Close To You

Nope, they should have stuck to carpentry.

“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

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".

Best carpenters since Jesus

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.

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.

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👌🏽

3 songs added to playlists

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

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 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.

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.

It was memory lane

Sarah’s Mum’s favourite 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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Massively underrated band. This is the evolution of what Brian Wilson was doing on Pet Sounds and deserves recognition as such.

It’s really good.Close to you is such a good song.I also like the opening track and mr guda. Karen’s voice is amazing.It never gets annoying as well which is crazy because how happy and airy the album is.But there is so much complexity and different parts to the songs it’s crazy.

Fun album! Little Bit of baroque pop, little bit of folk rock. Great harmonies. That last song is bizarre but not unwelcome!

It's the Carpenters, absolutely for me.

I did not know how much I’d enjoy this. Karen Carpenter is incredible and I never knew that or anything about the tragedy that was her early death.

This is an extremely good post cry listen, feels very soft and comforting. Love her voice, definitely adding this album to my music.

A very beautifully sounding album. Cannot go wrong with this one! Such a nice listen all the way through. One of the most powerful drummers to exist and was forced to tone it down for this one but did it so well, not having Karen on all drums is a crime but it didn’t take away from the softer sounds of this album and brought her beautiful voice to front and center. Great album and great listen!

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: We’ve only just began, Love is surrender, Reason to believe, Close to you, I’ll never fall in love again, Crescent noon

Started off feeling like a classic folk album, but the ability for almost every song to peak in the middle of it was so good. Her voice is amazing and left me wanting to just keep listening, and felt like great music.

Timeless.

Great soft, light rock

Fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥 straight heat

Austin Powers stans rise up. Honestly I’ve loved everything I’ve heard from Carpenters and I’m glad I’ve heard this. This is easily one of my favorites from this list. I love Karen’s voice and the melodies are entrancingly beautiful. 5

One would think that the sound of the Carpenters would be from meticulous plodding in the studio for perfection. However, this was thrown together to capitilize on the strength of the title tracks release and success as a single. It also happens to be their best album. Sometimes inspiration is more important than perfection and can lead to the second without all the planning.

nice

It's such a mellow album. Really like their chill energy

I thought the carpenters were just this lame band that exclusively played slow, boring love songs, and that Karen wasn’t that good of a singer. I was very wrong

So, wasn't expecting to mike this as much as I did. Saccharine, maybe, but sort of perfect pop

Lush and huge

Wonderful album, amazing

What can I say other than it’s filled with back to back Smooth Radio classics

I LOVED IT SM

Burt bacharachs writing and Linda’s voice

Mellow.

5 I just love this album. "Close To You" has been with me for a long time, and always makes me think of my mom, like a lot of other music on this list, but this song beats most. Also "Reason to Believe" caught me off guard. I've listened to Tim Hardins song A LOT especially Karen Daltons and Rod Stewarts version and it hit me so hard the first time I heard it in "Every Picture Tells a Story". Hadn't heard "Help" and "Another Song" before, and they both really positively surprised me. I was scared the whole thing was going to be way too sweet, but you can really feel both their musical presence, and it's so endearing.

Great album. Loved every song. The vibe of this album was immaculate. I am glad I listened to it.

Trop bon. Une decouverte pour moi aussi fou que ca peut l'être. 5*

As the two singles compilations are perfect, I usually do not listen to regular albums of the Carpenters. However, some of these are excellent too, like this one. First half is perfect (5*). Second half has a decent share of 5* moments, but is perhaps a little inconsistent. Overall: 5*.

For some reason I never seem to think "Oh boy, I really want to listen to The Carpenters today," but every time I do they draw me in like no other. The arrangements are just perfect, every texture and layer absolutely decadent. And Karen herself is a magnificent gem, of course. This was simply a delight.

I really enjoy the soft sound, catchy writing, and the combo of the pair's vocals. Plus, Help was a very welcome surprise well executed.

A wonderful record. Beautiful voices and upbeat music make Close To You radiate with joy and optimism of the early 70s. Splendid. Highlight: whole album, really

Naprawdę mi się podobało. Nie tylko głosy 2 wokalistów fajnie się łączyły, ale wiele piosenek miało niesamowicie chwytliwe melodie. Do tego te skrzypce niekiedy. Spoko albumik, myślę że nawet dam 5, bo choć muzycznie to nie jest rewolucja, to słuchało się bardzo przyjemnie

Mom is wrong the Carpenters are good