The Carpenters

[Thumper]

DVR'd a show about the group that aired on our PBS station this last week. They were using it as one of their big fund raising specials where you could buy the big multiple CD/DVD set. I grew up with their music. Yeah, it can be cheesy, it surely is pop. But the songs melt me and take me back to a beautiful time and place. Karen's voice is indescribable to me. It's got a bottom end that is rock solid, but at the same time is so sweet, soft and beautiful.

The show didn't spend much time on Karen's illness and death, it was more centered around how they started performing together, finally started seeing success, them became quite famous. Richard, reminded me a little of Brian Wilson, kind of an eccentric genius. He would find songs, jingles, pieces of songs, commercial background music, and write them into mega hit songs.

I'm not embarassed to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even brought out some of my old Carpenters vinyl to look at.

The show was called, "The Carpenters: Close to You." Here's a promo video for it.

[SciFiFisher]

I love the Carpenters.

[geonuc]

I like carpenters, too, but I prefer doing my own woodworking if possible.

[Thumper]

I like carpenters, too, but I prefer doing my own woodworking if possible.

Crap, I can't figure out hoe to get it to show the image. Anyway...

[SciFi Chick]

I fixed it for you. For future reference, just take the link and put it between .

[SciFi Chick]

As to the Carpenters, I rewatched the unauthorized movie about Karen, that they did back in the eighties. After that, certain of their songs were stuck in my head for weeks. Waking and sleeping. I finally came to the conclusion that this would be a good method of torture for any suspected terrorists. I literally wanted to claw open my skull and scrape them out of my brain.

That said, there's no denying the talent and I do love her voice.

[Thumper]

I fixed it for you. For future reference, just take the link and put it between .

Thanks, I see what you did. I almost had it but my syntax was a little off.

[Swift]

I went through a period, back when they were in their prime, that I really liked them, but I can't say I still do, nor do I particularly miss them, but to each their own.

[SciFi Chick]

I fixed it for you. For future reference, just take the link and put it between .

Thanks, I see what you did. I almost had it but my syntax was a little off.

Glad I could help. That particular thing used to drive me nuts! I was so relieved when I finally figured it out.

[Thumper]

One of the things that amazes me, or amazed me as I was watching the show, was the sheer volume of their hits. The Carpenters are a memory to me and I look back down a narrow tube to my youth and see: The Carpenters. Sure I have one of their greatest hits albums, and may have remembered 4 or 5 hit songs. But not 15, 20, 30 hits spanning 12-15 years.

In reading Swift's post, I totally understand that point of view. Sometimes I hear music from long ago and wonder, "What in the he|| did I ever find appealing about that!?" I also have the opposite happen to me. I hear a song from the '80's or '90's that I didn't like at all back when it was popular. But I hear it now and I get nostalgic. It takes me back to that time. So even though I wasn't a Flock of Seagulls or Modern English fan back then, it's a memory trigger for where I was, what I was doing, and a peek at my world view at the time. I try to embrace the good feeling and not be ashamed.

[geonuc]

I understand what you mean. I have real or manufactured memories of hearing Eric Clapton's version of I Shot the Sheriff and thinking it was not all that great. Too pop. But now when I hear it, not only do I like the song but it evokes memories not only of the song but of the place I was in.

[Thumper]

Bingo.

[SciFiFisher]

Bingo.

I think I was in Kindergarten listening to Mrs Sheffield cry about her dead husband when I heard that song