CLOSE TO YOU (The Album)(1970)

[cam83]

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Written by Cameron Longo and Rick Henry

WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN-
This song has the unique distinction of being a hit single culled from a commercial for the Crocker Bank. The story goes that the songwriters at A&M Records, Roger Nichols and Paul Williams were approached by Crocker Bank to write a song for their commercial. The theme: You've got a long way to go and we'd like to help you get there. And so the song We've Only Just Begun was born. Or part of it, anyway. Then Richard Carpenter, heard the song on the television commercial one night, and was enraptured by it, drawn to its potential. This song was to be their follow up to their monstrous selling hit "(They Long To Be) Close To You." Upon being released, We've Only Just Begun soared to the Number Two position, and quickly became a gold single(their second), selling over a million copies. Also, this single hit Number One on the Adult Contemporary Charts for 7 amazing weeks. It became a new "contemporary classic for weddings" in the 70's and onwards. The song had a warm feeling of gentle optimism. In sheet music alone, sales of We've Only Just Begun, hit the over 3 million mark. A sign that the Carpenters were not a flash in the pan. This group had style, talent, and a new sound. All ingredients for success. "We've Only Just Begun" is now known as their signature song".


LOVE IS SURRENDER-
This song was written by Ralph Carmichael, a gospel songwriter, which explains this song's theme of love. This song, was a favorite at the Carpenters' concerts. It's an energetic, fun and outgoing track. The neat thing is that this song shares lead vocals with Karen and Richard. Although, in concert, Karen would ultimately sing the lead vocals for this song. This song also appeared on CBS TV Movie, "The Karen Carpenter Story."


MAYBE IT'S YOU-
This is one of the most beautiful songs the Carpenters ever did. Karen's vocals are so much like honey. She effortlessly sings from note to note, exuding confidence as she goes on. Another gorgeous Richard Carpenter-John Bettis penned composition. Richard did an outstanding job in constructing a vocal arrangement in which we hear Karen harmonizing with herself. A rare treat. Also a hint of things to come. A lush song. A gem.


REASON TO BELIEVE-
Tim Hardin wrote this delightful tune, and Carpenters gave it a nice country feel. Listening to this makes you wish Karen and Richard had done a complete album of country standards. With a voice like that, "she could have sung anything" (as UK singer Petula Clark graciously said). This was apparently one of Karen's favorite songs, as they had been singing this song from the mid 1960's and onwards. Her vocal reading is very pleasing and also very stylish.


HELP-
This was the second Lennon-McCartney song that the Carpenters had recorded and released. The first was Ticket To Ride for the 1969 OFFERING album. From the very beginning Karen and Richard have sited the Beatles as a major influence and claim to be huge Beatles fans. By this time, in 1970, they had recorded several Beatles songs (including Goodnight, Hey Jude, Can't Buy Me Love, Nowhere Man and several others). Richard Carpenter was a genius at hearing the original in his head, and then with some chord changes, minor tweaking, he was able to change the song completely. This song is one of those, and he is very adept at it, and gives it his Carpenter stamp to it.

(THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU-
This song was written by the song writing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who were the writers of many hit singles in the 1960's and onwards. This song had been recorded by Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Richard Chamberlain, but went nowher on the charts. Herb Alpert approached the Carpenters, and wanted them to record this song for a medley of Bacharach songs they would be doing for a charity benefit. Richard felt it wasn't right for the medley, so he decided not to record until Herb got wind of it, and urged them to record it. "He wanted us to record it. He wanted us to really record it!" as Richard Carpenter reminisces. So they went into the studio, and recorded it several times. On the third try, it was a keeper. Richard thought it would either go Number One or be a flop. No in between. The single soared to Number One for 4 weeks, and sold over a million copies, becoming their first gold record. It also hit the top of the Adult Contemporary charts. This song is a magical song, reminiscent of a summer day, falling in love, moondust in the air. This was the song that put the Carpenters on the map. This song won the Carpenters Grammy awards for "Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo-"Close To You" and "Best New Artist." The Carpenters had arrived by summer of 1970, bringing in their new brand of classy pop music, changing the musical climate at that time.


