Customer Reviews

Careless

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Never was there a more perfect album than this. It is absolutely seamless from start to finish and crammed with delicious melodies and clever, romantic lyrics. Who else but stephen Bishop could muster such a star-studded cast on his first album, or use them so well?

Stephen Bishop had been "kicking around" the music business for many years by the time he finally released his debut album "Careless" in late 1976. Art Garfunkel's "Breakaway" album from the previous year included 2 of Bishop's songs--"Lookin' For the Right One" & "The Same Old Tears On A New Background", the latter of which Bish does himself on here. Bishop did fall short of delivering an album of consistently top flight material here, but it's still a very strong debut. A majority of the songs are excellent & none of them are less than respectable. The opening track was one of his biggest hits & is one of his best songs--"On and On" is a definitive example of his acoustic guitar based, sighing-ly melodic, hopelessly romantic soft rock. Bishop displays over & over again his knack for incredibly tuneful songwriting, his superb vocals which are smooth and filled with emotion, & his excellent acoustic guitar picking. There are a whole bunch of gems--"Never Letting Go" & "One More Night" are tender ballads; "Madge" is a moving tale of an old man looking back at his life, and it features a couple of instrumental breaks that slyly incorporate the "London Bridge" theme/ melody. He successfully ups the tempo on a couple tunes that have horn arrangements and are extremely catchy--"Sinking In An Ocean of Tears", and the top 20 hit "Save It For A Rainy Day" which has a fittingly rainy/ dreamy mix of guitars & electric piano, although the latter track's fade with Chaka Khan's obnoxious, wailing, showoff-y vocals does hurt it. There's also the splendidly tuneful, fittingly Italian-flavored "Little Italy", which has a fun acoustic riff, and the brief "guitar interlude" between "One More Night" & "Save It For A Rainy Day" is also delightful. As for the remaining tracks, none of them are bad, but they sound like filler that Bishop resorted to to fill out the album--"Every Minute" and "Rock and Roll Slave" are crafted, but somewhat dull ballads that slip over into sappiness. He tries to shift gears with the somewhat jazzy title track, & the stripped-down beginning portion really works, but it builds up & becomes considerably problematic, including its excessive orchestration. The album closing "The Same Old Tears On A New Background", performed solo by Stephen on guitar & vocals, is, again, crafted, but the sappiness detracts from it, although his incredible vocals do lift it up considerably. So, the sailing is a bit rough for portions of the album, but it's a solid and often excellent record that does a really effective job of capturing the essence of Stephen Bishop.

"Careless" was lovingly reissued on CD in 2005 by Hip-O-Select Records, with excellent remastering, as well as a recreation of the layout of the original vinyl LP--if you're looking to get the album, this is the version I recommend you go for.

Stephen Bishop had been "kicking around" the music business for many years by the time he finally released his debut album "Careless" in late 1976. Art Garfunkel's "Breakaway" album from the previous year included 2 of Bishop's songs--"Lookin' For the Right One" & "The Same Old Tears On A New Background", the latter of which Bish does himself on here. Bishop did fall short of delivering an album of consistently top flight material here, but it's still a very strong debut. A majority of the songs are excellent & none of them are less than respectable. The opening track was one of his biggest hits & is one of his best songs--"On and On" is a definitive example of his acoustic guitar based, sighing-ly melodic, hopelessly romantic soft rock. Bishop displays over & over again his knack for incredibly tuneful songwriting, his superb vocals which are smooth and filled with emotion, & his excellent acoustic guitar picking. There are a whole bunch of gems--"Never Letting Go" & "One More Night" are tender ballads; "Madge" is a moving tale of an old man looking back at his life, and it features a couple of instrumental breaks that slyly incorporate the "London Bridge" theme/ melody. He successfully ups the tempo on a couple tunes that have horn arrangements and are extremely catchy--"Sinking In An Ocean of Tears", and the top 20 hit "Save It For A Rainy Day" which has a fittingly rainy/ dreamy mix of guitars & electric piano, although the latter track's fade with Chaka Khan's obnoxious, wailing, showoff-y vocals does hurt it. There's also the splendidly tuneful, fittingly Italian-flavored "Little Italy", which has a fun acoustic riff, and the brief "guitar interlude" between "One More Night" & "Save It For A Rainy Day" is also delightful. As for the remaining tracks, none of them are bad, but they sound like filler that Bishop resorted to to fill out the album--"Every Minute" and "Rock and Roll Slave" are crafted, but somewhat dull ballads that slip over into sappiness. He tries to shift gears with the somewhat jazzy title track, & the stripped-down beginning portion really works, but it builds up & becomes considerably problematic, including its excessive orchestration. The album closing "The Same Old Tears On A New Background", performed solo by Stephen on guitar & vocals, is, again, crafted, but the sappiness detracts from it, although his incredible vocals do lift it up considerably. So, the sailing is a bit rough for portions of the album, but it's a solid and often excellent record that does a really effective job of capturing the essence of Stephen Bishop. The standard US CD version of "Careless" has indeed gone out of print at this point--there is this Japanese CD release, but don't expect it to come cheap. Keep in mind though that six of the tracks from here, all of which are among the gems of this album, turn up with 24-bit remastering on the affordable & in print "20th Century Masters--The Millennium Collection"; the same six tracks also appear on another compilation, "On And On--The Hits of Stephen Bishop" although there are some clear differences there such as the inclusion of a somewhat superior version of "Save It For A Rainy Day" (presumably the single version). Still, any serious Bish fan will want to hear the entirety of this very fine album, & there are vinyl copies around that you can get at good prices to supply you with the remaining tracks.

