Close To You

“Close to You” by The Carpenters (1970) I’m embarrassed to say how familiar I am with this album. For most of my adult life these delicacies topped the grocery list of songs ‘most likely to make me change the station’. With starchy and otherwise unremarkable instrumentals, lyrics and melodies mostly snatched off the plates of others, and a compulsion to sample everything on the arranging buffet, these siblings offer high calorie fare for mass indulgence. Karen’s voice, a syrupy contralto, is spiced with touching croaks. Richard’s easy-to-imitate keyboards and backing vocals are like gravy on quaaludes. The opening track, “We’ve Only Just Begun”, is sugar-coated sugar, played at way too many weddings while bride and groom stuffed into each other’s mouths all that cake with extra frosting. The message is so unrealistically idealistic that many marriage veterans must have felt the urge to purge. The other super-hit from this high carb collection is the title track, “Close to You”, which should be banned for metaphor abuse. The rest is ear candy at best, if not intravenous sonic glucose. This is an album that, unfortunately, will stay with us forever, like middle age paunch. 1/5

Nope, they should have stuck to carpentry.

This is a great pop album. Haters are missing out; to them I'd say let go of your ego, listen without thinking about what you're going to say about the album later, just experience it now, in the moment.

It's hard not to love the Carpenters. Karen has a gorgeous voice, and their songs just have such a beautifully wholesome and melodic quality to them. Some of the duo's biggest hits, 'We've Only Just Begun' and 'Close to You' are here, but every track is worth listening. Their cover of The Beatles' 'Help' is inspired, and I've always been a fan of their somewhat less popular but still fairly well-known track "I'll Never Fall in Love Again".

My initial reaction upon seeing today's album: "Ugh, the Carpenters." Despite a deep desire to just skip it, I decided to embrace the spirit of this exercise and skimmed the album instead. My knee-jerk reaction was justified. This album should have been titled "Music for the Soulless." I'm a white guy. I go out into the sun and I burn within approximately 8.3 seconds. And when the pain and suffering caused by my third-degree burns are over, I return to a mirror-like shade of white. No tanning involved in the process. Despite that, this album is *way* too white for me. It's so white I need sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glare. It's whiter than an albino Mormon eating mayo on white bread in a snowstorm. It is the epitome of every "white people have no soul" stereotype. Tower of Power sang about people catching honky pox, and this album was surely the vector that infected Patient Zero. I literally listened to "Soul Vaccination" after skimming this album, just to be safe. If you need proof of this album's violent blandness and mediocrity, look no further than their cover of the Beatles' "Help." They've turned an incredible song into saccharine schmaltz. It is an atrocity. A crime against humanity so abhorrent that they should have been tried at the Hague for it. It makes one wonder what the world might have looked like if Karen Carpenter had used her vocal talent for good instead of evil. Regardless of the answer, it's ultimately just a fantasy. The reality that cover--and the rest of the album--represents will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

An absolute masterpiece of an album. Every track on the record is laced with intricate instrumentation and lovely vocal harmonies, and to top it all off, you get Karen Carpenters stunning voice. Fantastic stuff👌🏽

Best carpenters since Jesus

3 songs added to playlists

Sickly sweet twee bullshit. This album lasts 2340 seconds and for ever single one of those seconds I wanted to switch this off. Devoid of any redeeming qualities. Wank.

Warm, elegant, jaunty and sophisticated pop. Beautiful.

I absolutely love Carpenters, esp. Karen Carpenter whose vocals are hauntingly beautiful, but have to say I have never listened to a full album. 'Close to You' is a beautiful record, with the title track and 'We've Only Just Begun' as highlights. Of course it wouldn't be a Carpenters album without a Beatles cover ('Help') and some slower ballads to pad out the tracklist. 'Crescent Moon' and 'Another Song' were intriguing additions; especially the latter with its movement from pop to jazz in one song. If I wasn't such a big Carpenters fan I'd probably give this a 3, but as I love them so much and as the title track is just so stunningly gorgeous, it's gotta be a 4 from me.

This is a very pleasant album that I’ll probably never revisit.

It was memory lane

Sarah’s Mum’s favourite album 🤗🥰

The Carpenters is always a good one. It was nice to have an album I like on my birthday. ;)

Great! Mostly the songs are very sweet, but also interesting. What struck me most was the drums and percussions and the use of weird instruments like flutes.

