Comparing Carpenters’ Versions With Other Versions

[Geographer]

I've heard the Righteous Brothers' version before but giving it another listen, it's OK, albeit less upbeat than the Carpenters' version (which otherwise follows its arrangement fairly closely).

It does fall in with the general trend from 1975 for their versions to be based quite closely on the arrangements in the demo or original recorded version ('There's a Kind of Hush', 'Calling Occupants', 'Breaking Up is Hard to Do', 'Man Smart Woman Smarter', 'Touch Me When We're Dancing', 'Bwana She No Home', 'Back in My Life Again', etc). I'm struggling to think of any examples of post-1975 covers where they came up with a new arrangement in the way that they did for tracks like 'Hurting Each Other', 'Ticket to Ride', 'Close to You' and 'Superstar' in their earlier career.

You are correct in this. And, in my opinion, a HUGE part of their appeal was Richard's ability to take a song and give it his own signature arrangement rather than relying on the demo arrangement or the originally recorded version as you pointed out. Once Richard stopped doing his own unique "take" on the songs, their appeal started to decline. This underscore's Richard's contribution to their success. It wasn't "just" Karen's voice (albeit that was primary), but her "voice" coupled with Richard's arrangements are what really made the magic.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

You are correct in this. And, in my opinion, a HUGE part of their appeal was Richard's ability to take a song and give it his own signature arrangement rather than relying on the demo arrangement or the originally recorded version as you pointed out. Once Richard stopped doing his own unique "take" on the songs, their appeal started to decline. This underscore's Richard's contribution to their success. It wasn't "just" Karen's voice (albeit that was primary), but her "voice" coupled with Richard's arrangements are what really made the magic.

Karen's voice is what we cared about most. It was the calling card that got Richard's arrangements over. I don't mean to be contrarian, I promise, but were it not for Karen's voice, Richard simply wouldn't have had a career in Pop music. His style of music-making has never been particularly Pop-friendly and it was never "cool". His style of production has generally been to over-produce. Nearly everything has an orchestration whether it's needed or not. He's felt the need to emphasize himself at every turn (and even more so as time went on) whereas Karen was noticed effortlessly because she was in possession of the single greatest female pop voice in history. Her voice sat center stage in his arrangements and ultimately made them work that context. On almost all of "Made in America", those arrangements became dense and the tunes were weak. Even worse, Richard forgot what made the whole thing work and he tried to submerge Karen's voice beneath his production. As a result, the record bombed. We simply weren't interested.

Ed

 

[Another Son]

I have always seen Karen and Richard as a fully effective partnership of two people contributing equally to bring about an out-of-this-world outcome. The talents of one complimented those of the other perfectly. Both had wonderful abilities in their own areas of specialty.

With well over 120 recordings, it would be unlikely that both Karen and Richard could get everything exactly right in every example or could please the ear of every one of us all of the time.

Personally, I have a great affinity with many of Richard's arrangements. A phrase from an oboe, a passage of flute or a run on the piano can touch me deep inside. I can't think of anyone else in popular music who had the same stamp on the sounds coming out of the speakers. What attracted me to the sound of Carpenters was not just Karen's voice but largely the incredible harmonies; the choral sound that was Richard's vision, as well as his complex arrangements that were almost more orchestral than pop-music based. And these hypnotising Carpenters trademarks were not his only contributions.

Karen, unavoidably, was not able to always sound totally appealing. On many recordings, her voice was magical but on others, she wasn't able to make the same connections with the listener, I would suggest. Some have recently mentioned the more nasal vocal sounds on some recordings, where she almost sounds as if she had a cold, the weak vocal tones on some of the later recordings, the strained efforts at some of the higher notes, towards the end of her life. She indeed had a wonderful voice, but it would be impossible for her to perform perfectly in every case.

