HecklerPlay: In Praise Of The Carpenters
On this day in 1983, music lost one of its most brilliant and unique voices in Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters. Aged 32, Karen passed away of a cardiac arrest after a long struggle with anorexia nervosa, ensuring that her already melancholic voice would forever sound so bittersweet that every listen would leave the listener cosy, yet somehow grieving.
Of course, The Carpenters hit the big time with cutesy ballad, ‘Close to You’ which topped the American chart.
However, The Carpenters, despite being possibly the most un-cool band in history, were much more than that and a lesson in songwriting and melody in their purest form.
After a pretty inauspicious start, The Carpenters become an overnight sensation with the release of their first LP, which featured the brilliant reworking of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Close To You’, as well as the magnificent ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’.
In a time when rock music was desperate to push the envelope, which took pop stars further out of the stratosphere to almost Godlike status to fans, The Carpenters ambled into view like they were two old friends, plugging away with their Brill Building songsmithery and fondness for that most elusive of things – a great tune.
So easy are The Carpenters on the ear, that listeners can often assume that they’re dealing with something too safe and not adventurous enough. It’s easy to forget that music doesn’t need to charter new territory to be brilliant and The Carpenters looked back at a time when popstars weren’t there to be offensive or edgy, but rather, provide a direct connection to your heart, be it with a tale of happiness or sorrow.
While the messages in The Carpenters’ records may not have been complicated, the rich melodic pop they produced was anything but simple.
Between Richard and Karen Carpenter, they created immensely deep pop records that could be dissected into each layer, not that they would ever ask you to do such a thing. The Carpenters were the Phil Spectors of cosiness, producing records that sounded deceptively easy to make. However, there’s never been anyone quite like them since and certainly, no-one has possessed a voice so easy on the ear as Karen’s achingly gorgeous tones.
And yet, underneath the polish of this group was one of the hardest working bands in music. Extensive touring of the world saw them sweeping up hearts and minds everywhere they went – apart from those too stubborn to give such an openly accessible band a chance. Those that skipped past the band didn’t realise the ferocious talent they possessed, even breaking out into some of the most off-kilter pop ever made, as seen in the brilliant ‘All I Can Do’.
From 1971 to 1975 the duo played 814 concert appearance, with additional TV spots and time recording albums. Of course, this incredible work ethic would take a disastrous toll on the band with Karen’s weight problems spiralling out of control and Richard’s dependency on Quaaludes injecting the band with a darkness that wasn’t shown in their music. Things came to a head in 1975 when Karen collapsed on-stage.
In 1983, Karen had suffered cardiac arrest as a result of the strain of her obsessive dieting.
Karen left behind a legacy of awareness for eating disorder. Other celebrities came out and spoke of their problems in the hope that they could stop potential deaths in younger fans with the same problem.
However, it’s the music we’re here to celebrate and Karen’s unique and brilliant voice. While ‘Close To You’ is the song the band will forever be most associated with, it’s ‘Yesterday Once More’ that captures the spirit of the band most, looking at their love of pure pop-music and the multilayered harmonising and perfect melodies that made The Carpenters such an achingly great band.
It is definitely time for a reappraisal where The Carpenters are mentioned in the same breath as Carole King, Lennon and McCartney and Brian Wilson.
Richard Carpenter once spat that critics would chide them for making music that was for ‘the people who believe in apple pie! The people who believe in the American flag! The average middle-American person and his station wagon!’
Or, as they’re really known, ordinary people – and they’re the people who really make music tick – not some dickish critic who aspires to some imagined art in his head.
The Carpenters. They made incredible music for humble people. God bless ‘em for it.
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