(I Long To Be) Close To The Carpenters

"Close To You," The Carpenters' 1970 sophomore effort catepaulted the brother-sister duo into superstardum on the wings of two of their signature hits, "We've Only Just Begun" and "(They Long To Be) Close To You." Not only was this album an important landmark for Richard and Karen Carpenter, but it was an important album for me personally as well as my parents. As a child, I would listen to my parents' 8-track of "Close To You" almost every morning before going to pre-school. My dad owned a very nice 8-track machine that he kept in our den and there I'd sit on my mother's stationary bike in front of the machine and enjoy the tunes. Music has been an enormous part of my life, and this album is one of the earliest memories I have of enjoying music.



The album opens with a song that has become a signature for Richard and Karen, "We've Only Just Begun." Pianist/keyboardist and arranger Richard got the idea for the song after watching a television commercial. His insticts about the song were right on target, as the song became a huge hit. In fact, "We've Only Just Begun" was my parents' wedding song in 1971. Karen's voice is so silky smooth and clear. It just glides across the music arrangments. Her drumming is superb and she and Richard's harmonies are thick and melodic with feeling.



"Love Is Surrender" is a cute little ditty with Karen and Richard trading off lead vocals. I love how the duo's harmonies build up intensely in this song. It's a groovy song with a catchy beat that you can nod your head to.



"Maybe It's You" is a sweet love song with magnificant orchestration and Karen's vocals are soft and innocent. It features some nice soft piano/keyboard work from Richard. His piano intro is especially nice and delicate. I used to sing this song to myself many times; especially if I was missing someone I loved.



"Reason To Believe" is not one of my favorites, but it's kind of a fun little song. It almost has a bit of a country flavor to it somehow. It is heavy with Richard's keyboard melodies and the duo's rich harmonies. Karen is smooth as usual.



The Carpenters' cover of The Beatles' "Help" is too neat. It's one of my very favorites from this album. Karen and Richard are so urgent with their vocals. Their harmonies are demanding, and Karen sings so clean and earnestly.



Next is the other signature song from the duo, "(They Long To Be) Close To You." It's cute little love song dripping with innocence in the way Karen sings and the lyrics such as "So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue." It's the kind of song that gets stuck in your head and one that is easy to sing to. I know I've sung it to myself several times.



"Baby It's You" is another wonderfully done Carpenters' cover that bursts with seriousness and urgency, curteosy of Karen's flawless voice, she and Richard's demanding harmonies, and the soft orchestration. You can really feel the emotion well up inside you when you listen to this one, and I think many people can relate to it. There are many times when we find someone of whom we don't care about what he/she has done, or supposedly done because we love him/her anyway. Love can be blind and we can't help ourselves.



"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" is another cute cover song with some nice, smooth Richard keyboards and the duo's notoriously excellent harmonies. I love the very beginning and the end of the song when they sing "Here to remind you" over and over and each time they sing it, it gets louder and louder. It's another innocent song that you can sing along with.



"Crescent Noon" is a bit of a dramatic shift from fun songs and smooth loves songs, to an almost sad, forlorn atmosphere. Richard's piano gives us sad melodies and Karen's vocals fit the whole, almost mournful flavor of the song that moves slowly along. The orchestration is very well arranged here by Richard. It's also somewhat of a haunting song that makes you think and reflect on things. I can remember singing this song to myself when I was particulary depressed.



Next we are shifted back to some musical fun with "Mr. Guder." I love the use of the flying flute in this song and the lyrics are a bit humerous: "You're everything a robot lives for.....walk in at nine and roll out the door at five..." The lyrics are fun and I love singing along with this song. It's a unique song with nice vocals by Karen and great harmonies by she and Richard.



Richard takes hold of the vocal spotlight in "I Kept On Loving You." While the Carpenters' first album featured Richard on vocals on several of the tracks, this album shone the spotlight on only Karen and her vocals. "I Kept On Loving You" is the lone track of Richard singing lead. He doesn't do a bad job, and Karen does great as a backup singer in this song. She harmonizes well with him. There's nothing in particular that stands out in this song. It's just a nice, easy-going pop song.



The album ends with "Another Song," probably the most unique of the songs in my opinion. It starts out very calm with Karen's sweet, clear voice and Richard's melodic keyboards, before bursting into a loud wave of keyboards and drums with Karen's demanding and haunting voice taking hold. It is truely a haunting song, with intense, melodic harmonies. Karen's sweet and innocent but intense, urgent and emotion-filled voice is excellent here. I really get a kick out of the quirky instrumental solo at the end featuring Richard's keyboards, a soft flute, rattling drums and flawless orchestration.



The Carpenters' second album was no sophomore slump folks. As one reviewer mentioned, there's always that urgency to come up with some solid material the second time around, and the Carpenters did not disappoint. There is such a variety here from sweet love songs to fun poppy tunes, to more serious and uregent numbers. Needless to say, this album has it all and is definitive what Easy Listening/Soft Rock is all about. The Carpenters define it indeed. If you love Easy Listening/Soft Rock, you will have a blast with this album. It is a great album and quite a kick. Highly recommended.

Look out for stardom

This album is where the big hits started rolling in for Karen and Richard. For that alone, it is worth the price of this import. But it is without a doubt that the music on this CD is first rate, even by Carpenters standards.

The beginning of an era

The Carpenters became HUGE with the release of this album! Their trademark sound starts with this album and their songs continue to be sung at weddings and anniversaries even today!

There is a wonderful collection of covers and original songs. Richard once again shine sthrough on his wonderful musical arrangements and Karen brings her smooth soft voice to these beautiful songs!

the beginning of great things

The Carpenters' 2nd album and the 1st one to make people sit up and notice. Excellent top to bottom. Following "Ticket to Ride", their first album, it was obvious they had found and refined their identity and sound, a style that had no peers -- due to Karen's vocals -- and made no apologies (none required) for daring to mix it up with the hard rockers. While "We've Only Just Begun", which is often regarded as their signature piece, is my personal all time favorite Carpenters song, this brother and sister duo has forever been underrated for their musical abilities (yes, even with all the accolades over the years). Radio stations will play the same 2 Carpenters songs til the end of time, but listen to "Another Song" on this album and you'll say "wow, I didn't know they had that range. I didn't realize they were so innovative." Some might say it is "un-Carpenter-like" but I say their versatility was never appreciated by the critics. Richard's keyboard work and arrangements on "Another Song" and "Help" are masterful. As an album, I think it holds together beautifully. The tracks don't all have to sound the same, you know. The selection and pacing of the songs is perfect. There is a richness and lushness to the music but because it is only the 2nd album there is a purity about it. It is not overly polished and over-produced, which I love about it. If you are a Carpenters' fan, you'll get what I'm saying. Even if you're not, the Carpenters' music is some of the most listenable stuff you can get.