Made in America (The Carpenters album)

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]

Billboard stated that "the duo returns here to the mellow MOR-pop which has brought it 18 gold singles and albums since 1970. The LP is an about-face from the duo's last studio collection, 1977's Passage, which flirted with rock rhythms and failed to be certified gold. Included are pretty ballads by Burt Bacharach and Roger Nichols, who composed the pair's first two hits, "Close To You" and "We've Only Just Begun." The duo also returns to the Marvelettes' songbag, which brought its most recent gold single, "Please Mr. Postman," for "Beechwood 4- 5789." Daryl Dragon of the Captain & Tenille, once the Carpenters' chief rival for the MOR crown, contributes the synthesizer programming to "(Want You) Back In My Life Again," a punchy, midtempo Doobie-esque rocker which would be a strong second single." ^[7]

In their review, Cashbox noted that "America's favorite brother and sister team of a few years back is in fine fettle after a long hiatus from the studio. Don't expect a massive directional change from the "Close To You" days, though. Richard Carpenter's production is clean and modern, but the duo's strength remains its sprite, floating harmonies and A/C pop stylings. Karen and Richard's material here should fare well with adult contemporary and pop programmers considering the current American fervor for middle of the road acts." ^[8]

Bruce Eder of AllMusic called it "very much a comeback effort, with a fair amount of energy on most of it, newly radiant arrangements ("The Wedding Song," etc.), one cute oldie cover ("Beechwood 4-5789," which was made into a video), and the best new songs they'd had since the mid-'70s ("Those Good Old Dreams," "Touch Me When We're Dancing")...the album as a whole was more energetic and memorable than anything they'd done since A Song for You."^[9]

• Karen Carpenter – lead and backing vocals; drums (8), percussion (1, 8)
• Richard Carpenter – backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, arrangements, orchestrations
• Tim May – electric guitar (1–3, 6–8), acoustic guitar (1, 3–7, 10)
• Tony Peluso – electric guitar (2–4, 7, 8), acoustic guitar (7)
• Dennis Budimir, Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar (7)
• JayDee Maness – pedal steel guitar (1, 8)
• Joe Osborn – bass guitar
• Tom Scott– tenor saxophone (3, 7, 9)
• Bob Conti – percussion (8)
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (1–4, 7)
• Peter Limonick – percussion (5, 10)
• Jerry Steinholtz – congas (6)
• Earle Dumler – oboe (2, 4, 5, 7, 8)
• Gayle Levant – harp (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10)
• Larrie Londin – drums (2, 6–8)
• Ron Tutt – drums (1–3, 5, 9, 10)
• John "JR" Robinson – drums (4)
• Carolyn Dennis – background vocal (2, 7)
• Stephanie Spruill, Maxine Waters Willard^[1] – background vocal (2)
• The O.K. Chorale – backing vocals (10)
• Ron Hicklin – coral director (10)
• Frank Pooler – coral conductor (10)
• Jimmy Getzoff – concert master (1–4, 6–9)
• Gerald Vinci – concert master (5, 10)
• Peter Knight – orchestration (5, 10)
• Paul Riser – orchestration (6)
• Daryl Dragon, Ian Underwood – synthesizer programming (3)