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You’ll change your mind one day. We all do rotate around, sometimes! It’s the vocal treatment on a simple song that’s catchy. Plus, I love how Karen sounds when she says “won’t you tell me you forgive me”. It’s not a usual point of view from a woman. Usually it’s the guy that’s asking the woman for forgiveness.^^Contrived, or not, I love the song ! Still In Love With You.
Now, take Guess I Just Lost My Head....it bores me to tears !
Plus, I love how Karen sounds when she says “won’t you tell me you forgive me”. It’s not a usual point of view from a woman. Usually it’s the guy that’s asking the woman for forgiveness.
I Loved the Barbra & Donna duet "No More Tears/Enough Is Enough", Though I haven't listened to it in years, I have the 12" record in my Barbra collection....I'm not so sure I believe that Karen's solo was ever planned to be a double album, for a couple of reasons.
1. Double albums are risky propositions at best, and the Carpenters' sales fortunes at that time were not such that the label would have wanted her to do one. (And she was smart enough not to do it, too.)
2. Almost any album has enough tracks recorded for it to make two records out of, if you include everything. Just the number of Carpenters 'leavings' that have been released since Karen's death attest to that.
So while it's entirely possible (and likely!) that enough material was recorded to fill two records, I highly doubt that a double album was ever the plan.
I'm not sure a Karen/Donna duet would have been a good idea. That thing Donna recorded with Barbra Streisand, "Enough is Enough," is one of the worst things ever committed to wax. Although it's likely a Karen/Donna record would have been a ballad, which would have been better.
^^Contrived, or not, I love the song ! Still In Love With You.
Now, take Guess I Just Lost My Head....it bores me to tears !
Unfortunately Make Believe It's Your First Time and If We Try were the two duds of the album.
For me the absolute dud among the set is All Because Of You. What possessed Karen to sign that off for inclusion (hell, even recording!) is beyond me. It has no chorus, no hook, no point and goes nowhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where Herb, Jerry and Richard started to switch off during the playback session. After a respectable - if slightly disco-oriented opener - this just kills the mood off. If there wasn’t a better song to replace it, the next track in should have been If I Had You.
For me the absolute dud among the set is All Because Of You. What possessed Karen to sign that off for inclusion (hell, even recording!) is beyond me. .
When she sings "I keep singin' muh luhhvee sawngs" --I cringe every time.
For me the absolute dud among the set is All Because Of You. What possessed Karen to sign that off for inclusion (hell, even recording!) is beyond me. It has no chorus, no hook, no point and goes nowhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is where Herb, Jerry and Richard started to switch off during the playback session. After a respectable - if slightly disco-oriented opener - this just kills the mood off. If there wasn’t a better song to replace it, the next track in should have been If I Had You.
In fairness to it, it also doesn't conform to many of the criticisms levelled against the solo album - no suggestive lyrics, she's not singing too high, no 'stealing' of the Carpenters sound either.
Not to mention, but it is a very slow song. In fact Make Believe It's Your First Time (which is a very slow dance song) and If We Try are a lot slower and more downbeat than the other tracks on the album and really upset the tempo of the whole album. Had Jimmy Mack, Don't Try To Win Me Back and Keep My Lovelight Burning been included and finished, the album could've been promoted and probably would've been received as a Pop/Dance album.This is a great point. The positioning of "All Because Of You" as the second track on Side One is truly problematic, throwing a damper on the proceedings before it had a chance to grow.
I even appreciate the "startling" effect it has following Lovelines. It's almost as if Karen wanted to say "This is NOT a Carpenters album!"
As I have queried previously, is this the "line-up", the song-sequencing,
that Karen ultimately approved ?
Perhaps, these songs were sequenced based on someone else's opinion....
just wondering aloud.....
Remember When Lovin, Lovelines, and the 2 Javor’s songs I always skip. I would have liked Love Makin Love To You, and Something's Missing in their place. This way, complaints could have been kept to a minimum with lyrics easier to swallow given they accompany such fantastic tunes. The above that I mention that I skip sound like a Loveboat reject concert to me and I feel that there is no one who loves Karen’s voice more than I do, but those 4 songs don’t do any favors. Listening to those 4 once was enough. But, to leave off the two of the best has always puzzled me. Some of the others would have been great but they are recorded extremely too high, It’s Really You, Jimmy Mac, and the others that remain unreleased are so high that it is hard to see that she even tested them. Maybe they just recorded everything they reviewed for further analysis. With all this said, that leaves 10 great songs. Some of those aren’t even in the best keys, but they are not weakened by the chosen keys. Those 10 songs would have not made any waves to Carpenters fans and would have been viewed like Frankie Vallie songs without the Four Seasons, and would have helped their image for it focused on Karen, which should have been done 2 years prior, and they are stylistic different enough while still complimenting the Carpenters selections. It also would have helped in a dimension marketing platform: still romantic songs, just delivered liberated chic style. (Liberated chic does not mean sexy chic, just one in which all women can relate, more of an adult woman like Mary Tyler Moore instead of Charo, an extension that began in Horizon). And then, that new image is reflected on Carpenters styles songs as Something In Your Eyes just around the corner.
These 10 that I suggest focus on the light jazz style that focus on vocal styles and background layers complimentary to contemporary jazz efforts that remain in good taste and showcase all those who contributed.
One funny thing to me: the Please Mr. Postman sounding song is My Body Keeps Changing My Mood with mood and overdubs equal to the main vocal line and with high energy intoxicating to repeat listening.
I know,most won’t agree with me, but just imagine my chosen lineup without knowledge that there are others.