Choir! When does it work and not work.

[ullalume]

Well I thought I'd take a moment to state which songs I think the choir works on and which ones it doesn't. Be interesting to see what others think.

Can you tell I'm bored at work.

GOOD CHOIR
I need to be in Love
Christmas songs
Because We are in Love
Honolulu City Lights
I just Fall in Love Again
Calling Occupants

O.K. CHOIR
Look to your Dreams
Rainbow Connection
The Uninvited guest

BAD CHOIR
Make Believe It's your First Time
Two Lives
You're Enough
At the End of a Song
Now

Please note, not an indictment of the song, vocal, arrangement, orchestration , mix, not even saying that the choir sounds bad, it's just not the carpenters

 

[newvillefan]

Interesting to note that your bad choir songs are all from Voice Of The Heart.


I think that Richard did go overboard with the OK Chorale on this album, if only to compensate for the fact that, all of a sudden, Karen was no longer around to pitch in!

Stephen

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

It's hard for me to say at this point what VOTH would have sounded like without the choir, for me I have grown to love the choir on this album, it's one of my most loved albums, it has so much meaning to me personally that I feel closer to Karen whenever I play it. I feel the choir adds to the closeness I feel. So I am with Richard on this one, if this is what he wanted to convey to the listener by bringing the choir in more on this album than I'm ok with it.

I will add that Make Believe version I feel didn't need it. Karen's solo album with Make Believe is one of the most beautiful tracks Karen has sung, so intimate that I get goosebumps every time.

 

[andywithaz]

I don't like the choir except on the Christmas songs. I do agree that Richard went overboard on VOTH but it is still a great album.

 

[Murray]

I don't mind the choir on VOTH, with the exception of "Make Believe It's Your First Time", where it ruins the intimate mood of the song. The solo recording of that song is far superior IMHO.

 

[Jeff]

The O.K. Chorale, While nice for Christmas, is a stark reminder that Karen is absent from the recording sessions. Because of this, I generally avoid most tracks on VOTH. Instead, I like the old standard over-dub technique. Richard can do this flawlessly. He showed that on TIME. Why again he used a choir/elevator group on PIANIST, ARRANGER...I don't know. Why he rehashed several hits into that format is beyond me. CarpenterS were up against the squeeky, syrupy, elavator thing before. Seems Rich would try to do damage control. In any event, I'll take ONLY YESTERDAY over the "choir" thing anyday.

Jeff