Carpenters

A Song for You	Close to You When the Carpenters found themselves with a sudden radio hit ("Close to You"), their record company put the pressure on them to come up with a whole album. The album's glue is, of course, the unabashedly sentimental and corny title track and the subsequent chart topper, "We've On...	Now & Then	Horizon	Carpenters Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition
As Time Goes By	Christmas Collection Rainy days and Mondays always made Karen Carpenter blue. Maybe she should have played her two Christmas records, Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Christmas. Both are combined in this 31-piece collection, a great value for fans of this brother-sister duo who captured the ...	Love Songs There was a time, before Karen Carpenter was born, when most American female popular singers, even the black ones, sounded a lot like the way she would one day sound. The music of singer-drummer Carpenter and her piano-playing brother Richard came to be called soft rock, but it's...	Singles 1969-1981 This revamped version of the Carpenters' two original Singles LPs may, despite the absence of some Top 40 charters, stand as the definitive single-CD collection of the duo's hits. Included are most of the reasons Karen Carpenter's bring-the-pain vocals are still revered by thrift...	The Ultimate Collection The Carpenters Made Some of the Most Famous Records of the Last 40 Years. Richard Carpenter's Precise Songwriting and Production Skills Combined with Karen Carpenter's Crystal-clear Vocals to Create Tracks that Are as Popular Today as They were in the '70s and Early '80s. The "Ca...

they could make you feel the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow--BRAVO, CARPENTERS !!!
Karen and Richard Carpenter scored a huge goal with their self-titled album, Carpenters. Karen could sing so well that when she sang you truly felt that she was singing only to you and just for you; the vulnerability and passion in her voice made her singing instantly very special to hear. Richard's ability to sing and play the music also enhanced their performance greatly. The quality of the sound is very good; and the artwork recreates the original record album cover when this was released on vinyl all those years ago. This is truly a must-have for fans of Carpenters. "Rainy Days And Mondays" starts the album off with one of their greatest hits ever. The piano arrangement is extremely pretty; and Karen sings her heart out. Her voice, clear as a bell, makes this ballad shine and Richard does a superb job playing the music to this song. "Rainy Days And Mondays" is also a huge highlight of this CD; and I think you'll like it very much if you haven't heard it before. In addition, there's also "Let Me Be The One;" Karen delivers this with panache; she handles complicated key modulations and tempo changes like the pro she always was! Karen's voice is in excellent form on "Let me Be The One" and I could never tire of this tune! "(A Place To) Hide Away" has a very sensitive arrangement; I really enjoy that piano playing and Karen never sings a superfluous note! "For All We Know" captures all the emotions people feel when the commit to each other or have a formal wedding ceremony; there is the joy of being united forever mixed with the doubt about the future being perfectly rosy and without any strife. Karen delivers this with heart and soul; and the melody is charming. "Superstar" is a touching, mellow torch song that never ceases to move me greatly when I hear it; just about anyone who has truly loved and lost can identify with this angst in this ballad. "Superstar" is also one of the biggest hits ever for Karen and Richard Carpenter. "Drusilla Penny" seems to have some sort of harpsichord in the arrangement; I haven't heard this in so many years but it comes back to me rather quickly because of the power of this number. There's a great medley of tunes by Bacharach and David: "Knowing When To Leave/Make It Easy On Yourself/There's Always Something There To Remind Me/I'll Never Fall In Love Again/Walk On By/Do You Know The Way To San Jose." This is a lush medley with lots to enjoy and I always smile when I hear this medley. The CD ends with Richard and Karen performing "Sometimes;" this is yet another sensitive ballad that highlights just how talented this duo really was. Carpenters is a great album and one of the strongest by Karen and Richard Carpenter. Their fans will love this and it's an excellent starter CD for newcomers to the artistry of Karen and Richard Carpenter.

Carpenters
I received my CD within a few days of ordering and in great condition. Thank you.

