[木匠兄妹樂團]1969-1973最佳單曲

 

【專輯藝人】: The Carpenters
【專輯名稱】: The Carpenters - The Singles 1969-1973
【發行日期】: 1973年
【唱片公司】: Universal Music Japan
【專輯類型】: Pop Rock / Soft Rock


[專輯介紹]：

木匠兄妹樂團（The Carpenters）是美國歌星理查·卡本特和凱倫?卡本特兄妹二人組成的演唱組合，1970年代和1980年代初期風靡一時。在華語地區他們演唱的《Yesterday Once More》（昨日重現）、《Top of the World》（世界之顛）、《Please Mr. Postman》（請等一下，郵差先生）等歌曲廣為人知。

木匠兄妹於1965年開始組織樂團，初期音樂風格為爵士樂，凱倫?卡本特任鼓手，但是未能獲得成功。1967年，他們又和兩位朋友組成了一支樂團，但是仍然沒有突破。不久，木匠兄妹決定單飛，理查任鍵盤手、凱倫任鼓手，兩人均進行演唱。他們翻唱的披頭四的《Ticket to Ride》小獲成功。

1970年8月19日木匠兄妹發行的第二張專輯《Close to You》（靠近你），專輯中的歌曲《（They Long to Be）Close to You》（她們早就想接近你）得到了空前的成功，在告示牌和許多國家的單曲榜獲得冠軍，也造就他們在整個1970年代，至少10年以上的大受歡迎和獲得成功，2003年滾石雜誌史上500大專輯，《Close to You》被列為第175位[1]。

1983年2月4日，凱倫?卡本特因長期嚴重神經性厭食症而突然去世，木匠兄妹樂團隨之告終。其後，理查雖然也出過幾張專輯，但再也沒有達到原有的成就。

隻要聽到Karen Carpenter 那張既溫暖又親切的聲音，你就會感覺到她是你一個熟悉的摯友。在她離世二十年之後，我們還未能找到代替品。

“木匠”兄妹的作品，主要特色是用清新的旋律配以柔美的演唱而打動人心。歌手兼鍵盤手的哥哥理查德具有非凡的音樂才華，不但善於演唱、演奏，而且成功地兼任製作人並創作出大量歌曲。歌手兼鼓手的妹妹卡倫嗓音柔美，親切自然，而且常常在演唱中略帶傷感色調，極富吸力。這個二人組合在表演實踐中逐步形成了以輕柔的和聲與樂隊的伴唱相結合、並以二重唱為主的特有風格。

There's a certain inherent sadness listening to this concise 12-song collection of the Carpenters' early hits, especially as it opens with "We've Only Just Begun," with its hopeful, dreamy lyrics -- for it was never supposed to be definitive, just the first of at least two such collections. But changes in the public's taste and a slackening (though never a disappearance) of hits for the duo, and Karen Carpenter's death in 1983, made this the first and only real mass choice for a Carpenters collection. Ten of the duo's dozen Top Ten hits are present, from "Close to You" to "Top of the World," with their gorgeous and original slow ballad interpretation of "Ticket to Ride" and their cover of Carole King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" thrown in to offer a slightly wider perspective. Listening to this material, it's easy to accuse the Carpenters of being hopelessly retro even in their own time -- bear in mind that "We've Only Just Begun" and "Superstar" being contemporaneous with the Allman Brothers' At Fillmore East and Eat a Peach and you get the idea. But the lush melodies brought out in Richard Carpenter's arrangements and Karen's singing are justification in themselves.
--by Bruce Eder, AMG


[專輯曲目]：

We've Only Just Begun
We've Only Just Begun quickly supplanted Close To You as the Carpenters’ signature song - no small feat. The idyllic ballad could have easily seemed gracious, but the Carpenters gave it blood and guts. Karen’s lead vocal conveys strength, optimism and a deep contentment. Richard’s arrangement blends the romanticism of easy listening with the pulse of pop/rock. Richard had spotted the Paul Williams/Roger Nichols tune on Los Angeles television - as a bank commercial. The Carpenters' recording turned it from a jingle into a standard: It received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year and became the weeding song for a generation.

Top Of The World
Top Of The World is the No.1 smash that almost got away. Richard and John Bettis wrote the lilting ballad for the “A Song For You” album in 1972, but the consensus at A&M and in the Carpenters camp was that it wasn’t quite strong enough for single release. When Karen and Richard moved on to their next album, Lynn Anderson covered Top and promptly landed a No.2 country hit. There were other signs that the Carpenters had underrated the song: It made radio station play lists on requests alone; it went gold in Japan. The Carpenters finally got the message and put out a retooled version of the song to coincide with the release of “The Singles 1969-1973”. The smash hit No.1 and went gold in December 1973. “The Singles” also reached No.1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. – where it remained on top for a commanding 17 weeks.

Ticket To Ride
Karen and Richard were teenagers in Downey, Calif. When the Beatles’ Ticket To Ride hit No.1 in 1965. The Carpenters were just about the hottest recording group in the world nine years later when Paul McCartney invited them to stop by at a recording session. McCartney greeted his American visitors by singing a few bars of their No.1 hit, Top Of The World. The Carpenters’ version of Ticket To Ride made the lower reaches of the Billboard chart in February 1970. It dropped off in March, but came back stronger than ever following the April 10 announcement of the Beatles’ breakup. The duo’s melancholy interpretation of the Fab Four fave seemed to set just the right mood for bummed-out Beatlemaniacs. Richard’s arrangement is among his most inventive: His baroque piano introduction increases the listener’s surprise when he finally realizes that he’s listening to a Beatles song.

