Carpenters songs you disliked that suddenly grew on You

[GaRbAllZ]

For me it was "Those Good Ole Dreams". It was just too country sounding to me at first. I remember being really excited about the Carpenters new album "Made in America" and at first was really disappointed when I heard this song.

But over the years it has really grown on me and is definetly in my favorite Carpenters top 10. But I too like their earlier stuff "Offering" much much more now than I did back in the day.

 

[Mark-T]

I agree newvillefan! I was SO disappointed when I realized they had covered the original faster version.

 

[andywithaz]

When I first purchased my first Carpenters CD The Singles 1969-1981 back in 2001, I heard Those Good Old Dreams and thought it was way too corny for me to appreciate, In later years, I have come to really enjoy this song, especially the LP mix with the moog synthesizer.

I still don't understand why that wasn't on the Remastered Classics CD.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

You know, when I first heard "Close To You", I thought it was strange...I guess that's because it was so unique.. and launched the Carpenters into mega stardom. Of course now I love it.

 

[Steven J. Gross]

Also- unrelated- in about 1976 I was at LAX airport..walked right into the Carpenters tour group..and into Karen..I said how much I enjoyed her work, and I will never forget the warmth that girl had. What an angel.

 

[Dave]

The B-Side of my "Close To You" '45', "I Kept On Loving You"...


Dave

Which actually, "I Kept On Loving You" sounds a lot like another Williams/Nichols comp. "Talk It Over In The Morning"...

Have Carpenters ever recorded that?


Dave

 

[davidgra]

I absolutely LOVE "Talk It Over In the Morning." It would have been fantastic if Karen and Richard had recorded it.

Anne Murray's whole Talk It Over In the Morning album is fantastic. She covers "Let Me Be the One" on that album, too.

Revisiting this topic, I don't know that there's a Carpenters song that I disliked at first about which I have changed my mind. I guess I wasn't overly impressed with "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore" when I first heard it, and it's become one of my favorites. But I didn't dislike it.

I didn't like "I Can't Make Music" the first time I heard it, and I still don't like it now.

David

 

[motownboy]

"A Kind of Hush" was my least favorite Carpenters album and I could never stand to listen to "Goofus." Well, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give it a fair listen.....And I started to warm up to it! I still don't get why it was chosen for release as a single, but I must admit it does have a certain charm to it...

 

[richard_sloat]

Yes, this song took me a while to warm-up to and although it was written by Paul Williams/Roger Nichols, no version (least to my knowledge) by either exists...

I found this...:

http://www.google.com.br/images?hl=...=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=639

(...)This 12-song collection is comprised of the writing duo's demos from those days of their collaboration, and it's essential listening for both devotees of '70s pop/rock and fans of the Carpenters and Williams' own records.(...)


Tracklisting
------------
01 (2:56) After All
02 (2:16) So Many People
03 (2:48 ) Somebody Waiting
04 (2:30) Time
05 (2:56) The Drifter
06 (2:13) We've Only Just Begun
07 (2:41) Someday Man
08 (2:24) Let Me Be The One
09 (2:47) When Love Is Near
10 (2:36) Do You Really Have A Heart
11 (2:13) I Kept On Loving You
12 (2:12) Out In The Country

 

[Martin ellsworth]

I think most of your picks are great songs that I loved from the very beginning. For myself I never liked Sing or Top of the World, just too sachharine for me in a time when they were being bashed by the rock critics. I also disliked Those Good Old Dreams (trying for a repeat of TOTW success) and Goofus. I have learned to respect all but Goofus, still think that was a huge mistake.

 

[Martin ellsworth]

I think most of your picks are great songs that I loved from the very beginning. For myself I never liked Sing or Top of the World, just too sachharine for me in a time when they were being bashed by the rock critics. I also disliked Those Good Old Dreams (trying for a repeat of TOTW success) and Goofus. I have learned to respect all but Goofus, still think that was a huge mistake.

