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Post by Rick Henry on May 5, 2007 10:27:32 GMT -5
 With this post we celebrate our diversity in tastes and viewpoints... and maybe we'll shake things up a bit. With this topic let's discuss the Carpenters albums we love - but then let's flip the coin and discuss the one's that we don't care for as much as the others. Here's a list of all the albums... Original studio albumsTicket To Ride (Offering) Close To You Carpenters A Song For You Now And Then Horizon A Kind Of Hush Passage Christmas Portrait Made In America Karen Carpenter (solo) Time (Richard solo) Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor (Richard solo) Posthumously released compilations with previously unreleased songsVoice Of The Heart An Old Fashioned Christmas Lovelines As Time Goes By * Note... any comments made by any of us should be taken as simply our own personal viewpoint and not meant to hurt anybody's feelings. Please do not argue with another person on their viewpoint as we are all entitled to think what we think. We all view and hear things differently due to our backgrounds and life experience. This topic is meant only to post your personal thoughts and not to argue with another about their thoughts. My favorite albums are "Horizon", "Passage" and "Karen Carpenter". Each of these albums notes a move ahead for the Carpenters. "Horizon" is noted as being Carpenters' finest work by most music critics and fans alike - it is also one of their best selling studio albums worldwide. "Passage" is very well liked by music critics and received excellent reviews upon it's release - this was a bold and daring step for the Carpenters. "Karen Carpenter" found Karen singing with a renewed verve and excitement which was lacking in the releases which came after she recorded her solo. Karen Carpenter again showed a sense of adventure and a wanting to move forward and try something new. "Horizon" - Technically this is the Carpenters' most complete and intricate album. They put many hours and months of work into crafting what has become known as the perfect pop album. It contains it's upbeat tunes ("Please Mr. Postman" and "Happy") and it's dark and moody tunes ("Desperado" and "Solitaire"). Karen Carpenter's voice was rich and full bodied in each song on this album and every song was arranged and performed in her range of comfort (meaning she did not sing out of her key or strain on any song). "Desperado" was instantly the favorite of music critics and along with "Solitaire" has the honor of being one of Karen's very finest vocal performances of all songs she's ever recorded. I love this album because every song on it is outstanding. Even my least favorite track ("I Can Dream Can't I") is outstanding. My favorite track is "Only Yesterday". "Passage" - being a (former) musician I am able to recognize the extreme and diverse musicianship found on "Passage". What I love about Carpenters is that with each album they tried to bring something new to the table (and this was true with each of their releases in the 70's - that changed with their 1981 release). "Passage" found Carpenters reaching back to earlier influences yet going above and beyond with each style and genre. They experimented again with Jazz stylings on "B'wana She No Home" but this time took the jazz to a heightened level. This was not the soft (possibly fluffy) smooth jazz style - which one might expect to hear from Carpenters. This time Carpenters went far beyond expectations both musically and commercially. They broke all barriers with this song. Carpenters went jazz fusion on us (which means they mixed elements of jazz and rock together) and they did not do a tongue in cheek recording nor was it done half-heartedly they recorded this song authentic to the genre - this is the real thing - the song has depth and body. The song contains intricate progressive jazz styled electric guitar riffs (which are missed by most who are not listening for it). The flute and saxophone workings are simply out of this world and are also brought to the forefront instead of kept as a side show to the vocals. Leon Russell's take piano performance brings another texture to the song. Simply put "B'wana She No Home" is a musicians song. I've also found that people who generally do not like Carpenters seem to really love "B'wana She No Home". "Sweet Sweet Smile" is another outstanding tune which finds the Carpenters experimenting with a genre found on previous albums this time it's country music - but now they've added an edge to the overall sound and sparked up the pace and recorded quite a sizzling number which raced straight up into the top ten of the country music charts. "All you Get From Love Is A Love Song" is a toe tapper which moved like no other Carpenters song before it. For good measure there is a good share of standard Carpenters fare such as "I Just Fall In Love Again" and "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" - but even these songs are taken from a slightly different angle. My favorite track is "Two Sides" - the lyric is one of the Carpenters' most honest and powerful while Karen's vocal is silky perfection - I enjoy the trio of guitars in this song. "Karen Carpenter" (solo) - I love every track on this album. Karen sang with a new excitement and verve - she truly enjoyed recording these songs. I find this to be the most honest and sincere of any vocal workings Karen has done in her entire body of work. This is who Karen Carpenter really was and this is the way she wanted to be viewed by the world. She wanted to be seen as upbeat forward moving and happy. she did not want that tag of being known as the world's saddest singer (and personally I never cared for that tag on her).  