Disco.....The Hustle/Boogie nights medley.

[Another Son]

how could he possibly record Strength of a Woman? Strength of a Woman! AKA: "If You Love Me, You'll Put Up with My Adultery"! Sorry. I don't understand that.

Although I was right into 'Made In America', as a teenager, when it was released, I didn't think that including 'Strength of a Woman' seemed like a genuine move. The message in the song that someone would put up with their partner playing the field and would then love them all the more seemed like an obvious grab at trying to appear less conservative, rather than something that The Carpenters would believe in, (from what I knew of them). The message in that song somehow bothers me more now than it did then.

I got the same impression from the explicit messages behind a number of Karen's solo songs. From what I know of her, that's not a lifestyle that she was honestly into. Therefore, to me, she doesn't come across as genuine. But this has all been argued before on this site.

I think a lot of Karen's background vocals on her solo album sound great. However, most of the lead vocals lack something, In my opinion. She actually sounds like somebody who is not well enough to put the energy needed into her performance.

 

[New Horizons.]

Random post related musings....My thoughts I guess are that Strength of a woman sounded like a Bee gees type written song at the time with the ahhs and ooohs(obviously I now know different) and lyrically the story is similar to The Uninvited guest(could write a musical over that theme).As to Karen and disco etc I play My body keeps changing my mind daily.A good wake up,sunny day feel good song.UK radio has a lot of disco played regularly.Only yesterday(;-0) on Johnny Walkers bbc radio 2 did he play the hustle by Van Mccoy.The shuffle a few weeks ago.I think of solo Karen from the Bruce Forsyth show to the Olivia special where Karen has the Music,music,music waistcoat outfit on.I love the fact she is smiling,dancing and seems very happy.Boogie nights anytime.

 

[WYBIMLA]

If he found My Body Keeps Changing..., Making Love in the Afternoon, and Remember When Loving Took All Night morally troubling, how could he possibly record Strength of a Woman? Strength of a Woman! AKA: "If You Love Me, You'll Put Up with My Adultery"! Sorry. I don't understand that.

I never thought of it that way!
By it's nature, Disco tells the opposite side of the story.
The true Strength of a Woman would be to say, "there's the door."

I thought of "Strength" more for it's sonic texture than what it was saying.

Sort of the same way when I listen to "The hut sut song" by the Merry Macs--obscure example I know.
The lyrics are total nonsense, but I don't play it for any meaning other than for the feel of it.

I like what Karen was doing in the verses... It's a fairly strong opening on her part.
In my mind I guess I thought she was singing it more ironically than literally.

 

[Another Son]

Karen's vocal on 'Boogie Nights' sounds too processed and homogenised to show the true qualities of her voice. You don't get a hint of her talent on this recording. The arrangement also lacks the funk of Heatwave's original. The recording sounds like what it was - a throwaway reproduction of a then-current hit to provide filler for the TV programme. Seeing as Carpenters didn't need filler, though, with their plethora of hits, I imagine that someone on the production team for the show decided that they needed a dance sequence and then an uptempo song had to be recorded, to suit. With no recent big hits in the USA, it was also probably thought of as advisable to borrow somebody else's hit, with the aim to lift the programme with something current. Carpenters' version of 'Boogie Nights' ends up sounding characterless. As you can tell, it's close to my least favourite Carpenters recording.

 

[jaredjohnfisher]

The Space Encounters disco clip was a low point for the Carpenters. Karen's voice was at its best when sustaining notes (and hitting warm, lovely low notes). Even in this clip, "I Could Have Danced All Night" is far better suited to her voice than "Boogie Nights", in my opinion.

 

[tomswift2002]

It's quite a catchy recording.

 

[Mark-T]

I like when she sings "...cause Boogie nights are always the best in town" on the lower end of the scale.