BABY IT'S YOU-
Mack David, Burt Bacharach and Barney Williams are the songwriters for this tune, which was a hit for the New Jersey female group The Shirelles. A nice piano intro, followed by Karen's delightful quiet vocal. As the song progresses, she seems to gain more insight, growing stronger in the progress. The Carpenters overdubs are a nice compliment to the overall song. A gorgeous song sung by an angel.


I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN-
This song is another Burt Bacharach and Hal David song. This version by the duo of Richard and Karen opens with a 39 voice chord overdub of their 2 voices. Impressive! The immense talent is just enormous. Karen's vocals are heaven sent on this song. She also duets with herself on this song, and she never sounded lovelier. All the vocal overdubs sound wonderful and add to the song. The instruments on this album also add, and don't take away from the vocals, but instead, enhance. You can tell that the choral sound that Richard and Karen were involved with at Long Beach shows up in this song.


CRESCENT NOON-
This is a song written by John Bettis and Richard Carpenter. Origionally this song had been performed with choir and sung by Karen Carpenter at a Long Beach function. Both showcase Karen's voice, and her growing power as a vocalist, and a lead vocalist at that. This song has some dark images of the changing seasons, and touches a chord in Karen's voice, and her emotions in this song are revealed. Again, another choral song. This song is another gem, peaceful, with tinges of despair, beauty with pain.


MR. GUDER-
Another Richard Carpenter-John Bettis tune. The background to this song is that Richard and John worked at the Disneyland, during the summer of 1967. Their boss was Vic Guder, and was strict in his rules as to proper etiquette and rules that were meant to be followed. Richard and John scoffed at his rules and him belonging to the "establishment" so they would sneak in some rock-pop tunes into the enforced tunes they were to play. The last straw was Richard and John combing their hair in the park, upon which they got fired for. So in anger, they wrote this tune. It became a concert favorite. The ending complex harmonies were flawless in concert. This tune is a favorite of mine.


I KEPT ON LOVING YOU-
Another Roger Nichols and Paul Williams tune, and this song Richard sings the lead vocals. A nice tune. Pleasant. This tune was used as the b-side for the single release of Close To You.


ANOTHER SONG-
Richard Carpenter-John Bettis partnered on this tune. The beginning sounds like a lush Carpenters tune, soft but nice. Then it changes, with drums, bass guitar and Karen's yearning, but louder vocal. Harmonies erupt. This showcases Karen's adeptness at drumming. Her drum stylings are very much in tune with the jazz masters such as what you'd hear on an early Grover Washington Jr album. Her vocals are powerful, proving that Karen was more than just a singer of tender ballads. As always, in "Another Song", those famous Carpenters harmonies are in full force, adding strength to the overall hypnotic effect of the song. Then the choir-like vocals fade and then the instrumental portion of the song appears. Very delightful. This shows that the Carpenters shouldn't be classified in the "easy listening" category, as this song has punch. It has class, very much in line with the jazz-fusion stylings which were becoming popular in the early 70's. A wonderful ending to this song!

[Rick Henry]

The album "Close To You" was the Carpenters' second, released on Aug. 19, 1970.
It did very well in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Reaching U.S. #2 (on top 200 for 87 weeks) and certified double platinum. It also made UK #23 and Japan #53.

By the time they released this album, the single "Close To You" was a huge #1 hit and the Carpenters sound was tagged as being trendsetting.


WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN (Paul Williams / Roger Nichols) - Released as a single on August 21, 1970. It reached #2 (for four weeks) in the U.S. and #28 in the UK.

LOVE IS SURRENDER (Ralph Carmichael) - The chorus in Ralph Carmichael's original contemporary Christian compostion of the song was "Love is surrender, you must surrender to His Will", Richard changed it to "you must surrender if you care", to fit the pop music theme of the album.

MAYBE IT'S YOU (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis) - Many have considered the song to be strong enough to have been a single. Written in 1968 while K&R were performing with their group Spectrum. In late 1971 early 1972 "Maybe It's You" was released as the b-side of "Hurting Each Other".

