Carpenters: Now and Then 1973

Carpenters "Now & Then" album cover art, 1973, Ferrari

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.

Karen Carpenter, illustration, Now & Then album, 1973 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”.

Richard Carpenter, illustration Now & Then album 1973 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 7^th 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.