Close To You

Is Mr. Guder a song about cheese? There were a couple of fantastic songs... and some complete misses...

Wow. I was looking forward to this. I clearly know the hits, and they still are amazing. What do the Carpenters sound like outside of the hits? It is unfortunate, they clearly depend on their harmonies to carry the tune, but it isn't enough over a couple of bad covers, and lyrically empty, candy-sweet, non-catchy pop-ish crooners. Thanks they give boy carpenter only one song to lead, and the experimental tail of the album only needs one listening. Stick to this hits, listeners, and you'll more likely appreciate the Carpenters more.

Some hits, but not my style and was not interesting for the most part. Very talented singers, but the smooth, easy listening style is incredibly dated by today's standards.

Definitely not my style but soft and relaxed so good music to listen to on a rainy morning. Karen Carpenter’s voice is great. Their arrangement of ‘Help’ is neat, and the instrumental outro is interesting. I would not listen to this outside of this project though

This music is so egregiously bubbly and upbeat it feels like it's supposed to be playing ironically behind a horror film

Not what I wanted to listen to

Not for me.

Songs start to sound the same. Surprise trumpet.

Not too bad. Not my thing.

ruim. tem um cover de "Help" dos beatles (ruim também, mas achei interessante ressaltar haha)

Not for me - too floaty and lacklustre. Some iconic songs but generally not my bag

Lovely tunes, but really really not my thing. Help and Close To You are classics, but Help is just a Beatles cover. 2/5

Shite album. Formulaic sacherine sweet love songs of triumph and heart break. Like being stuck in purgatory for me. It's a 1 star album, the extra star is for Karen's beautiful voice.

Not my cup o' tea

Tiene canciones hermosas, pero también muchas aburridas y facilonas

God this was dull.

It's hard to hate on the Carpenters, and this album because what they made was very likable. I can easily see the appeal of the breezy, mid-temp pop songs: carefree but yes, at times, too sweet. You can't deny the songwriting or the vocal skills, though. Not an album I would hate to hear, but wouldn't choose to put on again myself.

Many moments where I thought this was a musical soundtrack. Think Grease but most songs are soppy and sentimental. Not necessarily a bad thing, but thems the vibes. I also didn't know they had so many classics (Help, They Long To Be Close to You, I'll Never Fall In Love Again

Other than “Mr. Guder,” it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Insgesamt ein gutes Album, aber es trifft meinen Geschmack nur sehr wenig. Das Beatles Cover musste überhaupt nicht sein, Crescent Noon hingegen gefiel mir sogar relativ gut. Ich war beeindruckt von der Tiefe von der weiblichen Gesangsstimme. Werd ich wohl eher nicht nochmal hören

Mehh

Ok.

svagaste albumet hittills med en väldigt dålig cover på help.

A couple covers, a couple of their own songs. It was a neat trip from start to finish to follow along with songs about starting a relationship all the way to the relationship’s end, but nothing significant came from this album.

Never again

No no no

Dreadful, not as dreadful as the very worst of the one stars. Tom.

Man...this one was tough to get through.

Anyone who likes this forced it

Led Zeppelin III, The Doors - Morrison Hotel, The Who - Live at Leeds, Crosby Stills & Nash - Deja Vu, The Beatles - Let It Be, Black Sabbath - Paranoid. These are just a few of the great albums that came out in 1970. But this fucking Carpenters album came out the same year, proving that throughout history, there have been people with zero taste in music making, producing and listening to it when good alternatives exist. Where was that "disco sucks" DJ when we needed him? He should have rallied against this bubblegum crap instead of disco, which is at least danceable. If your dentist's office plays a Muzak version of this, find a different dentist.

So far from the spectrum of my music limitless love, I can't stand it. At least I know my hard limit in music and it's this album.

90% of this list is albums that aren’t worth listening to at all.

Karen Carpenter had a gorgeous voice. She was also a great drummer. Doesn't mean I want to listen to this shit. Blegh.