If you like Stephen Bishop or just a good mellow song with a great lyric then get this album. You can get some good stuff on a greatest hits album but you'll miss some real gems if you pass this by. It really seems that he put an awful lot of heart into this. It's not just songs it's part of the artist you're hearing. I can't wait to get this again as my cassette has long since worn out.

San Diego songwriter STEPHEN BISHOP had gotten Art Garfunkel to include "Looking For The Right One" and "The Same Old Tears On A New Background" on his "Breakaway" album for Columbia Records in 1975. Actually knowing such heavy hitters like Garfunkel meant that when it came to making his own debut album, Bishop was able to call on a large number of rock alumni to session on it - and coupled with its great songs, "Careless" wooed the FM radio pre "Rumours" audience of 1977 completely - it proved a huge hit. The album eventually climbing the US charts to number 11 and it's been beloved by fans ever since.

Bishop wrote all the songs in '75 & '76, recorded it in the ABC & A&M Studios in California that summer with the album finally released on vinyl and cassette late in 1976 on ABC Records ABCD-954 in the USA and ABCL 5201 in the UK. It was produced by HENRY LEW and STEPHEN BISHOP and spawned two radio smashes in "Save It For A Rainy Day" (ABC 12232) and "On And On" (ABC 12260).

On CD, there's been budget issues of some of its tracks here in the UK on MCA/Half Moon and in the US on the excellent Rhino "Best Of" remaster in 1988, but this is the first proper sonic doing of the entire album and the result I'm happy to say is just beautiful - breathtaking clarity that fans will absolutely delight in - for years to come.

There were some big names involved, so here's a breakdown of who contributed to what:

Track 1: On And On
[features Andrew Gold on Electric Guitars with Victor Feldman on Percussion & Vibes]
Track 2. Never Letting Go
[features Lee Ritenour on Guitar, Craig Doerge on Piano with Chaka Khan of Rufus on backing Vocals]
Track 3: Careless
[features backing vocals by Art Garfunkel]
Track 4: Sinking In An Ocean Of Tears
[features Jay Graydon on Guitar, Eric Clapton on Electric Slide Guitar with a Sax Solo by Ray Pizzi]
Track 5: Madge
[features Strings Arranged & Conducted by Lee Holdridge]
Track 6: Every Minute
[features Jay Graydon on Acoustic Guitar, Andrew Gold on Electric Guitar, Victor Feldman on Organ, Max Bennett on Bass with Art Garfunkel on Backing Vocals]
Track 7: Little Italy
[features Larry Carlton on Acoustic Guitar, Max Bennett on Bass, Victor Feldman on Percussion & Vibes, Tommy Tedesco on Mandolin with Chaka Khan on Duet Vocals]
Track 8: One More Night
[features Piano by Barlow Jarvis with the Strings Arranged by Lee Holdridge]
Track 9: Guitar Interlude
Track 10: Save It For A Rainy Day
[features Electric Guitar Solo by Eric Clapton with Backing Vocals from Chaka Khan]
Track 11: Rock And Roll Slave
[features Art Garfunkel on Backing Vocals]
Track 12: The Same Old Tears On A New Background
[recorded live with Acoustic Guitar only]

This Hip-O Select CD is a US-ONLY LIMITED EDITION of 5000 issued on 4 February 2005 in a hard card album repro sleeve (non-numbered). It also reproduces the inner bag - lyrics on one side, photos on the other - that came with original US copies of the LP; it also has an added see-through sepia-printed inner sleeve giving re-issue details. The card sleeve has the words LIMITED EDITION boxed in gold on the rear and the detail even stretches to a pasted-on page on the rear sleeve like US albums of the time. The CD itself also reflects the original label design - all nice touches. It's a shame though that there is no history to the album, no proper liner note contributed by the man himself, not even an original release date of the LP or singles or photos from the sessions - still, that all pales against the real deal - the stunning sound.

BRENDAN MORRIS did the Master Tape Research and GAVIN LURSSEN the Mastering - and a sensational result it is too! Lurssen's superb mastering work is also featured on THE CRUSADERS "Gold" 2CD set, another Hip-O Select release via Universal (see my separate review).

