"Close To You" album # 175 in "Rolling Stone

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AM Matt

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In the Rolling Stone magazine from December 11, the magazine picked out The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. At # 175, it was "Close To You". In the notes, Karen Carpenter sang and drummed, her brother Richard arranged their lushly melodic music. Both contributed to their thoroughly wholesome image. "It's like we're Pat Boone, only a little clearer," Richard lamented to ROLLING STONE in 1974. "As if all we do all day is drink milk, eat apple pie and take showers. I don't even like milk." Close To You, their second album, has two of their best ballads: "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and "We've Only Just Begun." In the early Seventies, the Carpenters epitomized the mainstream, but now their influence is audible in cooler, slightly less-clean indie bands: the Cardigans, (who hat a song called "Lovefool" in 1996) Stereolab and "chamber pop" acts such as Belle and Sebastian. The album sold 2 million. The album peaked at # 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts. Matthew Clark Sanford, Michigan
 
Not to digress from the Carpenters, but, while you mentioned it, did anybody else think that the recent Rolling Stone "500 Greatest Albums" list was pathetic? Granted, it was pretty impressive that "Close to You" made the list (how often do you see the Carpenters name-dropped in Rolling Stone these days?), but I found only 150 albums (at most!) on that list that I thought genuinely belonged on that list. And a lot of albums were really oddly ranked. Didn't "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" just barely miss the Top Ten on that list? I've tried listening to it again and again; I can't find a single thing to like about that album. I've never understood the hype behind that album. Even the worst of Paul's solo albums (like, "Wild Life") seems great to me in comparison. (But, then, I also fail to understand why "Exile on Main Street" (which made the list's top ten) continues to be tagged the Stones' best album; I don't think there's anything redeeming about that album beyond "Tumbling Dice".)

Getting back to the Carpenters, though, out of curiosity, if you could only put only one Carpenters album on that Rolling Stone list, would "Close to You" have been it? Which would you go with?
 
I think that "A Song For You" is the best Carpenters of all time. I think that "Horizon" is second, "Close To You" third! Paul McCartney & Wings "Red Rose Speedway" is the worst. Matthew Clark Sanford, Michigan
 
If you look at the panel that voted on the albums, it may help understand why the votes were so weird. (Wasn't Britney Spears one of the panelists?) I could nitpick that list to pieces, but it's not worth the bother.

For the Stones, I'd probably earmark Let It Bleed or Beggar's Banquet as one of their top albums, while Exile would be a couple steps down the ladder. And to me, Synchronicity was the pinnacle of The Police recordings (and Sting's for that matter), with Ghost a close second. Some deserving albums are buried or non-existent on the chart; others just seem to squeak in on a popularity vote. Almost reminds me of the Grammy awards lately. :rolleyes:
 
Wow, some really good music taste on this thread!
I, too, would probably have to put "Horizon" and "A Song for You" in my Top Three fave Carpenters album list (I'd probably opt for "Carpenters" over "Close to You" for my third, though).
And, you're right, "Red Rose Speedway," when I think about it, IS probably the worst McCartney solo LP. Aside from the possible exception of "My Love," the album's a complete waste of vinyl. That album has some of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life. Love McCartney, but I can't defend that one.
I, too, would have to go with "Let It Bleed" or "Beggar's Banquet" as the Stones' best. Usually, I don't enjoy the non-singles on Stones albums all that much, but those two albums are big exceptions.
And I agree with you about the Police rankings on the list; I was stunned that "Synchronicity" didn't place the highest. I agree that was definitely their peak. (OK, I can't defend "Mother," but the rest of that album is dynamite. :tongue: )
 
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