What if "(They Long to Be) Close to You" Doesn't Hit?

[rockdoctor]

And beyond what the other popular albums of 1970 had for covers, we really need to look at A&M's work at the time. It was an in-house art department, which is very different from Mick Jagger sending Andy Warhol a telegram saying "make what you like and bill us for what it costs" and getting the jacket for Sticky Fingers.

A&M's rock output at that time was largely licensed from Island (UK), so let's look at their domestic pop product from '70, leading up to Close To You:







Common theme---stick 'em outside and take their picture. If the Evie Sands album had hit, K&R might have been on a tandem bike---which might have been worse.

Interestingly enough, the Sandpipers(Come Saturday Morning) and Evie Sands( Any Way That You Want Me) were getting airplay here in eastern Virginia, the former on AM and FM radio and the latter on FM. I do not remember hearing anything by Judith Durham in this area.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Interestingly enough, the Sandpipers(Come Saturday Morning) and Evie Sands( Any Way That You Want Me) were getting airplay here in eastern Virginia, the former on AM and FM radio and the latter on FM. I do not remember hearing anything by Judith Durham in this area.

Judith did not chart with that album or anything from it, even in her native Australia.

 

[newvillefan]

Ah the lovely Judith Durham - another singer who nobody has ever been able to come close to or authentically impersonate.

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

Clearly marketing didn’t get that. Criminal given that A&M was an artist-focused label.

I’m 55 years late, but the image is that this brother and sister are both incredibly talented musicians. The album covers could and should have been used to reinforce that. Instead, they put them everywhere except in a musical or creative setting.

I'm being grossly unfair ... but I'm not sure the photographer (of the Close to You album cover) had
a clue as to how to present Karen/Richard in a good light.

As the old sayings go: First impressions count ... and .... Mud sticks ...

... so a lovey-dovey album cover depicting a brother and sister 'act' and a song (their first hit)
that includes the lyrics:

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue ...

... Well, it's no wonder (the) Carpenters' had image problems!!!

Was it just a case of the photographer being lazy & saying something along the lines of:

"Rich, Karen ... Come 'n' sit down, will ya, and lemme take a photo. That's right, Kaz ... next to
Rich, there's a good girl. That's it, Rich, that's it - Close to You. Yes, yes, just like the album title.
Gee, shucks, Aren't I smart? Close to You ... Who'd have thought of it, eh? Now look into the
camera (You, too, Kaz), smile and say "Cheese"

Forgive my flippancy ... but I can easily see why the album cover drove Richard "nuts".

 

[byline]

I'm being grossly unfair ... but I'm not sure the photographer (of the Close to You album cover) had
a clue as to how to present Karen/Richard in a good light.

<snip>

Was it just a case of the photographer being lazy ....

Pretty close. From the Rolling Stone interview "Up from Downey" by Tom Nolan, July 4, 1974:

Richard returned to the subject of press photos and album covers. “Some I can stomach, as far as sending ‘em out with the press kits. But I’m still waiting for something that really knocks me out. And some, especially that Close to You cover ... zero imagination.

“They took me to Mister Guy’s for that, outfitted me in all this stuff that didn’t fit worth a damn. I can’t buy stuff off the rack. I have big shoulders and I sort of taper in. I said, it doesn’t fit. They said, you let us worry about it. The coat had to be pinned. The coat is held ... in ... with all these pins, all the way down, just for the picture. Cashmere coat must have cost 250 bucks. Super expensive pants. Shoes. The whole outfit.

“They give her some expensive dress and they take us and sit us – for an album cover that’s sold four million copies or something – took us to Palos Verdes, have us scramble down a 200-foot embankment. Waves splashing over the $400 outfits. Freezing, sopping wet. We’re supposed to record that night. And they sit us on a rock. And here’s this amateur right next to us, some amateur just out on the weekend, takin’ pictures of his girlfriend – the same identical pose! And I’m thinking ... something isn’t right here ….’ ‘OK, sit,’ they say, and, ‘OK, smile!’ And there’s the album cover.

“When they brought it in I said, ‘I don’t like it.’ They said, ‘Learn to love it.’

“I have never learned to love it. I hate it.”

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

next album maybe the cover is Richard at the console with Karen through the glass singing.

I'm imagining an album cover here similar to the beginning of the 'Only Yesterday' video.

