Carpenters - Carpenters

Carpenters is the third studio album by American pop duo Carpenters, originally released in May 1971 via A&M Records.

The album was produced by Jack Daugherty and recorded at the A&M Studios in Los Angeles.

The album contains a sprinkling of original songs written by Richard Carpenter (music) and John Bettis (lyrics) amongst songs written by other songwriters. On Side B there is a medley of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The first single from the album was a song written for the film Lovers and Strangers “For All We Know”. The Carpenters version did not feature on the film soundtrack and became a hit in early 1971. The song reached #3 on the US Hot 100 Singles chart.

The second single was “Rainy Days and Mondays”, a song written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. The song proved to be even more popular than its predecessor, reaching #2 on the US Hot 100 Singles chart. The third single “Superstar” written by Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett repeated their chart success also peaking at #2 on the US Hot 100 Singles chart.

Driven by the success of the three singles, the album reached #2 on the US Billboard 200, #12 on the UK and #16 on the Australian Albums charts.

Carpenters became the duo’s most successful album release in their career, selling more than 4 million copies in the US.

The original album artwork featured a plain tan cover with the Carpenters logo featured together with an overlapping flap that made it look like an envelope cover. For Carpenters fans the album became known simply as the “Tan” album, perhaps a play on The Beatles “White” album.

Check out the tracks:  “For All We Know”; “Rainy Days and Mondays”; “Superstar”; “One Love” and “Sometimes”.

This LP record is a 2017 reissue on 180 gram heavyweight vinyl featuring remastered audio with replicated original album artwork with an envelope styled flap, embossed logo, and inner sleeve, pressed in the US.