I can’t do this kind of ethereal saccharine music. It is what it is though, and it’s not inherently bad per se.

Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple all owe royalties to The Carpenters. We were forced to listen to The Carpenters' dribble when AM stations were the only option. They are the main reason that our Christmas and birthday lists were full of requests for The Coop, Sabbath, etc. Karen Carpenter's story is tragic and I sincerely hope that she rests in peace. But the music still sucks.

Karen's voice & vocal range is amazing! Richard's musical skills are legendary! What a wonderful album!

Saved Prior: None Not Saved: 12. Help (Hard to outdo the Beatles) 11. Crescent Noon 10. Baby It's You Cutting Edge: 9. (They Long To Be) Close To You (Crazy that this was their huge hit. I'm sure it'll grow on me) Off Rip: 8. Reason To Believe 7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again 6. Another Song 5. Maybe It's You 4. Mr. Guder 3. I Kept On Loving You 2. We've Only Just Begun 1. Love Is Surrender Overall Notes: This album made me go :). Happy music. Can't wait to take some summer drives to this.

Just beautiful music and lyrics with perfect harmony, no biggie.

Oh man I loved this album, such beautiful chords and harmonies.

This is the beginning of superstardom for the Carpenters. Their mix of pop, soft rock and folk with some sweet harmonies is undeniable here. That being said, is this the best Carpenters album? Probably not. Will I constantly come back to this one? Also probably not. However, the influence of the Carpenters can be heard throughout the rest of the 70s and Karen Carpenter is a badass. Her story is a roller coaster if you’re ever interested. Favorite song: Help (good Beatles cover) Least favorite song: Mr. Guder

No doubting the voice but god it’s so twee and sweet. I can still acknowledge that it contains some very well crafted songs though

I feel like this album answers the question, "How can I make the least cool album of all time?" This album is particularly infuriating because there's good songs here. "Reason to Believe", "Help", and the Bacharach tunes are good songs at their core, they're just arranged and performed in a way that is so white, it's painful. I'd say this is grandma music, but I think my grandma may have found this a little soft. 1 star.

I don’t understand how this album made the list. It had a few hits but overall I find it to be mediocre sentimental garbage. I found it to be generally boring and that “Help!” cover was particularly awful.

I remember hearing the Carpenters on the radio or seeing their TV specials when I was a kid. I was to young to actually know better, but I thought Karen's vocals were outstanding. Now I know better and I was right. Great album. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I want to tell you love, you’ve got a fabulous voice” - John Lennon “Hot Diggity! How about youse and Petulia come back to mah hotel wid me after this here gig o mine and I giz both a youse gals a good hound doggin’!”- Elvis Presley This one is definitely a great one to check out in terms of Carpenters arriving at their ultra lush, uber-harmonious, opulently overdubtastic formula and becoming one of the biggest phenomenas of the 70s on the back of it but they have done even lovelier albums such as A Song For You and Horizon which are just as worthy for inclusion on this list. Besides the two chart-busting singles (the title song being what I consider one of the truly astounding pop productions of the millennium as well as being a blatantly well-deserved million-seller) there are still lots of other cushy treats to enjoy here. Karen’s vocal on Maybe It’s You is particularly gorgeous. They add huge dollops of rock organ and epic choir to Beatles’ Help to not only improve it beyond what John Lennon intended but also to pave the way for what I consider their true zenith in Goodbye To Love a few years later. On an otherwise a nice and breezy, down to earth version of I’ll Never Love Again they launch briefly into outer space with a colossal 13-part, 39 voice chord drop. Mr Guder is a killer slice of baroque pop with a groovin’ and headspinny a capella breakdown section. Richard doesn’t have quite the same lovely voice as Karen but I Kept On Loving You is still a genuine hella sweet late album bop. And closer Another Song is a snazzy, jazzy multi-part odyssey that really shows what a beastly vixen Karen is around the drum kit. So what you have here is not the most killer of Carpenters tracklists but certainly more recommended than 99% of what is on this list. Bask in the expert songs of Bacharach, John Bettis and Paul Williams, the glory of Karen’s beauteous pipes and Richard’s genius knack for harmonies and arrangements. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This is so good. Best female vocalist of all time.

Excellent!! 👌

What a sweet album for these ears to take in. I enjoyed every track except the one where Richard sang and whatever the heck that last experimental one was.

