Can't live if living is without you...

[Rick Henry]

When did you first realize you just couldn't live without Karen's voice in your life? Or when did you realize that Karen Carpenter's voice was going to be a constant in your life?

My story starts in 1973. Although, I had been aware of Carpenters since 1971. It wasn't until 1973 that I realized I just loved Karen's voice.

I'll come back with the entire story of when I realized Karen was going to be my favorite for life.

[smoothie2]

hmmm quite a question...It was about 1970 or'71 when I recall first hearing Karen on the radio, although, I'm sure they must have been on tv about those yrs. or earlier and I probably did see them, but the cobwebs are too thick in that part of my brain for me to quite remember them on the tv.
I do know my first record of them was Close to You, and that was really a Treat and Enjoyment, so, I suppose around '71-'72. In other words,
about the first time I heard Karen, I was really hooked. I bought every record they came out with, when I could do so. Horizon was the last LP I bought of K. and R.
I don't have any of their single records (called 78's ...right?)
because I preferred having a whole Lp.
So, altogether, most of my life, Karen has been part of it all.
<<<<>>><<<<>>>>>>
HOWEVER, I must add, that since I met up with a computer and this wonderful site here, that I have learned volumes about
the C's, and bought most of their albums as a result.
Truly a voice like hers, and such terrific music, always
WARMS ME, TOUCHES MY HEART, Conveys my own thoughts and feelings
in ways no one else can.
Please allow me to add that after her awful, horrific death, I could not make myself listen to the C's for at least a yr. maybe more.
Of course, there are times that That is still the case, too painful,
too poignant, to allow myself to feel that hurt and loss again.
For the most part, though, those days are gone. It's a lot easier now also, because if you don't want to hear a certain song, you can skip over it, with just a click.
and so it goes......

[Rick Henry]

smoothie2 said:

I don't have any of their single records (called 78's ...right?)

Hey Kathy! The 7" single is also known as a 45. It's called a 45 because it spins around on the turntable at 45 revolutions per minute. The 45 was most popular between 1955 to about 1985. The 78 was a record which was popular mostly in the 40's.

[Dave]

I'd have to say somewhere around mid-June, 2004! That's about the time I "deduced" that it wasn't going to go away anytime soon...

[Rick Henry]

My love for Karen manifested itself in 1973. Although I did take note of Carpenters in late 1971.

It was in late 1971 that my best friend in grade school played "Bless The Beasts And Children" for me (which was the b-side of "Superstar"). That was the point in time when I took note of Carpenters. But that wasn't the first time I heard them.

The first time I remember hearing them was in the summer of 1971 when my family went on a summer vacation with another family. The dad of the other family played the "Close To You" album on 8-track tape. I remember he made a big deal of it. He said something like - they're the hottest thing right now. Though, I really didn't pay much attention to the music I just wasn't interested - at that point in time (an eleven year old boy) I was more into Three Dog Night, Grand Funk Railroad, Blood Sweat & Tears and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Even after my grade school friend played Carpenters for me - it wasn't until about nine months later that I bought any of their records - which was in the late summer of 1972 when I bought "A Song For You" - a fantastic album - but even then I was still listening to Three Dog Night a whole lot more. I guess I must not have been too terribly impressed with "A Song For You" because I skppied over buying "Now And Then" altogether. I didn't get N&T until 1975 after having bought "Horizon" and being completely enamored with that album.

Then finally in late 1973 when I purchased "The Singles 1969-1973" that's when I realized there was no going back. Every song on that collection was classic. I remember being taken most by "Ticket To Ride", "Rainy Days And Mondays", "It's Going To Take Some and "Goodbye To Love" - all the songs were great - but these four were the ones I kept coming back for more.

I know a bit wordy but that’s my own personal story. It took me about 2 ½ years after initially hearing Carpenters to finally get to that point of no return - but here I am and now we have this forum as a result.

[smoothie2]

s

admin said:

smoothie2 said:

I don't have any of their single records (called 78's ...right?)

Hey Kathy! The 7" single is also known as a 45. It's called a 45 because it spins around on the turntable at 45 revolutions per minute. The 45 was most popular between 1955 to about 1985. The 78 was a record which was popular mostly in the 40's.

