Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
have you been holding back on us all these years?
This Wrecking Crew Video Promo , recalling Close To You, with Interviews with
Richard and Herb,
provides much information!
Here:
http://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/premiumclosetoyou/
I wish there was a full-length documentary about these guys' recollections of working with the Carpenters. It would be amazing!
Welcome to the forum. It's always refreshing to find younger people here still discovering Carpenters music and loving it like some of us did when it was brand new.As someone else mentioned, I too seemed to have gravitated towards the Carpenters' earlier material- and "Close to You" is among my favorites bar none. I don't need to say much; "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun" are among my most-listened-to tracks and I cannot resist playing through the rest of it (except strangely enough, "Crescent Noon". I'm sorry to all you Noon fans out there, but that one hasn't stuck to me yet). "Begun" takes it to another, personal level - it was my parents' wedding song. My folks are separated now - in a playlist of Carpenters songs, that particular track is omitted (much to my dismay!). But when I quietly sneaked the song on my computer one night and listened, I admittedly sobbed; I understood why they chose it (a beautiful piece, no?) and with the innocent, vulnerable reading by Karen, I discovered a sort of... indescribable sadness. That's why it ranks among the top for me.
You older folks among the crowd might get a laugh out of this story, but another reason I love Close to You is in the way I obtained the physical album. In this day and age of digital downloads and what have you, I got quite a few strange looks when I said "I want to find Carpenters material on vinyl"! I could never figure how to go about such a proposition, but one day, my next-door neighbor was having a moving-away yard sale. I was perusing through some of the stuff when my younger brother yelled for me; I turned my head and in his hands high in the air was "Close to You". If eyes could sparkle like stars, that would be one of those moments. I will never forget holding that album in my hands with a big, stupid grin on my face. Priceless.
Well, yes Karen was still the sole drummer of the live group until mid 1972 ish.The appearance on Ed Sullivan is chronicled on the Ed Sullivan Site,
the description seems to imply a 'live' performance, is this the case?
I'm sure it has been discussed, but, it is interesting that on the Album
Hal Blaine is drumming to these songs , whereas Karen performs this
duty on the Television appearance.
From Sullivan: "On October 18 1970, The Ed Sullivan Show featured B. B. King and Tony Bennett as well as the Carpenters.
Richard and Karen Carpenter took to a stage decorated with colorful images of flowers. They performed a medley of their hits
“(They Long To Be) Close To You” and “We’ve Just Begun”.
As always, Richard played the piano, Karen played the drums and serenaded the audience with her beautiful, melodic voice."
Source (and, More):
http://www.edsullivan.com/artists/the-carpenters
Well, actually I think Jim Anthony was hired late 1971 as he is on the Live at BBC special.Well, yes Karen was still the sole drummer of the live group until mid 1972 ish.
It was overcast, the photographer puts us out on a rock. The waves were crashing over the rocks, Karen's hair was damp, frizzing...and I saw a couple of amateur photographers..I remember this very well. And they were taking the very same picture like, 50 feet away from us. But they were amateurs! And I was bitching at the photographer, and I said 'what the hell are you doing?!'. First off, there's nothing original about this whatsoever. Nothing! And secondly it doesn't even make any sense.Why would you put on a Cashmere jacket and a gown, and leather boots and dress slacks...and sit on a rock by the beach? Why would you do this?