ALBUM REVIEW: Carpenters - Carpenters

    In my humble estimation, you would be hard-pressed to find a duo as inoffensive and radio-friendly as the Carpenters were in the early 1970s. Their success is certainly impressive to some extent, as their 1969 debut album Offering flopped hard - the album only produced one minor hit with a cover of The Beatles’ classic "Ticket to Ride". By the turn of the decade, though, their fortunes changed with Close to You, complete with two hit singles in the title track and "We’ve Only Just Begun"; while their massive success, excessive airplay, and squeaky clean image led to much disdain from the music press, it certainly delighted the pockets of Richard and Karen Carpenter. Their third, self-titled 1971 album continued a triumphant streak of yet more hits - three top-10 singles were on the album, and when your album is 10 songs long that’s no slouch. While Carpenters shares a lot of similarities with the preceding album, it’s distinguished by the sheer amount of brilliant hooks, Richard’s ever-growing knack for arranging, and Karen’s warm and wonderful singing voice. While it definitely has the filler trap that most pop albums from this time fall into, it’s hard not to appreciate a good amount of this sunshine-y album in hindsight.

    There is one purveying theme with this album, and it’s the primary crossroad with the worst of the album’s filler - Richard Carpenter writes and sings them. Now, I want to make it clear that Richard is a great arranger and talented multi-instrumentalist, and he's even a fine backup singer to Karen's excellence. When he has a solo, though, I just can't get behind the nasally sound of his voice - it doesn't help that the few songs he writes on this are complete dribble. "Saturday" is so sugary and upbeat that it gives me toothaches, and yet it's not even his worst on the album. That unflattering distinction goes to the baroque-leaning "Druscilla Penny", which is an embarrassing dirge at best - the overly classical sound on this would make even the most anachronistic moments of Paul McCartney or Ray Davies look like progressive rock, and at least neither of those two were this bad at it. "One Love" is another song written by Richard, but admittedly Karen's singing salvages it a little bit. I'm also just not a fan of "For All We Know", although that seems to be a rather popular cut from this album. You could also argue that many of the moments run into each other on this album. "Let Me Be the One" sounds awfully similar to "Rainy Days and Mondays", and both ALSO sound like Side B opener "Superstar". In my opinion, though, repetitious sound isn't the album's worst sin - that would be letting Richard write in the first place.

    Now, what's good here? Well, for starters it's a brilliant production. Jack Daugherty is back at production on this album, returning from Close to You, and the results may be even more bright, lush, and filled with excellent textures. Speaking of textures, Richard Carpenter deserves plenty of credit for his skills as an arranger on this album - the arrangements are filled with life and energy, especially the more energetic pop numbers, and it shows that he really did have a knack for this type of stuff. The selection of songs is also particularly strong, be it Leon Russel, Henry Mancini, or Paul Williams (the latter of whom was responsible for "We've Only Just Begun"). The strongest thing about the album, though? Karen Carpenter. If you thought that her singing was sharp on Close to You, than you're in for a real surprise - she's even better here. Karen's voice is consistently filled with warmth, humanity, and beauty, and her crystal clear voice is applicable for damn-near any emotion on this album. "Rainy Days and Mondays" is completely sold on how amazing her voice is, as is "Let Me Be the One", "Superstar", album closer "Sometimes", and damn-near every second she's singing. She is that good. She can do far more than melancholic reflections on having the blues or being in love with rockstars; her fun side is definitely apparent on the penultimate "Bacharach/David Medley", which worried me at first - I thought a five-minute Carpenters song wouldn't work. Well, don't I look silly.

    Carpenters would go on to be the duo's most successful album - was the three top-10 singles not a tip-off? While one might be quick to come to the conclusion that every Carpenters album sounds the same, I dismiss that notion - Carpenters really does sound like a proper refinement and focus on what made Close to You as fun of an album as it was. Richard's knack for arranging, a collection of great pop tunes, and what is quite possibly the greatest pure pop vocalist of the 1970s all come together for an easy on the ears pop record that goes right to your ears. It may even be a brilliant pop album in some ways, even if it isn't nearly as consistent or as exciting as other contemporary pop acts of the time - keep in mind that Paul McCartney's Ram came out three days after this album. Nevertheless, the Carpenters' self-titled album is a tuneful and more-than-enjoyable foray into some easy-listening pop that's rewarding enough off the hit singles alone.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Carpenters.

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