Carpenters (1971) 24-Bit/96-kHz Vinyl Rip

Carpenters is the third studio album by the Carpenters. Released on May 14, 1971, the album was successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and #12 in the UK. With the hit songs "For All We Know", "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "Superstar", Carpenters solidified Karen Carpenter as one of her generation's most endearing pop vocalists.
It has been said that the strength of these recordings is what caused Richard Carpenter to ask his sister to front the band for their live performances instead of playing behind the drums. Amongst many fans, the album has simply been referred to as "The Tan Album," because the original LP cover, complete with overlapping flap, looked like an oversized tan envelope, and is presumably a play on The Beatles' so-called White Album.
In Cash Box's Top 100 Albums of 1971, Carpenters peaked at #8. This is the first album to feature the familiar Carpenters logo.
(wikipedia)

This is where the duo began running a little short of material for albums, having raided many of the song catalogs with which the Carpenters were most familiar on their two previous LPs – although it didn't seem it to anyone at the time except Richard Carpenter, since there were three hit singles present that ensured the album's popularity: "For All We Know," the huge-selling "Superstar" (done on the first take because it was a little uncertain how comfortable Karen Carpenter would be with the sexually suggestive lyrics to the Leon Russell song), and "Rainy Days and Mondays." The unusual jacket design, like an invitation with a decorative picture of the duo (similar to a graduation photo), seemed to go over well with older listeners while not repelling teens, which is lost in the transformation to CD packaging. In retrospect, Carpenters is a very MOR album – "Superstar" aside, its influences are more pop than rock, and any of the duo's original interest in jazz is long gone as well. The Bacharach/David medley, in particular, was distinctly more appealing to the over-30 set than to teenage listeners, and "Saturday" made them few new friends.
(Bruce Eder - AllMusic Guide)


Track Listing:

A1. Rainy Days and Mondays
A2. Saturday
A3. Let Me Be the One
A4. (A Place to) Hideaway
A5. For All We Know [From Lovers and Other Strangers]
B1. Superstar
B2. Druscilla Penny
B3. One Love
B4. Bacharach/David Medley: Knowing When to Leave/Make It Easy on Yourself
B5. Sometimes