???thanks Rick for helping me remember. I still have about half a dozen 45's gathering dust in the garage.
>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<
Good title for this thread too , by the way....

[GoodOldDreams]

The appeal of the Carpenters' music was pretty immediate to me when I first heard them back in 1970 when "Close to You" hit the local airwaves and I was a kid just out of grade school for the summer. In an era of raucous rock and roll music, this song really stood out for me with its quiet, assured beginnings and the flourish into glorious multi-part harmonies. The beauty of the melody, lyrics, arrangement and vocals left an indelible impression on me, and whenever the song was played on the radio, I would stop whatever I was doing so that I can focus all my attention to it. By the time "We've Only Just begun" made it big in the autumn of that year, it was clear that this was no "one-hit wonder" band.

As a sign of my dedication early on, even though we didn't have a record player in those days, I used my earnings from my paper route and bought the LP record when it was advertised in the local newspaper. On a couple of occasions I went with my younger sister, who was also a fan of their music, to the music listening room in the city's main library and listened intently to each track on the record from start to finish. Eventually, I bought a record player after sifting through numerous issues of Consumer Reports, and joined Columbia Record Club to purchase additional records by the Carpenters and other artists such as Bread, B. J. Thomas, etc.

It might be an exaggeration for Harry Nilsson to sing "...can't live if living is without you," but the Carpenters have had certainly ignited and helped to sustain my passion for popular music and made life much more enjoyable eversince...

[Rick Henry]

Well said Dreams... by the time I finally began to really notice Carpenters they were already seven or eight hits in - by all means at that point they were way past the one hit wonder status.

goodolddreams said:

In an era of raucous rock and roll music,

Oh how I love that raucous rock and roll. From very early on I was a fan of the Beatles, Kinks, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and (to a lesser degree) Rolling Stones. Nowadays I enjoy rock groups like U2, Tree63, Coldplay and Edison Glass.

Who says a Carpenters fan can't love Rock and Roll.

At the same time though I was also listening to artists like Bread, America, Crystal Gayle and Roberta Flack - moving into today with the likes of Dido, Sade, Norah Jones and Diana Krall. I guess my listening tastes have always been somewhat rounded.

[enigma]

Everyone knows my story with the Carpenters I was practically raised on them from childhood. The answer to the Question for me is a simple one I knew about all the hits I was familiar with the Carpenters (who wasn't at the time) but after Horizon there was no turning back after hearing the music and Karens voice especially Karens voice I could not imagine any female singer toping her vocals on Horizon, I am still waiting for that singer to come along no one is even close now. Thats when I knew I would always love Karen and the Carpenters music. Even if they never made a good record again I would always have Horizon and their previous efforts to listen to thankfully more great music was to come. Pure voice quality music never gets tiring for me I take breaks but always come back and enjoy revisiting the wonderful Carpenters music.

[Rick Henry]

enigma said:

Everyone knows my story with the Carpenters I was practically raised on them from childhood. The answer to the Question for me is a simple one I knew about all the hits I was familiar with the Carpenters (who wasn't at the time) but after Horizon there was no turning back after hearing the music and Karens voice especially Karens voice I could not imagine any female singer toping her vocals on Horizon, I am still waiting for that singer to come along no one is even close now. Thats when I knew I would always love Karen and the Carpenters music. Even if they never made a good record again I would always have Horizon and their previous efforts to listen to thankfully more great music was to come. Pure voice quality music never gets tiring for me I take breaks but always come back and enjoy revisiting the wonderful Carpenters music.

Some good thoughts here Enigma.
"Horizon" was certainly a pivotal album for me in my love for Carpenters - same with "Passage". I must admit after "Christmas Portrait" I wasn't too keen on their next few releases - but what they did from 1969 to 1978 was more than enough to keep me for a lifetime. And as always Karen's voice was fantastic in everything she ever recorded.

I agree with you Enigma... there have been quite a few great female voices to come about in the past thirty years or so - but none that even come close to Karen Carpenter.

In vocal purity and depth maybe k.d. lang comes close - but still lacks that ethereal and otherworldly quality that Karen has.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

I do want to weigh-in on this one...just have not had time to do so, yet.

