My Own Carpenter Reviews...

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Mark-T

Mark-T

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Hi Everyone,

I've been playing with this idea for awhile. Starting on May 23 on my blog, I will post my first review of Carpenters albums in order of release date. (Hope I can keep them straight!) I want to mix in some personal reflections as well and share how I was personally impacted by their music and their artistry.

Knowing we all have stories to share, I would love your comments and feedback, wanting to hear from you.
Hope you enjoy it. I can guarantee a bit of controversy as I can get opinionated! :) But its all in fun and in honoring our favorite brother and sister duo.

(Hope this was ok to write...)

Mark

PS- I'm hoping some new fans will arise out of this. My blog gets read by hundreds of Disney Geeks like myself, so maybe some have never heard of Karen and Richard...
 
First review is up tomorrow.

The first one is shorter but, Oh My Gosh, how wordy I got with the ones that follow! I added photos, too. It is turning out to be quite a labor of love and bringing new insights as to how their music has impacted me.

Hope these are fun to read, but they sure are becoming a kind of therapy session as well! :)

Mark
 
I'm almost done with the "Close to You" album review. It will be up on my blog on Wednesday. Just to let you know. I'd love the feedback...
 
Done with the Tan album review. Should be up on the 16th or so...

(I have a GREAT pic of K&R I've only seen once coming up on a future album review. I'm very excited to share it, but I want to keep the album reviews in order of release. For those of you interested, I take a look at Amy Grant' career and several albums tomorrow.)
 
Forgot to mention- check out the new Grammys book. Inside is that famous winners photo in a pretty large scale. Also, the Tan album review WILL be up the 16th...
 
The Tan album review is up with a few related photos. Including one infamous one of "A&M execs standing behind their artists".
 
All finished with "A Song for You". Will be up on Wednesday morning. I'd love your feedback!
 
Just finished up "Live in Japan". Should be posted on Tuesday.
This continues to be a blast! Hope you enjoy it.
 
Hi Everyone! Thought I'd post my reviews here, bit by bit. Since there is not much going on in the Carpenters music scene, I thought it would give us something- anything- to discuss.
Mark
www.InsightsandSounds.blogspot.com
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First Offering, Along for the Ride
I've been thinking lately it would be fun to take a fresh look at the musical output of the Carpenters disc by disc. Because the music of Karen and Richard has been woven into so much of my younger life, I will simultaneously share some personal stories as I go. The reminiscing has been pretty fun, sometimes not, and has even resulted in new insights. Here's hoping you enjoy what is ahead as I review each album.

Early fall of 1970 was the turning point. Living in Southern California, close to the beach and to Disneyland. Still two of my favorite places. Music was always on somewhere, as my parents were teenagers themselves when I was born- and they loved rock and roll. Growing up on rock, pop, and Motown, (which became my favorite after spending summers with my aunts who loved the Supremes and the Temptations), did not prepare me for what was about to happen.

There I was, just sitting on the bus waiting to take off, and this voice came out of the radio, catching my ear and grabbing my heart. It was very soulful in a whole new way than I was used to recognizing. Suddenly, that was all I could hear. What was that song, but more importantly, who was that singing?

As I quickly discovered, the answers were "We've Only Just Begun" and Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters. Fortunately, I lived three blocks from the local record shop, so off I went. The album was mine- and it stayed on my turntable week after week. Months later, while browsing patiently through the store bins, I discovered an earlier recording and heard a whole new Karen and Richard. Surprisingly different.

It has often been said this was the record Richard had to make. After more than thirty years of hearing it, I am not sure why. Clearly a product of the times and definitely not a bad record, Ticket to Ride, however, does not draw me in or capture my attention. Nor does it compare favorably to anything that came afterwards. Maybe it is the inherent contradictions that create a sense of lacking. Raw yet polished, contemporary yet old fashioned, biting yet sentimental. The change in title and in cover art, due to the success of the single Close to You, plays with these differences. Offering is fully 60s in presentation, while Ticket feels fresh.


