Pure Carpenters Heaven

newvillefan

newvillefan

I Know My First Name Is Stephen
newvillefan said:
There are some gorgeous acoustic multi-tracked guitar parts that are played constantly throughout the track but which are unfortunately too buried to be really appreciated once the song starts to build. I’d love to hear the track stripped back. Overlay the orchestra on top of those guitar parts and it starts to really take shape. The other thing I love about it is the little “pop-pop-pop” sounds that you hear at 1:32, 2:47 and 3:08. Just sublime. Karen’s last, lingering “gone” is absolutely gorgeous, reminiscent of the ending of Two Sides. I have this track on my Spotify “Sleep” playlist and it instantly sends me into a slumber if I’ve had a stressful day. Pure Carpenters heaven.
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I posted the above comment about the song When It’s Gone on the thread about Made In America Official Review and it’s definitely one of my “pure Carpenters heaven” songs.

Out of the entire Carpenters catalogue, what would be yours and why?
 
Can't pick one....choice getting narrower though :)brief reason given.
Solitaire...first song I remember in the 70's.Unworldly.Hearing the quad mix just left me even more in awe.
Ordinary fool...escapism/sublime.My shut myself away from the world track.So different,mellow.
All you get from love is a love song-Joyous,sunny,rhythmic and ironically now the verse lyrics could reflect Karens life.Never seen that mentioned.
Little Altar boy-Seasonal choice.Spine tingling in Karens delivery.Gives me goosebumps
 
I'd go with either "Hurting Each Other" or "Only Yesterday".
 
"When It's Gone" definitely fits that description for me. Long ago and oh so far away I posted here about one of my favorite parts of that song:

"Another short section that I’ve played lots of times can be found near the end of “When It’s Gone (It’s Just Gone)". Around the 4.26 mark, just before the song fades to a close, there are a series of six bell-like notes. I don’t know what instrument is playing them, but they always give me a sense of closure and resolution when I hear them. I don’t have the musical vocabulary to tell you why; I just know I feel that way. And whenever I play that song I typically play that part of it four or five times."

I'm also very fond of "Sandy". The general mood of the song, and those luscious harmonies in the chorus are just magical to me. That tune is certainly "Carpenters heaven" for me. I've played it as much as any of theirs.
 
I agree with you, Newvillefan, I have ALWAYS loved the fade-out of this song...the way the orchestra and the pedal steel guitar sound together is amazing. I've always wished that went on for a while longer.
 
Only YesterdayI think Karen's vocals are fantastic and I can listen to it over and over.
I also love Now again i never get bored of listening and singing along to both(in the privacy of my car, singing is definitely not one of my gifts)!
 
"Heavenly" personifies Karen's vocals. Even to this day, I sense her "spirit" present in the recordings. Hard to narrow one down. What immediately comes to mind is Crescent Noon, for its lyrics centering on the brevity of life and how all things "burn away". Calming, in a way. And the Karen/Richard harmony in the middle is so good it's like they are channeling heaven itself. I also like their recording of Goodnight from their Long Beach State days. Too bad they couldn't have done a studio recording of it, but it's very good nonetheless.
 
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Impossible to choose one song, but Solitaire comes to mind. It’s the song that, after dropping the needle, literally made me drool on the brand new LP upon hearing it for the first time.
 
Mine would be A Song For You with Where Do I Go From Here as a runner up! From This Moment On ties with Sleep Well Little Children, if I had one more vote! I am also glad we have that Japanese Chocolate commercial...From The Heart Comes...
 
CraigGA said:
Mine would be A Song For You with Where Do I Go From Here as a runner up! From This Moment On ties with Sleep Well Little Children, if I had one more vote! I am also glad we have that Japanese Chocolate commercial...From The Heart Comes...
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I'm with you Craig, From This Moment On is one of my favorites. I loved the way Karen sang it on the 1977 Tonight Show episode with Steve Martin. She could turn any vocal effort into absolute loveliness...
 
I’m with Carpe Diem on the bridge of ‘Crescent Noon’. It’s simply magnificent. Another that comes to mind is ‘You’re The One’. Karen takes the listener to the stratosphere on that one. I can’t concentrate on anything else when that song comes on the CD player or on my iPhone. It’s incredible, and it’s like no other performance in her entire career. Totally unique.
 
