A Kind of Hush

by Carpenters

Overview

The formula behind the Carpenters' albums was starting to get fairly routine -- a hit single and an oldie or two (which sometimes was the single) surrounded by some well-produced soft pop/rock, driven by electric piano, strings, and a guitar solo or two cropping up. "There's a Kind of a Hush" and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" are the two most memorable tracks on this pleasant, well-sung, and well-played, but basically bland, album, A Kind of Hush. There are virtues here -- "You" has a good guitar solo by Tony Peluso, and the vocals on "Sandy" are radiant, but this record was where the real rot began to set into the Carpenters' fortunes, in terms of remaining connected to rock. Instead of covering Leon Russell's or Carole King's contemporary material, they're doing songs like "Can't Smile Without You" -- the latter is very sweetly sung by Karen Carpenter, and gets a lyrical but spare arrangement from Richard Carpenter, but they needed something more credible to the under-30 audience (and especially material that, if not attractive to guys in that age range, at least wouldn't make them self-conscious about listening to it with their girlfriends) on this album, and it wasn't here. If you close your eyes, it's possible to imagine Captain & Tennille, not to mention Debby Boone, taking lessons from this release, although Karen's voice was still beyond comparison with any of them. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2012
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988005724496
Rank:	45861

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Carpenters   Primary Artist
Earl Dumler   Oboe,Horn (English)
Tony Peluso   Guitar
Doug Strawn   Whistle (Human),Whistle (Instrument)
Bob Messenger   Flute,Sax (Tenor)
Richard Carpenter   Vocals,Keyboards,Vibraphone,Vocals (Background)
Joe Osborn   Bass
Gayle Levant   Harp
Karen Carpenter   Vocals (Background),Drums,Vocals,Vibraphone
Tom Scott   Flute,Clarinet
David Shostac   Flute
Cubby O'Brien   Drums
Wes Jacobs   Tuba
Jim Gordon   Drums
Jim Horn   Sax (Baritone)

Technical Credits

Randy Edelman   Composer
Chris Arnold   Composer
Jackie Shannon   Composer
Jackie DeShannon   Composer
Geoff Stephens   Composer
Geoff Morrow   Composer
David Martin   Composer,Composer
Lewis Anderson   Composer
Neil Sedaka   Composer
Richard Carpenter   Arranger,Composer,Producer,Orchestration
Ray Gerhardt   Engineer
Mike Stoller   Composer
Gus Kahn   Composer
John Bettis   Composer
Les Reed   Composer
Karen Carpenter   Associate Producer
Leslie Reed   Composer
Albert Hammond   Composer
Frank DeLuna   Mastering
J. Scarkino & Co.   Design,Album Concept
Dave Iveland   Assistant Engineer
William Harold   Composer
Roland Young   Art Direction
Harold William   Composer
Ed Caraeff   Photography
Wayne King   Composer
Howard Greenfield   Composer