Carpenters: Horizon album, 1975

For Karen and me, the bulk of 1974 was devoted to worldwide touring. The only releases were Please Mr. Postman which was released in October of that year and reached No.1 in early 1975, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, released at about the same time. As we were following what was probably our most successful sales year, 1973, which produced both “Now and Then” and “The Singles”, not to have an album ready for release in 1974 seemed dubious to me at the time, and ludicrous now. Booking well over 200 concerts for us in one year was an egregious decision on the part of our management; it was also a fault of mine for not saying something about it.

As a result, recording on a new album did not commence until late 1974. The resulting “Horizon” released June 6, 1975, differed from the preceding albums, mostly by value of its production. By this time, A&M Studios had 24 track recording. (By contrast, the “Offering” album is on 8 tracks and the following four on 16; the many overdubbed vocals ate up a lot of tracks!) The additional tracks allowed us to record the acoustic piano, Rhodes, drums, etc. in stereo. I am particularly fond of I Can Dream Can’t I which features a beautiful arrangement by veteran Billy May, done in authentic ‘40s style. I must also mention the fine engineering of this album by the late Roger Young. Ironically, though Karen was now suffering with anorexia nervosa, she was never in better voice.