Customer Reviews

Sometimes Late at Night (Mlps)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't recall just how I came across this recording twenty-years ago, but I'm delighted that I did. Usually, "Adult Contemporary" and "Easy Listening" are not my favorite types of popular music. Sometimes Late At Night is an exception, and likewise, an exceptional album.

If Carol Bayer Sager's intention was to cut deep into the listener's heart for forty-two minutes, Sometimes Late At Night is a success. The album chronicles the shattering of a romantic relationship from the first hint of trouble to its final demise. The Prolog opens with the line "Look how all our dreams came true/and see how I've got me and baby you've got you." Selfishness lends way to acknowledgement (I Won't Break), recollections of self-doubt (Somebody's Been Lying), unfulfilled dreams (Sometimes Late At Night), and the resurgence of self-reliance (Stronger Than Before).

Sager's voice is a quavering reed-thin instrument. At times she sing-speaks as if reading from a dairy (Prolog, Somebody's Been Lying, Sometimes Late At Night, Stronger Than Before, You Don't Know Me). Not an operatic singing voice, but more than capable of transferring emotion to the listener. And the impact of love lost is profound. I'm surprised that she was able to keep it together during the recording sessions.

Sometimes Late At Night doesn't fit easily in the category of "Easy Listening." This is an unrivaled heartbreaker.

Technical Note: Critical listening does reveal minor distortion. I believe this is a result of over saturating the original analog masters during passages with loud bass guitar lines. Still, I'd trade the vinyl LP for the CD any day. These trivial annoyances pale in comparison with Sager's painful lyrics and Burt Bacharach's luscious music.

for all those disappointed in the remastering of this cd re. the glitch in the song "you don't know me," the cd will be released in japan on april 24th without any sound problems. add to that a complete booklet with full lyrics and no compromising of either the front or back album artwork. in other words, no ugly boardwalk label border on the front and the great back pic of carole and burt is maintained. thank god for the japanese!

I was instantly disappointed when I put this CD on and listened to the wonderful world of Carole Sager in MONO. I was suspicious right off because the sound was pinched and compressed, so I put on my 100 dollar headphones to discover the CD was transfered to disc in Mono! It is a crime because nobody still recorded music in mono during the early '80s!!! Also the packaging was pretty low-budget, considering the price that was slapped on this disc. Another change from the 1981 LP was how the songs blended into one another. There were some nice segues between tracks on the original Record and the sound production was decent for that time period. My disc faded some songs early and there wasn't the nice segues anymore. Now I see some people are asking 30 bucks for this piece of junk. It could have been a real beauty but Boardwalk really messed up! Let's hope that the Japanese import that is coming soon will be done correctly, and allow this beautiful cd to be heard the way it should be heard again! Yes, in true STEREO!

I just received my Japanese "Victor" print of this album today and it is indeed without the glitch that is mentioned in the other reviews. Haven't had time to check the rest of the album in detail but I'm glad to have it after waiting all these years. The album comes with a combined Japanese-English song-book.

The original project was a sooo coool affair when released. The production was so flowing from start to finish it very rarely left the turntable. But this re-issue has a few sound flaws which in 2001 is kind of disappointing. Happy to have it anyway. All cuts are great, favs. include "i won't break", "you don't know me", "sometimes late at night", "wild again", and the often covered "stronger than before" (dionne warwick, chaka khan both have good versions) but Sagers version rules!

What a disappointment - I have waited so long for this title to be released on CD - I treasure my vinyl copy so much. Whilst the CD doesn't have the scratches and pops of the vinyl, it is very poorly recorded when one considers how it could have been done. Why one asks. One track is omitted from the listing (no big deal, but sloppy) but the sound quality is just not what we have come to expect from CDs. I have this artist's other CDs and they are great - why this one?! It's the best album she recorded in my opinion! One track even jumps during the song! I wouldn't be without the CD but I can only hope that CBS or someone will produce a better recording of it in the future.

