"Hurting Each Other" single review

[ScottyB]

This one single is one of my all-time favorites. I think this single was one of the fastest worn out records in our family. My brothers, my sisters and myself knew this song inside and out. There were 5 of us growing up. 3 boys, 2 girls. We learned as much as the vocal parts that we could and would often sing it together. We had a blast with this song. Listening to it today, I often wonder what made this song so special when there were so many others out there. But, nevertheless, I am grateful for the wonderful memories that this song has given me.
Also, I forgot to mention, its B-side "Maybe It's You", my first exposure to this song, played almost as often as "Hurting..." Both songs part of my Top 20 favorite Carpenters' songs.

 

[GaryAlan]

This song, as with many of the earlier offerings, has an interesting, powerful, arrangement.
Weaving--as it does in the arrangement--between understated wistfulness and powerful explosiveness.
This, it achieves in the vocals, also.
Karen, beginning the song in a cold, stark manner ("No one in the world ever had a love...")
progressing to "...all my love, I give gladly to you..."
finally,
"...can't we stop hurting each other, gotta stop...."
and those drums (and strings) which punctuate the arrangement !
Brilliant.

 

[Toolman]

One of my favorites as well that displays many of the Carpenters strengths in a tight few minutes. Great follow-up to "Superstar". In late '71/early '72 you'd have had a hard time finding me without my little gray transmitter radio pasted to my ear -- "American Pie", "Brand New Key", "Hurting Each Other", etc. Fantastic period for AM radio. I was totally hooked.

 

[adam]

I love this song.Why on earth it wasnt released in the UK baffles me im sure it would have made the top 10.Missed opportunity.

 

[dvakman]

The backing track is stellar too. I'm not really familiar with the original arrangement.

 

[theninjarabbit]

For some reason I feel as if this single, out of their early string of hits, is on the underrated side: when Carpenters come to mind, I'm sure this wouldn't be the first song played.

Gotta love the arrangement. It starts with singer and piano -- suddenly, your ears are excited by this "powerful explosiveness" GaryAlan describes! Timpanis, strings... somehow in all that Karen holds her own against it and she knocks it off this planet (anybody else love how she sings "you" in the line "All my liiifeeee....I could love only you"). I love "Hurting Each Other" and it is quickly rising to my favorites list. I've played this song endlessly, usually preferring the original to the remix.

 

[Harry]

Multiple mixes of this one. http://carpenters.amcorner.com/song/hurting-each-other-2 I prefer the original and it's always been a favorite.

Harry

 

[newvillefan]

I like the remix better on this particular song - the piano on the original sounds muddy and poorly mixed in comparison.

 

[Don Malcolm]

The last great Spector-esque track, with that patented circular 60s melody that you can just feel building up to a wall of sound chorus. (And yes, the track was originally written in 1965, just as Phil's sound was peaking. Reading about it in the Wikiworld I note that the Walker Brothers did a version of it in '66, will have to track that down.)

Of course, Richard goes for a cleaner "wall" than Phil ever would, but he's captured that Spector dynamic (as Gary and "the Rabbit" have so nicely described it!) and done it in his own way. Like so many of you, I love it on its own terms--Karen is still bringing that edge of rawness into play here, and just having a field day with the melodic elaborations and turnarounds that, with her singing them, give the track all the coiled emotion that it needs without Spector's sonic overkill.

We talked a bit about the Spector influence in the very early (pre-Spectrum, even) Carpenters material, and I think it is so cool that just a few years later, having leapt up to the top level in arranging, Richard was able to reference and rework that sound in a way that gives it one last gasp of greatness. One of my five favorite tracks!

 

[theninjarabbit]

I actually prefer the piano on the original. I like the way it sounds, especially the notes after "without ever knowing..."

 

[Rumbahbah]

I love this song.Why on earth it wasnt released in the UK baffles me im sure it would have made the top 10.Missed opportunity.

It was released in the UK, but like several of their singles (including 'Rainy Days and Mondays', 'It's Going to Take Some Time' and 'Sing'), it failed to chart. Not sure why, but presumably their profile wasn't high enough at this point to guarantee a chart placement with every release.

Love this song and it's a great arrangement - the cold opening in particular is stunning. Ruby and the Romantics tracks were clearly a good fit for them, given the good work they'd go on to do with 'Our Day Will Come' and 'Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore'.

I much prefer the original version to the remix. It is a bit 'muddy', but I think that only adds to the feel and drama of the track - the remix sounds too clean and antiseptic.

Strangely, despite it being a big hit in the US, I always feel this track gets somewhat overlooked in their catalogue, certainly more so than their other near-misses at the Number 1 spot. It was omitted entirely from the UK version of the Gold compilation in favour of weaker tracks like 'Sing' and 'Jambalaya'.

 

[Harry]

It was omitted entirely from the UK version of the Gold compilation

True, but it was present on the other "Brit-comps" of ONLY YESTERDAY, YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (UK), MAGICAL MEMORIES OF THE CARPENTERS, and LOVE SONGS.

Harry

 

[Rumbahbah]

True, but it was present on the other "Brit-comps" of ONLY YESTERDAY, YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (UK), MAGICAL MEMORIES OF THE CARPENTERS, and LOVE SONGS.

Harry

That may be the case, but Gold has been the most easily available and by far the biggest seller of their compilations in the 21st century in the UK, which is a shame as its tracklisting leaves much to be desired. Bizarrely 'It's Going to Take Some Time' is also included on it, despite it not only not being a hit in the UK, but also never having received much airplay, which 'Hurting Each Other' certainly has in more recent years.

 

[CraigGA]

I like the remix for the clarity, but I like the drums and timpani on the original that gets covered up with a simpler percussive feel in the remix. I think it is a classic song all the way around and a great positive message that filled they heyday of AM radio. During that time, you could tune to any given station late a night and within 10 minutes hear a Carpenters song. I still love Hurting Each Other as one of my favorite Carpenters singles and it is my favorite Carpenters video.

 

[newvillefan]

I still love Hurting Each Other as one of my favorite Carpenters singles and it is my favorite Carpenters video.

I'm not going to deny it, when I first saw the promo video for this song in 1990 (around the time I was discovering their music), I developed a really big crush on Karen that I don't think has left me to this day