 

[Dave]

I know there's a thread for "our LEAST favorites" somewhere on this board, but I somehow couldn't find it...

What still DID NOT grow on me is "Don't Be Afraid" and especially, "Make Believe It's Your First Time" which probably sports the most sappiest lyric: "...And I'll make believe it's MINE..." (Yeccchhh!!!!)

-- Dave

 

[Chris]

especially, "Make Believe It's Your First Time" which probably sports the most sappiest lyric: "...And I'll make believe it's MINE..." (Yeccchhh!!!!)

-- Dave

Dave, that ending of "Make Believe.." really gets to you! I think I can understand how you feel about it. It does seem rather sappy when you put it that way. I never cared for the song that much until I heard Karen's solo performance of it, but then we've discussed that here before. Karen's solo version is one of my favorites. People have strong feelings one way or the other about that one.

One of the songs I didn't care for that much at first, surprisingly, was "Hurting Each Other". I've grown to love it through the years though. Another was "Those Good Old Dreams". I like it OK now, but I'm still not very fond of it. I think it has to do with the arrangement.

As far as "Solitaire" goes, count me in as one who loved it from the very first. It was a haunting song and performance that got my attention even as a boy. I think it's one of their very best.

 

[goodjeans]

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". I did not appreciate this song when I was young and when the album was first released. ( I was 18) It has become my favorite Karen vocal of all of her recordings.

 

[sean kohler]

Any carpenters songs that any of you didn't like right away, that you do now?



Dave

Sweet Sweet Smile comes to mind. i thought it sounded too country; the entire appeal of The Carpenters to me was that they were a way that I could identify with something "not redneck", as I grew up in the south and was thoroughly sick and tired of what most of the local stations would play, now this mess, what's next, Karen is going to start chewing tobacco, wearing plaid shirts and boots and cowboy hats and driving a jacked-up pickup truck with huge tires and a rifle rack in the rear windshield?.

I enjoyed the early Carps music that didn't have a country sound except maybe for Top of The World. Sweet Sweet Smile would come over the car radio no less than three times (often more) on our usual weekend trips out of town. Just for the record, Sweet Sweet Smile is way up there on my list of faves now.

 

[ullalume]

For me it's "Strength of a Woman".

I hated the song at first. . .then after a few years grew to hate it for different reasons (i.e. the trite patronising "women's anthem" feel in the lyric. . .I mean if he's that much of an idiot why fight for him. . .cut the loser loose.)

Anyway, a few years ago I started to appreciate the melody, arrangement and Karen's vocal. (the lyrics still stick in the throat).

However I feel it would have made a good single choice instead of Those Good Old Dreams (in my all time top5 Carps tracks). . .trite and patronising seem to go down well with the record buying public.

Still far from the best, but like it way more than at first.


Neil

Wow, funny to look back over things. . . . In the last 5 years I've swung back around to disliking the track again.

 

[Geographer]

Wow, funny to look back over things. . . . In the last 5 years I've swung back around to disliking the track again.

Funny thing about Strength of a Woman... I've always loved it from first listen back in '81. I hear what you are saying about the lyric, but I always thought that it is a very good use of clever irony...a woman who tells herself her weakness is actually a strength in a tragic moment of denial. I think the song is superbly written, produced, and sung. Pure genius!

 

[GaryAlan]

Yes!
Geographer and Neil, excellent points regarding Strength of A Woman.
The song vacillates with me, too!
At times, I love it.
Then, it bugs me!
Since first hear in 1981, the song is simultaneously (with me)
a favorite on Made In America, and yet, still I harbor reservations!

Now, when I first heard Close To You...I was unimpressed! Too soft, I felt.
Then, the Album version really impressed me (the extended ending).
Now, I love it-- regardless of which Carpenters version I hear.

 

[cam89]

SOLITAIRE I used to hate it!! I remember when I bought the two SINGLES albums on a twintape cassette in summer of 1988...I absolutely abhorred the song. It wasn't until later I appreciated her vocals, the range...the whole feeling of the song! To me, now, it remains probably the best song that showcases her voice to sublime perfection (alongside Ave Maria).

