ullalume
Well-Known Member
Hey all,
What a delightful day it is here in London. May has sprung and it's 25 degrees and 13 minutes past the big boss hour. (Plagiarism can be fun. . .now and then.)
Anyway, even though I'm working I thought I'd mention the beloved BLOCK HARMONIES of the Carpenters, particularly with mention to which of their songs you think has the most subtle use of the backing vocals.
For me, it has to be When It's Gone (one of my absolute favourites). To my ear there are only a snippet of backings in each of the choruses, very subtly mixed, but wonderfully effecting and in keeping with the cyclic, haunting feel of the piece.
When Karen sings "Says it's gone and he can't go on trying to live a lie" underneath it sounds to me like K and R come in with "Gooooonnneeee. . . . . can't go on trying to llllliiiivvvveeee."
Also I Can't Make Music uses it slightly but brilliantly.
Changing subject slightly, from reading interviews from Karen and Richard around the time of 1978, you can see both want to get back to those block harmonies that were lacking to an extent on the Kind of Hush and Passage Albums.
In effect there planned 10th anniversary album due for release spring of '79 would have contained the likes of I Believe You and Slow Dance, both making ample use of there patented 'OOOOO's".
In fact, with I Believe You, it appears that so eagre was Richard to recapture the success of half a decade earlier, and indeed return to his first love of a vocal group, that even though he handed over arranging and orchestrating duties to Paul Riser (perhaps because of the feel for the song. . .perhaps because he was at his lowest ebb with the drugs) he still handled the vocal arrangements for this track, a track I have to say has grown on me tremendously over the years.
Then of course we have MIA which oozes with their trademark stacked harmonies.
Thoughts anyone.
Neil
What a delightful day it is here in London. May has sprung and it's 25 degrees and 13 minutes past the big boss hour. (Plagiarism can be fun. . .now and then.)
Anyway, even though I'm working I thought I'd mention the beloved BLOCK HARMONIES of the Carpenters, particularly with mention to which of their songs you think has the most subtle use of the backing vocals.
For me, it has to be When It's Gone (one of my absolute favourites). To my ear there are only a snippet of backings in each of the choruses, very subtly mixed, but wonderfully effecting and in keeping with the cyclic, haunting feel of the piece.
When Karen sings "Says it's gone and he can't go on trying to live a lie" underneath it sounds to me like K and R come in with "Gooooonnneeee. . . . . can't go on trying to llllliiiivvvveeee."
Also I Can't Make Music uses it slightly but brilliantly.
Changing subject slightly, from reading interviews from Karen and Richard around the time of 1978, you can see both want to get back to those block harmonies that were lacking to an extent on the Kind of Hush and Passage Albums.
In effect there planned 10th anniversary album due for release spring of '79 would have contained the likes of I Believe You and Slow Dance, both making ample use of there patented 'OOOOO's".
In fact, with I Believe You, it appears that so eagre was Richard to recapture the success of half a decade earlier, and indeed return to his first love of a vocal group, that even though he handed over arranging and orchestrating duties to Paul Riser (perhaps because of the feel for the song. . .perhaps because he was at his lowest ebb with the drugs) he still handled the vocal arrangements for this track, a track I have to say has grown on me tremendously over the years.
Then of course we have MIA which oozes with their trademark stacked harmonies.
Thoughts anyone.
Neil