Looking (again) at the running order of the Close to You album, no title readily
suggests any imagery on which to base an album cover on.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

Pretty close. From the Rolling Stone interview "Up from Downey" by Tom Nolan, July 4, 1974:

Album art was not down to a science in those days. As I said in an earlier post, in 1970, it seemed to be "take them outside", leading to...



Liza Minelli hitchhiking while standing on railroad tracks (A&M SP-4272---the very next album the label released after Close To You).



Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sitting in a field of grass.



...Rita Coolidge sitting in a field of grass.

And so on.

 

[Michael Hagerty]

And let's face it, posing two people is fraught---neither of these poses would have been a terribly good idea for K&R:






...which is why I think separated but together---and not looking at the camera--- in a creative setting like the studio would have been the right approach for Carpenters.

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

Album art was not down to a science in those days. As I said in an earlier post, in 1970, it seemed to be "take them outside", leading to...



Liza Minelli hitchhiking while standing on railroad tracks (A&M SP-4272---the very next album the label released after Close To You).



Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 sitting in a field of grass.



...Rita Coolidge sitting in a field of grass.

And so on.

Re: Dark Side of the Moon; Physical Graffiti; News of the World ...

I sometimes think that, as a child of the late-60's (and developing a keen interest in
music in the mid-70's), I was spoilt by the quality/imagination of (some of) the
music/artwork produced in that era; however, I have to admit that the images
(of the various A & M album covers) you've sent are hardly imaginative (And
even Supertramp's A Crime of the Century - released by A& M - leaves a lot
to be desired.)

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

And let's face it, posing two people is fraught---neither of these poses would have been a terribly good idea for K&R:






...which is why I think separated but together---and not looking at the camera--- in a creative setting like the studio would have been the right approach for Carpenters.

Good point (about the problems of posing two people together ... especially if they're
brother and sister & are renowned for performing love songs.)

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme: great album.

Not keen on Bookends ... Something about the pedestrian drumming annoys me.
I'll have to check the credits (I think it's Hal Blaine, if memory serves.)

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

Ah the lovely Judith Durham - another singer who nobody has ever been able to come close to or authentically impersonate.

I've never come across a single Carpenters' tribute act where the lead singer could be
mistaken for Karen ... so I now avoid them like the plague (Why settle for, at most,
second best?)

Don't get me wrong, the 'Karen impersonators' can sing beautifully, but none have
Karen's (unique ) timbre (for instance, the sheer resonance on Christ is Born or,
for wont of a better term, the 'slightly metallic/robotic tone' on Solitaire.)

 

[STEVE@ENGLAND]

The front title could be OFFERING, and/or the rear could be TICKET TO RIDE, but you get the idea. The background of the cover would need to be airbrushed to remove the band-member from the picture, but you get the idea.

Even hard rock bands weren't immune from poor album covers.

The front cover for Black Sabbath's second album (Paranoid), for instance, even
featured a guy running around in his pants - brandishing a sword (I think 'Poor
album covers' should be a new thread.)

Whatever were they thinking of?

I believe Sabbath were, initially, going to call the album War Pigs - after another
track on the album; but, for some mysterious reason, the record company nixed
the idea of having a drawing of a corpulent pig (dressed as an army general -
chomping on a big, fat cigar) on the front cover of one of their albums (I wonder
why!!!)

I think I'm going off on a tangent again (I'm discussing Black Sabbath on a
Carpenters' forum!!!)

Now, back to the Close to You album, if you don't mind, Steve ...

 

[newvillefan]

I've never come across a single Carpenters' tribute act where the lead singer could be
mistaken for Karen ... so I now avoid them like the plague (Why settle for, at most,
second best?)

Same here - I’ve seen many over the years and while a couple did a great tribute, not one of their lead vocalists came anywhere near replicating Karen’s unique, rich timbre and vocal style.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Have him sitting at a piano and it would be perfect! Would also be a metaphor for how his contributions to their career were perceived by the public.

 

[Jack A.]

Have him sitting at a piano and it would be perfect! Would also be a metaphor for how his contributions to their career were perceived by the public.

Yeah, I suppose that is true. I love how he's waving, too, as if he's like, "Hey! Over here! Look at me!"

 

[Harry]

[Moved a bunch of posts relating to alternate covers to that alternate cover thread.]