Genre
Soft pop and baroque pop. The album exemplifies the Carpenters' hallmark sound: Richard's lush, orchestral arrangements as a setting for Karen's contralto voice.
Release
Released on May 14, 1971, by A&M Records. The album's popular nickname — The Tan Album — derives from its original LP sleeve, designed to resemble an oversized tan envelopem.
Production
Produced by Jack Daugherty, who had overseen the duo's previous two albums. All arrangements and orchestrations were by Richard Carpenter, who also played keyboards. The recording sessions took place at A&M Recording Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.
Reception
The album reached number two on the Billboard 200 and number twelve in the UK, and was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. It produced three major US hit singles: "For All We Know" (No. 3, Grammy winner for Best Song), "Rainy Days and Mondays" (No. 2), and "Superstar" (No. 2). Rolling Stone, despite an overall critical review, singled out "Rainy Days and Mondays" as a superb example of the craft of MOR music. Cash Box listed the album among the ten biggest albums of 1971, and Rolling Stone subsequently included it in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Carpenters
The Carpenters were an American pop duo from New Haven, Connecticut — siblings Karen Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) and Richard Carpenter (born October 15, 1946) — who relocated to California in 1963. They signed to A&M Records in 1969 and rose to prominence the following year with "(They Long to Be) Close to You." Over the course of the 1970s they scored three US number-one singles, twelve top-ten singles, and one number-one album, selling by some estimates over 100 million records worldwide by 2005, making them among the third-best-selling international acts in Japan, behind only Mariah Carey and the Beatles. They won three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist in 1971, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Karen's death at 32, from cardiac arrest brought on by anorexia nervosa, brought widespread public attention to the condition and to the dangers of eating disorders.
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