Karen and Richard "Nailed" It!

John Adam

"A House Is Not A Home"
Which Carpenters song(s) do you feel Karen "nails" 100% vocally, and which Carpenters song(s) do you feel Richard "nails" 100% musically?

(Or) They both "Nailed It!" (There I said it, The Carpenters nailed it!) :)
Which song(s) does this magic happen for both of them on the same track?

Feel free to share your reasons for your choices. Always a much better read than strictly lists! TY
 
“Crystal Lullaby”, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” & “You’re Just In Love”. It’s too bad that we didn’t get more duets from Karen & Richard when Karen was alive.

I’m also going to add “If I Had You” (1989 remix). Karen nailed the vocal in 1980, but then Richard nailed the re-editing nearly a decade later. They also nailed it together on the 1990 remix of “My Body Keeps Changing My Mind”.

Seperately, Karen nailed it vocally on “All You Get From Love Is A Love Song” and “Back In My Life Again” as well as “Looking For Love”.

Richard really nailed it on “Flat Baroque/Piano Picker”, “An Old-Fashioned Christmas”, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”, “Carol of the Bells” and “Daddy’s Home”. If we could’ve included the solo albums I would’ve also added “Say Yeah! & Who Do You Love?”.
 
Both: Only Yesterday
Karen: Superstar
Richard: I Kept On Loving You
Honorable Mention: Our Day Will Come Quad mix. Karen’s vocals are spot on, Richard’s piano, masterful
 
Karen nails many things vocally. We'd be here all day if I talked about all of them so I'll just pick one...LOL!! One example is "Ordinary Fool." I don't think it was one of her favorites but it should have been. She definitely delivered despite that. Perfection personified. She seems utterly involved with it and sells it beautifully.

For me, Richard is adequate on certain things but as a lead singer, he's nearly always lacking. The only lead we got from him that's decent is "I Kept on Loving You", though that's all relative. Any number of other male singers could do it better. It's the one lead he does that he appears to be involved with.

Ed
 
That's exactly right Mike. Wanted the focus to be on good things, not the negative. We need some positive-ness with so many things happening in the world/nation that are not very uplifting.....
 
For Karen, so many...in general, any song she sang unencumbered by herself (i.e., any song with no over-singing of the lead vocal), but more especially songs where both the beauty and power of her voice stood out and overwhelmed: RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS, SUPERSTAR, A SONG FOR YOU, YOU'RE THE ONE, DESPERADO, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE, LEAVE YESTERDAY BEHIND, A PLACE TO HIDEAWAY, THIS MASQUERADE and ONE MORE TIME (to name a few)..and, of course, MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING (so beautiful and which will always make her the voice of Christmas).

For Richard mostly all the great arrangements including (but not limited to) CLOSE TO YOU, WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN, RAINY DAYS..., SUPERSTAR, A SONG FOR YOU and THIS MASQUERADE...his vocal of Perry Como's DON'T LET THE STARS GET IN YOUR EYES on the Como show and his creative and tasteful piano solo on THIS MASQUERADE...he had a big missed opportunity for another great mid-song solo by not recording OUR DAY WILL COME as a standalone song and extending it and stepping out in the middle...but he missed other chances by generously giving many solos to other band members...

From all of the mentions above of THIS MASQUERADE it would seem logical that that's where they nailed it together best of all - debatable yes, but all things considered just about near perfect, with A SONG FOR YOU a very close second...
 
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I'll nominate "Only Yesterday". Karen nails it with the lead and backup vocals; Richard nails it with song composition, arrangement, and backing vocals.

Yes, they nailed an almost perfect hit single too! It showcased modern song writing, amazing Karen vocals and high arrangement and production values.

IMHO starting with Santa Claus is Coming To Town, and through the Horizon album tracks, and including "Trying to Get The Feeling Again." Karen and Richard nailed all of that. Vocally and musically/arrangement/production-wise it really doesn't get much stronger. The last single in this set, Solitaire is amazing. The song may not have been prime "hit single" material, but they nailed it in every way showcasing their talents.
 
For Karen, so many...in general, any song she sang unencumbered by herself (i.e., any song with no over-singing of the lead vocal), but more especially songs where both the beauty and power of her voice stood out and overwhelmed: RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS, SUPERSTAR, A SONG FOR YOU, YOU'RE THE ONE, DESPERADO, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE, LEAVE YESTERDAY BEHIND, A PLACE TO HIDEAWAY, THIS MASQUERADE and ONE MORE TIME (to name a few)..and, of course, MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING (so beautiful and which will always make her the voice of Christmas).

For Richard mostly all the great arrangements including (but not limited to) CLOSE TO YOU, WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN, RAINY DAYS..., SUPERSTAR, A SONG FOR YOU and THIS MASQUERADE...his vocal of Perry Como's DON'T LET THE STARS GET IN YOUR EYES on the Como show and his creative and tasteful piano solo on THIS MASQUERADE...he had a big missed opportunity for another great mid-song solo by not recording OUR DAY WILL COME as a standalone song and extending it and stepping out in the middle...but he missed other chances by generously giving many solos to other band members...

From all of the mentions above of THIS MASQUERADE it would seem logical that that's where they nailed it together best of all - debatable yes, but all things considered just about near perfect, with A SONG FOR YOU a very close second...

The early singles from Carpenters Tan Album and A Song For You, Karen nailed, period. On Close To You, Richard's arrangement really is definitive. He's never been able to add much to this song to make it better. He got it right from the start. "This Masquerade" is just plain classy. They both nailed that one!
The Perry Como Medley also, Karen nailed those performances. Karen and Richard also nailed MCD. One of Richard's finest arrangements. Karen absolutely nailed all the later 70's Christmas sessions. She really is "the voice" of Christmas!

Thanks to everyone who has participated so far! :)
 
I think one song Karen nails it has to be solitaire from the Horizon 1975 album, I know she wasn't keen on the song but this is definitely one of her finest performances. Along with Rainy Days and Mondays and I'm also going to add Rainbow Connection here too.

Richard nails it for me with his arrangement of Close to You and Superstar, the latter is a haunting arrangement.
 
“If I Had You” (1989 remix). Karen nailed the vocal in 1980, but then Richard nailed the re-editing nearly a decade later.

Richard really stepped up the production to hit-single potential, which I think he heard even in the original album version. Phil seemed to push her vocally on this one. I would agree Karen nailed it!
“You’re Just In Love”. It’s too bad that we didn’t get more duets from Karen & Richard when Karen was alive.

When I saw this, I said hmm. I agree that I enjoy them dueting as well. Without a Song (full version) is another example of them dueting in the last part of the song, after the magnificent overdubbing is over! I would of liked to have heard them dueting on some Christmas tracks too!
 
Karen nails many things vocally. We'd be here all day if I talked about all of them so I'll just pick one...LOL!! One example is "Ordinary Fool." I don't think it was one of her favorites but it should have been. She definitely delivered despite that. Perfection personified. She seems utterly involved with it and sells it beautifully.

For me, Richard is adequate on certain things but as a lead singer, he's nearly always lacking. The only lead we got from him that's decent is "I Kept on Loving You", though that's all relative. Any number of other male singers could do it better. It's the one lead he does that he appears to be involved with.

Ed
when I was reading this thread and thinking of chiming in, "Ordinary Fool" was the one that came to mind for both Karen's vocal AND one of Richard's finest arrangements. Nothing compares when both are contributing with their strongest assets.
 
Richard really stepped up the production to hit-single potential, which I think he heard even in the original album version. Phil seemed to push her vocally on this one. I would agree Karen nailed it!


When I saw this, I said hmm. I agree that I enjoy them dueting as well. Without a Song (full version) is another example of them dueting in the last part of the song, after the magnificent overdubbing is over! I would of liked to have heard them dueting on some Christmas tracks too!
They duetted on “Do You Hear What I Hear?” I’d also point out that “The First Snowfall/Let It Snow” & “Jingle Bells” could almost be duets since Richard does take the lead a few times on those tracks.

But with “Horizon”, aside from Postman & Happy, I think Karen and Richard both missed on that album.
 
I think Karen (still) sang wonderfully in the later 70's. One of her "nailed it" moments was on Bruce Forsythe in late 1978 when she sang "I Need To Be In Love."
She really nailed all the performances she did that night. I consider that show, and the Christmas songs inspiration/confidence for her to try doing a solo album when Richard was not available to record a new Carpenters album.

Karen and Richard both really nailed "Superstar" from the early 70's. If that had been done in 1978, it would of been a completely different record.
It would have not had the edge that it did originally.
 
I think Karen (still) sang wonderfully in the later 70's. One of her "nailed it" moments was on Bruce Forsythe in late 1978 when she sang "I Need To Be In Love."
Yes! Even better than the live 1976 performance in England at the London Palladium (was that the theater?) - a truly masterful performance - just simply awesome! And the audience showed it's appreciation! She also nailed "Merry Christmas, Darling" on that show too - what helped make both so very good was the scaled back arrangements and the lack of extraneous "vocal engineering"...these performances were in the same elevated class as those of "Superstar" and "For All We Know" on the 1971 BBC show.
 
This medley - although I prefer the almost 14 minute version that includes "Any Day Now" and "Baby, It's You" that they did later on tour - the audio and video are much better here...this is a "tight" group at the top of their "game"... and Karen is exactly where she always belonged, and it shows...

 
Karen nails the vocal in Leave Yesterday Behind and One More Time. Richard nailed the music/arrangement in I'll Never Fall in Love Again.
I'd even say Richard "nailed it" on One More Time. He DOES know that, sometimes, simpler is better or "less is more." This is a good example of that...but then there are other times not so much. On the "less is more" line, another example where both of them "nail it" is You're the One.
 
Karen nails the vocal in Leave Yesterday Behind and One More Time. ...
The very talented Fred Karlin wrote both the music and the lyrics for LEAVE YESTERDAY BEHIND - he composed the music for FOR ALL WE KNOW - he also composed COME SATURDAY MORNING, a lovely song from the late 60s - LYB may be one of the most neglected and underrated songs in the Carpenters catalog, and this is inexplicable and regrettable because it is simply a beautiful piece of music superbly arranged - and Karen nails the vocal brilliantly as her gorgeous voice soars all over this, especially during these lyrics:
...
We should be together
When we're this close we're bound to work it out somehow
We found a dream to share
Don't lose it now
Just let my song of love
Surround your senses
And feel the promise of a brand new kind of world
Lose your defenses
Unlock your mind
You know I love you
(Love you)
Come let me show you
(Show you)
How to find the way to leave yesterday behind

...
 
Which Carpenters song(s) do you feel...they both "Nailed It!" (There I said it, The Carpenters nailed it!) :)
Which song(s) does this magic happen for both of them on the same track?
John, you've already answered your own question!
It's written in your avatar - "A House is not a Home".
 
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