The Carpenters. Studio/Live/Solo/Selected Compilation Albums Poll.

I beg to differ. During the early 70's , the Carpenters music (from 1969-1972) was always being categorized as soft rock and far from being in the easy listening genre (Mantovani, Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, etc.).

After losing their producer Jack Daugherty and running out of better materials, the later albums lost the rock elements of the earlier albums and they became an MOR band.

 

K&R were never considered "soft rock"-that would be like saying that Frank Sinatra is"soft rock". K&R's material was too soft,too slow & too lushly orchestrated to be considered "soft rock'. Aside from the Beatles remakes,the guitar solo on "Goodbye To Love" & a couple of the Oldies on Now & Then-there's nothing in K&R's catalog that is remotely Rock-oriented or Rock influenced.

We could take "It's Going To Take Some Time" for example-this is a jazz-oriented easy listening ballad. Many people would call this "Lounge" music. There's nothing Rock-oriented about this recording in any way,shape or form.

Some of those early 70's tracks("Close To You","Sing","Top Of The World") are the most "elevator" recordings in K&R's catalog.

K&R weren't a "band"-they were a vocal duo. The difference with the later albums: Richard had more vocal participation on the early albums-Karen was more of a solo vocalist on the later albums. The later albums also used more strings(and/or a full orchestra)-and included more standard material.

 

More a brand than a band

 

I beg to differ again. It depends on how you define the term "rock." Rock has different sub-genres such as pop, soft-rock, rock and roll, heavy metal, etc. To me, Carpenters music were properly categorized as soft rock, almost in the same vein as other soft rock proponents of the 70's (Bread, Seals & Crofts, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Gallery, Dawn featuring "Tony Orlando, Lobo, Captain & Tennille, America, Looking Glass, etc.).
The earlier albums have more rock elements on them compared to the uninteresting pure MOR albums (post-1972) and that probably have contributed together with the better materials in the success of the earlier albums compared to the later albums.

 

Pop is not a sub-genre of Rock,Pop is it's own genre.

Many of these acts mentioned are indeed "Soft Rock"-but Karen doesn't fit in with this particular group of artists.The music of America,Bread and Seals & Crofts feature a ballad style with a Rock structure-comprised of Acoustic Guitars,Electric guitars,bass & drums. K&R's music is jazz & classically structured-with Oboes,French Horns,piano,trumpets,sax & strings.

Richard was the main guest star(along with Herb Alpert) on a semi-recent UK documentary "The Joy Of Easy Listening". Richard discusses at length the style of music that he & Karen made(Yes-he does refer to it as Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary). Worth checking out.

There's plenty of great material on the early albums-but there's also some amazing material on the later albums. The Tan album is very MOR,by the way.

 

"Pop" and "rock" were roughly synonymous terms. During the early 70's, the Carpenters' music was categorized multiple times in the past by many critics and radio dj's as "soft rock." I have also heard some radio personalities categorizing their music as "one of the soft sound of the 70's" together with other soft rock artists that I previously mentioned.
On the other hand, MOR genre is more synonymous with easy listening, the genre that includes Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, James Last, and many others.
Regarding the self-titled third album, it has really excellent materials from great songwriters of the time and although the songs and arrangements can be easily categorized as soft music, I don't think it's right to classify them in the same genre that includes Mantovani and Richard Clayderman. Also, I don't think soft music should be categorized as MOR or easy listening just because they are melodic.

 

The problem is : you can't categorize a recording artist who had a 14-year career based on the first three years. Let's assume that Karen was regarded as Soft Rock from 1969-1972,and then she was considered a Lounge Singer from 1973-1983. That means that Karen spent most of her recording career as a Lounge Singer-and that's how people would regard her today.

I would agree that something like "Goodbye To Love" might have received some airplay on Soft Rock stations back then,maybe even"Help" and "Ticket To Ride" also,but you certainly couldn't label KC as Soft Rock based on that.

The Easy-Listening category covers much more than just instrumental "elevator" artists-many vocalists that are light jazz/traditional pop fit into this category: KC, Astrud Gilberto,Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66,Rosemary Clooney,The Sandpipers,Tony Bennett,Diana Krall,Andy Williams,etc.

 

Actually, the Carpenters' are best remembered for their music from the first four or five years from 1969-1972/73 because that's the period in their career that have produced the most memorable and more interesting albums and hit singles and that was also the period when they were at their artistic and commercial peak. They appeared in the music scene during the time when other soft rock artists and the singer-songwriters genre became very popular. Yes, the latter years are longer but very anemic compared to the earlier period as their album and singles sales dwindled as years went by approaching the 80's.