Lesser favorites... I could go the easy route and list both of Richard's solo albums as my lesser favorites - as anything with Karen's voice on it is automatically going to be better in my mind. But to challenge myself I will choose a few which contain Karen's lead vocals. This is tough as I actually do love all the albums released with Karen's voice - but there are some I like less than others. Most of these lie with in the posthumously released albums. "Made In America" - This is the Carpenters most lightweight of the original studio albums. I view this as being the album Richard put together to please the powers that be at A&M. The Carpenters' popularity was waning and A&M wanted them to play it safe - which history proves that A&M's angle of playing it safe did not work and the album was their least successful of all their original studio albums. The album was not as innovative as their earlier works. It is what I call the homogenization of the Carpenters. Karen's vocals on this album were as always fantastic - yet not with the same level of excitement she had on her solo album. "As Time Goes By" while I do love "Nowhere Man", "Dancing In The Street", "Karen/Ella Medley", "I Got Rhythm" and "Leave Yesterday Behind" - I mostly find this collection of outtakes and TV Special songs to be slightly uneven in it's sound quality. The mix on the "Carpenters/Como Medley" is somewhat bumpy - but that's due to the way the vocals were recorded for the program. I do however enjoy hearing Karen sing "It's Impossible" - though overall the medley is just fair. "You're Just In Love" would have been fantastic if left as it was with John Davidson's vocal - but Richard took out Davidson's vocal parts and dubbed his own newly recorded vocal in. This would have been okay but in the process there are parts where Richard's vocal timing is off and really detracts from the song - it takes some close listening to hear this - but it is there. "Voice Of The Heart" - I'm sure I will get some flack from fans on this one - as some Carpenters fans hold this album with sentimental value. I do however like four of the songs on this release - "Ordinary Fool", "Sailing On The Tide", "Prime Time Love" and "You're Enough". I do like the other songs - but again they are mostly fair to my ears. As lovely as the song "Now" is - Karen's vocal is somewhat out of her range of comfort and in portions of the song she is noticeably straining to reach the higher notes - though for being a scratch vocal it is a remarkably fine rendering. Also on "Two Lives" and "At The End Of The song" Karen's vocal performances just are not up the quality and verve I grew to love from her. "Look To Your Dreams" I feel is quite a poignant lyric, but it's generally not my type of song. As for "Ordinary Fool" - I don't understand why that one was pushed aside when "A Kind Of Hush" was released - this was much better than most songs which ended up on "A Kind Of Hush". "Ordinary Fool" is one of my favorite posthumously released songs, along with "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again". What are your views on favorites and lesser favorites? |
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karl
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Post by karl on May 6, 2007 11:36:19 GMT -5
HI Rick/members.
Although i like all the carpenters Albums my favourite ones for me are
HORIZION. This Album seems to be The Carpenters at their Artistic and professional peak and was also a big commercial success,This album also showcases Karens remarkable lower register and just about all of the songs on the Album could have been released as singles.Probably my favourite songs are Only yesterday and Desperado.
PASSAGE. Another one of my favourite Carpenters Albums.This one has some very good songs on it although im not keen on man smart woman smarter.The Carpenters at this point were certaintly trying to be versatile in selecting/recording songs,also a very diverse Album it should have been a bigger commercial success,althoug it did achieve gold status in UK meaning sales of 100,000
VOICE OF THE HEART.
I chose this Album as one of my other favourites probably also due to sentimental reasons and also like the songs especially NOW,SAILING ON THE TIDE,LOOK TO YOUR DREAMS.Karens voice seems to have taken on a new depth on some of these recordings.
LEAST FAVOURITE
MADE IN AMERICA.
