Shoulda-Been Singles: "Carpenters"

[cinscorp]

This week I move on to "Carpenters". "Official" singles were "For All We Know", "Rainy Days & Mondays" and "Superstar". I'm not including the posthumous release of "Let Me Be The One" as I don't think it counts in the context of the thread.

Vote for a song if you think a "single was missed" and share thoughts below. Since there were 3 HUGE hit singles released from "Carpenters", would your single pick replace or be in addition to the "official" single(s)? Would you have chosen another single...a different single? Would you rewrite Carpenters history? Be sure to include thoughts below.

[Rick Henry]

As with the others I chose only one.

Before I go on with my choice I want to mention why I did not choose some of the other possibilities.

"(A Place To) Hideaway" - Although this is a very good song, it just does not have the verve or the strength to be a top three hit. It's just a bit too much on the sweet side. Though lyrically it is somewhat dark, with it's "bright colored pinwheels" and "dreams are for sleeping" it has more of a fairytale sort of feel... just not the right feel for Top 40 radio, even in 1971. The imagery of the lyric is okay, but not quite as powerful as "Maybe It's You". Where "Maybe It's You" was a walk along a sandy beach, ""(A Place To) Hideaway" is a ride in fairytale land. Although had it been released as a single it most likely would have made the Top 10, as anything Carpenters put out at that time was a guaranteed smash... they were that hot.

"One Love" - Another nice song, but just seems to be lacking that something extra needed for hit single potential.

"Sometimes" - beautiful song. More like a poem than a hit single.

My choice is "Let Me Be The One" - This song has an energy and verve that brings the song a life just perfect for Top 40 radio. Carpenters had considered releasing this one and it was down to a flip of a coin. My choice would actually replace "For All We Know" as a single... I always thought that song was a weak follow-up to "We've Only Just Begun".

[enigma]

I clearly do not agree with hidaways asessment as I chose it as the should have been single (yes the one vote is mine) true it is a sweet song but sweet songs can and are hits it does not have to be edgy or cutting edge to be a single sometimes a sweet simple song can be a hit. I feel its strong enough to be a single is it superstar or rainy days no but it is a nice song and potential hit but I am admittedly not an expert on chart sucess. Nothing wrong with Ricks take on the song I just have a slightly different look at the song myself.

[Rick Henry]

Jun 7, 2009 14:55:08 GMT -5 enigma said:

I clearly do not agree with hidaways asessment as I chose it as the should have been single (yes the one vote is mine) true it is a sweet song but sweet songs can and are hits it does not have to be edgy or cutting edge to be a single sometimes a sweet simple song can be a hit. I feel its strong enough to be a single is it superstar or rainy days no but it is a nice song and potential hit but I am admittedly not an expert on chart sucess. Nothing wrong with Ricks take on the song I just have a slightly different look at the song myself.

Hello E... first let me say that I am not saying that "(A Place To) Hideaway" is a bad song. It may not be amongst my favorites but it is a very well good song. Karen sings it beautifully. But as far as single release material I do not think it has the commercial appeal to reach out to your general music listening public. A single is a type of song that should be able to cross over to listeners that wouldn't generally listen to the artist and appeal to a cross section of the music listening public. I think "(A Place To) Hideaway" is a good song but one that is more for the fans and not so much for the public at large.

I went with "Let Me Be The One" because it does have that universal sort of sound that is easily likable by a good cross section of different types of music listeners.

I agree with you that a sweet song can be a hit and does not have to be edgy or cutting edge and to be honest with you I can't think of anything on the "Carpenters" album which is edgy or cutting edge. The entire album (including "Superstar" and "Rainy Days And Mondays") is pretty much middle of the road. Very good album but not cutting edge.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

I, too, selected LET ME BE THE ONE - my reasons are this: I think this tune is all around top 40 material, and would have gone to the top of the charts because of both the musicality of the song, and the lyrics.

Early 70's was filled with violence, loud music, revolutions, and rebellions. This song , though clearly a love song, is pretty strong musically, with a softer-edged lyric - " - let me be the one you run to when you need someone to turn to....let me be the one."

And this line: "for silent understanding - to find a quiet place" - such a soft pedal lyric yet the song itself is strong. The drums drive the song, in my estimation - of course Karen's vocal is absolutely gorgeous - the harmonies are beautiful at the end, and it seems to just get stronger and stronger, musically, until it fades out.

I dunno - it just seems to me if memory serves, that this one would have been the type of tune we'd have heard as a successful single in those days, and I would guess it would have gotten a great deal of air time. I've always liked this album a lot - with the Bachrach Medley being one of my favorites - but I don't think it would have done well on the radio, as expertly done as it was.

That's my thinking for the mo, anyway!

[Ming]

I choose 'One Love' because the lyrics tell us a lot. However, 'Let me be the obne' is also a good choice too.

Ming

[cinscorp]

I noticed that Rick would pick "Let Me Be The One" to replace "For All We Know" but I wonder for the rest of your choices, since there were 3 singles from the album and a brand new single would follow in early '72, would you have added your choice as a 4th single (and would have possibly pushed back or omitted "Hurting Each Other" which closely followed) or replaced one of the 3 singles from "Carpenters"?

[YesterdayOnceMore]

Personally, For All We Know was never a real fave of mine, either. So, I'd replace that one with Let Me Be The One as one of the 3 releases. I dunno - For All We Know is a fun listen, mostly because of Karen's vocal, and her pronunciation of certain words in her Eastern accent - but the song never really "stirred" me in any other way.

[cinscorp]

Okay, once again I agree with Carpenters history on this one. I would not have changed or added any singles from this album. Despite a couple of thoughts on "For All We Know", it was an outright smash and preceded 2 other top 10 hits. I wouldn't mess with the history at all here. To me, while "Let Me Be The One" is a great song and probably would have been a smash, I wouldn't pick it and here's why: 1st - it's just too short a song. It would have clocked in as the shortest Carpenters single ever and I'm guessing even short for '71. The second reason is that it's too similar in style to the album's first followup "Hurting Each Other", which I personally prefer. "Hurting" is only a little longer but has the very slow conversational verses and the building harmonized choruses. Now, that may have been signature sound but side-by-side, the format is too similar. If "Let Me Be The One" had been released as a single first, "Hurting" might have suffered as more of a formulaic-followup. Just my thoughts. The other choices, "One Love" and "Hideaway" are pretty album tracks, but for me lack the overall appeal for a single. Of the two, I'd pick "Hideaway" with its dream-like imagery first. "Carpenters" to me is not as strong an album as the preceding "Close To You" or followup "A Song For You". Short and 2 R.C. sung filler songs. Although, every Karen-sung song here admittedly is stellar - there just should have been about 4 more of them. And, of course, it did contain "Rainy Days" and "Superstar" - two of the best singles ever, IMO.