Not my vibe from

Cheesy. Bad covers

I have never liked the music of the Carpenters, but now 200 albums in this project has opened my mind in a lot of ways so I went into this with the intent of listening with new ears. My opinion was not changed. I get why people like this music - there is a reason this kind of music is called "easy listening". This is nothing more than an album of cover songs, arranged to be as easy and unchallenging (and uninteresting) to listen to as possible. I felt a bit like I was in a Marriot lounge in Topeka on a Wednesday night. The most egregious example has to be Reason to Believe, given the stark counterpoint the Rod Stewart version offers, but every song on this album has as little soul and character as this example. Sorry to be so harsh, but for me it is just an utter waste of the clear talent that the Carpenter siblings possessed. Again, I get enjoying this album - there's a lot of vapid pop that entertains me, not all music has to be more complex. But there is something offensive to me about this album - there is just a determination to remove what is most powerful about music.

Utterly fucking boring

Wow that was quite bad. It definitely sounds like a tight knit family with the parents constantly swooping overhead. I thought it was pleasant at first and it has the big single but I’d rather just listen to the single over the entire album. Also I am in shock how bad they messed up the Beatles cover. Like a genuinely impressive feat. The big hit almost brought it up to two stars but the cover kind of cancels it out. I’ll listen to Sonic Youth’s tribute to Karen instead. Rating: 1.4

This is so boring

Cheesy bullshit music. I don't know how anyone can listen to this

koniec dziwnych albumikow i powrot do popowej codziennosci, duet carpentersow i ich drugi w dyskografii krazek close to you z 1970 jest dokladnie tym czym moze byc popowe granie duetu rodzenstwa, ktory jest rzucony na muzyczne wody przez ambitnych i glodnych na sukces rodzicow, wiec coreczka spiewa, synek gra, a rzesza muzykow studyjnych robi im tlo, nawet wiekszosc kawalkow jest pisana przez roznorakie persony, ktore sie przewijaja na wiki, co zdecydowanie slychac, bo pomimo mialkosci kazdy song jest jakis inny, nie zabralko nawet coveru zukowego helpa, wsrod 12 trakow na tym prawie 40 minutowym nagraniu wiekszosc jest spiewana przez karen, nawet imie memiczne sie wylosowalo, ktore raczej powinno isc na matke, ktora maiala byc najwazniejsza postacia w studiu, choc na dwoch pierwszych dwoch trakach pojawia sie rowneiz glos richarda, ale cale szczescie, ze to tylko te dwa traki i chyba jeden mial spiewany samemu przy koncu albumu, bo jesli cala plyta by byla jak te dwa pierwsze traki, to chyba bym nie wymeczyl do konca, tak bardzo przeslodzone i milosne kawalki sa tutaj spiewane, a teraz juz calkowicie jestem uczulony na ten rodzaj muzyki, wiecej dobrego nie moge powiedziec o tej plycie poza tym, ze sie konczy milym instrumentalnym akcentem, bo ostatni kawalek tak jakos od polowy traci wokal, dlatego tez leci na plejke jako pamiatka z tego nieprzyjemnego odsluchu

I was excited to check this out and was very disappointed. I've seen videos of Karen Carpenter destroying the drums and this couldn't be farther from that level of excitedment. First off, they just did a bunch of other people's songs and second, ever cover was way worse than the original. I can't see how this ranks in the top 500 albums and it's just a glorified cover band?

This was horrible. The cover of "Help" alone made me want to harm the people who created this as well as those who assisted in the creation of this album. This is not an album that you must hear. This is another in a long line of albums that I've endured, but didn't find any redeeming value in.

When this album was revealed, f*ck— really!?!! I can't get behind any song on this album.

Sappy and dated.

Hippie music gone wrong.

Pretty cheesy at moments like the jangly "Reason to Believe." Really not sure why this needs to be on a must listen list. Seems like one of those things that out to have died with its time. Funny, reading some of the reviews here I see a lot of people grumping about the haters. It reminds me that basically it's only crappy pop artists that use that term... Puff Daddy invented it after all, so go figure. Happy to be a hater on this one. The only good news is you can tune it out very easily as this is basically call center hold music. 1/5.

This was a bad time.

This is some of the whitest shit I’ve ever heard.