The mastering is 'so' subtle and 'so' sweet - it's like a Mobile Fidelity CD - you feel care was taken with it and the result is a genuine thrill. "Little Italy" - probably one of THE great under-rated masterpieces of the mid Seventies - is a perfect example. As you can see from the track list above, the song is loaded down with top session people, but this remaster LETS YOU HEAR THEM. All of their contributions suddenly come to life here. As the song opens, Max Bennett's bass jumps out of the speakers, funky and clean (he played on Joni Mitchell's "Court & Spark" "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" and "Hejira"). His bass is accompanied by the acoustic guitars of Bish and Larry Carlton - very nice - these are followed by the lovely mandolin playing of Tommy Tedesco - then Chaka's fantastically complimentary vocal contribution - it's all a wow! And if that isn't enough, then the beautiful Bacharach horn and woodwind arrangements by Ian Freebairn-Smith float in. It's ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! I never tire of this wonderful tune.

After all that showiness, we get the lovely melody of "One More Night" where Barlow Jarvis plays such pretty piano work. The 46 second long "Guitar Interlude" sounds like it was recorded in the 1990s on some highly polished James Taylor CD. And then the gem that never gets noticed, the truly lovely "Rock And Roll Slave" where Art Garfunkel's vocal work really comes into its own. (Apparently Cheryl Ladd did a cover of it once - but we won't talk about that just now!) "Madge" is beautiful too - damn it - it's all good! I would concede that some might find it overly romantic and schlocky in places - but get past that - and you're in for a treat. The last track is Bish and Acoustic guitar recorded live in Little Hollywood so it's a bit hissy, but the melody is warm and utterly irresistible...

The Hip-O Select label isn't cheap, but like Ace, Bear Family, Rhino and Raven - their issues are the best. For lovers of the album, this a no-brainer - it's a must have purchase. If you're new to the record, tempted and you want a taster, this 2005 version is available on iTunes - try "Rock And Roll Slave" as a download and you'll see what I mean - lovely song, beautifully reproduced...

I'm off to buy "Bish", his 2nd album for ABC in 1978 (it includes "Looking For The Right One") - it's just as good as the first - and it's also in this Hip-O Select style of release - a limited edition (numbered this time) card gatefold sleeve repro.

Beautiful replica of original LP jacket
with fold-out of original inner sleeve lyrics and photos.
Remastering is terrific; warm and natural. Worth every penny.
Of course the original album is a classic by one of
the world's best singer-songwriters.

If you love the music of the seventies and great singer/songwriters (James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, Jimmy Webb, Art Garfunkel, etc.), you'll love this cd. The review above only gave it 3 stars, yet he said it was one of his favorite albums of all-time - so take his rating with a grain of salt. If ever an album deserved 5 stars, it's this one. Many of Bish's songs from this album were later recorded by Art Garfunkel and others. Bishop has a very distinctive voice that soothes the soul. His music is great and his lyrics are equally superb.

Solid effort! Not to mention CHAKA on Little Italy, Never Letting Go and adding the fire to Save It For A Rainy Day!

i loved the feel of this album. i was surprised that i did because this is not my style. however, sometimes it is albums like this that make you enjoy music more. for me, there are two songs that stand out: ON AND ON and NEVER LETTING GO. there is something about those two songs and the words that make me just drift away. if i were at the ocean and the sun was going down and it was still semibright daylight, i would put on this album.

Seriously - Stephen Bishop is great. This was his debut (and probably most successful) album. It features his big hit single On and On. I don't think there's a lot of middle ground with this song - most people either love it or don't care for it at all. Most people I know love it. I'm with them.

There are a lot of great songs on this album. My other favorites on here are Sinking In An Ocean Of Tears, Madge, Never Letting Go, and Save It For A Rainy Day. There's not a song on here that I dislike.

My absolute favorite song on the album is Little Italy. I've loved this song since the first time I heard it. The song ALWAYS puts me in a good mood (for the record, I'm not even Italian.) The music in the song is great and the lyrics are infectious. It's a fun one to sing along to.

I find that's the case with most of Stephen's songs. His songs, whether they're ballads or pop or whatever, are very cleverly constructed songs. Stephen writes about a lot of things which most people can relate to - whether its the thrill of new love or the pain of lost love, etc. Personally, I can relate to a lot of his music. Isn't that one of the best things about music? When a song really "gets" to you and you can totally relate to it?

I know a lot of people love this album and I think one of the main reasons is because of the varying emotions in the lyrics. Once people hear the lyrics, they really "get" the lyrics. Plus, lyrics aside, these songs are great musically. They're a lot of fun to listen to.

There are a lot of Stephen Bishop compilation albums available, but if you want to try out one of his studio albums, you can't go wrong with picking yourself up a copy of Careless. You'll be glad you did.

If you're not already a Stephen Bishop fan, this album will make you one.