Passage

He tried harder.

Passage, released in 1977, was full of attempts to stretch beyond the old Carpenters formula.

The album represented a considerable departure for the siblings, both sonically and creatively.

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, a cover of the Canadian group Klaatu, became a gigantic, otherworldly production that reached number thirty-two in the US but was a top-ten hit in many countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, Sweet, Sweet Smile found new life on country radio, climbing into the top ten of Billboard’s country chart in the spring of 1978, the duo’s only major country hit.

Unusually, Karen championed Sweet, Sweet Smile for the album, one of the rare instances when her instincts rather than Richard’s shaped a Carpenters album.

Remarkably, Passage is the only non-Christmas Carpenters album without a Richard Carpenter or John Bettis composition, a sign of how far they were willing to experiment.

Cash Box even raved that it was a milestone for the Carpenters, calling it a breathless ride on the gossamer wings of Karen’s magic carpet vocals.

And it was yet another album that the United States Library of Congress put into its National Recording Registry.

Also, that very same year, 1977, the Carpenters released Passage.

This was their eighth studio album.

It was a departure from their soft pop sound and went more experimental, peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Albums chart.