I think this Album is one of their weakest its not really the direction they should have been taken in the early 1980s although i do like the hit single TOUCH ME WHEN WERE DANCING which should have climbed higher on the charts.And why on earth release BEECHWOOD 45789 as a single im not suprised it only made no 74 on charts.I just think the Carpenters could have put together a better choice for an Album for 1981.MADE IN AMERICA was also considered a commercial flop at the time of release.
A KIND OF HUSH.
After the release of HORIZION i always thought A KIND OF HUSH was a bit of a letdown apart from the beautiful I NEED TO BE IN LOVE the songs are a bit sublime compared to the previous Carpenters Albums .
karl.
uk
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Post by Rick Henry on May 6, 2007 12:09:38 GMT -5
HI Rick/members. Although i like all the carpenters Albums my favourite ones for me are HORIZION. This Album seems to be The Carpenters at their Artistic and professional peak and was also a big commercial success,This album also showcases Karens remarkable lower register and just about all of the songs on the Album could have been released as singles.Probably my favourite songs are Only yesterday and Desperado. PASSAGE. Another one of my favourite Carpenters Albums.This one has some very good songs on it although im not keen on man smart woman smarter.The Carpenters at this point were certaintly trying to be versatile in selecting/recording songs,also a very diverse Album it should have been a bigger commercial success,althoug it did achieve gold status in UK meaning sales of 100,000 VOICE OF THE HEART. I chose this Album as one of my other favourites probably also due to sentimental reasons and also like the songs especially NOW,SAILING ON THE TIDE,LOOK TO YOUR DREAMS.Karens voice seems to have taken on a new depth on some of these recordings. LEAST FAVOURITE MADE IN AMERICA. I think this Album is one of their weakest its not really the direction they should have been taken in the early 1980s although i do like the hit single TOUCH ME WHEN WERE DANCING which should have climbed higher on the charts.And why on earth release BEECHWOOD 45789 as a single im not suprised it only made no 74 on charts.I just think the Carpenters could have put together a better choice for an Album for 1981.MADE IN AMERICA was also considered a commercial flop at the time of release. A KIND OF HUSH. After the release of HORIZION i always thought A KIND OF HUSH was a bit of a letdown apart from the beautiful I NEED TO BE IN LOVE the songs are a bit sublime compared to the previous Carpenters Albums . karl. uk Hi Karl... nice to hear from you... Of course I must comment on some of what you've said in your post. HI Rick/members. Although i like all the carpenters Albums my favourite ones for me are HORIZION. This Album seems to be The Carpenters at their Artistic and professional peak and was also a big commercial success,This album also showcases Karens remarkable lower register and just about all of the songs on the Album could have been released as singles.Probably my favourite songs are Only yesterday and Desperado. karl. uk Couldn't agree more... "Horizon" is truly a work of art and Karen's voice was at peak performance at this point in time. HI Rick/members. Although i like all the carpenters Albums my favourite ones for me are PASSAGE. Another one of my favourite Carpenters Albums.This one has some very good songs on it although im not keen on man smart woman smarter.The Carpenters at this point were certaintly trying to be versatile in selecting/recording songs,also a very diverse Album it should have been a bigger commercial success,althoug it did achieve gold status in UK meaning sales of 100,000 karl. uk What a surprise... I thought I'd be the only one to list "Passage" as a favorite. I agree on "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" - although musically it is done quite well and it does manage to get a smile out of me. HI Rick/members. Although i like all the carpenters Albums my favourite ones for me are VOICE OF THE HEART. I chose this Album as one of my other favourites probably also due to sentimental reasons and also like the songs especially NOW,SAILING ON THE TIDE,LOOK TO YOUR DREAMS.Karens voice seems to have taken on a new depth on some of these recordings. karl. uk Yes, the sentimental factor does play heavily here. I think that is why it's liked by many Carpenters fans. Strange enough my two favorites songs on this collection are "Ordinary Fool" and "Prime Time Love". Not many people care for "Prime Time Love" - but the song really does have a snappy arrangement and moves along quite well - also Karen is singing completely with in her range of comfort - very good performance by her. I'd really like to dig up more information on this song - such as when it was recorded. HI Rick/members. LEAST FAVOURITE MADE IN AMERICA. I think this Album is one of their weakest its not really the direction they should have been taken in the early 1980s although i do like the hit single TOUCH ME WHEN WERE DANCING which should have climbed higher on the charts.And why on earth release