Just got the new reissue of "Sometimes Late At Night", an album that would be one of my Desert Island Discs (definitely a "5 star release"). However, this CD is very cheaply presented: only the cover photo remains from the original package (with an ugly pink border). The original back cover photo is not incuded, nor are the song lyrics. For that matter, there are no songwriter credits, and one song "On The Way To The Sky", does not appear in the track listing (though it is on the CD). Finally, the remastering is pretty horrible with jarring distortion (between 3:10 - 3:12) in track #12 ("You Don't Know Me"). I suppose we will have to wait until a Japanese label licenses this from Boardwalk Music, RKO Records, and Reach Entertainment, Inc (distributed by City Hall Records) and reissues it right! Oh well, I guess it's better than nothing...but not by much!

I was turned on to this album by a musician friend who used to play "Stonger Than Before" in cover bands during the early '80s. I knew and loved the song as sung by Chaka Khan, and wanted to hear the original. The album, as a Burt Bacharach project is gorgeous in its arrangements for that period-I'm in total agreement with the fellow from Hong Kong who likened it to the Elvis Costello collaboration. Carole's voice, however is another matter. Why a sonic connoiseur like Bacharach allowed her access to the sound booth is anyone's guess. Like the love-child of Mrs. Miller and Macy Gray, she croaks and cracks her way through the 13 cuts with generous assistance from backing vocalists (including an unusually equal match in Michael Jackson), and only her finesse as a songwriter can save her.
So do I hate this album? Absolutely not! It's truly a piece of work, as they say. The transitions between songs are exquisite and the enthusiasm of everyone involved is charming with an almost camp appeal. "Turn the radio up loud." This is a feel-good, laugh-out-loud, love-that-melody kind of affair.

Gorgeous, sophisticated pop masterpiece from the early 80's that has stood the test
of time with its depth, emotion, and feeling about a doomed love affair, with lyrics
by Sager, music by Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Peter Allen, and Bruce Roberts, and
arranged by Bacharach, David Foster, Marvin Hamlisch, and Jerry Hey. The late
Michael Jackson even contributes a backing vocal on the beautiful Sager/Bacharach
tune "Just Friends". The whole recording is structured as an emotionally heart-
wrenching suite, starting with a prologue, then 11 songs, and ending in a reprise
that leaves the listener stunned with its incredible effect. I still have a mint
condition vinyl copy of "Sometimes", originally released on the Boardwalk label,
that still sounds fabulous. STAY AWAY from the horrible Boardwalk cd issue of this,
however. As noted in the other reviews, the sound is deplorable, song listings are
not correct, and in one song "You Don't Know Me" towards the very end of the cd,
there is an obvious flaw in the master recording. NONE of this occurs on the vinyl
edition, however. To get "Sometimes" the way it SHOULD properly sound on cd, you're
going to have to spend some $ and get the Japanese JVC high defintion version re-
leased several years ago, available but very expensive. I guard my copy with my
life. The sound on it is breathtaking. If you can't spring $ for the Japanese cd,
the vinyl version, which has all lyrics, credits, and the great back cover shot of
Carole and then husband, Bacharach, is still readily available and affordable, if
you still have a turntable, and as stated earlier, the vinyl version sounds great.
"Sometimes" had a substantial hit single with the tune "Stronger Than Before",
which got considerable airplay back in the early 80's. Gorgeous songwriting.
Produced by Bacharach and Brooks Arthur, it's an unforgetful, beautiful, mature
work of art that goes straight for the heart. Bravo to everybody involved in this
magnificent recording that stands the test of time. You go, Girl. 50 billion stars
for the CORRECT version of "Somtimes Late at Night" and 0 stars for the Boardwalk
cd, which should NEVER have been released with such poor quality.

This album adds wonderfully to any Carole Bayer Sager's or Burt Bacharach's fan's collection. It's almost entirely written by Ms Sager and Mr Bacharach, and he produced and arranged everything. It's every bit as wonderful as, though very different from, the Elvis Costello collaboration almost twenty years later.

Now if anyone has found a copy without the horrible jump that sabotages the track You Don't Know Me, please please let me know!