my thoughts on the CLOSE TO YOU album

[cam83]

Hi All,
Since the CLOSE TO YOU (1970) album is one of my favorite all time albums of the Carpenters, I will give you some of my thoughts on this. Bear with me, if on another Carpenters list, you have read my thoughts before...

First of all, I really love the album cover. I know that Richard Carpenter could not stand this album cover, posed cheek to cheek, wearing a suit and Karen a long flowy dress, soaking in the mist or rain...but I think it is absolutely a beautiful picture of them. It takes me back to SAM THE RECORD MAN store, that was in the heart of downtown Winnipeg back in the fall of 1988. I was 16, and browsing around the store looking for an album to purchase. Literally an album, since we had a record player at home (and an 8-track player too...if you can believe it). So I looked at the albums they had, some cassettes, and also the new fangled Compact Discs. I saw the A Song For You, Horizon, Classics, Reminiscing, Carpenters, Close To You, The Singles 1969-1973...and I fell in love with the Close To You album cover. I thought she looked gorgeous! That long flowy hair, that pose, her shoes, her neck band, her smile...and Richard looked handsome...but for me, she was the star attraction visually. Of course, I knew that vocally she was the star attraction as well. So, I remember purchasing this album, and catching the bus home to listen to it. That day, it seemed, that the bus took forever to get home. But when I got home, and asked Mom if I could play the new record that I had bought. She said, sure, and so I put it on the turntable. Immediately the sounds that came out were magestic. Just pure beauty and perfection. This album always seems to take me away to another time and place. Even the song, Maybe It's You, (rising on the shore...the ocean came)...reminded me of the album cover...the theme...

WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN...nice crisp beginning. Then Karen's lovely voice starts to sing...her phrasing is unique. When Richard (and his brothers...I always call him and his overdubbed voices that...the same with Karen and her sisters...silly, huh?)...and the song is quite catchy. Every single instrument has it's place...from the drums, to the tambourines, keyboards...everything has it's place...a very lovely song.

LOVE IS SURRENDER...nice beat...I love the way that she sings. I also love the fact that this is a "Christian" song written by Ralph Carmichael. I love the unique layering of the vocals. And that Richard gets a chance to sing "SOLO" is neat! I love the ending vocally.

MAYBE IT'S YOU...I also like the fact that the previous song segues into MAYBE IT'S YOU...and Karen's lilting voice starts to gently caress this song. This song verges on a haunting reading...more like sorrowful. She really has a gift for capturing the essence of a song, and sharing it with us. "Couldn't we stay and watch the splashing rocks we throw..." sounds very vulnerable...almost as if she knows the answer will be negative. "Walks along the waves of velveteen, his only thought is love for me...love for me..." sounds heavenly...I think this is one of the most underrated songs of their repetoire. This song is a GEM!

REASON TO BELIEVE...I like that this song has a Country feel to this. It's a shame she never did more Country songs (besids Top of the World, Sweet Sweet Smile, Jambalaya, Two Sides, Those Good Old Dreams and al.) This song has a pleasant feel to it. Soothing.

HELP...I love this song. At first, I thought I would hate it, because I am not a Beatle fan at all...but I love the Carpenters intrepetation of it. The phrasing and pronounciation of words...the harmonies... Although, I must say, I always had trouble understanding certain words and phrases, so I would sing them the way that I thought it was...and then find out later...the words wer totally different :-)

CLOSE TO YOU...nice beginning...simple...but building...I always remember this song from when I was very little...hearing it on the radio and on tv. Gorgeous song. Not much else to add to it. Just gorgeous! I also like the extra ending they have...it ends, and then goes on with the Wahs!!

BABY IT'S YOU...Very almost soulful reading of it by Karen. She really could have sung anything. And she shines in her lower register. Very powerful reading too. The harmonies are lush...it would be neat just to hear the lead vocal taken off, so we could hear the harmonies and all the complexities associated with it. I love the ending....Wa sha la la la la la ooh!!

I'LL NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN...This was the first song I played when I got this album...to hear from the SINGLES 1969-1973 booklet of the 39 voice chord of Richard and Karen when recording this song on the CLOSE TO YOU album. I was blown away at hearing all their voices! It was special and so wonderful. I love her phrasing and intonation. What a voice! I love when she sings with herself...and she harmonizes neatly with herself.

CRESCENT NOON...very sad, mournful song about the changes of the season. Karen's reading is flawless and aches with such sadness...almost as if she were having such depression. Very bare song but I guess for the song to have effect, it needs to be that way. Another stand out track! Another GEM! This song makes me feel sad, but not in a bad way. I think that we all have to embrace sadness at different times in our lives. For me, though, I deal with my sadness by playing a lot of her sad songs. I am then able to try and deal with my sadness thru her therapeutic voice, I guess...It also makes you wonder the sadness she was facing in her life. Yes, her career was just starting in terms of being signed to a record label, and having a million seller of Close To You...and making some money...but what was going on in her inner psyche...She must have had thoughts of how she wanted her mother to love her voice...to please her brother Richard, whom she adored...to please everyone...and not have or being able to accept those around her to meet her own needs...

MR GUDER...another simple yet gorgeously song sung. The harmonies shine again. I don't really like the lyrics...but still the melody and the arrangement make up for the silly lyrics...but I guess they were all trying to make a point here....I love the overdubbed harmonies near the end of the song, in that long phrase without any taking breaths...it sounds very complex...I saw them on the video sing it live at the BBC and they captured it perfectly as they did on their album. Marvelous song! One of my favorites!!!

I KEPT ON LOVING YOU...nice song. Good lead by Richard. Nice harmonies by Karen. But I wonder what it would have sounded like, with Karen singing the lead.

