Rick-An Ordinary Fool
Well-Known Member
I'd like to hear from fellow Carpenters fans if they feel different today verses when they first discovered the Carpenters music. Do you feel better about the Carpenters music today or do you feel like too much information has led you to feel differently about their music?
It seems like in the past 10-15 years we have seen so many documentaries, read so many books, watched so many shows on tv about the Carpenters. We have been inundated with material about the life of Karen and Richard from their professional career to so much personal behind the scenes. We are all interested about our favorite group, who wouldn't be but do you feel too much information has influenced how you feel when you listen to their music today?
This forum is such an excellent tool for just about everything in the Carpenters catalog and we have uncovered some terrific topics that at times has led to new discoveries. Yet when I read a lot of the posts here I get the feeling that because of all the back history of their lives (mostly due to what happen to Karen) does what we know now....affect how we feel when we stop to listen to their music.
I can still remember the time when I was a teenager (no internet) and I would come home from school or get a last minute listen before having to go to bed at 9:00 and sit in my plush bean bag chair, pull out a Carpenters album with my headphones on and just become immersed in the music. I would hold the record album keep turning it from front to back as I listened to the tracks and Karen's voice would sing to my soul. I wasn't thinking about her illness (of course I didn't know then) I wasn't thinking about her solo album of which never would be released, I wasn't thinking about why she stopped playing drums and I wasn't thinking about the problems Richard faced with drugs or Karen's weight issues.
I just listened to the music without any association with the tragedy in their personal lives.
So all this to say...do you feel differently listening to their music today then when you listened when you first discovered the Carpenters? Has it changed how you feel about their music for the better or just the opposite?
It seems like in the past 10-15 years we have seen so many documentaries, read so many books, watched so many shows on tv about the Carpenters. We have been inundated with material about the life of Karen and Richard from their professional career to so much personal behind the scenes. We are all interested about our favorite group, who wouldn't be but do you feel too much information has influenced how you feel when you listen to their music today?
This forum is such an excellent tool for just about everything in the Carpenters catalog and we have uncovered some terrific topics that at times has led to new discoveries. Yet when I read a lot of the posts here I get the feeling that because of all the back history of their lives (mostly due to what happen to Karen) does what we know now....affect how we feel when we stop to listen to their music.
I can still remember the time when I was a teenager (no internet) and I would come home from school or get a last minute listen before having to go to bed at 9:00 and sit in my plush bean bag chair, pull out a Carpenters album with my headphones on and just become immersed in the music. I would hold the record album keep turning it from front to back as I listened to the tracks and Karen's voice would sing to my soul. I wasn't thinking about her illness (of course I didn't know then) I wasn't thinking about her solo album of which never would be released, I wasn't thinking about why she stopped playing drums and I wasn't thinking about the problems Richard faced with drugs or Karen's weight issues.
I just listened to the music without any association with the tragedy in their personal lives.
So all this to say...do you feel differently listening to their music today then when you listened when you first discovered the Carpenters? Has it changed how you feel about their music for the better or just the opposite?