BEECHWOOD 45789 as a single im not suprised it only made no 74 on charts.I just think the Carpenters could have put together a better choice for an Album for 1981.MADE IN AMERICA was also considered a commercial flop at the time of release. karl. uk I completely agree - this wasn't the right album to release for a comeback in 1981. I feel the album set Carpenters back a bit. I do however like the song "Those Good Old Dreams". Carpenters should have continued what they started with "Passage" - they were on to a good thing - and although "Passage" didn't sell as well as they would have liked it to sell - but it received a good amount of attention. "Passage" did not just pass by without being noticed. Richard receieved a Grammy Award nomination for his arrangement for "Calling Occupants...", "Sweet Sweet Smile" reached #6 on the country music charts. Carpenters were made the television news when they recorded the song "Don't Cry For Me Argentina". The big one - critics actually gave this album a fairly good review - which was something rare for a Carpenters album. Many radio DJ's were saying that "Passage" would provide the Carpenters with the much needed comeback. Radio DJ's loved the tunes on "Passage" - especially "Sweet Sweet Smile", "All You Get From Love Is A Love Song" and "Two Sides". "Passage" also brought a first for the Carpenters - they finally made it onto to AOR stations - brief as it was - they made it onto the Album Oriented Rock stations - "B'wana She No Home" and "calling Occupants" received a brief amount of FM Radio station play. Carpenters were certainly on the right track with "Passage" - they should have stuck with the new sound and direction and given it a chance - but A&M got scared and decided Carpenters needed to play it safe - hence the release of "Made In america" - well playing it safe - as history has it was not the thing to do either. Artists like Pat Benatar, Blondie, Stevie Nicks, Styx and REO Speedwagon were 1981's hot tickets - Karen's solo album would have been the thing to release during this time period - it would have created a big comeback for the voice of Karen Carpenter. HI Rick/members. LEAST FAVOURITE A KIND OF HUSH. After the release of HORIZION i always thought A KIND OF HUSH was a bit of a letdown apart from the beautiful I NEED TO BE IN LOVE the songs are a bit sublime compared to the previous Carpenters Albums . karl. uk Very true... to follow-up "Horizon" was going to be a tough feat no matter how you put it. "Horizon" was such a real gem. I agree "A Kind Of Hush" was a slight letdown as the songs were not the strongest - true some of them like "One More Time" and "Boat To Sail" are pretty solid songs ("I Need To Be In Love" is not a big favorite for me - could be the repetitiveness of the chorus ). Overall "A Kind Of Hush" just didn't have the same verve and depth as "Horizon" - it was somewhat lightweight - and on some of the songs Karen just was not putting her all into it. |
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Post by enigma on May 6, 2007 13:02:20 GMT -5
Here are my favorites Carpenter records: Offering/Ticket To Ride Just loved this debut liked the less sophisticated "raw" sound of this record Karens drumming make Richards leads on the record more enjoyable and when Karen takes the leads well even then she was simply fantastic her drumming was also top notch I still really enjoy this record. Horizon was the Carpenters masterpiece it was brilliant all the way through Karens lower register was the best it ever was on this record the production ranks amoung the best I have heard and I have heard all the best. The variety is more diverse than any other Carpenters effort and its a great listen top to bottom, Karen Carpenter this was a different Karen and proved to me what I already felt which was that Karen could sing anything with anyone this was really in touch with the music scene at the time and had an all star personel linup and it showed the production and musicianship were top notch stil love this record as well. now for the not so favorites A Kind Of Hush a real let down from Horizon maybe they could not top Horizon but they could have done better than this effort the record is OK but not their best work. Passage was an improvement from AKOH but still fell short dispite a bold effort in experimentation and some great songs the whole record was kind of eratic and given more time on Richards part (a more rested healthier Richard) could have been great just a note Made In American was not that bad it was out of sinc with the music scene but most Carpenters records were for the most part it was good it just did not sell is all. I agree Richrd should have went more with the theme of the solo record musically and songwise but he still did a good job on MIA I thought it was better than Hush or Passage overall and showed some musical direction towards the 80's music scene. Thats just my opinion on MIA   |
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karl
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Posts: 35
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Post by karl on May 6, 2007 14:29:23 GMT -5
HI Rick.
