In the past few months, given what’s been going on around the world, I’ve had quite a bit of spare time outside of my job to reflect on things and it’s regularly taken me back to memories of my childhood and teenage years. I’ve been on a bit of a nostalgia trip recently, hankering after things I had when I was a kid and I started looking on eBay and the like for items that I owned when I was young. Three weeks ago I spotted a mint condition Aiwa hifi system for sale that was identical to the one I owned when I was 18. I bid on it - and won. It felt like buying back my childhood. Last night I set it up. This is the first time I’ve owned a turntable in around 30 years and tonight I pulled out a few vinyl Carpenters albums I’ve picked up in the last 20 years (but never played). At the time I bought these, I carefully went for mint condition copies and to my delight, it was more than worth it. Almost no pops, no crackles - including an original, immaculate copy of Offering.
The first one I put on though is the first Carpenters album I ever heard when I was 16...A Song For You. I’ve told this story before but I first discovered this album one evening when I was babysitting my neighbour’s son. Up to that point, the only song I knew was “Only Yesterday”, which I’d heard on the radio some weeks before as part of the promotion for the 1990 “Only Yesterday” compilation. My neighbour kindly told me she had a couple of their albums amongst her collection and to have a listen if I wanted to. One LP in particular caught my eye, one with an all-red cover and a white heart in the centre. I turned it over and stared at the back cover, which contained no less than 13 tracks. Now here, was an entire album I’d never heard. I put it on and from the minute the needle hit the vinyl, I was mesmerised. That’s the album I’m listening to tonight, and it sounds better than ever. The one thing I’ve really noticed is that these LPs - when played on a really good sound system - sound infinitely better than any online downloads. It’s only now that I realise how tinny and weak these albums sound on online steaming sites such as Spotify, even when played through a decent sound system. Karen sounds way better on vinyl.
One side observation: I gave one LP a spin that I just had to revisit (and which used to be my favourite): Made In America. After hearing it on vinyl again for the first time in 20 years, the thing that really struck me is the juxtaposition between the closing tracks on side A and B. “Because We Are In Love” was Karen’s wedding song, but within a short time, the song “Somebody’s Been Lying” became a much more fitting summary of the last two years of Karen’s life.
Anyway, that’s a very long-winded way of asking: have you listened to Carpenters more than usual in the past few months and what has the music meant to you?
The first one I put on though is the first Carpenters album I ever heard when I was 16...A Song For You. I’ve told this story before but I first discovered this album one evening when I was babysitting my neighbour’s son. Up to that point, the only song I knew was “Only Yesterday”, which I’d heard on the radio some weeks before as part of the promotion for the 1990 “Only Yesterday” compilation. My neighbour kindly told me she had a couple of their albums amongst her collection and to have a listen if I wanted to. One LP in particular caught my eye, one with an all-red cover and a white heart in the centre. I turned it over and stared at the back cover, which contained no less than 13 tracks. Now here, was an entire album I’d never heard. I put it on and from the minute the needle hit the vinyl, I was mesmerised. That’s the album I’m listening to tonight, and it sounds better than ever. The one thing I’ve really noticed is that these LPs - when played on a really good sound system - sound infinitely better than any online downloads. It’s only now that I realise how tinny and weak these albums sound on online steaming sites such as Spotify, even when played through a decent sound system. Karen sounds way better on vinyl.
One side observation: I gave one LP a spin that I just had to revisit (and which used to be my favourite): Made In America. After hearing it on vinyl again for the first time in 20 years, the thing that really struck me is the juxtaposition between the closing tracks on side A and B. “Because We Are In Love” was Karen’s wedding song, but within a short time, the song “Somebody’s Been Lying” became a much more fitting summary of the last two years of Karen’s life.
Anyway, that’s a very long-winded way of asking: have you listened to Carpenters more than usual in the past few months and what has the music meant to you?
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Although, being a vinyl addict myself, it's hard for me to imagine not playing one of my vinyl records for multiple decades (embracing the convenience of CDs and digital files at the same time, mind you). I even find it a bit of a shame living without being able to play my acoustic 78s after the springmotor of my gramophone broke. These just sound better with a steel needle, I think. But luckily, enough of other ways to play music and other era's to immerse myself into.
