![]() ![]() Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day) (1977) It’s easy to overlook Richard’s skill as an arranger – audibly influenced by the soundscapes of Pet Sounds-era Brian Wilson, he was nevertheless always going to be in the shadow of his sister’s singing – but (They Long To Be) Close to You is fantastically done: a gentle epic of swelling harmonies and cinematic strings 9. The Carpenters were seldom mediocre: 1973’s Now and Then was either unspeakable (the gruesome children’s choir-assisted Sing a cover of Hank Williams’ Jambalaya, a song about as appropriate for the Carpenters as the Dead Kennedys’ Holiday in Cambodia) or exquisite, as on this gorgeous, drowsy-but-dark version of Leon Russell’s song about a failing relationship. But sometimes they were so beguiling they were hard to resist: There’s a Kind of Hush has rounded edges, but it’s really charming. Karen protested the duo’s image “would be impossible for Mickey Mouse to maintain”: if they were seen as cutesy, it was down to their up-tempo songs, which seldom had the emotional heft of their ballads. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy 12. View image in fullscreen Karen and Richard Carpenter in the TV series Make Your Own Kind of Music, 1971. Incredibly, it sounds remarkably like late-90s Stereolab. ![]() You can hear the Carpenters’ jazz roots on All I Can Do, a song unlike anything else they recorded: layers of Swingle Singers-ish harmonies and an electric piano solo over a 5/4 rhythm, powered by Karen’s hyperactive drumming. Paul Williams – later to write Evergreen, score Bugsy Malone and work on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories – was the Carpenters’ great songwriting discovery, co-authoring a string of great songs for them after they covered his ad soundtrack We’ve Only Just Begun, the superb, bittersweet I Won’t Last A Day Without You among them. The fragile loveliness of Aurora and Eventide – two versions of the same song that bookended 1975’s Horizon – is a perfect case in point. Aurora/Eventide (1975)īy the mid-70s, the Carpenters’ albums had begun to sound formulaic and stuffed with filler, but they still occasionally pulled out something great in between the hits. Photograph: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images 15. View image in fullscreen The Carpenters perform in Japan, 1974. It’s Going to Take Some Time (1972)Ĭo-written by Carole King – at the time a noticeably hipper songwriter than the Carpenters usually worked with – It’s Going to Take Some Time offers the delightful, if seldom-heard sound of Karen picking herself up and dusting herself down after a failed romance, rather than describing its agonies in heartrending detail. Made in America (1981) was a cautious return after a hiatus provoked by Richard Carpenter’s drug addiction and the anorexia that would eventually kill his sister, but the single Touch Me When We’re Dancing was great, very gently beckoning a hint of disco into the Carpenter’s luxurious sound world. When its contents were unveiled on posthumous Carpenters’ albums, their decision appeared baffling, as evidenced by I Had You: her patent brand of melancholy given a smooth, shiny funk makeover. The day before she died, in February 1983, Karen Carpenter rang producer Phil Ramone to discuss “our fucking record” – the 1980 solo album her label refused to release. If I Had You (recorded 1980, released 1989) And for those of us wishing to go out in a blaze of glory rather than the more time intensive worm farm, the portability of urn full of ashes opens the door to such vehicles as the Lotus 23 and motorcycles, as long as there’s a side bag or something.Read more 18. Whether Karen Carpenter light to Biggie Smalls extra large, there’s a hearse to fit the bill. The one constant of these dearly departed deliveries is their commodious casket carrying capacity. While none are purposely designed for either comfort or speed, there is variability in whether their primary function is transportation or viewing- looking in rather than out, of course. They come in pretty much only one size – casket – but that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a lot of variety over the years in hearse aesthetics. Legally, if your write it down in your last will and testament, they pretty much have to, so why not specify what kind of car you want for your big send off? ![]() People listen to dead guys, and pretty much do what they say. We’re talking about hearses of course, and as that’s the last car you’d be riding in, we want to know how you’d like to go. Harold had an E-Type, Polish President Lech Kaczynski rocked a custom Maserati, while Michael Jackson strangely enough had but a somber Cadillac. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |