Karen's Signature Vocal Recording

Florian said:
In my opinion: "I Need to Be in Love", "Only Yesterday", "I Won't Last a Day Without You", "Yesterday Once More", "Look to your Dreams" and the "Ticket to Ride" version from 1973. I know that's a lot but I can hardly decide.
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Those are some good ones indeed. I think I also prefer the 1973 version of TTR, but the 1969 version also has a certain emotion to it, back when Karen had that “huskier” sound. I do think the arrangement was greatly improved in the 1973 version, however.

Fun fact: “Ticket to Ride” and “I Need to Be In Love” are the only two Carpenters songs that make me cry.
 
Jack A. said:
I think I also prefer the 1973 version of TTR, but the 1969 version also has a certain emotion to it, back when Karen had that “huskier” sound. I do think the arrangement was greatly improved in the 1973 version, however.
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Fully agree!
Jack A. said:
Fun fact: “Ticket to Ride” and “I Need to Be In Love” are the only two Carpenters songs that make me cry.
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The two songs are more than hard to get through without getting emotional. For "I Need to Be In Love" in particular the version from the 'Bruce Forsyth's Big Night' show.
 
For me, it’s “Make It Easy on Yourself.” The 1980 version is probably better overall—definitely more polished—but the way she sings the word “caress” in the 1974 version is cold chills material. I’ve tried to figure out exactly what is lacking there in the 1980 version, but I can’t pinpoint it.
 
Nemily said:
What is the vocal of her lifetime that best embodies the Karen Carpenter “it” factor. Which vocal has that unmistakeable and unapologetic quality that transcends Carpenters and is the essence of all Karen Carpenter vocal recordings.

My vote is the 1970 vocal of Merry Christmas Darling. Her voice after 1970 would of course mature and emerge professionally as she learned how to use her voice in the serious depths of understanding her instruments’ potential. Karen would even insist in later years on re-recording MCD because she was musically conscience of her brand and how her voice had polished up.

IMO, the 1970 version, the original Merry Christmas Darling is Karen’s signature vocal. What is captured on the vocal is an unrestricted, raw energy which is completely unique to Karen only.
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MCD is one of my favorite Karen vocals and I play it all year round (same with her fantastic version of HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS) - I prefer her 1978 recording, but the 1970 has a certain. special charm of it's own, with her voice still young and developing and on the verge of that subtle transition into full-blown, gorgeous maturity...(same with the 2 TICKET TO RIDE recordings)...
 
goodjeans! said:
Karen lead only? "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
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I fully agree - one of Karen's best, and easily the finest version of this great Christmas classic ever recorded...her voice absolutely soars here...a prime candidate for an "Introduction to Karen Carpenter" song for any newbie.
 
Portlander said:
"You're the One" with "I Won't Last a Day Without You" as my runner up! When I hear either of these songs I stop whatever I'm doing and listen! :)
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Yes, absolutely - YOU'RE THE ONE - my top pick! RAINY DAYS a close 2nd...
 
Graeme said:
Rainy Days and Mondays for me I think. It showcases 'the voice,' Richard's arranging and the classic backing vocals.
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Great choice! My 2nd favorite (and I could be convinced without too much effort that it should be #1) - an amazing vocal performance by any standard!
 
JohnFB said:
MCD is one of my favorite Karen vocals and I play it all year round (same with her fantastic version of HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS) - I prefer her 1978 recording, but the 1970 has a certain. special charm of it's own, with her voice still young and developing and on the verge of that subtle transition into full-blown, gorgeous maturity...(same with the 2 TICKET TO RIDE recordings)...
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Yes @JohnFB all year :) The 1978 vocal is stellar. And to your point there is no disparaging of either version of MXD or any of the vocals mentioned in this thread for that matter.

I agree that the vocal on MXD at age 20 when Karen’s voice was young, raw and developing it is simply enchanting. It could be that is part of why I lean to the original vocal. It could also be that for eight years the 1970 recording was the only Carpenters version, so there is a nostalgic element associated to a ton of wonderful long- ago memories.

To a greater degree, there is something emotive and in earnest about the original vocal. There is a sincerity and a sadness in her early timbre that is especially captured.