Some good stuff (We've Only Just Begun, Close to You), some bad stuff (Crescent Noon). Didn't really like the covers of Help or Baby It's You. The last song (Another Song) was pretty cool/experimental, which bumps it up to a 3/5.

Was really surprised by this one, ended up liking it a lot more than I thought. While not a fan of the sort of soft rock of the 70’s that they make, it pretty undeniable the level of talent there, and I honestly say it’s music that is catchy and sticks with you. I think I’d give it a 3.5 Standouts for me were We’ve Only Just Begun, Love Is Surrender, and (They Long To Be) Close To You

One of my least favourite assessments of any album is the classic platitude, “Well, it’s not my kind of thing, but I can appreciate it nonetheless”. While this roundabout way of saying a piece of art evokes no significant emotion in oneself is a cop out, it’s the best I can come up with for this record. Middle-of-the-road on a long, eventless highway, milktoast soft rock. Not diminishing the Carpenters’ talents as songwriters/arrangers is important, however. That being said, the proliferation of pretty forgettable covers (the sort you’d find on those bargain bin, royalty free Top of the Pops compilations from the 70s) cause the album to drag and cause problems as to my final rating. After all, it becomes difficult apportioning the credit to the rightful recipients when the brother and sisters’ contributions to a song are minimal. Upon closer digging, they were definitely passengers on a few songs. And that’s a disappointment, because their self-penned tracks are some of the strongest on the record. And I love the harmonic minor hook on “Another Song”. To offset my largely banal assessment of this album, I’m inclined to come down just south of a half-way grade - so 2/5 it is.

I was ready to write this album off, but "Mr Guder" caught my attention. The backstory is it is aimed at a certain Vic Guder who was their supervisor at Disneyland and would scald them for playing requests from the park visitors (including "Light My Fire" of all things! Can you imagine?) instead of "Disney approved" material, eventually firing them. The result is hilariously the softest, fluffiest diss track ever, and though it doesn't have the ferocity and rebellious spirit of say MC5 or even CCR, never would I have imagined something like this coming from The Carpenters, and just for trying to stick it to Disney and corporate cow-towing culture, I have to give them a certain amount of credit. Because we've all had to deal with a Mr. Guder at one time in our lives.

This just isn't a sound I'm into, that twee 60's/70's California singer songwriter sound is just anathema to me. Almost all of it comes across not only as boring but also shallow and this is no exception. I find almost nothing to get excited about. I also really don't like the drum sounds and heavy use of Rhodes piano throughout which just screams "This was made in 1970" in a way that plenty of other music from the era doesn't. Also every single person involved in that absolute travesty of a "Help" cover should have received a slap and a good long lecture on why they should never do anything so idiotic again. I was tempted to mark it up to a 2 because, as far as I am aware, The Carpenters are at least partially responsible for creating this sound and have seemed to elevate themselves a little bit higher in the popular consciousness than the hundreds of copies of them. But its just... so... awful... sickly, sweet, twee, I don't like the production, I really don't like their use of backing vocals which is so in your face its almost screaming "Look... Look, Look how good at singing we are, are you paying attention, are you?' Its so not my thing its not even funny

This album is where that "why do birds suddenly appear" song comes from. It's not a half-bad song if you're okay with cheesy over-commercial schlock. Yeah, she had a pleasant enough voice and it's very sad that her eating disorder ended up killing her, but this album genuinely sucks, right?

During an interview with Time Magazine in 1982, Karen Carpenter revealed she had a major crush on upcoming football prodigy, Nigel Spackman. When asked about the revelation, Spackman is quoted as saying "I'd fuck the shit out of her ass 'til kingdom come, but unfortunately I'm dating my own uncle right now". It remains unknown as to whether the two did eventually fuck the shit out of eachother, but a close source tells us to "get out of my house you lunatics, before I call the police".

Absolute shit. Hated every second

Kind of lame my grandma might like it

What a lovely collection of songs from my youth, 5 stars for creating good memories.

weird how I recognized so many of these songs. Just fun and lighthearted all the way through. You get a real 60-70's vibe from this whole listen, like you're actually in a different era.

Surprisingly great! I knew the hits but the rest was like an Austin Powers soundtrack. Very groovy baby yeah and not just because they cover “I’ll never fall in love again”.