"What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia After you do, he'll never phone you I'll never fall in love again" I just can't. Then we get to Mr. Guder. Seriously, I had to look at the song title to realize they weren't singing about cheese. Only to find out that the song is about a supervisor that fired them. I mean, let it go people. I swear this spawned Adele. Other albums from 1970 that did not make this list: Elton John - Elton John, The Velvet Underground - Loaded, Funkadelic - Funkadelic. And in no world should this be on the list where Weezer's blue album isn't.

No.

I’m listening to this album at 1:30am on New Year’s Day. This has ruined my year so far. Thank god that I still have time to make up for this. Who likes this dribble? Little old ladies knitting socks?

Sellout.

We've Only Just Begun (They Long to Be) Close to You

I have this music as much as any music made.

Zuckersüßer Kitsch!

Sugary enough to cause a diabetic coma

Sounds like a church band and that’s a nope from me!

Pants

I hate this album. 70s schmaltz. Nails on a chalkboard.

If someone tries to argue that the Carpenters were quite good actually, play them Help from this album Extraordinary

Mrs Buttersworth : syrup :: the carpenters : folk

1 star. I'm just not a fan overall. Some of it is nice but not enough for me to give it a 2. Not my style

1 ster. Vermassacrering van the beatles' help. Alle goeie elementen van het nummer weggewerkt om het zo veel mogelijk te reduceren tot smakeloze slop. Wat eigenlijk, op een bepaalde manie, best indrukwekkend was. Wat een saaie brol. Enige semi-deftige deel is de muzikale jam op de allerlaatste minuten van het album. Weggestopt, alsof ze zich schamen om toch iets semi interresants te doen met muziek.

Even if the rest of the album was amazing (which it's certainly not), it would get 1 star just for those godawful Beatles covers.

Negative musical appeal. A real slog. I thought it would be neutrally boring. We should always be so lucky.

Quite dated. We recognized a few of the songs from 70s radio, but mostly as covers and Burt Bacharach songs. The Carpenters came across as a variety show act, she had a good voice for a 98 pound waif. Not sure what he brought to the party. It was goofy. L = (1.5*s) It always seemed a little odd seeing them sing to each other as brother and sister. J = (1.3*s) They were evidently popular enough for long enough to make the 1001 Must Hear List so let’s give them credit for that.

The Carpenters may have made some of these songs popular but didn't write them. Although this is very common in the music industry, if you make this list I think you need some originality. I'm not scoring this duo high marks for covers. I even think most of the originals are better, for sure "Help!" and "Reason to Believe." I don't want to see them make the list again. 0.9 stars.

8 Grammy Nominations? Was there nothing else more interesting coming out in 1970 than what Carpenters were bringing to the table? It's objectively not bad music, it's just supremely uninteresting. A bunch of re-hashed soft ballad vocals from past hits will only get me so far. I guess I'm glad I don't live in a time where this is some the most exciting music that is being released. I'll file this one away. 0.99 stars

2/10, just gave incest i’m sorry.

This is a really great start (sarcastic) Jag är glad att musik var bättre förr i tiden annars hade jag suttit och lidit just nu (sarkastiskt) Another single, another W for Neil Ciciregas Mouth albums

My mom loves this shit. I think it is just shit.

A syrupy contralto as vocals with lyrics as intravenous glucose made this Pop Album diabetic.

Aged like milk. Dumb, 70s pop

This was about as bad as I thought it would be, which was very bad indeed, truly awful. This music requires the equivalent of an emetic for the brain, something to purge the memory of the sickly-sweet sounds that it left. There's a dark undercurrent throughout the entire album. Behind the harmonies and (let's be fair) weak singing there's a feeling of helplessness almost akin to drowning miles out from the shore in a deep, but calm, ocean. I hope I never have to listen to this again in my lifetime. One star.

Just no

Als ich klein war fand ich ihre Stimme toll. Und jetzt hatte ich die Gelegenheit, in die Nostalgiekiste zu greifen, um einen lange verloren geglaubten Schatz in der Hand zu halten und an die guten alten Zeiten mit dem Ohr am Kofferradio zu denken. Wie schön. Das schöne Gefühl hat nur leider den ersten Song nicht überlebt. Klebrige Geigen haben mein Gehör zugekleistert. Ich war erleichtert als es vorbei war. Vielleicht war früher doch nicht alles besser.