The Lightning On The Horizon
As 1971 dawned, the Carpenters continued to enjoy success. In the fall of 1970, they charted for the third time with a song from the play, "Lovers And Other Strangers," entitled "For All We Know" that peaked at number four. They also won two Grammy awards in the spring of 1971, released this album and toured the country. The critical development, however, in this album was the Memorial Day 1970 medley of Burt Bacharach songs Richard arranged in Iowa. That sequence led to a 16-minute medley that closes out one side of this recording. This CD is slightly better than "Close To You," but not enough to justify a higher rating. It has THREE top four singles - "Superstar," "Rainy Days And Mondays," and "For All We Know," and another strong recording, "Let Me Be The One." Two of the filler songs are VERY good - "One Love" and "Hideaway." "Saturday" and "Drusilla Penny" were not worth releasing except Richard's harpsichord playing on the latter is excellent. And the Bacharach-David Medley of Dionne Warwick songs includes some of the best songs she ever released. None of these was ever a Carpenters single, but it showed their ability to do older songs in an original format. That talent would serve them well the next three recordings.

GOOD OLE DAYS
THIS CD REMINDS ME OF GROWING UP IN PARK SLOPE BROOKLYN. I LOVE THEIR MUSIC ALWAYS DID AND ALWAYS WILL. YOU HAVE TO BUY THIS CD TO PUT WITH YOUR COLLECTION!

A Mixed Bag
As many other reviewers have mentioned in other reviews about any Carpenters albums: Karen could turn any mediocre song into a jaw-droppingly amazing lesson in articulation and performance...the woman had class. This album is a collection of some flawless interpretations by Karen...unfortunately with a bit of filler along the way. "Rainy Days And Mondays" is just a damn good song which Karen pulls off with sincerity and melancholy. Not many other artists have tried to cover this song because Karen basically nailed it and owns it. It's made even more depressing by her death as we now listen in hindsight and you can almost imagine Karen is singing from beyond the grave and imparting her experience and wisdom to the audience. Thank God Karen just sang a song and didn't indulge in the vocal acrobatics of the current crop of "diva's" in the music industry today who scrap melodies to inflict us with their high-pitched, dolphin-esque wailing when they "sing" songs. RDAM is definately one of Karen's best performances ever. "Superstar" and "For All We Know" were the other two singles released off this album. Karen does a fine job with "Superstar" but I never cared much for "For All We Know"? I am kinda baffled at how it charted so well too? It is just a "pleasant" song but I don't find the melody endearing and the Carpenters have so many better songs that flopped? "Let Me Be The One" is such a memorable song and missed single opportunity, thankfully with Richard acknowledged and included this song on their 2CD GOLD Compliation which does not sound out of place. The melody of this chorus stuck in my head the first time I ever played this song- it is just that catchy. While it is a short song and very repetitive, Karen manages to hold your attention the whole way through. "One Love" and "Hideaway" if sung by anyone else would just be passable efforts. Luckily, Karen manages to turn these pretty ordinary songs into something that is listenable. Richard Carpenter's two contributions are the poppy "Saturday" and the bizarre "Druscilla Penny" with its weird Renaissance-esque intro. I might just be me...but I find Richard's singing voice just plain creepy! I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think he should have just stuck to the composing and arranging of their music! I skip these tracks... The Bacharach/David Medley is interesting. Karen handles "Knowing When To Leave" amazingly well with its, as another reviewer mentioned, rapid-fire vocals. The problem the Bacharach part of the medley is that they completely changed the melody of such well known songs? I would love to hear Karen sing "Walk On By" the way it was originally arranged, instead Richard sings an unusual faster version which is ambitious and kudos to him for being creative...but it just doesn't really compare with how the song is meant to be performed. The album closer "Sometimes" is just such a sad song that I find myself bawling my eyes out from the opening piano bars. When I first played this song I thought it was another of Richard's self-indulgent piano compositions with no vocals which he is so fond of...but I was patient enough to wait it out and eventually Karen starts crooning "Sometimes, not often enough, we reflect upon the good things..." Oy! You really have to hear this song completely to understand how true the words of this song are. Poor Karen sings beautifully and in such an under-stated way... So, this album is a bit of a mixed-bag...some flawless performances by Karen...and some so-so songs...this was only album number 3 the Carpenters released and they really improved and got better with the following albums. They really caught lightning in a bottle. Listening to any Carpenters album is always a very humbling thing, knowing Karen has not been with us for all these years is such a tragedy...we still miss her. I think their music resonated with a lot of lonely and "just nice" people like me.