My top picks are:
You're The One - so personal and she's right in your ear, one of the best examples of Karen's vocal expression, vocal fry at the end always gets me
Solitaire - the chorus toward the end is hypnotic and I wish she went one more time before it ends, wish I knew why she didn't like it.
Look To Your Dreams - a final send off for me, it's like she's telling us there is always a brighter tomorrow, don't lose hope.
I Need To Be In Love - the best live vocal I have ever heard and it's filled with emotion beyond belief, perhaps her finest performance ever.
 
CraigGA said:
I Need To Be In Love has great lyrics, especially the last verse. I wish there was a bridge. The song begs for it.
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“So here I am with pockets full of good intentions”

“There no face in the locket, there no place for the past, I’ll put back in my pocket it was never meant to last it’s just gone”

2 of my favorite lyrics.
 
Whenever Carpenters recorded an uplifting positive song it would slap you in the face and leave you feeling elated, which is why my Carpenters heaven is When You’ve Got What It Takes. Karen delivers her vocal in a punchy optimistic style, the harmonies and overdubs invade your brain almost to overload level, with an arrangement incorporating so many clever different sounds that just blend effortlessly together, and sandwiched in a time limit of 3:41.
 
Following up Stephen's (newvillefan) original post above, I have always loved "When It's Gone" and thought it was one of Karen's best vocals. The interesting thing about this song is that there are no backing vocals, or if there are they are very low in level. Karen's vocal is so perfect for the song as is her interpretation of the lyrics. I don't have just one dream moment, but my favorite Carpenters song is "Goodbye To Love."
 
motownboy said:
Following up Stephen's (newvillefan) original post above, I have always loved "When It's Gone" and thought it was one of Karen's best vocals. The interesting thing about this song is that there are no backing vocals, or if there are they are very low in level. Karen's vocal is so perfect for the song as is her interpretation of the lyrics. I don't have just one dream moment, but my favorite Carpenters song is "Goodbye To Love."
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Was just playing that 45 last night! Not my favorite but it’s up there.
 
motownboy said:
Following up Stephen's (newvillefan) original post above, I have always loved "When It's Gone" and thought it was one of Karen's best vocals. The interesting thing about this song is that there are no backing vocals, or if there are they are very low in level.
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Richard and Karen are there on the backgrounds (oohs) at 1:47 and 3:02.
 
CraigGA said:
I Need To Be In Love has great lyrics, especially the last verse. I wish there was a bridge. The song begs for it.
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Agree with your comments completely. I believe that the lyrics (thank you John Bettis) MAKE this song. Especially;

The way that people come and go through temporary lives
My chance could come and I might never know

I used to say, "No promises, let's keep it simple"
But freedom only helps you say goodbye
It took a while for me to learn that nothin' comes for free
The price I've paid is high enough for me

How did he come up with this?! Inspired brilliance IMHO! Of course, we know that his inspiration was giving Karen a "gift" and I believe he succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.

The "3rd Carpenter", John Bettis, sat down and sweated the details on this one. Really, an incredible lyricist and his body of work shows it.
 
Carpe diem said:
Agree with your comments completely. I believe that the lyrics (thank you John Bettis) MAKE this song. Especially;

The way that people come and go through temporary lives
My chance could come and I might never know

I used to say, "No promises, let's keep it simple"
But freedom only helps you say goodbye
It took a while for me to learn that nothin' comes for free
The price I've paid is high enough for me

How did he come up with this?! Inspired brilliance IMHO! Of course, we know that his inspiration was giving Karen a "gift" and I believe he succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.

The "3rd Carpenter", John Bettis, sat down and sweated the details on this one. Really, an incredible lyricist and his body of work shows it.
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He and Hammond also wrote Whitney Houston’s One Moment In Time. They both have a similar feel about them, as they both discover the meaning of the song’s choice of words in a similar subjective dialog supported with beautiful music.
 
CraigGA said:
He and Hammond also wrote Whitney Houston’s One Moment In Time. They both have a similar feel about them, as they both discover the meaning of the song’s choice of words in a similar subjective dialog supported with beautiful music.
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Thank you for bringing up Albert Hammond, I had forgotten that he collaborated on the song also. I went back and took another look at the Japanese documentary "I Need To Be In Love". I was hoping to glean some information on who was responsible for what. Based on the interviews with Hammond and Bettis, I got the impression that Hammond was responsible for the song title and the intro (as fleshed-out on his guitar) and Bettis specifically brought up that he had written the Pockets full of good intentions... lyric. I would assume that Bettis probably wrote the main lyrics to the song. But there could have been a give-and-take between Hammond/Bettis.
 
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