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Richard writes: "Karen asked John and I to write a cross between a standard and a show tune."
That song was requested 1974.
I think Look To Your Dreams is an incredible song for its time (1974).
The vocals by Karen, early 1978, are simply gorgeous.
Richard was such a throwback to those days in many ways, that I'm sure he intentionally wanted to structure "Look To Your Dreams" that way. So the old-fashioned lyrics from John Bettis fit perfectly there.
Karen just sings it so fluidly and gives feeling to those lines and binds them.
Her voice has no apologies to make at all. She sounds great on it.
Congratulations to them for trying something different.
Look To Your Dreams for me is a song of hope and promise in a world filled with despair. The opening lines are brilliant, Karen sends us off with a very special message to remember.....It's one of my top Carpenters song.
Very timely and timeless lyrics..
"It's asking for trouble just watching the 6 o'clock news..."
yes indeed
Jesus, there has never been a more timely line in 1978 pop for 2019.
I just heard both versions of Make Believe back to back for the first time in a while, and again, I’m certainly in a small minority that largely prefers the C’s version! Something about Karen’s vocal on the solo cut sounds affected. Not just that it’s breathy but how she uses it to phrase words without much strength.
I prefer the album cut too. I love the background instrumentation in the choruses. I’d love to know Karen’s reaction when Richard proposed they re-record it.
This is a fond farewell from a great singer who will be long appreciated for her inspirational and strong love for the music she sang.
I’ve read this review before and this line always chokes me up. You can’t help wondering what Karen would have thought reading this touching tribute to her talent. It’s such a shame that they only achieved lasting recognition after her death and that she missed out on enjoying the accolades.
I’m hooked from the early (electric?) flute and keyboard wrapping around her voice. So warm and wistful. I get the hate for the choir and the song would benefit without it, but it never takes me out of the song. Her richer vocal holds me enough that the flaws don’t bother me. She’s trying to sound too much like Olivia on the solo version. She didn’t need to be a lesser-tiered vocalist (I mean, come on it’s true). She just needed to be Karen.
Karen is singing higher, but not uncomfortably. How she holds the note at the end, on "mine" is really beautiful. I like both versions, in the Carpenters version, the bridge is beautiful. The solo version, I really think she sounds exactly the way she should for that production. It's beautiful in the simplicity of the production. (OMG, I used the word beautiful-now four times in this post!) It's actually one of my favorite KC vocals. I really can't imagine Olivia's voice on this song, this is Karen doing Karen, IMO.
It’s higher without much resonance, though. For instance that “mine” is held well but it still sounds too airy and thin, like her breath control is about to give out on her shortly. It’s the way she uses her voice that sounds like she’s imitating ONJ. I’m not saying that only Richard out of everyone on earth would know how to utilize her voice, but she wasn’t finding a new facet of strength with people like Phil Ramone and Bob James. She would have found other solo arrangers/producers who could have her try something different from the C’s but still draw out the singular qualities of her voice.
I couldn’t disagree more! That last note is PROOF of Karen’s amazing breath control. She’s singing that way by choice and it works beautifully.