• Source: Made in America (The Carpenters album)

Made in America is the tenth studio album by the American music duo The Carpenters, released in June 1981. Karen Carpenter died less than two years later, making it their final album released in her lifetime. It reached number 52 in the US and number 12 in the UK.
Karen played drums in the studio for the first time since Horizon, on the song "When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)", albeit in unison with veteran Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin, and she also played percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams" in tandem with Paulinho da Costa.
The album yielded their last Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hit, "Touch Me When We're Dancing", which peaked at #16. The album's other four singles, "I Believe You," "(Want You) Back In My Life Again," "Those Good Old Dreams," and "Beechwood 4-5789," were only minor hits, peaking at #68, #72, #63, and #74 respectively.
In 1985, Richard Carpenter said "that was Karen's favorite album and is mine, out of all our projects".




Promotion


To promote Made in America, Karen and Richard Carpenter appeared on several talk shows in 1981, including America's Top Ten on July 11, The Merv Griffin Show on October 2 performing "(Want You) Back in My Life Again", and Good Morning America on October 12.




Reception


Billboard stated that "the duo returns here to the mellow MOR-pop which has brought it 18 gold singles and albums since 1970. The LP is an about-face from the duo's last studio collection, 1977's Passage, which flirted with rock rhythms and failed to be certified gold. Included are pretty ballads by
Burt Bacharach and Roger Nichols, who composed the pair's first two hits, "Close To You" and "We've Only Just Begun." The duo also returns to the Marvelettes' songbag, which brought its most recent gold single, "Please Mr. Postman," for "Beechwood 4- 5789." Daryl Dragon of the Captain & Tenille, once the Carpenters' chief rival for the MOR crown, contributes the synthesizer programming to "(Want You) Back In My Life Again," a punchy, midtempo Doobie-esque rocker which would be a strong second single."
In their review, Cashbox noted that "America's favorite brother and sister team of a few years back is in fine fettle after a long hiatus from the studio. Don't expect a massive directional change from the "Close To You" days, though. Richard Carpenter's production is clean and modern, but the duo's strength remains its sprite, floating harmonies and A/C pop stylings. Karen and Richard's material here should fare well with adult contemporary and pop programmers considering the current American fervor for middle of the road acts."
Bruce Eder of AllMusic called it "very much a comeback effort, with a fair amount of energy on most of it, newly radiant arrangements ("The Wedding Song," etc.), one cute oldie cover ("Beechwood 4-5789," which was made into a video), and the best new songs they'd had since the mid-'70s ("Those Good Old Dreams," "Touch Me When We're Dancing")...the album as a whole was more energetic and memorable than anything they'd done since A Song for You."




Track listing






Personnel


Karen Carpenter – lead and backing vocals; drums and percussion on "When it's Gone"; percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams"
Richard Carpenter – backing vocals, keyboards (piano, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano, celesta, ARP Odyssey), orchestration,Roland Jupiter 8, Prophet 5, Oberheim OBXa, Rhodes Chroma, Korg MS10
Tim May, Tony Peluso, Fred Tackett, Dennis Budimir – guitars
Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar
Earle Dumler – oboe
Tom Scott – tenor saxophone
Gayle Levant – concert harp
Joe Osborn – bass guitar
Larrie Londin, Ron Tutt, John Robinson – drums
Paulinho da Costa, Peter Limonick, Bob Conti – percussion
Jerry Steinholtz – congas on "I Believe You"
Carolyn Dennis, Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Waters Willard – background vocals
The O.K. Chorale – backing vocals on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
Peter Knight – orchestration on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
Paul Riser – orchestration on "I Believe You"
Daryl Dragon, Ian Underwood – synthesizer programming on "(Want You) Back in My Life Again"
Bernie Grundman, Richard Carpenter – remastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering




Charts






Certifications






References






External links


The Carpenters - Made in America (1981) album releases & credits at Discogs

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