Thanks for feedback of Carpenters Albums,I agree KARENS SOLO ALBUM should have been released during 1980 plus with a couple of HIT SINGLES taken from it.This probably would have strengthened THE CARPENTERS return to the charts in 1981
Great minds think alike.
karl
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Post by smoothie2 on May 7, 2007 0:13:20 GMT -5
I'll give it more thought...but i have not heard all of each one of the albums...
I haven't heard Made in Am., Lovelines, Voice of the Heart or all of Karen's solo. Of the ones i do know, Passage is my least fave.
but...will give it more thought.
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Post by Rick Henry on May 7, 2007 9:33:04 GMT -5
As always some good thoughts from you Enigma... Of course I must comment on some of what you've said. Here are my favorites Carpenter records: Offering/Ticket To Ride Just loved this debut liked the less sophisticated "raw" sound of this record Karens drumming make Richards leads on the record more enjoyable and when Karen takes the leads well even then she was simply fantastic her drumming was also top notch I still really enjoy this record. I knew "Offering" would be in your list of favorites. This album showed a great sense of determination on Karen and Richard's part. What I like most about this album is the fact that pigeonhole it into one genre. Right from the very beginning Carpenters gave a range of different of unique sounds. Here are my favorites Carpenter records: Horizon was the Carpenters masterpiece it was brilliant all the way through Karens lower register was the best it ever was on this record the production ranks amoung the best I have heard and I have heard all the best. The variety is more diverse than any other Carpenters effort and its a great listen top to bottom, Karen Carpenter this was a different Karen and proved to me what I already felt which was that Karen could sing anything with anyone this was really in touch with the music scene at the time and had an all star personel linup and it showed the production and musicianship were top notch stil love this record as well. Agreed on both accounts. Here are my favorites Carpenter records: Offering/Ticket To Ride Just loved this debut liked the less sophisticated "raw" sound of this record Karens drumming make Richards leads on the record more enjoyable and when Karen takes the leads well even then she was simply fantastic her drumming was also top notch I still really enjoy this record. Horizon was the Carpenters masterpiece it was brilliant all the way through Karens lower register was the best it ever was on this record the production ranks amoung the best I have heard and I have heard all the best. The variety is more diverse than any other Carpenters effort and its a great listen top to bottom, Karen Carpenter this was a different Karen and proved to me what I already felt which was that Karen could sing anything with anyone this was really in touch with the music scene at the time and had an all star personel linup and it showed the production and musicianship were top notch stil love this record as well. now for the not so favorites A Kind Of Hush a real let down from Horizon maybe they could not top Horizon but they could have done better than this effort the record is OK but not their best work. I'm thinking this could be so... as Karen and Richard probably really neded to take a break instead of trying to release yet another album. Their batteries needed recharging. Karen's vocals were just fine on AKOH, but still sounds like she wasn't putting her all into it. Here are my favorites Carpenter records: Offering/Ticket To Ride Just loved this debut liked the less sophisticated "raw" sound of this record Karens drumming make Richards leads on the record more enjoyable and when Karen takes the leads well even then she was simply fantastic her drumming was also top notch I still really enjoy this record. Horizon was the Carpenters masterpiece it was brilliant all the way through Karens lower register was the best it ever was on this record the production ranks amoung the best I have heard and I have heard all the best. The variety is more diverse than any other Carpenters effort and its a great listen top to bottom, Karen Carpenter this was a different Karen and proved to me what I already felt which was that Karen could sing anything with anyone this was really in touch with the music scene at the time and had an all star personel linup and it showed the production and musicianship were top notch stil love this record as well. now for the not so favorites Passage was an improvement from AKOH but still fell short dispite a bold effort in experimentation and some great songs the whole record was kind of eratic and given more time on Richards part (a more rested healthier Richard) could have been great just a note Made In American was not that bad it was out of sinc with the music scene but most Carpenters records were for the most part it was good it just did not sell is all. I agree Richrd should have went more with the theme of the solo record musically and songwise but he still did a good job on MIA I thought it was better than Hush or Passage overall and showed some musical direction towards the 80's music scene. Thats just my opinion on MIA In rethinking my thoughts on MIA... I do have to agree that it is well produced and arranged and of course Karen's vocals are fine. Although I don't think this collection of songs gives us Karen's best or finest vocal work. I also don't think the album breaks any new ground or created any real excitement with the music listening public. True the album is not a complete wash - but I don't think it's an improvement over "Passage" - only because "Passage" contained a great amount of musical depth. Musically, Carpenters went over the top - some of their very best musical arrangements are presented on "Passage". |
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Post by ps11932 on May 7, 2007 16:34:00 GMT -5
Had to give this considerable thought over the past couple days. (I should say that I've not heard "A Kind Of Hush", "Passage", or either of Richard's solo albums, and am not very familiar yet with "A Song For You", so I am not considering any of them for either category.)