Carpenters always make me feel wistful in a happy way. Their voices are so... powerful to me and my emotions. I don't know what it is but they've always affected me so much. This album is like homemade pie. There's the whipped cream, it's light and fluffy and cool and sweet. But then underneath that, there's a warm center and flaky edges. It's the perfect combination and it's never a bad time for it. I wish I could make everyone experience it the way that I do. I know it's truly magic to my ears. My mom loves the carpenters too, I think she must have played it for me in utero or something because it's always been this way for me. The harmonies, the accents of horns and piano without it being overbearing. Karen Carpenter's voice. It's all perfect. She died much too young and it's always haunted me in the same way her voice does. I wish they could've made music even longer. I don't even need to finish this album to know I'm going to rate it 5 stars. I want this on vinyl, I want to slow dance to it in the kitchen. I want to hear it when I wake up in the morning. This album makes me feel like everything might be okay in the world.

This was fucking amazing

Love it!!

Me encanta este disco, me causa una preciosa sensación de estar en las nubes.

I didn't expect to like it, but of course I do. I might not put this on at a party, but I think there's still a lot going on here to enjoy. It's not just the lead singer’s voice which is beautiful, rather all the harmonies are too. The songs are simply not simple. I also didn't expect to hear so many Beatles covers, but actually the vocals are similar in a way that they layer them. I think you also have to appreciate all of the orchestra that's playing with them. Every song is full of instruments playing beautiful little licks, like, walking through flowers or something stupid.

5/5

This one is really surprising me. May be my first 5.

Really glad to get this one today. Most of my childhood was spent listening to The Carpenters. My mother loved them, she had the most extensive collection of their records, tapes and CDs. I know the lyrics to pretty much all of their songs. Even driving 3 or 4 hours to our holiday destination we would listen to The Carpenters. Shall always remind me of my mother. Karen's voice is so lovely, their musicianship is amazing. Shame to have lost her so early. This is a great album, with some wonderful tracks. There is some bias, but I don't care, it gets a 5 anyway. (and I'm a metal head)

Karen's voice is like a warm hug

This kind of album isn't my thing but I can respect it. There's enough variety in there and the harmonies are immaculate!

Haters will never understand

Sublime pop mastery.

Awesome, what a lovely voice.

Took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it. Her vocals were fantastic, and for 40 minutes of this slower ballad style, I didn't get bored at all. Will be returning to multiple songs on here for sure.

Magnificent! Apart from cover version of Help!!

A time capsule of love. Still lingering in the 60s this album is entirely about love and cherished feelings it brings. A wholesome album that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Strange that the two biggest hits were in the middle and latter half of the album. I wonder if they even knew the acclaim the two songs would bring the group. Although its a 70s album I feel it captures the sounds and ideas of the 60s perfectly. 9/10

We’ve Only Just Began, immediately what a stunning voice. The choir that joins her, beautiful. “we start out walking and learn to run”. The melody is dynamic and subtle. The instrumentation just holds the lyrics gorgeously, floats you along the story being told. Love Is surrender, my goddd the harmony is perfect, there’s crescendos into the most tightly knitted chorus of voices. “you can’t cover up the past, Just pretending will never last, Without love you are nothing at all.” I don’t love the idea of surrender for love but i have to admit that parts of you most likely has to. Maybe it’s You, truly cinematic. Could still be used for film some 53 years later. “Only a fool would want to leave the paradise that i’ve found whenever you’re around” Romance is always written about, but when you find the people that can make cliches so special, you’ve found real artists. Reason to Believe, a small genre shift, to a stronger country sound. Manipulative behaviour is being discussed in a nuanced way. Even after being lied to, infactuaction, sadly can still exist. “If you took the time to change my mind, I’d find a way to leave the past behind” Help, a beatles cover done very well in my mind. It’s hard to cover them. They haven’t messed with the bones of it, they’ve just added what they do best to it. Chorus vocals of tight harmonies. Focused on vocals at the forefront, but the tight playing of the instruments obviously make it come alive. The drums for me are the best aspect, such a strong groove all the way through and the fills are fabulous. (They Long To Be) Close To You! A classic, elegant love song. Again the perfect example of what I mentioned earlier. If you can write cliche after cliche, but wrap it up in stunning melody, harmony and backing vocals, you are talented. “So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold, And starlight in your eyes of blue”. If you’re in love I dare you to not crack a smile while listening to this, I think you’ll lose. Baby It’s You, this is sad. You can’t stop yourself loving someone even if they don’t feel or act the same. There’s anger in this vocal performance that I like, because I haven’t heard it yet. And it reinforces this situation is horrible and frustrating for any person. The sax solo is a great choice, well tbh sax rarely makes a song worse. I’ll Never, this isn’t my favourite cover. I do have to admit that this song has been tainted for me by a comic called Peter Kay, it is funny. Aside from all that I can’t say it’s not a good cover, again they definitely meticulously arrange everything they do, down to the quaver rests. Crescent Noon, this is 1000% the best vocal performance on the album?! the range she reaches, both high and low. It’s more understated in arrangement and therefore i think underrated. I know as a singer, this would be such a dark horse of a song to cover. She makes it sound effortless. Also the concept is magic. “You and I were, Born like the breaking day ….Slowly, we’ll fade into A sea of midnight blue And a falling crescent noon.” Anything beautiful will always transform, for better or worse. Mr. Guder, has musical theatre core. “You’ve blown your life just playing a game, Where no one wins but everyone stays the same”. For me an image of a man in power in corporate America. This arrangement is haunting, extremely fitting as always. I Kept On Loving You, the manipulation is here again! A song for all spineless men that crawl back after fucking off (you can tell i’m bitter!). Again great arrangement, very nice to hear the rich male tones singing. The last song, Another song. With poetic lyrasism and ever expanding instrumentation they close this album. What sounds like an enjoyable jazz jam leaves you wanting more. I simply had fun listening to this, want it on vinyl, want to learn songs. Also the album art is adorable. This records a 5 for me.

