The Carpenters' version isn't too different from the Delaney & Bonnie original, but it has a chillier air of desperation, with Karen's recurring lament of 'baby, baby, baby, oh baby' aching with loneliness. She thinks he's come back to her, but it turns out she's just hearing his song on the radio. Co-written by Leon Russell, it's the story of a fan who has a one-night stand with a rock 'n' roller and then finds herself haunted by him. The original version was recorded by blue-eyed soul duo Delaney & Bonnie with assistance from Eric Clapton, and was called 'Groupie (Superstar),' a title that was clearly too suggestive for Richard and Karen. Side B is dominated by its lead-off track, 'Superstar,' arguably the Carpenters' greatest song, though they weren't the first artists to tackle it. '(A Place to) Hide Away' is a beautiful piece of melancholy, with Karen's voice at its most resonant. 'Rainy Days' is one of the best-known tracks on Carpenters, and the album also includes more minor Carpenters classics like 'Let Me Be the One' and 'For All We Know,' an Oscar winner that first appeared in the long-forgotten ensemble comedy Lovers and Other Strangers. 2 on the Billboard charts.Ĭarpenters, released 50 years ago this week. A couple months earlier, the group had won the Grammy for best new artist, beating the likes of Elton John and Anne Murray, and the LP's lead single, the Paul Williams-penned 'Rainy Days and Mondays,' had already shot up to No. When Carpenters landed in record stores in May 1971, its blockbuster status was a foregone conclusion. The Carpenters' debut album, initially titled Offering, went mostly unnoticed in 1969, save for its minor-key cover of the Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride.' Close to You followed the next year, and it included such signature hits as 'We've Only Just Begun,' which Richard first heard as a jingle on a regional bank commercial, and the chart topper '(They Long to Be) Close to You,' written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. But it was her distinctive voice - as crystalline as it was crystal-clear, dripping with world-weary melancholy one moment and wide-eyed wonder the next - that became the group's calling card. They cut their teeth as part of a jazz trio but struggled for recognition until they drifted toward pop, eventually being signed to A&M Records by Herb Alpert.īy many accounts, Karen resisted the role of singer, not wanting to step out from behind the shield of her drum kit. Richard arranged the songs and played piano, occasionally taking lead vocal duties but mostly providing harmonies for Karen, who also played the drums. The brother and sister duo simultaneously embodied the sunniness of their Southern California home and the buttoned-up wholesomeness of their middle-class Connecticut upbringing.

It remains their most successful studio record, too, selling more than 4 million copies and spawning three Top 10 singles.

That record, simply titled Carpenters, was released 50 years ago this week, and it cemented Karen and Richard's status as (pun intended) superstars. The photo on the cover of the Carpenters' 1970 album Close to You is like something you'd see hanging in a Sears portrait gallery (Richard himself hated it), and that gauzy, clean-cut image dogged the duo for years.Ī year later, the Carpenters' third LP would have nothing on its cream-colored jacket but the band's name, embossed in its now-iconic baroque font. R ichard and Karen Carpenter sit by the ocean, dressed in dinner-party duds and beaming directly into the camera lens, which is pulled to the softest possible focus. Karen and Richard Carpenter, soft rock's most indelible family act.

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