"A Kind Of Hush" is a delightful soft-ballad album that has that pleasing Carpenter multi-layered sound. Briefly, this album has so many good tunes on it, I'd have to mention them all, as there are no "weak" tracks at all. You will enjoy this album from start to finish, it is personally one of my favorites, and I own all the Carpenter albums. The multi-layered Carpenter sound is Richard Carpenter's genius, and the vocal sound is the incomparible voice of his sister, Karen Carpenter. When you hear her sing one word, you know that voice is hers and hers alone. What a gift of song she had! Karen Carpenter was one of the most talented and pleasing female vocalists in the 20th century, and that is saying a lot! In my opinion, no one compares to the pure vocal talent of Karen. And she truly shines with the vocal and instrumental arrangements of brother Richard. He knew what key to produce the music in to maximize Karen's best vocal sound. It is Richard's arrangements with Karen's voice that constitutes that instantly recognizable Carpenter sound.

Some particularly good tracks on this album are the title-tune, "A Kind of Hush", the beautifully composed love ballad "You", the very pleasing and soothing "Sandy", the jaunty and funny "Goofus", "Can't Smile Without You", "I Need To Be In Love", and the tribute to Neil Sedaka, "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do".

"A Kind of Hush", released in 1976, achieved "gold" status but failed to peak as high as previous Carpenter albums. The singles released from this album surprisingly did not track as high as previous efforts, with "There's a Kind of Hush", peaking at a very respectable #12, "I Need to Be in Love" at #25, while the novelty song "Goofus" failed to reach the Top 40 entirely - their first single to not crack the top-40 since they began recording in 1970.

This aside, the album is sure to please all Carpenter fans and I very highly recommend it!

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

In 1976, as Karen's anorexia was taking root, the Carpenters recorded their 7th studio album. This album breaks no ground musically and seems to mellow out at times. However, Karen's voice redeems it and I still must give it 3 stars. "A Kind of Hush", the group's #12 hit is not as creative as "Please Mr. Postman", and the ending "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" is not worth hearing. "You" is lovely, and so is "Can't Smile without You," but clearly the best song is "I Need to Be in Love." Although it charted only at #25, the song is sung very heartfelt by Karen, and it carries the album. The songs on the second half all seem to sound the same, and clearly, one can see the Carpenter's slide down the charts beginning. The single "Goofus" charted at #56, making it the group's lowest charting single to date. However, the album deserves to be heard as it does have the greatest vocalist of all time.

I guess with the understanding that this great singer is no longer with us on this planet, there is no other rating of 5 for this album. Yes, it would be great to have had them sing perhaps other material, and I agree that I would prefer to hear Karen sing a lovely ballad (I Need to Be in Love) than "Goofus", but I have to say that I would prefer to hear Karen sing "Goofus" and hear the purity of her voice, albeit a weird song, than to listen to most other pop singers whose voices do NOTHING for me, however pretty the song they are trying to sing (Brittany Spears, for example). So, this is a fantastic album with great moments,and some less-meaningful ones, but ALWAYS great singing.

This is their best album ever. The smooth timeless Carpenters sound and Karen Carpenter's vocals warm the listeners heart from beginning to end. All ten songs are great. According to Richard Carpenter 'I Need To Be In Love' was Karen's favorite Carpenters song, and I have to agree. I rate this song as one of the three best songs The Carpenters ever recorded. I also have to mention the beautiful 'I Have You' - a great song and a great singer. This is truly a very pleasant album that has stood the test of time. I first bought this album when it was released in 1976, and I still enjoy it just as much today.

I agree with the last reviewer."A kind of hush" is a great CD.Karen's voice sounds so sweet and pretty.My favorite songs on here are:"Can't smile without you","sandy","I need to be in love" and "I have you". I don't understand why this CD is so underrated.