I have sometimes thought about the claims that Richard essentially engineered the sound of Carpenters and the suggestion that he, not Jack Daugherty, really produced their recordings from the earliest years, a claim that was supported by some of those closest, such as band members, (from memory). I have wondered how Richard could step into a studio at the age of 23 and immediately know how to get that sound, but the evidence is there in the recordings made before Karen and Richard ever got their contract at A&M. Even when Karen was 16 and Richard was writing and arranging for her at 19, the famous Carpenters sound was already there - in fact, it was there when Spectrum recording in the Carpenters' bathroom well before the Joe Osborne era - plus Richard had all that time being shown the ropes by Joe in the garage studio - so I think it is quite likely that Richard really was the true producer.

I have often said that if the 'Karen Carpenter' album had been the only exposure we ever got to Karen's voice, I wouldn't have been a fan. I know this comment points to my personal taste, rather than the opinion of everybody, but, to me, this demonstrates just how greatly Richard was responsible for getting the best out of Karen. And that marvellous Karen sound did return once she returned to Richard, as producer. Think of her glorious tones on 'Because We Are in Love', 'At the End of a Song', 'Somebody's Been Lying', etc. etc.

I would never put one sibling above the other. Lets face it, history and reality brought us Carpenters. It's impossible to imagine what might have been if either Karen or Richard wasn't in the mix. Lets just all thank our luck that Carpenters did exist and that both Karen and Richard were able to bring their incredible talents to the act.

 

[Rumbahbah]

You are correct in this. And, in my opinion, a HUGE part of their appeal was Richard's ability to take a song and give it his own signature arrangement rather than relying on the demo arrangement or the originally recorded version as you pointed out. Once Richard stopped doing his own unique "take" on the songs, their appeal started to decline. This underscore's Richard's contribution to their success. It wasn't "just" Karen's voice (albeit that was primary), but her "voice" coupled with Richard's arrangements are what really made the magic.

I'd definitely agree that Richard's ability to arrange songs was a key strength in their early career. Even though the originals of many of these songs weren't well known to the public, when you compare the Carpenters' versions to the original versions, you can see the often huge difference in approach. Even when it didn't always succeed (like on 'Help!' and 'Walk on By' in the Bacharach medley), the creativity was clear to see.

I'd always assumed that Richard's personal problems were the chief reason why this stopped happening from 1975 onwards. Plus, as he's noted before in interviews, by 1975 he wasn't finding so many potential songs to work with as he had in their early days. However, what is strange is that for the tracks recorded for Made in America, the arrangements again all follow the demos/previously recorded versions, so even when he was back to firing on all cylinders creatively, that arranging skill seemed to have been forgotten. What started happening instead was these songs had the 'Carpenter template' applied to them, which meant the use of trademark sounds like the oboe and Tony Peluso's guitar on the instrumental break, which started sounding a bit lazy and often didn't work on the song in question.

This change was certainly a factor in their declining fortunes in the late 1970s, but was one of a number of things working against them. Really one of the chief problems was often the song selection - three oldies in 1976 ('There's a Kind of Hush', 'Goofus' and 'Breaking Up is Hard to Do'), for instance, the first two not strong enough songs to start with for them to have picked and 'Breaking Up' that they were able to add very little to and so ended up with a ersatz clone of the Neil Sedaka original.

Granted, with 'Breaking Up', they could have done it as the ballad version, but even if Richard had been able to do more with the arrangements on these songs, it would have been a case of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - the songs themselves were the wrong choices to start with. And this happened too often from A Kind of Hush onwards - particularly on Made in America, where most of the outtakes were better than what ended up on the released album.

 

[chuckbo]

I've heard the Righteous Brothers' version before but giving it another listen, it's OK, albeit less upbeat than the Carpenters' version (which otherwise follows its arrangement fairly closely).

It does fall in with the general trend from 1975 for their versions to be based quite closely on the arrangements in the demo or original recorded version ('There's a Kind of Hush', 'Calling Occupants', 'Breaking Up is Hard to Do', 'Man Smart Woman Smarter', 'Touch Me When We're Dancing', 'Bwana She No Home', 'Back in My Life Again', etc). I'm struggling to think of any examples of post-1975 covers where they came up with a new arrangement in the way that they did for tracks like 'Hurting Each Other', 'Ticket to Ride', 'Close to You' and 'Superstar' in their earlier career.

