The Carpenters Yay Or Nay?

Yay! I used to go to this one bar and they had some Carpenters on the jukebox and I played them so much that they removed all Carpenters from it. I think that says it all.

 

She's out there. Her name is kd lang. Not much on her songs but her voice is just insanely good.

Ed

 

Good call! I especially loved her duet version with Roy Orbison himself on "Crying". Hard to imagine she would participate in taking a perfect song to... well, beyond perfect. Amazing.

 

Too sugary for me. I am tempted to turn off the radio whenever I hear any of their hits. Just not my cup of tea.

 

a definite 'Yay'!

 

kd lang is OK, but she isn't even close to Karen Carpenter.

 

Great voice for sure, superb melodies too but a little too cheesy for my taste. Although it's hard not to love Close to you.

 

Their best songs express something close to insanity, which I find especially moving in light of her demise.

The lyrics of "Goodbye to Love" are as bleak as anything Joy Division offered, but more disturbing for being sung in a cheery way.

"Rainy Days and Mondays"--don't get me started. The weird detachment and resignation to depression of that song creeps me out: "what I feel has come and gone before/ no need to talk it out/we know what it's all about." We do indeed. "They" used to call it the blues, but I don't have any name for it. Especially haunting is the bland turn toward the boyfriend/brother/whatever-he-is in the third verse: "funny but it seems I always wind up here with you/nice to know somebody loves me." Yeah funny, but not ha-ha. "Wind up" again is so passive and unenthusiastic, and she pointedly declines to say that she loves this person, only that he loves her. Shudder.

"Top of the World," far from "light-hearted" (as somebody said above), is obviously about being in the throes of a manic episode. There's an extreme, violent narcissism in the thing that is highly disturbing: the wind is whispering her name, and everything wonderful is happening "for me." This person is ecstatic at the center of her own crazy universe. Again, the address to the lover/brother is weirdly off kilter and detached: not really "I love you," but "the only explanation I can find/ is the love that I've found ever since you've been around." Gee thanks. This search for explanations doesn't bode well. When she says she "won't be surprised if it's a dream," she knows whereof she speaks. A crash into a black and hopeless depression is coming, probably in about 20 minutes.

 

I like 'Goodbye To Love' but most of their stuff I could live without ever hearing again.

 

Downey Girl



Dave Alvin sings a song about a very famous girl that grew up in his hometown of Downey, CA, about 13 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles

 

A big "yay". One of my favorites. They were incredibly talented and turned out a slew of great songs. Karen just left us far too soon.

 

We finally disagree. Had to happen. LOL! She isn't Karen but her voice is every bit that good. kd might be the most underrated singer ever.

Ed

 

I wish i would have seen Karen Carpenter play drums live.

 

Karen's vocals are always outstanding and Richard between 70-75 really was spot on in his song choices and arrangements. Then in 76 they went too many oldies too far with A Kind Of Hush and the song choices got more patchy (see the wretched Goofus - that had to be a Ludes based choice). Richard all of a sudden started going too choral in his orchestrations. For example: Did we really need the OK Chorale in the background of Make Believe It's Your First Time? The original version cut on Karen's cancelled solo album focused on the vulnerability of her voice. The choir just underlines the saccharine arguement some folks made about their records. The Captain & Tennille exploded just as the Carps left the US top ten for the last time with Only Yesterday then Top 40 radio replaced K&R as the pop duo of choice probably due to the more punchy uptempo path Toni & Daryl took. If you had your choice of play-listing Goofus or Shop Around, which way would you go? Disco also finished things off as they wouldn't have another mid level hit until Top 40 went soft again. Its a shame that a few singles that were great got lost (see I Need To Be In Love & All You Get From Love Is A Love Song) but for the most part Richard just didn't seem to find the right singles to turn things around during the final five years of their pop career. They did make a minor comeback with Touch Me When We're Dancing going top 20 but the follow ups went right back to the syrupy choir and oldies side and the momentum was lost. A great group and deserving of better respect than they get but I wish someone had stepped in to guide the Carpenters last few years to more of those consistent give ya shivers songs and vocals like they had so seemingly easily provided in the early seventies....

 

Definitely not my thing, it's the type of music that makes me want to walk into oncoming traffic.

 

I posted a similar sentiment around here many moons ago and got shot down. The Carpenters released some really depressing stuff.

 

Agree with your melancholy comments. I've always gotten that as well but never been sure if that was informed by Karen's untimely death or it was always there.

Having not heard their music until after I can't say personally.

 

Back in the day I used to think they were rather unfashionable? But I grew to love their music.

 

It's all about Karen's voice, and that kind of haunted loneliness in it which was maybe caused by her dysfunctional family situation. Domineering, cold mother; domineering brother, passive father. Would she have been able to sing with the same wistful sadness if her family life had been more normal? Who knows. Having said that, Richard was an excellent arranger for her voice, and when the songs were good it was really magic. She ended up basically killing herself, intentionally or not, after doing a solo album that Richard and A&M records didn't want released. I wonder if she knew how to be happy.

Forgive my pretentious blathering, I just think it's such a shame that such an incredible talent went away so soon.

 

Oh, the fan hyper-interpretations. LOLOL!!! Very entertaining...

Ed

 

One of the greatest Pop groups ever.

 

See? This is when things get uncomfortable. She had a disease called Anorexia Nervosa. People have suffered through the issues she dealt with and didn't contract the disease. She did. It killed her. Psychoanalying someone we don't know is just odd. We only actually know the songs she sang. The rest (even the books) don't get us to the place where we know her. Just saying...

Ed

 

What kind of pole is this! I guess we've truly reached the dog days of summer!

Pure Pop Bliss.

 

You're welcome.

 

If I were here then, I would have stood shoulder to shoulder with you, bro.