ANOTHER SONG...good vocal beginning by Karen...so it takes you by surprise when the song changes and becomes more rock like, but surprisingly, Karen's vocal is pleasing and yet more forceful. It even sounds very ALTERNATIVE-esque for it's day. It shows that they were capable of singing and recording so many genres of music. The choir like harmonies are astoundingly beautiful. I always feel as if my soul wants to weep for the beauty of this song...the purity of it...and then the song changes...the mood changes to mysterious. I really adore this song! So for someone to say that they were just easy listening...well this track is NOT easy listening...it's not blah or just simple. It's a very difficult track with a lot of emotion within. It shows them as musicians with a love for music. And able to handle it with grace, and a love for their craft...



My jumbled thoughts,
Cameron Longo
[e-mail]

[Alan]

Further thoughts on CLOSE TO YOU … also, TICKET TO RIDE.

One thing I admire about these albums is their inclusion of slightly edgier material than we came to know in their later and greatest success. As they were not yet superstars, I guess they were just experimenting and trying to find their intended voice ... the one they felt most comfortable with ... the one their audience would most love. Although Richard really did include cuts somewhat experimental in one way or another on all studio albums they released, none match the two albums mentioned here, I don’t think, for the experimental quality of the sounds they contain.

Case in point (and several of these would’ve been at home on an FM rock station!)

CLOSE TO YOU: BABY IT'S YOU, HELP, CRESCENT NOON, and ANOTHER SONG

TICKET TO RIDE: NOWDAYS CLANCY, TURN AWAY, and GET TOGETHER

[Rick Henry]

I love the CTY album. I listen to it in it's entireity atleast once or twice a month. I especially like "Baby It's You", "Maybe It's You" and "mr. Guder". "guder" has always been one of my favorite C's songs.

This album was so different from anything else out at the time. It really made a splash on the music scene and stayed on the charts for 80 some odd weeks. It's was a phenomenally huge hit.

[Superstargal]

Hi cam83!

I loved your review on "Close To You!" This is probably my favorite Carpenters album. I have my story about "Close To You." I think I talked briefly about it when I first arrived on the forum.

My parents owned the "Close To You" album on an 8-track. They have been avid Carpenters fans ever since they first came out, and they passed on their love of the Carpenters to me. I was born in 1980, so I'm guessing that right around the time Karen passed away, or probably close to a year afterward, was when I first started loving the Carpenters. I was about 3 or 4, and the "Close To You" 8-track was always on hand. It resided in our den near my dad's big 8-track player and my mom's white stationary bike. Nearly every morning before going to pre-school, I'd hop on the stationary bike, pop the "Close To You" album in the 8-track player, and listen with joy to the wonderful tunes while eating marshmellows from a cup and looking at my dad's golden bowling trophies he had in a corner of the den. It is one of the earliest memories I have, and the Carpenters were a part of it! I loved every single song but the ones that I remember liking most at that time were "We've Only Just Begun," "Love Is Surrender," "Help," "Mr. Gudor," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," and "Another Song." Heck that's almost all of the album!! ;D That rich harmonizing, and flawless voice of Karen's has always stuck in my head since that time. They made such an impression on me at such an early age; make that VERY early age! In fact, "We've Only Just Begun" was my parents' wedding song in 1971!

As I got older, the 8-track machine was stored away, as were the 8-track's, and I did not hear the "Close To You" album again until I bought the CD of it at the local Musicland when I was about 14 or 15 years old. When I played it, an incredible wave of nostalgia hit me as the familiar Carpenters songs I hadn't heard in about 10 years, filled my ears!

I love "Close To You." It was MY childhood Carpenters album right next to "Now And Then," which my parents had on vinyl. I always called it "Car Carpenter" because of the big red car that Richard and Karen were in on the album cover. I was too young to know about album titles back then. ;D I also listened to my parents' vinyl of the Carpenters "Singles 1969-1973" as well.

[Rick Henry]

What an absolutely fabulous story. Thank you Superstargal for sharing.

Way back in late 71 early 72 we had Close To You on 8-track. My sister and I used to stand in front of the stereo speaker with our microphones (which would be whatever we had to use as mics such as a bottle, broomstick, a long narrow tupperware glass). We'd sing along to every song. I remember "Help" and "We've Only Just Begun" being the ones we knew the best. My sister and I also sang along to the Osmonds "One Bad Apple", Jackson 5's Greatest Hits, Three Dog Night, Simon and Garfunkel, Partridge Family and sometimes Santana. But we seemed to always come back to "Close To You" for an encore.

[smoothie2]

I Love reading everyone's thoughts about Close to You album. It is my favorite of any of theirs. I love the album cover which fits in so well with the lyrics of We've Only Just Begun and Maybe it's You songs since both of those talk about the ocean and waves.
Close to You was either my very first or second album of any type which came with my very first record player (suitcase type) I got for Christmas about 1971. I had really really wanted a record player of my very own especially since I was becoming more independent having taken over my brother's bedroom since he moved out after marrying. I don't recall asking for a Carpenters record, but I'm sure I must have since we as a family never missed any show of any type on tv and seems music was on all the time of one type or another.
And...on Close to you album, honest to Pete, I had white sandals exactly like the ones Karen is wearing on that cover. I wore them in my bro. wedding.
well, what memories what memories.
Before my siblings moved out, we owned a big stereo RCA HI FI ..which was my sisters. So, everyone probably even neighbors down the road heard when we played records on that..Herb Alpert...Ventures, ..Tennessee Ernie Ford's gospel,
funny Bill Cosby records, Roger Miller...etc.