Post Card is the debut album by Mary Hopkin. It was produced by Paul McCartney and released by Apple Records in February 1969 in the UK and in March 1969 in the US.[1] It reached number 3 in the UK and number 28 in the US.[2][3] 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" instead of a cover of "Someone to Watch Over Me".[1]
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!", which was the B-side of "Those Were the Days", and Hopkin's second single "Goodbye", written by McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney,[4] plus four versions in Italian, Spanish, German and French of "Those Were The Days" as a digital download.[5]
The album included three songs written by the folk singer Donovan, one of which, "Lord of the Reedy River", was deemed to be one of the album highlights by AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger.[6]Rolling Stone 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".[10] 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.[6] Mendelsohn praised McCartney’s production as much as Hopkin’s singing.[11] The album was launched by Hopkin at the Post Office Tower, London, on 13 February 1969. McCartney attended.
^Harris, John (November 2010). "Strange Fruit: Various, Original Apple albums, 1969–73". Mojo. p. 116.
^Mendelsohn, John (17 May 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone (33). San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.: 17.
^Hull, Tom (December 2010). "Recycled Goods". Static Multimedia. Retrieved 8 July 2020 – via tomhull.com.
^Hill, S. (2011). "Mary Hopkin and the Deep Throat of Culture". In Stras, L. (ed.). She's So Fine: Reflections on Whiteness, Femininity, Adolescence and Class in 1960s Music. Ashgate. pp. 174–76. ISBN9781409436652.
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