Obviously I love all the collections but the difficult task of squeezing out favorites would at this point yield "Horizon", "Voice Of The Heart" and "Christmas Collection." "Horizon" has always seemed at once both adventurous and nostalgic, with bold themes, and, sandwiched between masterful opening and ending, 8 outstanding (and 3 of my top 20, probably) songs. And I think the cover photos are the best. I love "Voice" for the variety of moods portrayed. One thing that always stands out to me in any Carpenter piece is the clarity of ingenious syncrinization, making me feel like I'm right there; this quality seems perhaps especially well defined in this album. And though I usually only listen seasonally (and occasionally in July or August just to shake things up) The "Christmas Collection" is just a delightful rendering of favorites of all sorts, and a few pieces that were new to me and that I've still heard no place else.
Selecting least favorites is even more difficult, but I guess I'd have to say "Ticket To Ride", even though there are some great pieces and I appreciate the sense of imminent talent that jumps out at me from these new & rising stars. But one of the songs, "Get Together", just sounds unrefined and I don't care for the intro. to "Parade."
And I can't say anything more than that. They all have so many positives that I have difficulty remembering any minor irritations that may exist.
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on May 7, 2007 20:51:43 GMT -5
Indeed, Rick - a wonderful topic that I could literally write about for hours. One sort of odd thing, I suppose for me is....I have always considered the songs for the songs, and not "necessarily" as a piece of the whole, if you understand that. I didn't usually think of the "album" and say that one or that one was my favorite. Each song in and of itself to me was an "offering" and a "gift" and I used to always think of these just for the song itself.
Having said that, then - trying to think of the Carpenters songs as compilations, I come to HORIZON as my first favorite of those songs NOT Christmas, because I would have to say Christmas Portrait is one of my all time favorites. They run a close parallel.
Nevertheless, I'll go with HORIZON as my favorite of all the compilations. I always loved Desperado - I'm Caught Between Goodbye and I Love You, and of course, Love Me For What I Am (though, even though this was one of my all time faves, way before I even knew who Palma Pascale was) - it does enhance it a bit for me, knowing the background of the story, as I now do. I suppose it's all about the darker sounds here, because they all grabbed my attention - from every compilation. I really gravitated toward these because of Karen's wonderful vocals, as well as Richard's amazing arrangements of them, especially the vocal portions of his arrangements.
Which is a nice segue for me into Christmas Portrait. I think I've said this or something similar in another thread of late, but these songs sort of took on a whole new look and sound for me when I heard Carpenters interpretation of them - songs like Winter Wonderland, and Sleigh Ride, and all those fun, fun songs. THen of course, the beautiful Ave Maria, and White Christmas. Karen's sexy vocals singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - and the wonderful Merry Christmas Darling. Such a powerfully great and technically awesome album. Love it, love it, love it.
Now and Then comes in next - This Masquerade, as everyone on this forum is bound to know by now, is my favorite Carpenters tune. I have always been able to listen to this selection any time, any place. And, the last listen has seemed to me as fresh as the first one was. This was, actually, one of my first "successful" Carpenter's cover songs during my early days playing. I love this one. Of course, the fun medley is done so well, and there is Yesterday Once More. Yes, I think this is an absolutely fabulous song that Richard and Bettis wrote. It of course captured what they wanted to do both on stage as well as on an album - the nostalgia angle - and so cleverly, too. But then the icing on the cake is Karen's beautiful interpretation of it.