Superstar
If the Carpenters' version of Close To You is a sunny day at the beach, their rendition of Superstar is a cold, dark night. Karen and Richard's recording of the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett ballad is probably their most widely admired work. Karen’s husky vocal exudes power. Richard’s haunting arrangement creates a chilling sense of foreboding. Joe Osborn's bass fills heighten the drama. The song was first popularized by Rita Coolidge on Joe Cocker's 1970 album, “Mad Dogs And Englishmen”. It has since been recorded by artists as diverse as Luther Vandross and Sonic Youth, but the Carpenters' 1971 recording has never been topped.

Rainy Days and Mondays
Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, who wrote the blissful We've Only Just Begun, also created the melancholy Rainy Days and Mondays, one of the most nakedly emotional ballads ever to become a pop hit. The Carpenters’ 1971 recording of the song ranks among their all-time best. Karen's bluesy vocal is a study in control, as she builds effortlessly from a conversational opening to a searing finish. Bob Messenger's sax solo enhances the recording's jazz-tinged sophistication. Rainy Days And Mondays was the opening track on the 1971 “Carpenters” album, which brought Karen and Richard their second straight Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Group.

Goodbye
Tony Peluso’s fuzz-guitar solo on Goodbye To Love turned a lot of heads in the summer of ’72. It also brought the Carpenters some irate letters from easy-listening traditionalists who accused them of going “hard rock.” The long guitar-and-vocals fade gives Goodbye To Love an epic quality – making it the Hey Jude of unrequited love songs. The downbeat ballad was the first Carpenter/Bettis composition to be released as a single. It was Karen's favorite of the Carpenters’ first dozen hits.

Yesterday Once More
Richard and John Bettis wrote Yesterday Once More in response to the nostalgia craze of the early ‘70s. The wistful ballad, which set up the oldies medley on the “Now And Then” album, became a smash in its own right in the summer of 1973. The song went gold and reached No.2 in both the U.S. and the U.K. It did even better in Japan, where it became one of the best-selling singles of all time.

It's Going To Take Some Time
The Carpenters' stylish rendition of Carole King and Toni Stern's It's Going To Take Some Time came out just four months after King introduced the song on her “Music” album. As the singer-song-writer graciously noted in congratulating the Carpenters on their recording, "You make my version sound like a demo!" Though pleasingly melodic, the single lacked the distinctiveness of the Carpenters’ six previous hits, all of which had gone gold. Richard now wishes that the song had remained what it was probably always meant to be – a nice album cut.

Sing
The sense of longing in Karen’s voice came across even on happy songs such as Sing. That gave the Sesame Street sing-a-long a bittersweet quality, similar to Charles Chaplin’s theme song, Smile. Karen and Richard first heard Sing, which had been a minor chart hit for Barbra Streisand, on the set of a TV special in January 1973. By late February, their version was zooming up the charts. Sing brought the Carpenters their seventh gold single and their third Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus.

For All We Know
For All We Know was the second weeding song in a row to become a Carpenters smash. But there was a crucial difference: Where We've Only Just Begun expresses romantic certainty, For All We Know conveys a measure of doubt and ambivalence. Karen’s reading captures both the devotion and the doubt. Richard wrote the descending bass line which Joe Osborn plays with characteristic fluidity. The Carpenters' single was in the Top 10 in April 1971 when the song, from the movie Lovers And Other Strangers, won an Oscar as Best Song of 1970.

Hurting Each Other
Though Hurting Each Other was one of the Carpenters’ shortest singles (at just 2:47), it has a big dynamic range. After a “cold opening” of just Karen and piano, the single builds to a big chorus replete with tympani – only to drop back down and repeat the process. Richard modeled the recording after the hyper-emotional 1960s hits of Little Anthony & the Imperials. Hurting Each Other, which became the Carpenters’ sixth consecutive gold single in February 1972, was a remake of 1969 release by Ruby & the Romantics. Karen and Richard went on to record two other songs that had been introduced by that R&B quintet – the 1963 classic Our Day Will Come and a 1965 release, Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore.

Close To You
In late 1969, Burt Bacharach heard and admired the Carpenters’ remake of Ticket To Ride, and asked them to perform a medley of his songs at an upcoming benefit. Herb Alpert, who had signed Karen and Richard to his A&M Records, suggested they include (They Long To Be) Close To You, which, despite covers by Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, had never become a hit. Richard didn’t think the song was right for the medley, but Alpert was sure the song was right for the Carpenters. He urged Karen and Richard to record the song for their next album. Alpert was on to something. The Carpenters’ light touch on Close To You was just right for the romantic creampuff. Karen’s lead vocal is engagingly coquettish. Richard’s slow-shuffle arrangement features a warm trumpet solo and a splash of mellow California harmonies. Bacharach, who arranged Warwick’s 1964 recording of the song, was impressed. “I think Richard Carpenter really nailed the essence of the song,” the pop titan says. “I never had it. We do that song (in concert) and I’m very aware as we do it, “Boy, I blew this one.” The facts speak for themselves. Of the hundreds of outside cover versions of Bacharach songs to be released over the past 40 years, this is the only one to reach No.1. Close To You brought the Carpenters two Grammy Awards – for Best New Artist of the Year and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Group.


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