Carpenters-Passage (1977)

 


Artist: Carpenters

Title: Passage

Label: A&M

Format: 8-Track

Catalog Number: 8T-4703

Year of Release: 1977

Country and Year of Edition: US 1977 gray shell

Sell Price:$3.32

Sell Date: 7/4/26

Condition: VG/VG+ untested

Discogs Last Sold: 6/25/25 VG/generic $3.00

Low: $3.00

Median: $3.32

Average: $3.43

High: $3.98

Current low price: $1.99 VG/no cover

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 2

Have/Want: 30/18

Where Sold: Fort Worth, TX

Time It Took To Sell:  3 years

Where and When Bought: ebay 8-track lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B

Sad To See It Go: No 

Passage is where the Carpenters go to create a new form of avant-muzak.  Sure, the type of MOR ballad they were known for, "I Just Fall In Love Again" is on it but they didn't have a hit with it.  Anne Murray did the following year it came out.

There were three minor hits, but they weren't enough to make this a Gold record.  "Sweet Sweet Smile" barely missed the US top 40 peaking at #44.  That one was notably co-written by future star Juice Newton.   "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" was probably a more traditional Carpenters single peaking at #35 with it's perky dirty old shame chorus.  The biggest hit was also the biggest oddity of the album.  It was a cover of the band once thought to be the Beatles in disguise, Klaatu. They were really from Canada and released their debut only one year prior to Passage in 1976.   The Carpenters had enough mainstream respect for their version to become The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day on the official Gold Greatest Hits release.  At the time of television appearances it seemed a cheeky response to the Close Encounters of The Third Kind/Star Wars sci-fi craze.  Sure enough, they had a TV show called Space Encounters in 1978.  Since I woke up with the song going through my head this morning, I knew it was time to write about the rest of the album.

As for the rest, there is a bit of "respectable" genre jumping.  The album kicks of with Michael Franks smooth jazz "B'Wana She No Go Home." The Calypso standard "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" covered by many including Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez and The Grateful Dead is here.  We also get the insufferable "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Evita.

Some serious adulting going on here.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Dylan-Masterpieces (1978)

Image
  Artist:  Bob Dylan Title: Masterpieces Label: Columbia Format: 3xCD Catalog Number: 462448 9 Year of Release: 1978 Country and Year  of Edition: Australia 1991 (sticker has 30 year anniversary) Sell Price: $26.69 Sell Date: 4/19/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 2/27/26 NM/NM $16.22 Low: $7.19 Median: $20.00 Average: $26.50 High: $64.59 Current  low price:  $7.17 Current Number on  Sale at Discogs: 29 Have/Want: 539/41 Where Sold: Middlebury, VT Time It Took  To Sell:  2 years  Where and When  Bought: Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Grade:  A Sad To See  It Go: No Of the many Bob Dylan compilations, I never had Masterpieces until fairly recently in a lot purchase.  It was always in the store bin at a triple CD import price when my fingers would flip over it in the early 90's Dylan section.  In that time period it meant over $50 easy whether it was from Australia, New Zealand or Japan where is was...
Read more

Blur-13 (1999)

Image
  Artist: Blur Title: 13 Label: Food/Virgin Format: CD Cat #: 7243 4 99129 2 2 Year of Release: 1999 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1999 Listed Condition: VG+/VG+  Sell Date: 3/9/25 Sell Price: $2.84 Discogs Last Sold: 2/19/25 NM/NM $5.50 Low: $0.49 Median: $3.12 Average: $3.61 High: $8.68 Current low price: $2.83 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 34 Have/Want: 1960/168 Where Sold: Columbia, SC Time it took to sell: 14 years Where and When Bought: internet mail order circa time of release used guessing CD Warehouse Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+ Sad To See It Go: No Another "critics" record I bought at the end of the year in 1999 that I maybe listened to once, dropped it into the CD carousel and let it pop up on random shuffle for most of 2000.  This 13 track album called 13 is the 6th full length Blur album and I would say the second one I bought after their eponymously titled 5th album. I'm going to say this one is quality start to finish.  My favorite cut is th...
Read more

Big Black-The Incredibly Corporate Whorish Big Black Interview Album (1987)

Image
  Artist: Big Black Title: The Incredibly Corporate Whorish Big Black Interview Album Side One     Side Two Label: Touch 'n' Go Format: LP Cat #:  TG-LP-INT-1 Year of Release: 1987 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1987 Promo only Listed Condition: VG+/VG Sell Date: 7/18/25 Sell Price: $15.57 Discogs Last Sold: 5/17/25 NM/NM $23.26   Low: $14.95 NM/NM 1/14/20 Median: $25.00 Average: $26.78 High: $40.00 NM/NM like new Current low price: $17.44 VG+/VG Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 5 Have/Want: 128/147 Where: Chicago, IL Time it took to sell: 10 years Where and When Bought: promo Gwiz-gau Letter Grade:  A- Sad To See It Go: No One of those collection crown jewels that somehow dropped to 15 bucks over the years.  I'm sure I opened up at 40 many years ago, but a dreaded 2" seam split in my notes made other people that actually wanted the record opt for "NM/NM" copies in the 25-40 range. This was a promo that came before the "He's A Whore" si...
Read more