Search - Carpenters :: Lovelines

Lovelines will make your day!

Music | Lafayette, Louisiana | 03/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"AHHH this an fantastic album of unreleased material...My favorite track would have to be You're The One...how could this song have not made an album...This one of Karen's greatest recordings.......Other highlights from this album include Slow Dance,Honululu City Lights,Where Do I Go From Here?,When I Fall In Love,Lovelines,and If I Had You......There were also two singles that were released from this album but failed to crack the charts....Honululu City Lights and If I Had You....those are two great tracks....Make sure you pick a copy of this album...You won't regret it!"

The End of the Eighties Recalls The Beginning of the 70s

Maestroh | Dallas Theological Cemetery | 03/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the autumn of 1989, music stores had something on their shelves that had not been seen in over six years - Carpenters music that had never been released. Between Karen's tragic death on February 4, 1983, and the release of this recording in November 1989, here are the Carpenter releases:



1) Voice of the Heart - fall 1983

2) Yesterday Once More (TV album) - fall 1984

3) Yesterday Once More (in stores) - spring 1985

4) An Old Fashioned Christmas - fall 1984

5) Yesterday Once More (UK gray version) - summer 1985

6) Time - a solo LP by Richard Carpenter



But two releases awaited. The latter would wait for nearly another decade, but 1989 saw the release of "Lovelines." In a sense, this was sort of fitting: the eighties ended where the seventies began, a soft retrospective and reminder of what we had missed for so many years.



"

Surpassed my expectations

ShiroiHikari | Oklahoma, USA | 05/27/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really did not care for the other "outtake" album, Voice of the Heart, so with Lovelines I was expecting something similar and equally disappointing. I am glad to have been proven wrong for the most part.



The title track, taken from Karen's solo album, is an interesting remix and a fun song overall, but I still prefer the solo album version. This mix sounds strangely echoey to me, and Karen's great background vocal work is downplayed some, which is a shame. But I do like what Richard did with the bassline in the intro.



Where Do I Go From Here is nothing short of amazing. I remember it for its use in the 1989 TV biopic, and it has become one of my favorite Carpenters tracks. Everything about it is right on the mark-- the instrumentation, Karen's vocal, the lyrics. It's haunting, and chillingly beautiful, and a real tearjerker if you think about Karen's life while you listen to it.



The Uninvited Guest isn't a bad song in and of itself, but Karen sounds frail here to me, and it's one of the weaker tracks.



If We Try is another track from the solo album. If it was remixed at all for this CD, I can't hear any major differences.



I have mixed feelings about When I Fall In Love. I love Karen's reading of it, she sounds like she's enjoying the song, but the instrumentation seems a wee bit syrupy to me. To me, it sounds similar to the style used on their Christmas albums. It works beautifully there, but I don't think it fits quite as well here.



Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night is a pleasant track, but something about it doesn't quite grab me. Karen's voice is drowned in echo again here, which bothers me. But there's some really nice backing vocal work in it, and as always, Tony Peluso's guitar work is outstanding.



Next is another Karen track, Remember When Lovin' Took All Night. I like this song; it's upbeat and fun. As with If We Try, if this was remixed, I can't tell. It sounds the same as it does on the solo album.



You're the One was also featured in the TV movie, and it's a really good song. Karen's vocal sounds strong and clear here, and it's a great arrangement. I wish this song would've made it onto Passage; I feel it's more than worthy. It's one of my new favorites.



Honolulu City Lights is nice, if a little sleepy. Slow Dance is also, well, slow, but it has a certain sparkle to it that endears it to me.



If I Had You is possibly the most disappointing track on this album, and let me explain why. I am 100% certain that this is a different lead vocal than the one used on Karen's solo album. If you ask me, this one pales in comparison to the original. Listen closely to the two versions-- the vocal is markedly different, especially in the first verse, and frankly it doesn't have the same spark. The original lead vocal was perfect as it was. Why did it need to be re-recorded? Much like the remix of Make Believe It's Your First Time on Voice of the Heart, Richard really missed the mark here. He "softened" it up, drowned out the breathtaking backing vocals in a lot of places, and in my opinion, really robbed the song of its original energy. The sole improvement was the dramatic ending he created, which I did like. The solo album version is one of my favorite songs, but this version just doesn't sit right with me at all.



The closing track, Little Girl Blue, is stunning and a perfect showcase for Karen's voice. I, like many others, wish that Karen had recorded a whole album of standards, because it suited her so well.



Overall, I do think this album is very much worth purchasing, but PLEASE get the solo album and enjoy Lovelines and If I Had You as they were originally meant to be heard."