I looooooooooooove them

A smooth and warm slice of the 70s courtesy of Burt, Beatles and even the Carpenters at times. I love Karen and her voice and although her story is sad it still comforts me to know things were so sugary and sweet if only for a short time.

For nostalgic value

I’ve always loved (They Long To Be) Close To You because of it’s use in The Simpsons; it is without a doubt Marge and Homer’s song and for that it’ll always have a place in my heart. The rest of the album though is, I don’t want to say a mixed bag because none of it is actively bad, I just think Karen Carpenter works best when singing songs of love and longing rather than heartbreak, which is possibly ironic given her personal life, but I don’t want to go there. So much of our experience with these albums we’ve undertaken to listen to over the course of three and a bit years will be unavoidably tied up with the experiences we’re having outside of the generator. I know there are albums I’ve given harsher ratings to than I would have if I’d have been in a good mood that day, and vice versa. I’m currently in a good place with a girl I’ve been crushing on for a long time, and so listening to Close To You while walking around town after talking to her, I was grinning ear to ear and going all Gene Kelly in Singin’ In The Rain on the lamp posts. I must’ve looked a right idiot to anyone watching, but I didn’t care. And for that, despite the fact I think it really only deserves a four, Close To You is a five. If life is our experience, whatever that may mean, then the experience I had with The Carpenters was overwhelmingly positive

Karen Carpenter almost became Karen Chutney! Karen & Ken Chutney. Marriage made in heaven. Shame. I miss her. 4.7

yeah

Pre-listening thoughts: 💔 Karen Carpenter’s story makes me so so sad. But her voice is so beautiful and Richard is such a talented arranger. I bet this will be good. Post/during listening thoughts: convinced that everyone who dislikes this hates pop and hatessss women. I love my contraltos yall carry the world on your shoulders. (They Long to Be) Close To You always makes me really wistfully sad but like in a good way if that makes sense? “What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia” might be one of the greatest lyrics in history (lesbian speaking here so I might be biased). The harmonies in all of these songs are just so lovely. I love you Carpenters 🫶 9.5/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: yeah Fav tracks: We’ve Only Just Begun, Love Is Surrender, Help, (They Long To Be) Close To You, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, Mr. Guder, I Kept on Loving You (should I just have said this was a no skip album??? Maybe idk but I thoroughly enjoyed this) Least fav tracks: no

Amazing

A reminder of my childhood and first dance at our wedding.

She had a great voice that could cut through the rest of the music.

I could listen to Karen Carpenter forever. Such a beautiful voice. Great collection of songs. Top marks from me.

One of my all-time favorite Altos. Karen has such a smooth and sultry voice! These are great songs and a very chill album.

Truly one of the masters of music for this short lived brilliant couple

What a voice!

love

Album top de una voz celestial y élfica

Brought back memories

I love the silkiness of the vocal harmonies. Something about 1960s pop just always is so soothing.

Simply "THE VOICE". Never be another one like her....additionally, as a young drummer this was the first group where I could play along...extra points for that!

