Karen was backed by various New York and Los Angeles studio musicians, including John "JR" Robinson,[5] Steve Gadd, Greg Phillinganes, Louis Johnson and members of Billy Joel's band.

"[9][3] The song "Make Believe It's Your First Time" was re-recorded by Carpenters during the sessions for Made in America, but it remained unreleased until the inclusion on Voice of the Heart in 1983.

[11] Two additional songs, "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" and "Still Crazy After All These Years", were featured on Carpenters 1991 box set From the Top.

The album in its original intended form remained shelved until the release in 1996 — thirteen years after Karen Carpenter's death.

[7] While the album was being prepared for release, an individual at A&M copied Carpenter's unreleased and unfinished material on a cassette tape and distributed it via a fan club on Yahoo!

[citation needed] The following are a list of songs that Karen Carpenter recorded that never made it onto the album;[3] however, they all circulate via bootlegging circles in various stages of completeness and in varying quality.