Rainbows, unicorns, high tall green grass, flowers, so many flowers! How corny can an album be? And why the hell cover "help!"? Whatever, not my cup of tea.

This album makes me feel like I’m stuck at a church potluck where no one brought seasoning, joy, or emotional range. Every track is like being gently waterboarded with skim milk. Muzak for the emotionally repressed

Ooof. The only time I have enjoyed this genre and style of music was during that wacky closing scene of The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

booo

Torture.

just so, so boring and derivative. no-replay value for me unfortunately

I worked in a supermarket in my youth, this was the soul twisting musak I had to listen to all day. The only Carpenters I listen to is the ironically awesome If I Were A Carpenter compilation from 1994. Listening to this album really dredged up some low feelings. Thanks.

Sappy saccharine lyrics crooned over dull piano arrangements. Inoffensive, bland, devoid of character. She's got a great voice and that sax player was really going for it but this was about as exciting as a Christian rock festival. 1.5

Speaking objectively, the drumming on this album is excellent, the arrangements are lush, the harmonies are good, and the vocals are on point. Speaking subjectively, I absolutely hated this. I can’t stand her voice. It bores me. I very nearly fell asleep during Crescent Noon.

This is awful sappy shit that somehow is popular enough I recognize it easily.

Wow this album sucked. I could only make it to song three before turning it off.

I can’t understand why this album of milquetoast covers is considered a classic.

Utterly soulless. The Carpenters were very talented, but this music is cringe-worthy.

Jesus, what the actual fuck was that! I really only enjoyed the last song, and because it tried to be something more than the tepid gravy rock on the rest of the album.

I tried, but it hurts my ears.

The only Carpenter I will ever willingly listen to is Sabrina.

I mean fine but what even is this project. It's been a rough week.

I don't wanna sound harsh because the Carpenter's reputation of being... well, middling pop music is pretty much what everyone thinks about them and obviously there's nothing wrong with music that's simply pretty pop from the 70s but... Man I do not feel ANYTHING listening to this, I just have a hard time finding much in this album to really get into beyond the nice melody here and there and some vocal things (tho even those get kinda tiring), all around its just kind of unexciting to me. I get how someone would like this but man this doesn't get anywhere beyond easy listening in terms of interest.

A couple of decent songs but mostly this is just not my genre. Omg their version of Help is bonkers.

Awful. Overproduced saccharine drivel. That ‘Help’ cover is 1 step from being a crime against humanity. The songs sounded like sitcom themes or elevator music.

IHAN TÄYTTÄ PASKAA TÄYTTÄ PASKAA TÄYTTÄ PASKAA KIVIKOVAA PASKAA LÄPIPASKAA EI ONTTOPASKAA VAAN LÄPIPASKAA

In what mood should you listen to the songs? It's all too old and uninteresting, I don't want to have to listen to it any more. The concept of the 1001 albums should be revised, e.g. everyone should set a year up to which albums are suggested. Goodbye Beatles, Carpenters, ...

Boring AF

Gag me with a cheesy spoon, this could be used as torture.

It's hard to believe that a time or place called for such saccharine music because this more than just a little too sweet. I had to buy eight boxes of crackers to process all the cheese on this album.

Not for me

Nope, they should have stuck to carpentry.

Boring. Not even okay for background noise

Not strictly "bad", just really not for me.

I f*cking hate The Carpenters.

Too slow

Correcto pero no va

Gear: Abyss DIANA MR (vegan) Artwork: 😬😬✝️ Produktion: 🎧😐🆗 Musik: 🍰🍬🍭🍫🧁...🦷💢🤕 Wertung: 🦷/5

Aural diabetes

Dreadful dreadful twee bollocks. Fills me with more rage than a death metal album.

