|
|
Post by Rick Henry on Aug 2, 2004 0:15:48 GMT -5
 I remember someone saying or maybe I read it somewhere that most artists put their strongest songs as the first and last song on their albums. The Carpenters started and ended all their albums on a very strong note. What do you think? Not including bookends like "Aurora" and "Eventide" or reprises like the "A Song For You"reprise, what are some of your favorite first and last songs? What are some songs you think should have opened and closed the albums. Probably my favorite of Last Songs is "Love Me For What I Am" from "Horizon". This is a song I could always relate to. I just alway felt it was important for my friends, family, significant other (which actually I'm single anyway), etc to love me for the person I am on the inside and not for superficial things like money, looks and such. Karen's voice on this song is just astonishing and the arrangement is intense. what a strong song to end the album with. what a great meaningful message. Another last song I always thought was very strong is "Road Ode". This song is a great song. The words, the music, Karen's reading, overall a great song. I also love "Sometimes". 
|
|
|
|
Post by cam83 on Aug 2, 2004 0:28:32 GMT -5
First song...Last song...hmmm. On the CLOSE TO YOU album, I think the first song should have been ANOTHER SONG...and the last song...WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
Cam
|
|
|
|
Post by Rick Henry on Aug 2, 2004 0:39:06 GMT -5
First song...Last song...hmmm. On the CLOSE TO YOU album, I think the first song should have been ANOTHER SONG...and the last song...WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN Cam Interesting Cam a flip flop. "We've Only Just Begun" would have been a great way to close the album. And to open the album with "Another Song" would have just been dynamic. |
|
|
|
Post by cam83 on Aug 2, 2004 0:48:54 GMT -5
If memory serves me correct, I seem to remember having a cassette tape of CLOSE TO YOU...and hearing the opening bit of ANOTHER SONG..."The moon that rose has descended and the love once shared now had ended...and soon the day would come(doo, doo)" and then the beginning of Crescent Noon would begin. I can't remember if the whole ANOTHER SONG was on it in another part of the tape...
My thoughts,
Cam
|
|
|
|
Post by karen69roland on Aug 2, 2004 6:40:22 GMT -5
Hi everybody...  I think my best *1st song in a Carpenters album* is *We've Only Just Begun*..., but, *B'wana She No Home*, *Now*, *Those Good Old Dreams* and, of course, the beautiful starting/ending *Aurora*/*Eventide* are pretty good too. My Best *Last song in a Carpenters album* is *Because We Are In Love(The Wedding Song*..., but, the more significative, to me, is *Look To Your Dreams*... When Richard plays the main melody on the piano, at the end, means a lot to me... To me, It means like Richard was saying to the world..., *Feel this? This is what I'll be doing from now on..., playing, alone, the beautiful melodies that my sister used to sing..., it will always be my dream...* Me, RC..., Roland Chayer..., I always cry when this song ends..., just like I am now..., writing this. I love you Karen...  Roland C. |
|
|
|
Post by Rob813 on Aug 2, 2004 18:55:25 GMT -5
Aw Roland you are such a sensitive man. I just want to put my arm around you and comfort you.
I have to admit that Now and Look To Your Dreams from Voice Of The Heart does it for me. Both of those songs are personal favorites of mine. It breaks my heart to know that Karen and Richard had matured so much and were not given the opportunity to share their growth with the rest of us. Richard said they were just hitting their stride as artists. Considering the amazing quantity and quality of work that they produced from 1969 through 1981 it is staggering to think they just starting to "come into their own".
|
|
|
|
Post by enigma on Aug 2, 2004 19:38:10 GMT -5
The Carpenters did not always start and end on a high note.
Rainy Days and Mondays, Those Good Old Dreams, Now are all strong openers and cotenters for strongest album tracks on the respective albums. Some alternate opening closing songs I think would fit the mould of starting and ending strong are:
Close to You - (They Long To Be) Close To You ending with We've Only Just Begun
Carpenters - Superstar endig with Rainy Days
A Kind Of Hush - I Need To Be In Love ending with You
Passage - Two Sides ending with All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
As Time Goes By - Rainbow Connection ending with Leave Yesterday Behind
These are just some of my alternate opening and closing songs and stregth of songs I find is a matter of opinion in any case.
Rick mentioned omitting bookends so I disqualified most of the early work and the rest are difficult to determine a better opening and closing song.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rob813 on Aug 2, 2004 20:35:20 GMT -5
I find this topic quite fascinating. I've been a Carpenter fan from the very beginning and I've never thought about the opening and closing song before. For me, just about everything that Karen and Richard recorded was strong. I'm probably prejudiced but I think that just about every song was personal and special for me. Reading your postings fascinates me, but I just can't seem to rearrange things like you guys do. Maybe I'm just not "musical" enough. All I know is how incredibly swept up with joy I feel when I listen to any of their music.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rick Henry on Aug 2, 2004 20:51:49 GMT -5
I did mention omitting bookends, but that doesn't mean I discount bookends as being trite. I love "Aurora", "Eventide", "Invocation", "Benediction", "A Song For You"and "Yesterday Once More" reprises. Though in the scope of actual full length songs the first and last seem to usually be the strongest. I think "Passage" should have started with "Two Sides" and ended with "I Just Fall In Love Again". "A Kind Of Hush" start with "Boat To Sail" and end with "One More Time". "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" (although I love the song) gets my vote for weakest closing song.