I'm a HUGE fan of Karen Carpenter's solo album. Others of you have really delved into the technicalities of this album, and I know you love this one, Rick. I really enjoy this one, and I think Karen was amazing doing all of these incredible vocals herself. I love the acrobatics she did and still marvel at them to this day. Such beauty in the simplicity of some of her ballads, and the blusey Last One Singing the Blues is well, just way too cool. A terrific album to be sure. 
A KIND OF HUSH has some marvelous numbers on it - like Boat To Sail - and Sandy. Two of my favorites. Oh, and One More Time is beautiful....just beautiful. I have always favored Richard's arrangement of Breakin up is hard to do - and Karen's vocals are knock-out great. This is a pleasant album to listen to.
I suppose, if I HAD to pick an album that I just didn't care for - I'd have to say that it would have to be Passage. There are many songs I like on this album, but there are as many that I don't, and usually skip at least three out of five listens. I will not gravitate to this one first, if I have my choice of which album to put on. This one always loses.
However, I do like Made in America, and always have. One of the more fun songs I've liked that Carpenters did, and one I always considered more of a country song, though it's actually just pure pop - and I'm not sure why I ever considered it country, except for I think the way Karen sings it and the over flavor led me down that path, and that's Strength of a Woman. I remember I was playing at a club then (the one with the baby blue baby grand) and I used to play that one for my vocalist to sing. It went over well, and I really liked the chord changes. One part I always dug was when the backups came in on "the strength of a wo-ma-an.....because I loved the chord change there.
Whew! I could go on for a while, as I mentioned. But I'll stop for now. Perhaps I'll come back and add a bit here and there.
Great topic, Rick. These always make me stop and give pause to all of the albums, and look at some in a whole new light.
Hoping everyone is okay,
Tim
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Post by Rick Henry on May 7, 2007 22:07:30 GMT -5
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on May 8, 2007 8:51:43 GMT -5
 Wow Rick, you're RIGHT about A Song For You...I've NEVER thought about it in that way. Duh!  As I mentioned in my last post, I usually think of the songs one by one - as stand alone tunes, but taking the first song in A Song For You, where Karen sings about acting out her love on stages with 10,000 people watching, and then ending the compilation (which is another excellent compilation, btw - that I forgot to mention altogether), with Rode Ode....I LOVE that notion and will listen to the album in its entirety today with that in mind. Thanks for pointing that out! Very cool stuff.
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Post by beaner on May 8, 2007 18:06:25 GMT -5
Some of my most favorite of Carpenter(s) albums would have to be Christmas Portrait, Close to You and Lovelines. My least favorite would have to be Passage. Except for Two Sides which is my favorite song on that album, I could pass on the others.
Not being a musician, I can only relate to the albums for either sentimental reasons or simply how easy it is for me to reach and sing along with Karen's voice on these albums. I find myself playing the ones listed above more than any others and hardly ever listen to Passage anymore so I'd have to say that one for sure.
Of course, it's very hard to even say anything in a not so positive way about the Carpenters. For instance, if Passage was the only left in a room to play, I'd have NO PROBLEM playing it.
Beaner
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Post by Rick Henry on May 9, 2007 0:09:23 GMT -5
Some of my most favorite of Carpenter(s) albums would have to be Christmas Portrait, Close to You and Lovelines. My least favorite would have to be Passage. Except for Two Sides which is my favorite song on that album, I could pass on the others. Not being a musician, I can only relate to the albums for either sentimental reasons or simply how easy it is for me to reach and sing along with Karen's voice on these albums. I find myself playing the ones listed above more than any others and hardly ever listen to Passage anymore so I'd have to say that one for sure. Of course, it's very hard to even say anything in a not so positive way about the Carpenters. For instance, if Passage was the only left in a room to play, I'd have NO PROBLEM playing it. Beaner |
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Post by Rick Henry on May 9, 2007 0:47:53 GMT -5
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makapipi
CERTIFIED GOLD MEMBER
Posts: 172
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Post by makapipi on May 10, 2007 15:30:04 GMT -5
My favorite album is "Close to You" 1970 because song "We've Only Just Begun" in the beginning
part of that song Karen's voice is total purity.
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