I'll be back, cause you all know the tale in part.....but when I got hooked on them...well, that's yet another story (and you just can't wait, yes?)?? *sigh*
Tim

[wisejester7]

I felt the pull right from the start (1969/1970). The Carpenters stood above most artists of the day. Their sound was so unique. The Carpenters seemed to celebrate the good and easy side of life as compared to the trend of the times, which was becoming more and more hard rock and noise combined with hard living. That is not to say that everything was all bubble gum and sugar for the C's. Life has it's ups and downs no matter how optimistic (or not) you are. Karen and Richard musically provided the emotional equivalent of life's roller coaster - the good and the bad.

[Rick Henry]

wisejester7 said:

I felt the pull right from the start (1969/1970). The Carpenters stood above most artists of the day. Their sound was so unique. The Carpenters seemed to celebrate the good and easy side of life as compared to the trend of the times, which was becoming more and more hard rock and noise combined with hard living. That is not to say that everything was all bubble gum and sugar for the C's. Life has it's ups and downs no matter how optimistic (or not) you are. Karen and Richard musically provided the emotional equivalent of life's roller coaster - the good and the bad.

Good thoughts WJ7, as you mentioned Carpenters did give us both sides of the coin... Carpenters certainly started off sharing an optimistic view with the world with "Close To You", "We've Only Just Begun" and "For All We Know". Shortly, their music turned dark and they were singing themes of loneliness and sadness with "Rainy Days And Mondays", "Superstar", "Hurting Each Other", "Goodbye To Love","It's Going To Take Sometime" and others.

Carpenters gave us both sides of the coin with the "up" side of life and the "down" side of life. It wasn't all just "moon dust" and "starlight".

Funny thing about Carpenters... (mostly Richard did love some of those rock groups) Richard was very much into Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and others around in that time period. Later on in the 70's he came to be a big fan of Klaatu - who were very experimental and had some pretty hard rocking songs. I don't think Carpenters would be who they are musically if Richard only listened to Doris Day, Jo Stafford and Lawrence Welk. Richard took some of the creativity he heard in these harder rock artists and applied some of that (in his own mellow way) into the music of Carpenters.

[beaner]

For me, it was around 1971 or 1972 when my sister-in-law took me with her on many trips to Corning, NY and she would always play her 8-tracks in the car, especially the Close to You one but it was when she bought me my first Carpenter LP (the Tan album - For All We Know) that I knew I was hooked.

To this day, everyone that knows me knows they cannot think of me without thinking of the Carpenters at the same time. Does that tell you something?

Regarding listening to their music after hearing of Karen's death, I too, had some trouble. I did listen to it still but not without breaking down horribly each time. The hardest for me was to see Karen in videos (still is very hard). One of my favorite photos of her is when she is looking up and waving - this appears at the very end of one of the documentaries. Touches me and makes me cry every time.

[sunnybunny]

I had become a fan in like 2005 or something I can't remember but it was like the beginning of this year or so that I really became a fan.Plus collecting Carpenters items was easy for me because I have like 10 records and I only had to buy one of the computer.Oddly a few months ago I found Ticket To Ride at thrift store and I am still in shock.I also got both of the singles at a used book store for like $14 all together.Same with my cds I only had to buy like 1 off the computer and that was Karen's solo album.I found like 3 cds in one day,Close To You,A Song For You,and Lovelines.So pretty amazing.

I agree,beaner.The hardest video for me to watch is Touch Me When We're Dancing and also the video for Good Old Dreams is hard for me to watch.There was along time after I had gotten The Essential Collection,Now had made me cry.It is just now that I'm starting to like it.