As far as the songs themselves, it is a mixed bag. Covering the Beatles is always risky, but Richard's slow burn arrangement of Ticket to Ride passes the test because of the dramatic new arrangement and a female lead singer. Karen and Richard's love for choral music finds an expression in the songs Invocation and Benediction, providing a touch of class, but some would say stuffiness, to the album. Their jazz combo roots come to light with All I Can Do. Bookending this album and including styles of music began a trend that would continue in later albums and in various ways.

As songwriters, the original Carpenter/Bettis tunes represent some of the best and worst of their catalogue: All of My Life, in particular, and Someday give the listener a taste of what Karen and Richard (and John) can do, while Eve is forgettable, stung with unfortunate lyrics and an arrangement that seems to drag.

The final result is a product that embraces the contradiction: the album is extremely ambitious but fairly ordinary.

As time passed, bit by bit, I unknowingly became quite a collector of Carpenters' music, newspaper articles, and photographs. Two important items have eluded my collection: the original Offering album, and the holy grail of Carpenters fans (Sorry, the Indy movie came out yesterday- one of my favorite movie series ever!), the Karen Carpenter Magic Lamp single. Maybe one day, I'll find them- at a price I can afford.

As you can see, Ticket wasn't a record I loved, and even now, I seldom play it. But that was ok. My initiation was the Close to You album, and that would be the standard I measured their other albums against. Karen and Richard were young, growing artists, and the best was yet to come. I couldn't wait.
 
Second Time's the Charm

Although quickly put together to capitalize on the success of the Close to You single, this 1970 album is actually a near perfect representation of the combined talents of Richard and Karen. This disc remained on my turntable for many weeks. Repeated listenings over the decades have only deepened my appreciation for it, making it a sentimental favorite.

Starting with the iconic recording of Paul Williams' and Roger Nichols' We've Only Just Begun, the set continues with Love is Surrender. This Ralph Carmichael tune is just the vehicle to show the duo's versatility, taking on a contemporary Christian song for a new spin. The rhythm track shines with playful vocals, making me a believer. Returning to ballads, Maybe It's You, this Carpenter / Bettis original, holds up well even in comparison to their later and better known compositions. Quietly elegant, this track still catches me off guard with its intimate reading by Karen. Even at twenty years of age, she sang like a seasoned professional, drawing me into her world.

Reason to Believe is next up. The Tim Hardin classic, the Rod Stewart standard? Yes, indeed, and Karen and Richard's warm countrified version meets the challenge, showing they can excel in most any style. I reconsidered my view on country music because of this song alone, and in my mind, there were too few songs of this style in their repertoire. A reading of the Beatle's Help is next. It is an unnecessary choice- my least favorite track on the album- and the one I used to wish wasn't here as it breaks the established mood. That said, the dramatic ending does set up the exquisite and elongated version of Close to You.

Turning the LP over (and don't you miss the old 12" x 12" covers?), I thought the best was behind me as the two hit singles were found on side one. But what a surprise. Baby It's You captured my ear at first listen and contains one of the finest saxophone solos the Carpenters ever put to disc. Karen's performance is surely a knockout, but this is one of the first times the listener gets a glimpse of young Richard as a great, not just capable, arranger. It is a perfect pairing of singer, song choice, and production, proving his work on the Close to You single wasn't luck. Baby is intimate, dramatic, compelling. The promotions folks at A&M missed the mark here, as this deserved to be their third smash single.

Another Burt Bacharach classic gets the definitive treatment as I'll Never Fall in Love Again is next. Layered vocals and engaging keyboards give us a fresh take on this Top 40 hit. Two more Carpenter/Bettis compositions, the stark but lovely Cresent Noon, followed by Mr. Guder- a good solid song with a strange title, shift the mood once again. For the next number, Richard proves himself a pretty good vocalist. On the breezy I Kept on Loving You, the rhythm guitar plays perfectly against his confident phrasing. This terrific album ends with Another Song, an epic tale of love found and love lost, featuring an ambitious arrangement equal to the powerful fuzz guitar solo on the later Goodbye to Love. This album was a perfect introduction to the talents of this brother and sister team. I was hooked.

