Poll: 'Carpenters' album in your collection?

Well, that was simply your peers. Where I lived, Carpenters were pretty cool up until the mid-70s, around the time of "Solitaire" (which is a very good song, BTW). Then, it became embarrassing to like them. Suddenly, there was The Captain & Tennille, Diana Ross, Neil Sedaka, and Barry Manilow, along with Barbra Streisand comin in and out of our lives with the occasional hit. All of these artists blended in with the music of David Bowie, Ohio Players, and Boston on the radio. They all sold millions of records, and were popular. Sure, the soft-rockers had a certain audience, but they were enjoyed by all but the hardest rockers. So, what happened to Karen and Richard? Once Captain & Tennille started riding up the charts, the Carpenters fell off it more than they were on it. They were both on the same record label. Could marketing have had something to do with it?

BTW, Andy Williams and Bobby Sherman had their last hits in like...1971!

 

"Carpenters", the tan album is one of my favorite rock/pop albums of all time together with the red album "A Song For You". I grew up listening to both albums and they are in my record vinyl collection. These two are the albums that I consider their masterpieces and the two consecutive peaks of their recording career. If I will be asked to name my third favorite Carpenters album, it would be "Close To You".

 

I think it was teenage identification politics. I was 12 years old in 1975. And, there was a group of kids many of us (correctly) percieved as gay who were all into Carpenters music at the time. In other places, that alone probably scared off some potential male fans. Strange that this didn't affect anyone's like of Barry Manilow, or the other soft rockers where I lived. A lot of guys who were rockers and funksters got off on Manilow's bombastic arrangements. I always dug the way he would start a song of soft and sweet, and progress with a crashing crescendo.

 

Found a NM copy for $1 a few years ago - the cover and vinyl are first rate.
Still searching for a 1969-1973 Hits LP in the same condition (and price).

 

Trying to imagine a 70's where the Carpenters were cool ... nope can't do it. Nothing squarer than the Carpenters.
Saw Hendrix a few times but never had even a little urge to see the Carpenters.

We obviously lived different lifestyles. We might be different ages too. I think even a few years could make a difference.
By the 70's school days were behind me. I was hitchhiking around the country before settling back home in California.

BTW -
1970 - "(They Long to Be) Close to You" "We've Only Just Begun"
1971 - "Rainy Days and Mondays" "Superstar"

After that they were honestly off my radar anyway ...

 

I saw the LP in a charity shop a few weeks ago. The record and gatefold sleeve were in poor condition but the original lyric booklet, which you hardly ever see now, was included. I put the record back, but I should have bought it for the lyric book alone. It wasn't expensive.

 

It's probably the age thing, and I lived in rural America. I have no idea what you meant by "lifestyle". I grew up like an average kid in the suburbs.

BTW -

BTW, their first record was in 1969.

They were on the radar of anyone who listened to pop music in the 70s. I was six years old in 1970. I had carpenters music right next to temptations music. Take that as what you will.

 

"I was six years old in 1970. "
Well there ya go ... that clears things up.

 

I was 3 years old in 1970 but I don't have any memory of the Carps ever being cool!

 

Carpenters Anthology has the individual tracks.

 

True. They were touring way too much and couldn't concentrate on recording good tunes. The public responded by not buying their albums. They then went into a slump they never came out of.

They went uptempo with "Postman" and it was just as homogenized as what came before. Hey, at least it didn't have an oboe. "Yesterday" has some nice flourishes. "Horizon" itself is a very nice album - both song-wise and sonically. Even the album cover is well-done. "Goofus" from the next record screwed everything up. "Passage" is a strange album with them hitting and missing. When they hit ("B'wana...), it was sublime. When they missed (nearly everything else other than "Calling..."), it was awful.

Karen herself did do disco on her solo record. It does kind of work, though she doesn't hit it out of the park. Rod Temperton's vocal arrangements and her voice were a match made in heaven and I'm sorry we don't have more of it to listen to.

Ed

 

Barry was the one that was a pariah when I was younger (born in 73 here). Moms loved him but I didn't get into him like that. As I got older, I could appreciate his musicianship and respect it even if it isn't totally my thing.

Karen was another matter. Her voice was so good that it almost didn't matter what tripe that voice was applied to. Even in the worst circumstances, she still sounded at least good. My R&B-loving friends (male and female) all liked her voice because she had it like that. There was a mildly soulful quality to her voice that was attractive to anyone - no matter what you were into. She could deliver a lyric and when that lyric was worthy of her, the results were spectacular.

If anything, Richard's ego could get in the way. His arrangements were generally too grandiose and he overproduced the songs quite often in an attempt to put his stamp on them. She didn't need strings and the entire kitchen sink all the time. They did "Made..." after her solo album got shelved and you can tell. He really asserted his dominance here and he made her sound like a cog in the machine as opposed to the center of attention. The results were horrific most of the time.

Ed

 

So, are you trying to tell me that I wasn't discerning at six? You're wrong, brother! Not everyone has your taste in music.

 

You were too young to have experienced the early 70s. It was a very unique time in pop music, much like the early 60s.

 

So they're the type of group that people secretly liked and didn't admit to it until they became adults?

 

Yes. Richard, especially, was overworked, and was taking uppers to keep himself going. That is a known fact. This is also the time when Karen's anorexia nervosa started to manifest itself.

You hate oboes, don't you?

You're speaking from the album mindset, obviously. I am speaking from a singles perspective, and "Goofus" was certainly a clunker, along with several other songs. "Sweet, Sweet Smile" was a nice tune, but in 1978???

I have that CD, and it is very nice. Too bad A&M shelved it. It could have changed her fortunes.

 

maybe it is your being younger, and where you lived. Seriously, pretty much everyone at least respected Manilow's style, and dug a few of his songs.

My buddy in 1975 had K.C. & The Sunshine Band, Ohio Players, and Captain & Tennille tapes.

 

*
No music by Carpenters at all


I do have this for the Grant Lee Buffalo
cover of WOJB

 

No music by The Carpenters at all...... surprisingly, not even on any of the myriad V/A comps I own.

 

I have no doubt many hid Carpenters' albums in various places and pulled them out only when they were alone. I had no shame, myself. It's it's good, it's good.

Ed

 

I've never felt that way about their music but I've listened to plenty of Katy Perry alone. I've even lowered the volume on my ipod when my roommate passed by.

 

I have a double-disc collecton which I never listen to.

 

If you don't like the Carpenters you're stupid ;-) It's not that complicated. In case anybody that likes them hasn't seen this:

 

Yes, because that three years difference is so enormous!

 

I picked "Carpenters and some of their other music" because the works I have from them cut off at 1973 - after their "Top Of The World" single / remix. I do have a rare Columbia Pitman pressing (with Monarch metal parts!) of their "Ticket To Ride" rendition - but only for the Pitman label fonts, as my preference remains to The Beatles' original. Of their LP's, besides this, I also have Close To You (first-pressing) and A Song For You, plus virtually every hit single (excepting "Goodbye To Love" - again, the label typesetting issue) from their first #1 "Close To You" up to the aforesaid "Top Of The World."

Alas, we are fast getting to the point where the only Carpenters' works we will be hearing on the radio will show up on Christmas time, and consist mainly of "Merry Christmas Darling" (which I also have, in its original 1970 issue) and other tracks from the Christmas LP they did. It's already happened with such onetime radio mainstays as Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams and Brenda Lee.