REASON TO BELIEVE (Tim Hardin) - Karen and Richard had considered releasing this as single, as it was getting a good amount of radio airplay. Instead they opted to release "For All We Know", which was from their upcoming album "Carpenters".

HELP (Paul McCartney / John Lennon) - Originally scheduled to be released as the Carpenters' followup single to "Ticket To Ride", but then "Close To You" came along. The eatles reached #1 with the song in 1965. The Carpenters recreated this song in 1970 focusing on the harpsichord as it's driving force.

(THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU (Burt Bacharach / Hal david) - Burt Bacharach had orignally submitted this song for Herb Alpert to record. Herb felt it wasn't right for him and gave it to Richard Carpenter to record. You can read the rest of this story in Cam's synopsis of this song in the previous post of this topic.
Released as a single on May 20, 1970 this delightful summer song brought the Carpenters to the forefront of the popular music scene. Not only did it reach U.S. #1, but was #6 in the UK.

BABY IT'S YOU (Mack David / Burt Bacharach / Barney williams) - The Shirelles reached the top ten with the song in 1965 and then in 1969 the Los Angeles based rock group named Smith took the song into the top five, scoring an even bigger hit with it. The song was also recorded by the Beatles from their 1963 chart topping debut album "Please Please Me".
This soulful dark song fits Karen's gutsy and full-bodied vocal perfectly.

I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN (Burt Bacharach / Hal David) - Dionne Warwick previously recorded this tune reaching the U.S. top ten, while Bobbie Gentry took the song to #1 in the UK. The song is part of "Promises, Promises" a musical written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1968.

CRESCENT NOON (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis) - This is perhaps one of the Carpenters' most expressive lyrics. It speaks of contrasting seasons, the breaking of the morning sun, and hopeful discovery. Karen's vocal performance excels as she uses her full range from deep down low and dark to her uppermost angelic tones. In the chorus karen's voice is superbly blended with Richard's to produce an almost eerie yet delightful sound.

MR. GUDER (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis) - Richard and John wrote this song out of anger, due to being dismissed from their job at Disneyland's famed Coke Corner by their supervisor Victor Guder. Richard is now apologetic about the song saying Guder was only doing his job.
At the time this song was written Richard was listening to Lalo Schifrin and Dave Brubeck regularly so the song has a strong jazz influence. It also has a classical influence as Richard was majoring in piano studying the classics.
This was also used as the b-side of the November 20, 1970 release of the single "Merry Christmas Darling".

I KEPT ON LOVING YOU (Paul Williams / Roger Nichols) - A huge contingency of Carpenters fans consider this to be Richard's very best lead vocal. Used as the b-side to the single "Close to You", this was the first Paul Williams / Roger Nichols song the Carpenters recorded.

ANOTHER SONG (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis) - This intriguing number is full of passion and mystery in it's lyrics, vocals and musical arrangement. Once again a heavy jazz influence the song dates back to their spectrum era, as do "Maybe It's You" and "Crescent Noon".
Many fans consider the free form jam style instrumental solo (which brings the song to a close) to be a highlight of the album bringing it to a fascinating conclusion.



With the album "Close To You" the Carpenters became mega-superstars. From beginning to end each song intrigues, fascinates, soothes, and stirs every emotion in the human soul.

[smoothie2]

thanks bunches Cam and Rick!

[sarah]

cam83 said:

WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN-
This song has the unique distinction of being a hit single culled from a commercial for the Crocker Bank. The story goes that the songwriters at A&M Records, Roger Nichols and Paul Williams were approached by Crocker Bank to write a song for their commercial. The theme: You've got a long way to go and we'd like to help you get there. And so the song We've Only Just Begun was born. Or part of it, anyways. Then Richard Carpenter, heard the song on the commercial on tv one night, and was enraptured by it, drawn to its potential. This song was to be their follow up to their monstrous selling hit "(They Long To Be) Close To You." Upon being released, We've Only Just Begun soared to the Number Two postion, and quickly became a gold single(their second), selling over a million copies. Also, this single hit Number One on the Adult Contemporary Charts for 7 amazing weeks. It became the new "wedding contemporary classic" for that decade and onwards. The song had a warm feeling of gentle optimism. In sheet music alone, sales of We've Only Just Begun, hit the over 3 million mark of sheet music sold. A sign that the Carpenters were not a flash in the pan. This group had style, talent, and a new sound. All ingrediants for success. This song would become their "signature song" of all the songs that would become huge hits. This one just managed to strike a chord with the American public.