[ps11932]

I've probably mentioned this before but just in brief summary: I was a fan somewhat (to the rather limited extent that i was into music) in the 70's but didn't often think of Carpenters again until May 2004. Then I bought "Singles 1969-1981" C.D., and that night listened in a closed, quiet room- no interruptions. (That was the first time I ever listened to a CD in that manner- previously it was always while walking.) The first song, "For All We Know", drew me in with a compelling manner- I got the image of it being just like attending a live performance, and I was singled out to come and be a part of it. By the end of the CD I pretty much knew I was in for good; I had to arise at about 2 A.M. and write down my reflections. Soon I learned that other Carpenters music was available, then a year later discovered this forum, and finally joined in April 2006. I appreciate your all being of encouragement on the journey.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

From the very first listen, I knew I was hooked on this wonderful mass vocal harmony sound (and as wj7 has pointed out from time to time), there is just NO blend like that of family singing together; so here was also a perfect blend coming out of those radio speakers and that is not to mention I could hear this "chick singer" singing with this great alto voice, and really good drums and piano too...I just KNEW I was gonna like these guys and probably anything they did. Once I made that phone call after I arrived at work to find out that the song about the "birds" in it with all the wonderful vocal harmonies was, and that it was done by a group called the Carpenters, and then, I checked them out, well......it was just all that much better-I was definitely a fan.

However....since this thread is entitled "Can't Live if livin' is without you..." and the question is something like "When did you discover you couldn't live without the music of the Carpenters..." well, that time came shortly after.

I listened, of course, to Carpenters all through my remaining High School years, and developed some absolutely irreplaceable memories during that time, ( you know how you do that, right?), and some of those memories are based on, in part, what Carpenters song I was listening to at the time...I mean, I was always listening to Carpenters, so when I was awarded the first "music" letter in my high school, for example, I followed that by singing "We've Only Just Begun" that night on the stage - and so I'll never forget introducing the music of the Carpenters to my school family in that way. And so it goes with memory after memory.....you get the idea. Songs tied to memories of events ... to memories of people...to memories of "things"...

It wasn't until College, though, when I realized I'd never be able to LIVE without Carpenters music in my life. I think KC Musician even eluded to this story, too, in some other thread - you see, he and I were room mates in college at some point, and we had a lot going on in our lives besides school - we played gigs together - we had a lot of the same friends - we had "girlfriends" and life was getting tougher by the minute, as we were "growing up and living life." Some days, it seemed as though life couldn't go on any more, as "bad" as it seemed (at that time - I look back now and think, "geez, didn't know a thing then, did you?") And that answer would be a resounding NO....but there were times we'd literally lay down on the floor of our apartment for a "Carpenterfest"...we'd be laying between the speakers for maximum effect, and we'd put on album after album; singing every word, KC taking one harmony part while I took another - singing along with Karen. I knew at that point, when I literally leaned on those songs to get me through what I considered a rough time, that I'd never be able to be without them, ever again.

Lucky for me, I'll never have to. *huge smile*

Tim

[wisejester7]

admin said:

wisejester7 said:

I felt the pull right from the start (1969/1970). The Carpenters stood above most artists of the day. Their sound was so unique. The Carpenters seemed to celebrate the good and easy side of life as compared to the trend of the times, which was becoming more and more hard rock and noise combined with hard living. That is not to say that everything was all bubble gum and sugar for the C's. Life has it's ups and downs no matter how optimistic (or not) you are. Karen and Richard musically provided the emotional equivalent of life's roller coaster - the good and the bad.

Good thoughts WJ7, as you mentioned Carpenters did give us both sides of the coin... Carpenters certainly started off sharing an optimistic view with the world with "Close To You", "We've Only Just Begun" and "For All We Know". Shortly, their music turned dark and they were singing themes of loneliness and sadness with "Rainy Days And Mondays", "Superstar", "Hurting Each Other", "Goodbye To Love","It's Going To Take Sometime" and others.

Carpenters gave us both sides of the coin with the "up" side of life and the "down" side of life. It wasn't all just "moon dust" and "starlight".

Funny thing about Carpenters... (mostly Richard did love some of those rock groups) Richard was very much into Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and others around in that time period. Later on in the 70's he came to be a big fan of Klaatu - who were very experimental and had some pretty hard rocking songs. I don't think Carpenters would be who they are musically if Richard only listened to Doris Day, Jo Stafford and Lawrence Welk. Richard took some of the creativity he heard in these harder rock artists and applied some of that (in his own mellow way) into the music of Carpenters.

It is well documented that both Karen and Richard had eclectic backgrounds in the types/styles of music they listened to. It is no surprise at all that Richard liked the harder rock, just as it is no surprise he was into classical music.