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Made in America is the tenth studio album by the American popular music duo Carpenters, released in June 1981. The final album by the duo to be released during Karen Carpenter's lifetime, it reached number 52 in the US and number 12 in the UK.

Made in America
Studio album by Carpenters
Released	June 16, 1981
Recorded	1978-1981
Studio	A&M Studios, Los Angeles; mixed at Sound Labs and A&M Studios, Los Angeles[1]
Genre	Pop, adult contemporary
Length	40:22
Label	A&M
Producer	Richard Carpenter
Carpenters chronology
Christmas Portrait (1978) Made in America (1981) Voice of the Heart (1983)
Singles from Made in America
"I Believe You" Released: June 1978 "Touch Me When We're Dancing" Released: June 19, 1981 "(Want You) Back in My Life Again" Released: September 1981 "Those Good Old Dreams" Released: December 1981 "Beechwood 4-5789" Released: January 1982

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[3]

In 1985, Richard said "that was Karen's favorite album and is mine, out of all our projects".[4]

Karen played drums in the studio for the first time since Horizon on the song "When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)", albeit in unison with veteran Nashville session drummer Larrie Londin, and she also played percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams" in tandem with Paulinho da Costa.

Promotion

To promote Made in America, Karen and Richard Carpenter appeared on several talk shows in 1981,[5] including America's Top Ten on July 11, The Merv Griffin Show on October 2 performing "(Want You) Back in My Life Again", and Good Morning America on October 12.[6]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Those Good Old Dreams"	John Bettis Richard Carpenter	4:12
2.	"Strength of a Woman"	Phyllis Brown Juanita Curiel	3:59
3.	"(Want You) Back in My Life Again"	Kerry Chater Chris Christian	3:40
4.	"When You've Got What It Takes"	Bill Lane Roger Nichols	3:41
5.	"Somebody's Been Lyin'"	Burt Bacharach Carole Bayer Sager	4:25

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"I Believe You"	Dick Addrisi Don Addrisi	3:54
7.	"Touch Me When We're Dancing"	Kenny Bell Terry Skinner Jerry Lee Wallace	3:19
8.	"When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)"	Randy Handley	5:01
9.	"Beechwood 4-5789"	Marvin Gaye George Gordy William "Mickey" Stevenson	3:06
10.	"Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"	Bettis Carpenter	5:04

Personnel

• Karen Carpenter – lead and backing vocals; drums and percussion on "When it's Gone"; percussion on "Those Good Old Dreams"
• Richard Carpenter – backing vocals, keyboards (piano, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric piano, celesta, ARP Odyssey), orchestration
• Tim May, Tony Peluso, Fred Tackett, Dennis Budimir – guitars
• Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar
• Earl Dumler – oboe
• Tom Scott – tenor saxophone
• Gayle Levant – concert harp
• Joe Osborn – bass guitar
• Larrie Londin, Ron Tutt, John Robinson – drums
• Paulinho da Costa, Peter Limonick, Bob Conti – percussion
• Jerry Steinholtz – congas on "I Believe You"
• Carolyn Dennis, Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Willard Waters – background vocals
• The O.K. Chorale – backing vocals on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
• Peter Knight – orchestration on "Because We Are in Love (The Wedding Song)"
• Paul Riser – orchestration on "I Believe You"
• Daryl Dragon, Ian Underwood – synthesizer programming on "(Want You) Back in My Life Again"
• Bernie Grundman, Richard Carpenter – remastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering

[1]

Charts and certifications

References

External links

• The Carpenters - Made in America (1981) album releases & credits at Discogs

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