|
|
|
|
Post by cam83 on Aug 2, 2004 23:56:49 GMT -5
Hi Friends,
I think it this way...You want an opening song that sucks you in, and then the music just fills you up...during the course of the album...and then the ending song of the album, just leaves you wishing for more. VOICE OF THE HEART, as others expressed, is one such album...NOW is elegant...knowing it's Karen's last recorded vocal...then the whole entire album of gems...Karen's gorgeously sung vocals...and then ending on the standard LOOK TO YOUR DREAMS, and Richard's fadeout piano...makes me want to weep listening to it. That voice...moves me like no others. I am sorry to be getting all emotional but sometimes it just gets to me. I feel so bad for her, how she felt unloved while millions loved her for her remarkeable talent, and admired her, and yet she couldn't accept their love in some way. Like an emotional avenue was closed within her, where she couldn't be in contact with that kind of love. I think she knew in a way, that people loved her, but she probably felt so horrible about her self loathing attitude towards herself regarding her anorexia, and that people would be shocked if they only knew...then by 1982, after treatment, deciding she wanted to help others. And even the one girl who shared a room with Karen in the Lenox Hill Hospital, said that Karen gave her an unreleased manuscript from Cherry Boone O'Neill, right before STARVING FOR ATTENTION was on the public market. And that she got to read Cherry's experiences. And how saddened and depressed she felt when a few months later Karen died, after getting better, was a devestating blow to her, to know that anyone, even Karen could die...anyhow.
Karen, wherever you are, know that you are loved and admired, and that I hope you can know a world where unkind words and rudeness are not tolerable, not allowed at all...where you can appreciate a butterfly, by a still lake inhabited by swans. Where you can soak in the goodness and kindness of all your earthly brothers and sisters...know that you are missed!
My thoughts,
Cam
PS. Sorry for my multi rambling thoughts...ack...one of those days I think...
|
|
|
|
Post by enigma on Aug 3, 2004 9:00:26 GMT -5
Wow Cam in addition to being a fountain of information you have a remarkable ability to choose the right words to convey your message this message actually touched me on a deeper level than most. Your analogy of Karen is a sad one and I would like to think there is more to Karens story than that. Your little message to Karen is touching I love it!! When someone expresses the love felt for Karen in such a poetic way it makes me happy and you certainly have a talent for that.
Words can't describe how much I love and miss Karen.
|
|
|
|
Post by cam83 on Aug 3, 2004 12:26:21 GMT -5
Hi Enigma,
I am feeling much better today. Sometimes I feel a bit sad, and it may come across as such in my posts. Yesterday was one such day. Anyhow, yes, I think there was much more to Karen being sad. That was one part of her of her multi faceted personality. There was a funny Karen. A quirky Karen. A bossy Karen. A perfectionist Karen. A happy Karen. A lonely Karen. A confused Karen. Etc. But I think, and others close to her wrote, that despite her outgoing, cheerful self that the world saw, underneath, there was a sadness there. oh well.
My thoughts,
Cameron
|
|
|
|
Post by Rob813 on Aug 3, 2004 20:49:06 GMT -5
Cam, I have to tell you that you are one of the most sensitive, creative and beautiful people I have ever come in contact with. Your description of Karen and her suffering just brought me to tears. You are incredibly gifted with an ability to write. I'm not blowing smoke here. I really mean it. Your talent is extraordinary. As Karen used her talent, I hope you are using yours. The world needs more beauty - there's more than enough ugliness. Please, please, please keep writing; about Karen, about anything. It needs to be published!
Your friend, Rob
|
|
|
|
Post by Moe on Aug 5, 2004 3:42:20 GMT -5
I would say the Now and Look to your Dreams as the best opener and closer of the Carpenters' albums. Rainy Days and Sometimes from the tan album is very close to perfection, too.
|
|
|
|
Post by cam83 on Aug 5, 2004 4:17:26 GMT -5
Hi Rob, Thank you for those kind words. I love writing and writing down my thoughts. I really find I have a gift for that to a degree. You know what is funny, is that growing up and being severely abused, that now I realize I am talented and can overcome those obstacles of a painful childhood, where my Dad used to say to me that I am useless and a no good for nothing Shmuck(I don't know what a Shmuck is...but probably means dummy or fool) and then beat me up. I grew up feeling horrible about who I was and thinking death would be better. But I kept the pain locked within me. That is prob why I relate to the songs A PLACE TO HIDEAWAY, SOLITAIRE and ONLY YESTERDAY. So it is just recently that I realize what gifts God has given me....writing, singing, artistic flair, organization skills etc. And to a small degree I can understand a bit of what Karen might have gone thru thru my own suffering with E D's. She was a remarkeable woman though. And I have gotten my experiences published in a book called STOLEN GENERATIONS: Book of Voices...about my experiences being adopted into a white home and being Native Canadian. Anyways, thanks for the encouragement Rob! Sorry for rambling on and on... Cam |
|
