CARPENTERS : MADE IN AMERICA

  1. Those Good Old Dreams
  2. Strength Of A Woman
  3. (Want You) Back In My Life Again
  4. When You've Got What It Takes
  5. Somebody's Been Lyin'
  6. I Believe You
  7. Touch Me When We're Dancing
  8. When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)
  9. Beechwood 4-5789
  10. Because We Are In Love (The Wedding Song)

Label : A&M Records

Length : 40:22

Released : June 16, 1981

Review (AllMusic) : The Carpenters' final album, Made in America, released after their two-year break from work, a period in which Karen Carpenter attempted a solo album and when Richard was incapacitated due to a drug problem, is very much a comeback effort, with a fair amount of energy on most of it, newly radiant arrangements ("The Wedding Song," etc.), one cute oldie cover ("Beechwood 4-5789," which was made into a video), and the best new songs they'd had since the mid-'70s ("Those Good Old Dreams," "Touch Me When We're Dancing"). The latter song, in particular, marked a breakthrough to a new sound and a new sensuality in Karen's image as a singer, and could have led to a new beginning for all concerned, and the album as a whole was more energetic and memorable than anything they'd done since A Song for You. Unfortunately, the singer was already suffering from worsening effects of the psychological disorder that would kill her less than two years after the release of this album -- "The Wedding Song," in particular, seems now like an unintentionally poignant bookend on the other end of her life and career from "We've Only Just Begun."