music *ping*
A lovely voice. A poignant song.
Shame about her problems. “Goodbye to Lunch”
This is so spooky. My mother, who is 83 and NEVER listens to anything past 1950, saw the Carpenters on TV the other night and love their songs.
Aren’t they a soft rock band? I have to look up their hits.
The Carpenters were a brother and sister act from Southern California. Richard the eldest, was an excellent pianist, but any session player could substitute. Karen sang as a way to compete with Richard.
When they auditioned and offered a contract, Richard thought it was about him and was quickly informed that it was Karen they were offering the contract to.
Or something like that.
Seldom is a low key vocal like Karen Carpenter, as soulful. She is missed.
Best. Voice. Ever.
They were both a wonderful act, but her voice was the horse that pulled the wagon.
Richard Nixon liked them and had them perform at the White House back in 1973.
There's a cottage industry of alternative rock bands doing covers of Carpenters songs and giving those songs "an edge." A good example of that is here..
Thank you for posting this. This is one of my favorite Carpenters’ songs.
If you got married in the late 1970s/early 1980s, you had “We’ve Only Just Begun” played as the first song at your reception.
I like the way Herb Alpert (who signed them to A&M records) put it: when you heard Karen’s voice, it felt like she was sitting next to you.
But although Karen’s voice was what really stood out, Richard was gifted as well. Their first big hit, “Close to You,” had been kicking around for several years before they got a hold of it, but had never gone anywhere. When he heard their arrangement, even the composer admitted that Richard got the song better than he (the composer) did. And the composer knew a thing or two about putting out hits in that era: Burt Bacharach.