 

[cam89]

Songs I hate, that I have never grown to appreciate are REASON TO BELIEVE, and YOU'RE THE ONE and WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE....maybe in 10 years time I will appreciate them

 

[BGW]

Hmm, as far as tracks I didn't used to like but now do.... Well, I still don't love Druscilla Penney, but I certainly don't hate it like many people do. I've always thought Superstar and DP were linked (in that Superstar was sung by DP herself), and the fact that they always appeared sequentially in every format of release makes me think I'm not the only one. Obviously Superstar was not written by Richard, but they definitely go hand-in-hand.

I didn't dislike Baby It's You, I just thought it was a bit bland. Now I've really come around. I made a massive set of mix CDs for my trip up to school, and that song came on. I'd heard it many times before, but for some reason I never really tuned into just how amazing the harmony is. Now it's definitely one of my favorite tracks in terms of the original Carpenters sound. It just gives me the chills. .....Cheeeaaaaated..........whoa-oho-whoa.............what they say.........don't want nobody.......ahhhhhhh.........whoa-oho-whoa.......nights go by.......can't help myself cause baby it's you.....ooh-sha-la-la-la whooooo..... okay okay you get it. But really, it's such a well arranged, well sung, and well played track. That sax is perfect as well.



On the other hand, there's a lot of songs I like in spite of myself, or songs that I like pieces of. Take Strength of a Woman- I think it's absolutely beautiful until that horrid chorus ruins it. It's musically tacky and doesn't fit the rest of the song in the slightest. I usually skip the song as soon as I get past the intro.

As the Carpenters proved, and the Mythbusters later confirmed, it really is possible to polish a turd. There are a fair number of tracks in the Carpenter's catalog that I feel are a huge waste of their talent. These songs are meticulously arranged, sung, and produced, and have the sound to match, yet the basic songs themselves are completely undeserving of such treatment. To me, this probably is the result of them mining out every last song that sounded similar to what launched them into the stratosphere. If they hadn't been so desperately trying to make what they thought people wanted to hear, we'd probably be left with a much more diverse catalog. /rant

I don't mean to whine, I'm very grateful for what we have. It's just so easy to play "woulda, coulda, shoulda". I'm thankful this place exists to bring all of us Carpenters fanatics together for interesting discussions like this.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I know there's a thread for "our LEAST favorites" somewhere on this board, but I somehow couldn't find it...

What still DID NOT grow on me is "Don't Be Afraid" and especially, "Make Believe It's Your First Time" which probably sports the most sappiest lyric: "...And I'll make believe it's MINE..." (Yeccchhh!!!!)

-- Dave

If we're just talking the Carpenters' recording, I agree. Karen's is sublime IMHO.

Ed

 

[BarryT60]

"Reason to Believe" now one of my favorites- but as a young teen, it was SO uncool to like country! Of course, it was uncool to like the Carps, too, so what did I know!

I'm trying to think of one that I didn't love and eventually liked - but the non-like list is so short, if it made it to that list - it may never come off!
For instance, Goofus and Boat To Sail. There just eeeh for me, dawg...
I know I am in the minority here - but Crystal Lullaby was never a favorite either.
I suppose Bless The Beasts and the Children may be one that I skipped as a kid - but like to hear now... There I had one!

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

"A Kind of Hush" was my least favorite Carpenters album and I could never stand to listen to "Goofus." Well, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give it a fair listen.....And I started to warm up to it! I still don't get why it was chosen for release as a single, but I must admit it does have a certain charm to it...

It's that vocal arrangement! Richard has saved many a dog with his great vocal arrangements ("Sing", anyone?)

Ed

 

[A&M Retro]

'I Believe You' was the only Carpenters single that really disappointed me. It was so easy listening with the harps and flutes. And it just didn't have a memorable hook. Then, 26 long years later, Richard released the SACD featuring that song. Now I get it....and love it.