Below is a snippet from an interview where Karen best promulgated what the song meant to her. Maybe this is what gravitated her to raise the bar initially because the song tugged at her emotionally. Although she does not refer to either version specifically, the quote from Karen below is taken from a track-by-track KIQQ interview for Christmas Portrait which was broadcast on 12/24/78.

"'Merry Christmas Darling' I think, is a little extra special to both of us, because Richard wrote it, and the lyrics were written by the choral director at Long Beach State choir, where we went to school, Frank Pooler. Frank was very helpful in our college days, when we were trying to get a contract and constantly missing classes and everything. He was the only one down there who actually understood what we were after, and he stood behind us all the way. We just did a benefit at Long Beach State, for a scholarship fund, and we did it with the choir and the whole thing, and we did "Christmas Darling" and he just "glows" every time we do it….. I think it's my favorite, because it's really close to me."
 
@Nemily - it's such a beautiful song, as it should be, since it took 20 years to compose it! It's full of love and longing, as the best Christmas songs always seem to be...and according to reports Frank was ecstatic when he first heard it in the studio right after it was recorded - imagine, having a hand in a song that Richard wrote the melody for and arranged, and then Karen Carpenter sang!
 
Harry said:
I've often listed "Hurting Each Other" as one of my favorites, and it's mostly due to Karen's lead - but also Richard's production and arrangement. A signature tune for sure...for both.
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Just wanted to acknowledge your choice here, Harry, as I think Hurting Each Other is an oft-overlooked gem that was both incredibly popular and extremely well done, as you say, with both Karen's vocals and Richard's arrangement. This song has always been in my top 5 Carpenters songs list. The backing vocal tracks are brilliantly done.
 
Nemily said:
What is the vocal of her lifetime that best embodies the Karen Carpenter “it” factor. Which vocal has that unmistakeable and unapologetic quality that transcends Carpenters and is the essence of all Karen Carpenter vocal recordings.
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Yesterday Once More (single version). Had to think this over, but if I could only have one song, that's it. It's Karen in the basement, singing with unmatched emotion and clarity, and it's her drumming from beginning to end until the last couple of hits of the cymbals (I listen for it every time). A Richard/John Bettis composition. It's a song that transports you to another time, place on first listen and all those after. She tells a story of listening to the radio when she was young and waitin' for her favorite song.... Except for me, it's waitin' for my favorite Carpenters song. Every time I hear it, i don't think of the oldies songs it was meant for but all the Carpenters songs I listened to on AM radio as a kid.
 
An
1969 said:
Yesterday Once More (single version). Had to think this over, but if I could only have one song, that's it. It's Karen in the basement, singing with unmatched emotion and clarity, and it's her drumming from beginning to end until the last couple of hits of the cymbals (I listen for it every time). A Richard/John Bettis composition. It's a song that transports you to another time, place on first listen and all those after. She tells a story of listening to the radio when she was young and waitin' for her favorite song.... Except for me, it's waitin' for my favorite Carpenters song. Every time I hear it, i don't think of the oldies songs it was meant for but all the Carpenters songs I listened to on AM radio as a kid.
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And it was at her suggestion that the chorus was Shalalala instead of references to old songs, which made yom much more accessible to international audiences and hence a much bigger hit internationally.
 
Kacfan said:
And it was at her suggestion that the chorus was Shalalala instead of references to old songs, which made yom much more accessible to international audiences and hence a much bigger hit internationally.
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I think you’re confusing the story slightly. The original plan was to name-drop oldie hits in the verses, an idea which Karen hated. The “sha la las” were a dummy lyric that John Bettis added during the writing process, and which he later suggested to Richard they should retain in the finished version.
 
newvillefan said:
I think you’re confusing the story slightly. The original plan was to name-drop oldie hits in the verses, an idea which Karen hated. The “sha la las” were a dummy lyric that John Bettis added during the writing process, and which he later suggested to Richard they should retain in the finished version.
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Yes I meant to say that if were not for her, it wouldn’t have been shalalala.
 
I will say that it was YOM that made me a fan. I remember sitting in the backseat of the car and my mother listening to The Singles 1969-1973 and being captivated by that voice. It was the sha-la-la-las that got me ! ha!
 
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