For various and uninteresting reasons, until yesterday I hadn't listened to Karen's solo CD in about five years. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it. Even though the overall sound is clearly of the period in which it was recorded, there are some fine performances on it.
I listened to "Make Believe..." several times and I really feel Karen's version is much better than the one on VOTH, as others here have noted. Each time I heard it I got chills. It's a lovely song, and a perfect example of how less can be more in comparison to the VOTH arrangement.
I find "Making Love in the Afternoon" to be really catchy too. It's a treat to hear Karen singing while being backed up by a guitar-driven arrangement, and I love how she adjusts her voice to sing in Peter Cetera's no-frills, no-vibrato style. The chorus, with its bright, summery harmonies, gets in my head and stays there.
And speaking of harmonies, the vocals near the end of "Guess I Just Lost My Head" really hook me. In fact, that's my favorite part of the whole album and I wish the song didn't end quite so soon.
Listening to "Karen Carpenter" again after putting it away for so long made me realize how much fun it can be to revisit music that I like but haven't heard in a while. It's almost like listening to it for the first time.
Tony
(who's recovering this morning from the Greenwich Village Halloween parade)
I listened to "Make Believe..." several times and I really feel Karen's version is much better than the one on VOTH, as others here have noted. Each time I heard it I got chills. It's a lovely song, and a perfect example of how less can be more in comparison to the VOTH arrangement.
I find "Making Love in the Afternoon" to be really catchy too. It's a treat to hear Karen singing while being backed up by a guitar-driven arrangement, and I love how she adjusts her voice to sing in Peter Cetera's no-frills, no-vibrato style. The chorus, with its bright, summery harmonies, gets in my head and stays there.
And speaking of harmonies, the vocals near the end of "Guess I Just Lost My Head" really hook me. In fact, that's my favorite part of the whole album and I wish the song didn't end quite so soon.
Listening to "Karen Carpenter" again after putting it away for so long made me realize how much fun it can be to revisit music that I like but haven't heard in a while. It's almost like listening to it for the first time.
Tony
(who's recovering this morning from the Greenwich Village Halloween parade)
I could never go that long. 
