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THE CARPENTERS - NOW AND THEN (LIMITED EDITION JAP

THE CARPENTERS - NOW AND THEN (LIMITED EDITION JAPANESE IMPORT 200g LP)

We just received word form Universal Japan of their latest LP production run! The Japanese are meticulous in the pressing of their records and each album will be pressed on dead-quiet, 200g Japanese Virgin Vinyl, obliteraterating pressings done elsewhere. Only the highest-quality titles are being released from the original analog tapes. This is a strictly one-time pressing run and quanities will be extremely limited. You definitely do not want to miss out on this extremely collectable run of AAA titles, so we strongly urge you to order now. Let’s support Universal Japan and maybe they’ll press more titles!

As the time approached for recording our fifth album, Karen and I once again were not left with enough time to produce it in as relaxed an atmosphere as possible, given all that was going on in our lives.  I, especially, was not happy, as it was my job to audition, select and/or compose, as well as arrange, the music for our recordings.  I always believed that the Carpenters were first and foremost a record act; all of the success stemmed from the popularity of the records, so management should have placed the utmost importance on the recording process, not on excessive touring. 

At any rate, as the limited time we had to record the album approached, it was clear to me that we had only enough material to complete one side of an LP, and even that was by completing a track we had recorded in 1972, Jambalaya.  Fortunately, we had an ace up our collective sleeve, resulting in a damn good album which became a worldwide best-seller:  Karen and I introduced an oldies medley into our concert show starting in the summer of 1972, and it met with such an enthusiastic response, I decided to feature a version of it on side two of what would become “Now And Then”. 

It was around this time that certain radio stations were changing their formats to all oldies. I thought Bettis and I should write a song that would reflect this fact and also set-up the medley. Yesterday Once More was the result, and it became our biggest worldwide hit. Tony Peluso guests as a “D.J.” and the medley was constructed as a Top 40 radio program. Another favorite cut on the album is Leon Russell’s haunting This Masquerade which is a perfect match of singer and song. “Now and Then” also features Sing which became our 7th gold single in the United States and Jambalaya which was culled from the album in Japan and went gold as well as becoming our biggest hit in Holland.