I remember when I got the Kind of Hush tape (from Columbia House) -- I didn't have a turntable yet. I was excited to see Breaking Up is Hard to Do listed on the package. Sadaka's ballad version had ben playing on the radio, and I liked it and had the piano music for it, and I was all ready to hear the Carpenter arrangement of that version. And I was so disappointed to get the bouncy pop song.

 

[Another Son]

Here’s Klaatu’s single edit of ‘Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft’.

Good that Karen and Richard edited theirs differently. We get to hear Karen singing a final verse just before the guitar solo, whereas Klaatu don’t include that verse or the instrumental break.

Carpenters also sing more directly to the listener - ‘Please close your eyes and concentrate with every thought you think’ - which probably made a stronger connection with kids - I bet a lot of early teens did just that, (as I did at the time. ).

When I first heard Klatuu’s album version years ago, I was struck with just how similar Richard’s arrangement was on the full-length version, although there are some definite differences and embellishments in what the instruments of the orchestra play, as compared with the Klatuu version - although Peter Knight did the orchestration.

Klaatu’s version sounds like what any budding musician could do in their bedroom these days. The guy singing sounds like the average guy next door having a go at singing in the garden, or something - doesn’t sound like a professional singer, at all. Funny to think that their version neared the Top 60 on the US charts, although it was a very interesting and different song for its time. It was a jump up having artists of the caliber of Karen and Richard interpreting their song - especially Karen as vocalist.

I remember the excitement of ‘Calling Occupants’ in the Top 5 in my early teens.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Here’s Klaatu’s single edit of ‘Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft’.

Good that Karen and Richard edited theirs differently. We get to hear Karen singing a final verse just before the guitar solo, whereas Klaatu don’t include that verse or the instrumental break.

Carpenters also sing more directly to the listener - ‘Please close your eyes and concentrate with every thought you think’ - which probably made a stronger connection with kids - I bet a lot of early teens did just that, (as I did at the time. ).

When I first heard Klatuu’s album version years ago, I was struck with just how similar Richard’s arrangement was on the full-length version, although there are some definite differences and embellishments in what the instruments of the orchestra play, as compared with the Klatuu version - although Peter Knight did the orchestration.

Klaatu’s version sounds like what any budding musician could do in their bedroom these days. The guy singing sounds like the average guy next door having a go at singing in the garden, or something - doesn’t sound like a professional singer, at all. Funny to think that their version neared the Top 60 on the US charts, although it was a very interesting and different song for its time. It was a jump up having artists of the caliber of Karen and Richard interpreting their song - especially Karen as vocalist.

I remember the excitement of ‘Calling Occupants’ in the Top 5 in my early teens.

No bedroom musician is doing this Klatuu production. It's way too involved. Singing proficiency isn't the point of this tune. It's very lyrically-driven and this is all about mood. I think their original take is interesting. Carpenters' take on this is far more over-the-top. It's a gigantic production and it's a real marvel. The main draw to Carpenters' version is the fact that they chose to do it at all. Totally a left-field choice. I don't believe for two seconds that Karen's trying to reach out to an alien. She's singing far too sweetly for that. The tune peaked at #32 on the charts so there wasn't that much of any demographic listening to it or them by that point - certainly not early teens. Due to how many times this tune and others appear on their compilations, it's easy to forget that it really wasn't that much of a hit. They were uncool and had become unsuccessful and with the minor exception of "Touch Me...", their audience never really came back.

Ed

 

[tomswift2002]

No bedroom musician is doing this Klatuu production. It's way too involved. Singing proficiency isn't the point of this tune. It's very lyrically-driven and this is all about mood. I think their original take is interesting. Carpenters' take on this is far more over-the-top. It's a gigantic production and it's a real marvel. The main draw to Carpenters' version is the fact that they chose to do it at all. Totally a left-field choice. I don't believe for two seconds that Karen's trying to reach out to an alien. She's singing far too sweetly for that. The tune peaked at #32 on the charts so there wasn't that much of any demographic listening to it or them by that point - certainly not early teens. Due to how many times this tune and others appear on their compilations, it's easy to forget that it really wasn't that much of a hit. They were uncool and had become unsuccessful and with the minor exception of "Touch Me...", their audience never really came back.

