Carpenters – Passage

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing of this album from the soft pop duo. Passage is the eighth album by The Carpenters. Released in 1977, it produced the hit singles “All You Get from Love Is a Love Song”, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” and “Sweet, Sweet Smile”.

The Carpenters’ version of “Sweet, Sweet Smile” (written by Juice Newton) was picked up by country radio and put the duo in the Top Ten of Billboard’s Country chart in the spring of 1978. This album was a considerable departure for the siblings and contained experimental material such as the Klaatu cover “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” single-which reached #32 in the US but was a Top Ten hit in much of the world (and prompted numerous letters to the Carpenters asking when World Contact Day was scheduled).

Coincidentally, the album’s release predated Steven Spielberg’s similarly themed film Close Encounters of the Third Kind by one month. The Carpenters produced a distinct soft musical style, combining Karen’s contralto vocals with Richard’s arranging and composition skills. During their 14-year career, the Carpenters recorded ten albums, along with numerous singles and several television specials. Their career together ended in 1983 following Karen’s death from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia.