My 10 Favorite Songs

[Sing]

I became a fan of Karen and Richard Carpenter almost exactly 1 year ago when I watched a YouTube video of the Carpenters performing a Bacharach/David medley in 1970. I was blown away and since then I probably haven't gone a single day without listening to at least a few of their songs. Here are my 10 favorite songs featuring Karen and/or Richard Carpenter.

[1] Bacharach/David Medley (from the album "Carpenters" a.k.a the Tan album)

I think the medley format keeps the song fresh and interesting while Karen's vocals are excellent. Richard's short lead vocals in the "Walk On By" portion of the medley are perfect too.

[2] Sweet, Sweet, Smile (from the album "Passages")

The percussion and Karen's vocals really make the song entertaining from beginning to end.

[3] If We Try (from the album "Karen Carpenter")

I love the brass in this song and when Karen resumes singing after a bit of a break, "So, Darling, if you feel lonely tonight and you need someone who can hold you tight," it's just ear candy without any calories. Perfect.

[4] Goodbye To Love (from the album "A Song For You")

Karen's singing is great and I love Tony Peluso's fuzz guitar solo.

[5] We've Only Just Begun (from the album "Close To You")

It's a great tune made even better with Karen's lead vocals and Richard's backing vocals.

[6] Guess I Just Lost My Head (from the album "Karen Carpenter")

Great instrumentation in this song. It's so smooth and goes along with Karen's fantastic delivery. More ear candy.

[7] Please Mr. Postman (from the album "Horizon")

A sharp, upbeat and perfectly arranged song.

[8] Still In Love With You (from the album "Karen Carpenter")

The guitar work on this is awesome. Karen sounds a bit like Pat Benatar here. But this song is lyrically the opposite of Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker." Love this song.

[9] This Masquerade (from the album "Now and Then")

Pitch perfect singing from Karen and a top notch piano solo from Richard.

[10] My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (from the album "Karen Carpenter")

I love the brass in this song. Sharp and sassy. And Karen's lead and backing vocals are so well done. Karen is just amazing.

My bet is that most everyone else on this board will have their disagreements and agreements with my top 10 list. That's okay. But I just figured that I would toss my top 10 out here. Now given how good the Carpenters' catalog of music is, it would be more realistic to have a top 25 list. But I ran out of time.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Nice thread!!
Here are mine top favorites and most are based on the # of plays from my music library so it’s pretty accurate.

1. When It's Gone (It's Just Gone)
2. B'wana She No Home (LP version)
3. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
4. Look To Your Dreams
5. You're The One
6. From This Moment On
7. The Rainbow Connection
8. Solitaire
9. I Need To Be In Love (The Bruce Forsyth Show)
10. 1980 Medley Music Music Music (I know it's multiple songs but it's so good and it's how I like to remember them, it's the best. every time it plays I see Karen singing it from the special, warms my heart)

Honorable Mentions:
Making Love In The Afternoon (KC Solo)
Still In Love With You (KC Solo)
Merry Christmas Darling
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

 

[Kyle Thomas]

Fun thread! My top 10 (for now -- it changes every year, but the top three are pretty steady there...)

1. Goodbye to Love
2. Only Yesterday
3. Let Me Be the One
4. I Need to Be in Love
5. Happy
6. Ticket to Ride
7. Our Day Will Come
8. I Just Fall in Love Again
9. This Masquerade
10. All You Get from Love is a Love Song

 

[Jack A.]

Here are mine…the whole list is fairly consistent, but still fluctuates every now and then.

1. Rainy Days and Mondays
2. Superstar
3. Only Yesterday
4. For All We Know
5. Ticket to Ride
6. Hurting Each Other
7. Solitaire
8. I Need To Be In Love
9. Someday
10. There’s a Kind of Hush

It’s kind of hard to pick favorites. I still LOVE every one of these songs. But that’s the order I’d put them in if I had to.

 

[Ian Claypole]

Nice thread. My most played favourites are:

1. You're The One
2. Where Do I Go From Here
3. Yesterday Once More
4. Slow Dance
5. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
6. For All We Know
7. Rainy Days & Mondays
8. The Rainbow Connection
9. Leave Yesterday Behind
10. Desperado

 

[rockdoctor]

In no particular, these are my favorite Carpenters selections.
Touch Me When We're Dancing
Only Yesterday
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
For All We Know
All Of My Life
Yesterday Once More
Goodbye To Love
We've Only Just Begun
Sing
Close To You

 

[goodjeans]

Only Yesterday
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
Close To You
Remind Me To Tell You
Happy
Road Ode
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Love Me For What I Am
Superstar

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Yesterday Once More
Close To You
Crystal Lullaby / Road Ode (I know it's two songs but I never listen to one without the other)
Bless the Beasts and Children
Superstar
Ticket to Ride
A Song For You
I Need to Be In Love
Crescent Noon
Goodbye to Love

There are a few other songs that might have made the cut on a different day, but those are the ones that come to mind today, in the order they came to mind. Every album has at least one song that I like a lot, and usually more than one, but the first five albums are the indispensable ones in my book.