 

Karen is actually more famous today for her classic Christmas recordings-than for many of her big hit singles. Christmas Portrait is considered K&R's magnum opus-and both Christmas Portrait and Christmas Collection have been the best-selling titles in their catalog for 20+ years.(CP has sold 2 million copies in the US since 1991(Soundscan)-averaging out to 80,000 copies a year). Karen was in top form vocally on these 1978 sessions.

Horizon is also a best-selling disc and a big fan-favorite. Many people(fans and critics) consider this one of their finest albums.

K&R's commercial peak period started in 1970-not 1969. K&R had no hit singles in 1969-and their debut album is actually the worst-selling album in their catalog.

I would encourage giving the later albums a re-listen: there's plenty of excellent material and amazing arrangements on those mid/late 70's albums,including an energetic jazz-fusion track from 1977-"Bwana She No Home". The big band Latin Jazz arrangement on "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" is another attention-grabber.

 

I beg to differ. The Carpenters' career peak artistically and commercially was the early period from 1970-1973. I agree that the Carpenters were not at their peak in 1969 with the released of their debut album "Offering." Their breakthrough album came a year later with the release of "Close To You" and their career peak continued until 1973 with the release of two albums within the same year such as ""Now and Then" and their very first compilation album "The Singles: 1969-1973."

To prove my point that the Carpenters were more successful in the early years, the following list shows their album sales by album release. You'll notice from 1970-1973, their album sales is 18 million units. From 1975-later, their album sales only total about 3.5 million units.

1969 - "Offering" (later became "Ticket to Ride")
1970 - "Close To You" - 2x Platinum
1971 - "Carpenters" - 4x Platinum
1972 - "A Song For You" - 3x Platinum
1973 - "Now and Then" - 2x Platinum
1973 - "The Singles - 1969-1973" - 7x Platinum
1975 - "Horizon" - Platinum
1976 - "A Kind of Hush" - Gold
1977 - "Passage"
1978 - "Christmas Portrait" - Platinum
1981 - "Made in America"
1983 - "Voice of the Heart" - Gold
1984 - "An Old-Fashioned Christmas" - Gold
1989 - "Lovelines"

 

To say that Karen is more famous for her Christmas songs than anything else is totally insane. Obviously you're a fan of Christmas Portrait and it did sell well (in America over a long period of time at least), but is there anything on it that's better known than the likes of We've Only Just Begun, Close To You, Rainy Days & Mondays or Superstar? Of course not!

I'd also dispute Christmas Portrait being classed as their 'magnum opus'. Perhaps you mean in your house it's considered their magnum opus?! Stacked against A Song For You or Horizon? Really?

 

I was just about to write the same thing, what an odd thing to say...

 

Honestly, apart from "Merry Christmas, Darling" I don't much care for Carpenters' Christmas recordings. But "Merry Christmas, Darling" is one of the best Christmas songs written in the past 50 years.

 

That is a good song.

 

As an American born in the 1970s, the only exposure I ever had to the Carpenters growing up was through their Christmas music. American pop culture basically eliminated the Carpenters once MTV came around. I doubt most Americans under the age of 40 would even recognize the Carpenters' hits.

 

Yes really insane and the funniest post I have seen in this Forum ever.

 

It's a different story here. Their music has always been played a lot in the UK. I'd say most folk under 40 would know at least s0me of the Carpenters big hits.

And virtually none of their Xmas stuff.

 

Well to be honest they are all pretty unlistenable. Kind of creepy brother and sister duo.

 

Spoken like a true redneck...

 

Don't cry for me Argentina, a weak, weak song.

 

It's not a favourite of mine. By anybody.

 

Passage is a big favourite of mine. "B'wana She No Home" is stunning.

 

No not a redneck genius just my opinion. Sorry if I ruffled your little "Carpenter" feathers. Seriously the "Carpenters"...one step higher than "Tiny Tim".

 

Go back up the mountains and play your banjo and stop trolling this thread...

 

Well said! I'm in my mid-40's,and I have no recollection of K&R's early 70's hits.Whether "Hurting Eachother","Please Mr Postman" or "Sing" were big hits 45 years ago means absolutely nothing to me-these songs have received little or no radio airplay since the 1970's.

Karen's Christmas recordings,on the other hand,are all classics-and they receive a tremendous amount of radio airplay every year. During the holiday season ,it's possible to hear Karen 100 times a day anywhere in the US.

K&R's more classic singles do get a good amount of airplay today on Lite-FM and easy-listening stations: "For All We Know","Rainy Days","Superstar","We've Only Just Begun" and "Solitaire". The Jazz & standard material also gets a good amount of airplay on traditional jazz stations: "This Masquerade","A Song For You","Little Girl Blue",etc. But,generally speaking,the pop fluff hits have basically fallen by the wayside-and thankfully so.