''Post Card'' is the debut album by

Mary Hopkin Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer-songwriter best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists ...

. It was produced by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and released by

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...

in February 1969 in the UK and in March 1969 in the US. It reached number 3 in the UK and number 28 in the US. It also reached number 24 in Canada. The original US and Canadian versions differed from the UK version by including the hit single "

Those Were the Days Those Were the Days may refer to: Music Albums * ''Those Were the Days'' (Johnny Mathis album) (1968) * ''Those Were the Days'' (Cream album) (1997) * ''Those Were the Days'' (Dolly Parton album) (2005) * '' Those Were the Days – The Best of L ...

" instead of a cover of " Someone to Watch Over Me". The 2010 CD reissue includes both "Those Were the Days" and "Someone to Watch Over Me", as well as four bonus tracks including "

Turn! Turn! Turn! "Turn! Turn! Turn!", or "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)", is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s and first recorded in 1959. The lyrics – except for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the fin ...

", which was the B-side of "Those Were the Days", and Hopkin's second single "

Goodbye Goodbye, Good bye, or Good-bye is a parting phrase and may refer to: Film * ''Goodbye'' (1918 film), a British drama directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Goodbye'' (1995 film) (''Tot Ziens!''), a Dutch film directed by Heddy Honigmann * ''Goodbye'' ...

", written by McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney, plus four versions in Italian, Spanish, German and French of "Those Were The Days" as a digital download.

Critical reception

The album included three songs written by the folk singer

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

, one of which, "

Lord of the Reedy River Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

", was deemed to be one of the album highlights by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' critic John Mendelsohn regarded Hopkin's voice as being well-suited to the Donovan songs, although he considered the songs themselves to be "ponderous and over-long". Unterberger felt that the only problem with the album was that it contained too many pre-rock standards, in accordance with McCartney's tastes, which were not as well suited to Hopkin as more simple folk songs. Mendelsohn praised McCartney’s production as much as Hopkin’s singing. The album was launched by Hopkin at the Post Office Tower, London, on 13 February 1969. McCartney attended.

Track listing

Original UK version

Personnel

* Mary Hopkin - lead vocals, background vocals, acoustic guitar (2) *

- acoustic guitar (1, 8), bass (2), production * Donovan Leitch - acoustic guitar (1, 2, 8) *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

- piano (14) * Derek Griffiths - guitar *

Jim Rodford James Walter Rodford (7 July 1941 – 20 January 2018) was an English musician, who played bass for several British rock bands. He was a founding member of Argent, which was led by his cousin Rod Argent, and performed with them from their format ...

- bass * Bernie Higginson - drums * Mike Cotton - trumpet * John Beecham - trombone * Nick Newell - saxophone *

Richard Hewson Richard Anthony Hewson (born 17 November 1943) is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band. Career Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and has worked with musicians s ...

- arrangement on "Those Were the Days" and "Goodbye" ;Technical *

Geoff Emerick Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums '' Revolver'' (1966), '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road ...

- production on "Fields of St. Etienne" *

Ken Scott Ken Scott (born 20 April 1947) is a British record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Duran Duran, the Jef ...

Malcolm Toft Malcolm Toft is an Audio engineering, audio engineer and Businessperson, businessman who worked at Trident Studios, first as an Audio engineering, audio engineer, then as the studio's manager, and eventually as co-founder of Mixing console, rec ...

- Recording Engineers

Chart positions

Album

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1969 debut albums Apple Records albums Albums produced by Paul McCartney Albums recorded at Trident Studios Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios