Now & Then is the fifth studio album by the American music duo the Carpenters, released on May 1, 1973. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart on July 21, 1973,[4] and ranked No. 20 on the Cash Box year-end pop albums chart.[5] The title, suggested by Karen and Richard's mother Agnes, was taken from a leftover song that did not appear on the album.[6]
Now & Then is one of only two albums for which Karen Carpenter performed all or most of the drumming, the other being Offering (later re-released as Ticket to Ride). She plays all of the drum tracks with the exception of "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", for which the session drummer Hal Blaine played drums.[citation needed]
The album was released on May 1, 1973, the same day on which the Carpenters performed at the White House following a state dinner for West German chancellor Willy Brandt.
Singles
The album's lead track, "Sing", was written by Sesame Street's frequent composer Joe Raposo. Karen and Richard had first heard the song while on the set of a Robert Young television special. A&M Records did not wish to release it as a single, but Richard insisted, confident it would be a hit. "Sing" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 21, 1973.[6][7]
Richard wrote "Yesterday Once More" after hearing the melody in his head while driving one day. The temporary lyrics for the chorus, which he intended to change later, were kept after the lyricist and former bandmate John Bettis told Richard, "This 'Sha-la-la-wo-wo-wo' stuff sounds pretty good!"[6] The single peaked at No. 2 on July 28, 1973,[8] and became the duo's biggest worldwide hit.[6]
"Yesterday Once More" was issued as a promotional single in the UK in 1973[9] and "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" was issued as a promotional single in the UK in 1974.[10]
Cover
The LP album has a three-panel cover that folds out, showing a panoramic view of Karen and Richard Carpenter driving past the Carpenter family home on Newville Avenue in Downey, California. Karen and Richard had bought the five-bedroom house for their parents in 1970. Karen collapsed in the upstairs bedroom of the house while suffering the heart attack that ultimately killed her in 1983. The property also contained an annex, now destroyed, that was Richard and Karen's home studio and housed their awards and certification plaques.
In February 2008, fans created a worldwide awareness campaign about the impending demolition of the Carpenter family house that appears on the album cover, which had become a tourist attraction.[citation needed] The home's owners, who had purchased it in 1997 from Richard Carpenter after his mother's death in 1996, were frustrated with fans coming to the house and asking to be shown around, and they wanted to raze it.[citation needed]
Rolling Stone, praised the second side of the album, noting that "side two's the big time here, where America's foremost schmaltzrockers get back to da rootz..."Fun Fun Fun" has got some badass Chuck Berry guitar that really gets on the case. I'll be damned if it didn't blow me right off the stool first time I heard it." The review conceded that "side one ain't quite as exciting, but it's got its moments."[11]
Billboard called it "a unique concept -that of placing a series of new versions of old tunes such as "Johnny Angel" and "Our Day Will Come" in the form of an old DJ radio show with DJ and everything sets this LP far above other LP's. Some radio stations are playing that entire side as a separate "show:" But the flipside is also jammed with hits and Karen Carpenter's charming voice, clear and melodious, virtually turns this LP into a classic...this should be another million-seller for the duo." [12]
In their review, Cashbox stated that "this collection has Karen and Richard vocalizing through the history of rock and roll on the entire second side of the album. To say the least, their renditions
of such rock classics of "Da Do Ron Ron", "Johnny Angel" and "Fun, Fun, Fun", among others are letter perfect. The first side includes their current smash single "Sing" as well as other very possible future hits, "I Can't Make Music" and "This Masquerade". Karen and Richard have never sounded better and this album is truly destined for the goldmine." [13]
Bruce Eder of AllMusic was more critical of the album, noting that "it was with the release of Now & Then that the Carpenters lost any pretense of being even dorky cool...whatever the reason, from the moment of the release of Now & Then, listeners under 30 buying a Carpenters album would have good reason to go to a neighborhood where no one knew them to make the purchase, and hide it from their friends."[14]
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
