Carpenters - Close to You
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC | with cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 788 MB 3% rec
1970 | Genre: Pop | Label: A&M | SP-4271 | US pressing
Rated 4 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide

Hurriedly put together in the wake of the success of the title song, and containing the follow-up hit "We've Only Just Begun," Close to You is a surprisingly strong album, and not just for those hits. Richard Carpenter's originals "Maybe It's You" and "Crescent Noon" are superb showcases for Karen Carpenter's developing talent, the latter a superbly atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful art song of the kind that Judy Collins was doing well at the time, and gorgeously arranged.

( Bruce Eder - AllMusic Guide )

Free Hand was to become their most successful effort; in America it peaked at No. 48, their best placing in a run of chart albums which stretched from Octopus in 1973 to The Missing Piece in 1977. In Britain, where their following remained fiercely loyal but relatively small, Free Hand made a fleeting appearance in the lower reaches of some album charts, the only one of their twelve albums to do so. Their new label's publicity drive, some favourable airplay, and the attention of one or two rock journalists(most notably Phil Sutcliffe of 'Sounds') all helped, but in retrospect the album's success was well-deserved on its own merits. It was, perhaps, more commercial than previous releases, but still had the complexity and polish fans had come to expect.