The music is so sweet that I got a toothache after 2 songs. I don't like German Schlager. Why should American soft pop be any better? 1/5

absolutely hated it

Cheese. Listen to this if you want to hear the worst cover of a Beatles song (Help), in recorded history. I don't understand a lot of the production decisions. Overall, it's not good.

Tegen de tijd dat “Help” kwam, riep ik zelf help. Saai, nietszeggend, niet vernieuwend, niet mijn ding.

Saccharine.

20 mg of THC was not helping this album at all.

Technically a collection of songs. The definition of soft.

The cover of Help is reason enough to skip this album.

1. only juzt begun - 1 2. love i zurrender - 0 3. maybe itz you - 1 4. reazon to believe - 0 5. help - 0 6. cloze to you - 1.5 7. baby itz you - 1 8. love again - 0 9. noon - 1 10. mr guder - 0 11. loving you - 0 12. another zong - 0

Found most of this pretty boring, the Beatles covers didn’t make it better

Dull. Dull. Dull

Got about halfway through and couldnt do anymore. There’s only so many harmonies about love I can possibly take. So squeaky clean I feel dirty.

Just not for me at all.

Think this gave me diabetes.... So sickly sweet. Not for me. Recognised the hits but don't want to ever have to listen to this album again

Che noia!

did they just not make any good music in 1970 why is this momentous in any way

ugghhh I'm sorry to Karen Carpenter but I find this nearly unlistenable. this hits a lot of critiques of pop music for me - maybe if I could parse lyrics I'd find them full of meaning but it feels samey and bland.

Definitely not my taste. Way too cheesy. This is what I'd imagine would be playing at a Junior High dance in the 70's. I'm assuming the people who love this album love it for the nostalgic factor. It's shocking to me that this album is ranked in Rolling Stones top 500 albums and that it received 8 Grammy nominations. 1.5⭐

Puke

This album tastes like orange shag carpet, avocado green sofas, wood paneled walls and bell bottoms. I think if I was incredibly stoned, I would find this funny enough to enjoy listening.

I got as far as 'Help' and took the cue. Over-polished saccharine pop that wouldn't be out of place on one of those Seventies Top Of The Pops albums.

16/100 Based on this scale: 1 star - 0 to 19 2 stars - 20 to 39 3 stars - 40 to 59 4 stars - 60 to 79 5 stars - 80 to 100 As the top reviewer brilliantly said, they should have stuck to carpentry. This is a special kind of boring. It gains a few points with a brief instrumental bit at the end, but not enough to move it out of 1 star territory.

Boring 2/10

One of my least favorite genres. I understand this was a huge hit in the day, but there's a reason no one makes music like this anymore.

Brutal.

It’s like a caricature of trite, early 70s soft rock. I can’t find any redeeming qualities.

Never really answers the question as to why birds suddenly appear when that person is near. "They long to be close to you," is not really an answer. If birds suddenly appear, the person must be a magic saint or an evil wizard.

The ultimate tweefest. Not much losing sleep over, really. Or weight. Sorry, this looks mean, but there's a discrepancy between the lack of intensity I feel about the music on this record and Kate Carpenter's tragic fate as a tortured soul plagued with grave eating disorders for most of her adult life. I know it's quite a dumb take, but that was my instinctual reaction when this album and band popped up today. Not that it justifies such subjective and insensitive reaction. I just can't find any other way to articulate my thoughts for now. But I'm gonna try a little harder for the rest of this humble review. "Crescent Noon" and "Mr. Guder" are charming deep cuts towards the end, I admit it at least. Appreciated the minor-major modulations of the first, and loved the Bach-inspired flourishes on the second. As for the jazzy tropicalia conclusion in "Another Song" at the very end of the tracklisting, it's too little and too late in terms of genuine flavours by that point, unfortunately. Worse, such a late left-turn doesn't make any shred of sense in the context of the album. It seems like Carpenters managed to turn the few assets they had into flaws on this one. And apart from a few moments here and there, such as the ones I've evoked up there, this LP goes from corny to downright ridiculous. There are so many syrupy, sacharine tunes in it that I'm starting to get concerned about the sugar level in my blood this morning. And sucking life out of a lively, energetic song such as "Help" speaks volumes about the way you can destroy even the best compositions out there. Terrible, terrible work on an artistic level (even if the performance and production values are admittedly decent). Rest in peace, Karen. Thanks Richard for giving ABBA an effective starting point so that they could hone their own craft later on. And please, oh please, Robert, take out that LP out of everyone's sight and give us something with real character. 1/5 for the purposes of this list, translating to a 6/10 grade for more general purposes (5 for musical skills, technical proficiency, competent performances and professional production values + ... 1 for the overall lack of taste!). Next, please. Number of albums left to review: 427 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 264 Albums from the list might* include in mine later on: 139 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 174 (including this one)

