"Made in America" was released on June 9, 1981 and was supposed to be the "comeback" album.  While it did have a "top 20" single in "Touch Me When We're Dancing" (reaching #16) the other singles would not do so well and the album would only peak at #52 in the US, #12 in the UK and #44 in Japan.  The week that it peaked at #52 (August 16, 1981), the top five album spots were filled with Pat Benatar, Foreigner, The Moody Blues, Rick James and Journey.

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The name of the album came from a sweatshirt that Karen was wearing during recording the album that said "Made in America".

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While I had loved the Carpenters from a very young age, I hadn't started getting/purchasing albums until I was older.  I received this album as a high school graduation gift in 1983 from my third sister.

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I do like this album, although it's not on the top of my list.  "Touch Me..." is probably my favorite from this album, but I do like other songs.  I feel that the other three  singles were probably not really strong enough to be released as singles.  "I Believe You" was included on this album, even though it had been released as a stand alone single in 1978.

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The packaging is very nice.  The inner sleeve is actually card stock with their photo on one side and the lyrics on the other.  The front cover doesn't help their image any as it is once again a cheek to cheek, toothy smile.