Interestingly, I started to discover the power of music to influence its listeners. Not only was the album a turning point in my appreciation of other styles of music, country music in particular, but in hindsight I realized the music of Karen and Richard helped form many of my ideas about romantic love. In the real world, not necessarily a good thing. Yet I also discovered they made some great "mood" music, so you take the good with the bad!

It was a pleasure discovering their wonderful singles were not a fluke. In my opinion, the only thing stopping this set from being Karen and Richard's masterpiece album is the absence of a chart topping Carpenter/Bettis composition. That would come later. This fine collection did establish a long and successful career, creating a large and dedicated fan base of listeners from all over the world. I could not wait for their next album, and fortunately it didn't disappoint.
 
Thanks Mark. It's always fun reading about others reactions at the time. Sorry I missed your February posting about OFFERING - it's one of my favorites. When I get time, I'll retell my OFFERING story, and maybe others will chime in withe their first impressions of albums, when they discovered Carpenters, etc.

Harry
 
The first Carpenters album I bought myself was A SONG FOR YOU. It's the perfect Carpenters album. All the others have their moments but ASFY is the tops in my book.

That said - I still have a lot of appreciation for TICKET TO RIDE. The sound was raw, but the elements were all in place. I agree with most of 'mstaft's thoughts above, except I really enjoy "Eve" -- it's a really compelling arrangement and melody. (Although I must admit I've never really paid much attention to the lyrics on that particular song, for some reason!)

I do wish the remastered classic release of TICKET had included the "OFFERING" cover on the back of the booklet....maybe in some later release, eh?

The title track from CLOSE TO YOU is the first thing I ever heard by the Carpenters. I still remember it: I was out for dinner with my parents and the song came over the restaurant's crappy stereo system. The first thing that really caught my ear was the trumpet solo -- I thought maybe it was Herb Alpert. Not long after that, one of my younger sisters got the album for a Christmas present and it proceeded to echo through our house for a few weeks. Still, I was not convinced - I just wasn't ready to appreciate it yet, I guess. Liking the Carpenters was just not cool.

It wasn't until I saw the group performing "Hurting Each Other" on The Tonight Show I thought, hmm, these people are not bad. About that time, the ASFY album came out, I bought it, got hooked, and subsequently filled in the earlier albums. To this day the first five albums are my favorites.
 
Hey, wordy or not, at least you wrote reviews for the Carpenters albums. To this day, the official A&M Corner Discographies still do not feature the label's most famous duo's recorded output. Considering their popularity and their importance to the label, I just cannot understand why this site would snub the group this way.
 
No snub intended. It's just that all of the A&M Corner staff has regular jobs and hasn't been able to devote the time necessary to cover the subject with the due amount of care and respect.

Also, given the fact that there are already several comprehensive Carpenters discographies on the web, not to mention countless fan sites and discussion boards (such as this one) where the albums are discussed continuously, there just isn't as much of a need for a Carpenters discography here as there is for some of the less-ubiquitous artists.
 
Just so you know, my review of "Hush" will be up on my blog on Monday. It was a very hard one to write, as it is a mixed bag, I am filled with contradictions regarding the album. But it has some great artwork with the post!
 
Easy Listening Defined
To be a Carpenters fan in the early seventies was a dream in many ways, a nightmare in others. It was tough going explaining to your friends that yes, that was a Carpenters single right next to All Right Now from Free or Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. In fact, I eventually hid my Carpenters records until I knew my new friends wouldn't avoid me when they discovered my guilty pleasure! On the plus side of being a Carpenters fan, you also knew that a new single or album was always right around the corner as Karen and Richard were highly productive. In fact, it was a mere nine months between the release of the Close to You album and the self-titled one later known among fans as the Tan album.

Carpenters was a landmark, Grammy award winning collection because of some classic performances and impeccable production. Yet it was important for other reasons as well. The release of the disc set in place frustrations that would greatly bother the duo for the remainder of their career.


While this album presents the first appearance of the elegant Carpenters logo- and so further defined them- it also begins a long season of bad marketing and syrupy publicity photos. Most importantly, the dividing line between the Rock and Roll world and Karen and Richard was set firmly in place and made even worse by an unfortunate original song. Battle lines were clearly drawn. Egos flared. Animosity between the camps would last for years with fans caught in the middle.

For the most part, the music was stunning. In reviewing the content of each album based only on its singles, Carpenters contains three powerful performances, each one better than its predecessor. Never again would Karen and Richard release such an artisticly and commercially successful string of 45s: For All We Know, Rainy Days and Mondays, Superstar. The latter two are regarded by many in the music community and fans alike as the Carpenters' consummate performances, noting the blend of Karen's showstopping vocals and Richard's insightfully wise arrangements.

Single releases aside, the disc contains the intimate Let Me Be the One, the wistful Hideaway, and the simple reflective Sometimes. It is the rest of the material that highlights some potential problems in the Carpenters camp. A generally mellow sounding disc, the tan album steps even further away from any rock and roll nuances, avoiding the 60s and the Beatles and Beach Boys influences altogether. I liked it- loved it even- but the album did not have the variety of textures I so appreciated on Close to You.

The Bacharach Medley, although a very fun listen, reuses material from the previous album, showing that Richard might have been rushed into getting this album to market. Saturday is a nice sounding tune containing a lead vocal by him and an arrangement sounding like a tribute to Herb Alpert. However, coming on the heels of Rainy Days, it seems a gimmick. Side Two's original Carpenter/Bettis song One Love tastes a bit too sweet and sentimental, but it is the selection before it which causes my teeth to grind a bit.

Obviously wanting to follow the content of Superstar from a different angle, Richard and John came up with Druscilla Penny. Bluntly, this is a terrible song all around- in my mind their worst ever. The lyric line smugly takes a swing at rock and roll bands and their groupies, just begging for a fight. A&M should have demanded this song be replaced with something else. Ironically, many of these same executives had a purported dislike of Karen and Richard and their music. (See below. Notice who is standing behind Karen and Richard's album? I'd prefer to think the shot was done in good humor.) Maybe allowing this song was a type of silent mutiny. Regardless, this fine album would have been much better without it.

Ultimately the tan album took its place at the top of the sales charts for many months and continued their string of hits. Superstar and Rainy Days and Mondays became instant classics. Karen began to be recognized for her marvelous voice. Fans wanted more- and the duo delivered with constant touring, single and album releases, and television appearances. But with success came pressure, as A&M and the Carpenter's manager realized they had a cash cow on their hands. The yearly album release would no doubt happen again, and this time Richard and Karen would deliver one many fans consider their masterpiece.
 
mstaft said:
Second Time's the Charm...

Although quickly put together to capitalize on the success of the "Close to You" single, this 1970 album (Close to You) is actually a near perfect representation of the combined talents of Richard and Karen. This disc remained on my turntable for many weeks. Repeated listenings over the decades have only deepened my appreciation for it, making it a sentimental favorite.
Click to expand...


Can't help but notice how the title-track ends Side 1 and think it's a fairly good place for it, too... The album the Johnny Mathis version of "Close To You", is also entitled Close To You, too... Funny how it starts off with the title-track and uncanny how the second song is the eerie Clarence "Sonny" Henry-written "Evil Ways", a hit for Santana and the 2nd song on Side 1 of their first album released about the same time... Gabor Szabo did an instrumental version in the middle of Side 1 of his Magical Connection LP and really made it work... And Tommy Roe also recorded it, on Side 2 of We Can Make Music almost exactly like the Carpenters version, with even the trumpet solo intact...

Have memories of the song and this album, too...! Magical ones, I should say...!
wizard.gif




Dave
 
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