Very talented musicians, well known songs, but very boring. I struggled to make it all the way though.

It's like the OST to some godawful west end musical

Not a fan of this album. I've never really gotten into the Carpenters and now I think I know why. I know that certain people really like their music but I don't really understand the point of this album. It's a bunch of easy listening, lesser versions of mostly decent songs. I'd start to recognize a song and think I was in for a good one and then it would break into their composition of it and immediately would be disappointed. Standout Tracks: We've Only Just Begun

This is so soft and inoffensive it makes me angry. What is the point? Why would you even want to make an album so bland? What was the driving impetus that made you think, "I must create this! The world needs this!" "Close to You" is utterly empty of passion, energy, or drive. It's fully sedated. I cannot imagine being the kind of person that says, "Oh, yes. This is my jam. More of that, please." The mindset that leads to this album charting is utterly foreign to me. But the Beatles cover was the proverbial straw for me. Wow, was that ill-advised. Terrible choice. Just terrible. I tried to find positives to balance the negatives. I really did. But that's where I drew the line. This shouldn't exist.

This was a waste of my time. The majority of the songs are not written by Carpenters or are covers. I don't mind if the performing artist hasn't written the songs as there's some iconic collaborations like Meat Loaf and Jim Steinmann, and Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The Carpenters however almost made me turn the music off when they started singing The Beatles "Help". Overall they have an unbearable soft padded style they wrap the songs in.

This has not aged well at all. She has a nice voice, but her singing is so sappy that it's hard to listen to. When you add in the backing vocals.....no thanks.

not a fan

I did not like this album, I can totally appreciate how good the artist are but it is just not my type of music.

Too sloooooooow

Yes, well what can I say... 3 tunes and the rest is muzak.

*YAWN* This has been doing absolutely nothing for me. Hilariously, The Carpenters are a favourite of my mom's as well, so she's 1 and 1 in this challenge so far - Harrison was a win, Carpenters were not. This feels like cream of wheat for the ears. 1/5

Poop

Oh this horrific turgid tedium. They didn't even write the good songs. Poor Tim Hardin would be turning in his grave

so tem tipo 3 musicas no album todo que são escrita por eles. eu acabei de ver que tem um cover de help. me ajuda. puta que o pariu. so por causa desse cover (crime contra a musica) eu vou dar 1 estrela é bom ver que nem tudo no começo do anos 70 presta

This encapsulates everything I hate about music in this era. This was so saccharine, so much tambourine. And wood block. And hitting the rim of the snare drum. At times I felt like I was trapped listening to some professional glee club. Never been a fan of the Carpenters so I approached this with dread and an open mind. Nope. Still not a fan.

Never liked these guys!

🤮

yeah, fuck this. more 70s tripe. if punk never happened the 70s would have been the absolute worst. i'm not surprised there was a need for music to be ripped up and started again.

Pretty snoozy late 60s pop music.

Fuck the Carpenters (minus Karen’s drumming). 0

Elevator music. I had seen reference to the Carpenters as punchlines to many jokes and I now know why. 1.5/5

Too pop and dull

Dit is wel mierzoete shit zeg. Wie luistert dit?

Pff, wat een zoetsappige meuk zeg!

😫 dit is echt héél erg zoetsappige gezapige muzak zeg.

Ñoña

Nomás no.

Couldnt get into this at all

A mi tía Rosy seguro le encanta.

Madreando rolas chingonas, not cool

No bueno

Ryuyu The most common werewolf on us in our house 🏡 was the it I kiddong too meny