LOVE IS SURRENDER-
This song was written by Ralph Carmichael, a gospel songwriter, which explains this song's theme of love. This song, was a favorite at the Carpenters' concerts. It's energetic, fun, outgoing track. The neat thing is that this song shares lead vocals with Karen and Richard. Although, in concert, Karen would ultimately sing the lead vocals for this song. This song also appeared on CBS TV Movie, "The Karen Carpenter Story."


MAYBE IT'S YOU-
This song has got to be one of the most beautiful songs the Carpenters ever did. Karen's vocals are so much like honey. She just effortlessly sings from note to note, exuding confidence as she goes on. It's neat to associate the imagery of the lyrics to the gorgeous cover photo of the Carpenters on the shores of a beach. Another gorgeous Richard Carpenter-John Bettis penned composition. It's neat to hear Karen harmonizing with herself. A rare treat. Also a hint of things to come. A lush song. A gem.


REASON TO BELIEVE-
Tim Hardin wrote this delightful tune, and Karen gives it a nice country feel to it. Listening to this makes you wish Karen and Richard had done a complete album of country standards. With a voice like that, "she could have sung anything" (as UK singer Petula Clark graciously said). This was apparently one of Karen's favorite songs, as they had been singing this song from the mid 1960's and onwards. Her vocal reading is very pleasing and also very stylish.


HELP-
This was the second Lennon-McCartney song that the Carpenters had recorded for their albums. The first of course was Ticket To Ride for the 1969 OFFERING album. The Carpenters version is very different from the Beatles version, but a touch classier, in a different style. The Carpenters had always been publicly Beatle fans every since day one. By this time, in 1970, they had recorded several Beatle songs(including Goodnight, Hey Jude, Can't Buy Me Love, Nowhere Man and several others). Richard Carpenter was a genius at hearing the origional songs in his head, and then with some chord changes, minor tweaking, he was able to change the song completely. This song is one of those, and he is very adept at it, and gives it his Carpenter stamp to it.

(THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU-
This song was written by the song writing team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who were the writers of many hit singles in the 1960's and onwards. This song had been recorded by Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Richard Chamberlain, but went nowher on the charts. Herb Alpert approached the Carpenters, and wanted them to record this song for a medley of Bacharach songs they would be doing for a charity benefit. Richard felt it wasn't right for the medley, so he decided not to record until Herb got wind of it, and urged them to record it. "He wanted us to record it. He wanted us to really record it!" as Richard Carpenter reminisces. So they went into the studio, and recorded it several times. On the third try, it was a keeper. Richard thought it would either go Number One or be a flop. No in between. Well the single soared to Number One for 4 weeks, and sold over a million copies, becoming their first gold record. It also hit the top of the Adult Contemporary charts. This song is a magical song, reminiscent of a summer day, falling in love, moondust in the air. This was the song that put the Carpenters on the map. This song won the Carpenters Grammy awards for "Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo-"Close To You" and "Best New Artist." The Carpenters had arrived by summer of 1970, bringing in their new brand of classy pop music, changing the musical climate at that time.


BABY IT'S YOU-
Mack David, Burt Bacharach and Barney Williams are the songwriters for this tune, which was a hit for the New Jersey female group The Shirelles. A nice piano intro, followed by Karen's delightful quiet vocal. As the song progresses, she seems to gain more insight, growing stronger in the progress. The Carpenters overdubs are a nice compliment to the overall song. A gorgeous song sung by an angel.


