earl Dumler | Horn (English), Oboe |
| 11 | Randy Edelman | Composer |
| 12 | Ray Gerhardt | Engineer |
| 13 | Jim Gordon | Drums |
| 14 | Howard Greenfield | Composer |
| 15 | Albert Hammond | Composer |
| 16 | William Harold | Composer |
| 17 | Jim Horn | Sax (Baritone) |
| 18 | Dave Iveland | Assistant Engineer |
| 19 | Wes Jacobs | Tuba |
| 20 | Gus Kahn | Composer |
| 21 | Wayne King | Composer |
| 22 | Gayle Levant | Harp |
| 23 | David Martin | Composer |
| 24 | Bob Messenger | Flute, Sax (Tenor) |
| 25 | Geoff Morrow | Composer |
| 26 | Cubby O'Brien | Drums |
| 27 | Joe Osborn | Bass |
| 28 | Tony Peluso | Guitar |
| 29 | Leslie Reed | Composer |
| 30 | J. Scarkino & Co. | Album Concept, Design |
| 31 | Tom Scott | Clarinet, Flute |
| 32 | Neil Sedaka | Composer |
| 33 | David Shostac | Flute |
| 34 | Geoff Stephens | Composer |
| 35 | Mike Stoller | Composer |
| 36 | Doug Strawn | Whistle (Human), Whistle (Instrument) |
| 37 | Roland Young | Art Direction |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |