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Mike Blakesley said:For what it's worth, XM's '70s channel plays hit records from the 70s without regard to whether they're seen as "cool" today or not. Therefore, you hear plenty of Carpenters music, along with "Rise" and "Rotation" by Herb Alpert.
Well, at least I actually hear MARY CHAPIN Carpenter...!!!
Harry said:It goes back to the decade from which they sprang. The '70s was a decade marked with a lot of different kind of music. You had the ballads, the bubblegum, soul, hard rock, hair bands, and disco all vying for popularity...
Mike Blakesley said:...I think for most Carpenters fans, the orchestrations are part of what gives the music its appeal....
It must'a been a first for Young Artists such as them to have orchestations in their music as it was to have music which was not even in the EZ Listn'nin' Field that needed to be orchestrated...!
ticket to ride sadIf anything, I think the "sadness" factor of the Carpenters' music is one of the things keeping them off the radio.
davidgra said:It must'a been a first for Young Artists such as them to have orchestations in their music as it was to have music which was not even in the EZ Listn'nin' Field that needed to be orchestrated...!
Actually, the whole "orchestration" of rock music started with the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS and the Beatles' REVOLVER back in 1966. Songs like "God Only Knows" and "Eleanor Rigby" made use of orchestral instruments for a new sound in "rock" music.
Even earlier than this, "pop" music was using orchestral accompaniment rather frequently. Look at the output of Burt Bacharach and Hal David in the early '60s -- Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart" or "Walk On By," Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'," etc.
I don't think we can blame to Carpenters' lack of radio play today entirely on the orchestral accompaniments. In many ways, the arrangements gave Karen and Richard a more "timeless" sound than they would have had if they used only electric piano, fuzz guitar and tambourine.
The "goody-four-shoes" image seems to me to have more directly impacted their coolness factor by the late '70s. If you compare someone like Olivia Newton-John, who had a similar image in the early '70s, you'll see that Olivia remained popular by changing her image, starting with GREASE (Sandy 2). Her music followed suit with the album TOTALLY HOT, and even her brief foray into disco (XANADU) was overcome with the much more adult and suggestive PHYSICAL.
If anything, I think the "sadness" factor of the Carpenters' music is one of the things keeping them off the radio. I think that the average radio listener still associates the Carpenters with tragedy and loss, even if they weren't a big fan to begin with. Most people don't like to have those feelings stirred up, so there's a negative reaction to the music. That's the response I get when friends tell me they don't want to hear the Carpenters in my car or at my house -- "It's too sad."
David