Ed

Well in Canada it did hit #9, so teens in Canada (plus those in the border states) were listening to it, as well as teens in Ireland where it hit #1.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I think their original take is interesting. Carpenters' take on this is far more over-the-top. It's a gigantic production and it's a real marvel. The main draw to Carpenters' version is the fact that they chose to do it at all. Totally a left-field choice. I don't believe for two seconds that Karen's trying to reach out to an alien. She's singing far too sweetly for that.
Ed

I always felt that Karen had made contact with the alien. In fact what I heard was that the alien was so taken by Karen’s voice and sweet friendly personality that he attempted to start collecting all their albums. But the alien was teased and made fun by his alien friends because he liked the “Carpenters“ that his collecting fell short. “Oh you like the CarpenterS?” They teased him. That alien always knew they’d be “friends” in music.

 

[AM Matt]

Klaatu version went to # 62 (Hot 100) in April of 1977.

 

[Tom_P]

Well in Canada it did hit #9, so teens in Canada (plus those in the border states) were listening to it, as well as teens in Ireland where it hit #1.

#9 in the UK too.

 

[tomswift2002]

Even all these years later the Carpenters Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft seems to be a hit with teenagers. I didn't see the movie in theaters, but from what I've read the Carpenters version of Calling Occupants was used in the train scene of the X-Men movie The Wolverine, as Wolverine was battling on top of the train, and there was that young woman listening to the song. On the Region A Blu-Ray and home video releases, the song has been replaced with another artists version (KLAATU?).

 

[Another Son]

I didn't see the movie in theaters, but from what I've read the Carpenters version of Calling Occupants was used in the train scene of the X-Men movie The Wolverine, as Wolverine was battling on top of the train, and there was that young woman listening to the song. On the Region A Blu-Ray and home video releases, the song has been replaced with another artists version (KLAATU?).

Happened also with Carpenters' 'We've Only Just Begun" in 'Muriel's Wedding' in Australian theatres but, apparently, not in theatres overseas or on DVDs.

 

[newvillefan]

It does fall in with the general trend from 1975 for their versions to be based quite closely on the arrangements in the demo or original recorded version

That’s an understatement!

 

[Must Hear This Album]

Just found this episode of Behind The Vinyl, where Terry Draper / Klaatu discusses their original (and terrific) version of "Occupants." As well he should have, Draper mentions Carpenters' version (at 3:36). These BTV segments are hit-and-miss, in terms of engaging narratives, with some musicians being better at discussing their hit records than others, and this one kind of loses momentum at the end, but the song remains an interesting component of Carpenters singles history and seems to well-fit this thread.

 

[newvillefan]

There’s something in me that would have loved to hear Karen sing that Paul Simon lyric as it was originally written...

Four in the morning
Crapped out, yawning
Longing my life away...

...and my ears have imagined it many times.

 

[Lynda]

Turns out that was a stroke of genius by Richard as "be with" and "sleep with" in the context of the lyrics means exactly the same thing. But not offensive to the Top 40 radio audience of 1971. As I recall, Bonnie Bramlett who allegedly wrote the lyrics didn't like that the Carpenters had changed it. What a change in just a few short years you would have More, More, More; Afternoon Delight, and Love To Love You Baby. Also, Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye (1973). All big hits.

The change from "sleep with" to "be with" is brilliant. "Be with" is ambiguous and allows much more room for the imagination. It is of course a lot less crass as well. Adds a bit of refinement, which I personally appreciate.

 

[Another Son]

Turns out that was a stroke of genius by Richard as "be with" and "sleep with" in the context of the lyrics means exactly the same thing. But not offensive to the Top 40 radio audience of 1971. As I recall, Bonnie Bramlett who allegedly wrote the lyrics didn't like that the Carpenters had changed it. What a change in just a few short years you would have More, More, More; Afternoon Delight, and Love To Love You Baby. Also, Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye (1973). All big hits.

It had been done before, Carpe diem. Colleen Hewett’s version also used ‘be with you’ instead of ‘sleep with you’ and hit the Australian charts a few months before Carpenters’ version of ‘Superstar’ was released in the USA.