 

[Mark-T]

In no particular order:

We've Only Just Begun
Ordinary Fool
Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night
Boat to Sail
Only Yesterday
Baby It's You
Our Day Will Come
I Can Dream Can't I?
Hurting Each Other
B'wana She No Home

 

[Jamesj75]

"Wide awake at 4 AM without a friend in sight..." And checking in to see comments surrounding the latest February 4th...

My top 10 from "all those years ago," and with a strong feeling of déjà vu!

10. You
9. All You Get From Love Is a Love Song
8. There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)
7. We've Only Just Begun
6. Rainy Days and Mondays
5. You're the One
4. Superstar
3. Only Yesterday
2. I Need to Be in Love
1. Solitaire

 

[Simon KC1950]

Hello!

This is fun, though I'd say mine changes from time to time (My top 2 usually remain the same).

01: Yesterday Once More
02: Superstar
03: Let Me Be The One
04: Top of the World
05: I Need To Be In Love
06: 1980 Medley (particularly Make It Easy On Yourself)
07: A Song For You
08: I Can Dream, Can't I?
09: The Uninvited Guest
10: I Won't Last A Day Without You

...

It would probably be easier to list the song's I don't like!

 

[John Adam]

In no particular order, 10 of my favorite Carpenters recordings.

All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
I Need To Be In Love (The Bruce Forsyth Show)
Rainy Days And Mondays
Trying To Get The Feeling Again
Only Yesterday
Ticket To Ride (RPO version)
I Won't Last A Day Without You
If I Had You ("From The Top" version)
We've Only Just Begun
Top Of The World (The Singles 1969-1973 version)

 

[Jack A.]

Kind of embarrassing to admit, but I've actually never even heard half the songs on y'all's lists (namely the deeper cuts)...looks like I've still got some homework to do.

 

[Mark-T]

Kind of embarrassing to admit, but I've actually never even heard half the songs on y'all's lists (namely the deeper cuts)...looks like I've still got some homework to do.

And what a fun assignment it will be!

 

[newvillefan]

Kind of embarrassing to admit, but I've actually never even heard half the songs on y'all's lists (namely the deeper cuts)...looks like I've still got some homework to do.

I spent months mining their back catalogue after I discovered their music in 1990, CD after CD that I didn't even know existed. You're in for a treat. I wish I could do it all again. The only thing I didn't factor in was that I was buying the albums in any random order I could lay my hands on them in local record stores. So I was listening to albums like the Close To You and Voice Of The Heart back to back...and wondering how there could be such a world of difference in the material. It didn't take me long to work it out

 

[Jack A.]

And what a fun assignment it will be!

Quite indeed.

 

[jfiedler17]

Ooh, fun challenge! Okay, my personal Top Ten:

10. Sweet, Sweet Smile (one of their better choices in cover material in their post-Now & Then years; it's contemporary enough to not sound overly retro, but it's still as playful as any oldie they'd covered in the past, and it's just got such a great bounce to it throughout)
9. I Kept on Loving You (a very odd choice, I know, but I find it to be the catchiest song on Close to You, and, as one of the rare lead vocals from Richard in their catalog, it makes a fun song for a guy like myself to sing along to!)
8. Touch Me When We're Dancing: Almost sounds like it could have been recorded for Karen's solo album, which may be part of why I like this one so much. It sounds more like the direction she preferred moving in, but it's got just enough of Richard's touch as an arranger and producer to still be identifiable as a Carpenters product.
7. Hurting Each Other: Hard to say what's more impressive about this one, Richard's radical yet utterly brilliant re-arrangement of this song (blows away the original) or Karen's vocal track; definitely my favorite moment from A Song for You
6. (Want You) Back in My Life Again: Yeah, the production may sound a bit dated, I know, but I just find this so highly infectious a piece of songwriting and the vocal arrangement so perfect (particularly on the choruses) that it's the highlight of Made in America for me
5. All You Get from Love Is a Love Song: That intro gets me everytime! Between the instrumental arrangement on this one and Karen's delivery of the vocal melody on the verses, the chorus almost feels anticlimactic in comparison, which is not easy to pull off!
4. Yesterday Once More (definitely my favorite of the pre-Horizon singles)
3. Still in Love with You (the highlight of Karen's solo album for me; it's a great composition by Javors to begin with, Karen's vocal is endlessly charming, and it's just really, really fun to hear Karen in this setting, one not just with plenty of rock guitar but almost even hinting at new-wave; on paper, you wouldn't think this should work, but it does, and amazingly well; I wish we'd have been able to hear her do more of this sort of thing)
2. Happy (definitely my favorite Carpenters song to have never seen release as an A-side; this really ought to have been a single in its own right)
1. Only Yesterday (just a flawless pop single in every respect, be it the songwriting (Richard and John's best-ever co-write, IMO), the immaculate production, Karen's vocal, the instrumental arrangement, etc.])

 

[Portlander]

These are my top five "hits" followed by my top five "non hits" as of tonight and it may change a week from now!

1. Won't Last A Day Without You
2. We've Only Just Begun
3. Yesterday Once More
4. Close To You
5. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song

Honorable mention: Only Yesterday And Rainy Days and Mondays

1. This Masquerade
2. Let Me Be The One
3. Baby It's You
4. Song For You
5. I Kept On Loving You

Honorable mention: You and Maybe It's You

Probably would have been easier to just list any song with the word "you" in the title!

 

[A&M Retro]

-All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
-Sweet Sweet Smile
-Eve
-Ticket To Ride (both versions)
-Hurting Each Other
-(Want You) Back In My Life Again
-Trying To Get The Feeling Again
-Happy/Desperado (tie)
-Only Yesterday
-A Song For You

-Merry Christmas Darling (bonus Christmas track because it's impossible to pick just 10!).
-'My Body Keeps Changing My Mind' - Bonus solo track. This is WAY too hard.

 

[A&M Retro]

Ooh, fun challenge! Okay, my personal Top Ten:

10. Sweet, Sweet Smile (one of their better choices in cover material in their post-Now & Then years; it's contemporary enough to not sound overly retro, but it's still as playful as any oldie they'd covered in the past, and it's just got such a great bounce to it throughout)
9. I Kept on Loving You (a very odd choice, I know, but I find it to be the catchiest song on Close to You, and, as one of the rare lead vocals from Richard in their catalog, it makes a fun song for a guy like myself to sing along to!)
8. Touch Me When We're Dancing: Almost sounds like it could have been recorded for Karen's solo album, which may be part of why I like this one so much. It sounds more like the direction she preferred moving in, but it's got just enough of Richard's touch as an arranger and producer to still be identifiable as a Carpenters product.
7. Hurting Each Other: Hard to say what's more impressive about this one, Richard's radical yet utterly brilliant re-arrangement of this song (blows away the original) or Karen's vocal track; definitely my favorite moment from A Song for You
6. (Want You) Back in My Life Again: Yeah, the production may sound a bit dated, I know, but I just find this so highly infectious a piece of songwriting and the vocal arrangement so perfect (particularly on the choruses) that it's the highlight of Made in America for me
5. All You Get from Love Is a Love Song: That intro gets me everytime! Between the instrumental arrangement on this one and Karen's delivery of the vocal melody on the verses, the chorus almost feels anticlimactic in comparison, which is not easy to pull off!
4. Yesterday Once More (definitely my favorite of the pre-Horizon singles)
3. Still in Love with You (the highlight of Karen's solo album for me; it's a great composition by Javors to begin with, Karen's vocal is endlessly charming, and it's just really, really fun to hear Karen in this setting, one not just with plenty of rock guitar but almost even hinting at new-wave; on paper, you wouldn't think this should work, but it does, and amazingly well; I wish we'd have been able to hear her do more of this sort of thing)
2. Happy (definitely my favorite Carpenters song to have never seen release as an A-side; this really ought to have been a single in its own right)
1. Only Yesterday (just a flawless pop single in every respect, be it the songwriting (Richard and John's best-ever co-write, IMO), the immaculate production, Karen's vocal, the instrumental arrangement, etc.])

We must be spiritual twins because our choices are very similar. : )

 

[Late2theParty]

two thoughts...after a while of ignoring it, finally listened to "Bwana she no home." In a longer life, Karen could have sung ANYTHING...what a catchy one that is in her style.

Also, find the YouTube where someone has isolated her vocal beginnings on "Only Yesterday." WOW...unreal pipes. Like we didn't know...