Man I like Karen Carpenter's voice. Bubbly album, light hearted and fun to listen to. Close to You is great here, but I also really liked we've Only Just Begun, Mr. Guder, and Another Song.

What a beautiful album. Lovely harmonies and Karen's drumming is insane, especially on the closing track

Its not perfect but its pretty close - would likely be around a 4.75 Its clearly targeted to a very specific audience which is resulting in some low scores but I don't think this is a flaw in itself

I’m unsure how many Carpenters songs I could name, but I do know that I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve heard so far. I have a feeling that my dad told me when I was a kid that they were one of his favourite artists when he was a kid, but I very well could have made that up. Songs I already knew: We’ve Only Just Begun, Help, (They Long To Be) Close To You, I’ll Never Fall In Love Again Favourites: literally all of them (but extra for Close To You) This album might just be one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Close To You gave me full body goosebumps and brought a tear to my eye. Karen Carpenter’s voice is so soft and angelic, like an auditory blanket of soothing sleepiness. I can’t fault anything here. It’s just so lovely.

<3

Being quite familiar with greatest hits compilations of the Carpenters, I was quite blown away at how much I loved every single song on this album that I'd never listened to. Adored, in fact. It's such a wonderful collection of interesting songs and styles, all with that Carpenters magic. This one should have been with me a long time ago.

Just lovely. The voice of an angel, I tell you.

Beautiful. A wonderful Christmas gift!

I haven’t listened to this album in its entirety for a very, very long time - and I feel like I’m appreciating it for the first time. The MONSTER hits on this album cast a huge shadow that, until today, had obscured much of what The Carpenters have created from me. Help is the best cover of that song rivaled only by Tina Turner’s version. But no less amazing is the cover of Baby It’s You. It’s so wistfully beautiful - like a totally different song. And can anyone else consistently can stand up next to Dionne Warwick when performing Burt Bacharach/Hal David tunes? Richard Carpenter’s contributes some incredible songs to the album. Crescent Noon is beautiful. Mr. Gruter is early 70s baroque perfection arranged perfectly. Paul Williams’ compositions are in the best possible hands here as well. Who knew that a bank jingle could become a cultural staple (We’ve Only Just Begun)? Sappy & sentimental in the best possible way - only a cold-hearted grinch couldn’t relate to this song at one time or another. It’s easy to take this for granted, but you are the worse for it if you do. But I keep going back to those John Bettis/Richard Carpenter compositions again and again. They are inventive and surprising to me and certainly something I have underappreciated and overlooked until today. I keep finding myself drawn to them. Perhaps Richard Carpenter felt ultimate artistic freedom in crafting those arrangements because they are some of the most creative arrangements around. These ethereal masterpieces wait to be discovered in the shadows cast by Close To You and We’ve Only Just Begun. In some ways today I’m just realizing there is a whole lot more to The Carpenters that I’ve only just begun to hear.

had a crush on Karen

Great

10/10 holy shit, first Carpenters album I’ve heard and it’s such a masterpiece favorite track was probably Mr. Guder, and I loved the way it transitioned into the final two tracks

she was so beautiful but she couldn't see it...

I remember my mum telling me one of my friends reminded her of Karen Carpenter. I told my friend only to get the response "didn't she die from anorexia?". Oops.

Fantastic album, slow and melodic without being boring

Lovely. It feels timeless and elental. Masterpeice start to finish.

Reminds me of music with my mom

5/5 I'd give this 5/5 just for CTY and WOJB. Two of the most perfect songs ever recorded.

How can you not like The Carpenters? Didn't know they covered Help! though.

I was incredibly excited to get this album today. I enjoy a lot of soft rock, but somehow, I've never listened to this album. I've heard "We've Only Just Begun" and "Close To You," but I've never really kicked back and actually listened to them. I've heard that Karen Carpenter has one of the best voices of all time, and after listening to this album, I would strongly agree with that statement. Her vocals were absolutely perfection on every track, and each song here was a joy to listen to. Richard Carpenter's vocals, when they seldom appear, are also really nice, but he definitely can't compete with his sister. The instrumentation here may not be much, but that's exactly what this album needed, so that Karen's vocals could shine. I usually like it better when people write their own music, but that didn't bother me here. This isn't the type of album that I'm likely to listen to frequently, but when I'm in the mood for something gentle and pleasant, I'll have no problem firing this up. I had a wonderful time listening to this.

Karen Carpenter deserves the world.