I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN-
This song is another Burt Bacharach and Hal David song. This version by the duo of Richard and Karen opens with a 39 voice chord overdub of their 2 voices. Impressive! The immense talent is just enormous. Karen's vocals are heaven sent on this song. She also duets with herself on this song, and she never sounded lovelier. All the vocal overdubs sound wonderful and add to the song. The instruments on this album also add, and don't take away from the vocals, but instead, enhance. You can tell that the choral sound that Richard and Karen were involved with at Long Beach shows up in this song.


CRESCENT NOON-
This is a song written by John Bettis and Richard Carpenter. Origionally this song had been performed with choir and sung by Karen Carpenter at a Long Beach function. Both showcase Karen's voice, and her growing power as a vocalist, and a lead vocalist at that. This song has some dark images of the changing seasons, and touches a chord in Karen's voice, and her emotions in this song are revealed. Again, another choral song. This song is another gem, peaceful, with tinges of despair, beauty with pain.


MR. GUDER-
Another Richard Carpenter-John Bettis tune. The background to this song is that Richard and John worked at the Disneyland, during the summer of 1967. Their boss was Vic Guder, and was strict in his rules as to proper etiquette and rules that were meant to be followed. Richard and John scoffed at his rules and him belonging to the "establishment" so they would sneak in some rock-pop tunes into the enforced tunes they were to play. The last straw was Richard and John combing their hair in the park, upon which they got fired for. So in anger, they wrote this tune. It became a concert favorite. The ending complex harmonies were flawless in concert. This tune is a favorite of mine.


I KEPT ON LOVING YOU-
Another Roger Nichols and Paul Williams tune, and this song Richard sings the lead vocals. A nice tune. Pleasant. This tune would be backed with Close To You, as a single.


ANOTHER SONG-
Richard Carpenter-John Bettis partnered on this tune. The beginning sounds like a lush Carpenters tune, soft but nice. Then it changes, with drums, and Karen's yearning, but louder vocal. Harmonies errupt. This showcases Karen's adeptness at drumming. Her vocals are powerful, disproving the fact that she was lightweight singer. This girl could sing. Also, Carpenters harmonies are in full force, adding strength in numbers. Then the choir-like vocals fade and then the instrumental portion of the song appears. Very delightful. This shows that the Carpenters shouldn't be classified in the "easy listening" category, as this song has punch. It has class, almost akin to an acid rock performance. It also showcases that the Carpenters knew their craft, on keyboards, drums, and how to produce their sound. A wonderful ending to this song!

TEXT

[wisejester7]

cam83 said:
ANOTHER SONG-
Richard Carpenter-John Bettis partnered on this tune. The beginning sounds like a lush Carpenters tune, soft but nice. Then it changes, with drums, and Karen's yearning, but louder vocal. Harmonies errupt. This showcases Karen's adeptness at drumming. Her vocals are powerful, disproving the fact that she was lightweight singer. This girl could sing. Also, Carpenters harmonies are in full force, adding strength in numbers. Then the choir-like vocals fade and then the instrumental portion of the song appears. Very delightful. This shows that the Carpenters shouldn't be classified in the "easy listening" category, as this song has punch. It has class, almost akin to an acid rock performance. It also showcases that the Carpenters knew their craft, on keyboards, drums, and how to produce their sound. A wonderful ending to this song!

and Rick Henry said:
ANOTHER SONG (Richard Carpenter / John Bettis) - This intriguing number is full of passion and mystery in it's lyrics, vocals and musical arrangement. Once again a heavy jazz influence the song dates back to their spectrum era, as do "Maybe It's You" and "Crescent Noon".
Many fans consider the free form jam style instrumental solo (which brings the song to a close) to be a highlight of the album bringing it to a fascinating conclusion.

Both are right. There is no comparison of the Carpenters to other bands. Represented here is the best of choral work, jazz instrumentals, and lead vocals that just aren't found in this combination anywhere else. They were a complete package. K & R studied and practiced their craft with diligence and care. They strove for perfection. I think they achieved it here.
Yin and Yang/Male and Female and yet one voice ... together.