Vinyl Diving
You learn a lot when you take over a record collection.
I've never met a single person that “hates” Carpenters. Mind you, very little are they a topic of conversation, but I know of no one who outwardly doesn't like the sounds of Karen and Richard Carpenter. I would even say that Carpenters are the least hateable group to ever exist.
A pioneer, Karen Carpenter hit the drums while Richard arranged the music and played keys. It’s like a reverse Mates of State – minus the whole marriage thing. Richard and Karen were just brother/sister.
I always thought Carpenters were actually The Carpenters, but this is not true. Carpenters thought it would be a good idea to leave off the “the," opting with the more ominous Carpenters, almost making it sound like the profession as opposed to their last name.
Karen died in 1983 at the young age of 32, due to a heart attack that was directly linked to her battle with anorexia. Her death brought well-needed attention to both anorexia and bulimia, as the general public had little knowledge of these conditions before Karen's death. Richard continued making music and releasing some previously unreleased things that Karen recorded. Richard has kept up with this venture to this day – all while donating vast amounts of money to eating disorder research.
The particular album in my newly acquired record collection is Close To You. Arguably the best album Carpenters released (and I don’t really want to argue this, so let's not; but it was number 175 on Rolling Stone’s greatest albums of all time list), Close To You features their most famous hit, "We’ve Only Just Begun." The song originally started out as a commercial for a bank, and Richard thought it would be a good idea to turn it into a single. It would appear this was a good career move for Carpenters. Listen to "We’ve Only Just Begun" on vinyl below, and then go and try and find someone who hates Carpenters. I bet you can't do it.
STREAM: Carpenters – We've Only Just Begun
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jan 21, 2008 @ 12:00 am
