"The Carpenters" on PBS

[Botch]

Donation time for PBS again.
They start trotting out the really good specials this time of year, punctuated by loooong pleads for cash (and I can't blame them for that, and I help out as I can).
I missed the first part of this special, but what I saw was really good. A lot of the music was in 5.1, I got excited that maybe their music had been remixed, but they haven't offered a DVD-A/SACD/Bluray of remixes; I'm thinking it's just the original recordings through a standard surround program from an AVR. Drenched in reverb that they are, I guess Carpenters tracks are actually good candidates for surround synthesis (like Monk chants in a large cathedral I mentioned before). They are offering a DVD of the program plus a 4-CD set of their greatest hit. I already have a CD with their Greatest Hits, single disk, and I was wondering how many "good" tunes I'm missing.
Then, they played a duet between Karen and Ella Fitzgerald, This Masquerade; Wow! I've not heard that track before. So the DVD/4-CD set is en route (guess it comes with a Christmas album too, yay a coaster).
A lot of folks consider the Carpenters very schmaltzy, and yeah any brother/sister duo is "icky". But, Karen had one of the greatest voices of the 20th century, the way they multi-tracked Karen and Richard's voices for the background vox, and Richard's excellent orchestrations, made for some incredible music. :bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue: :bow-blue:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJmmaIGiGBg[/youtube]

 

[Botch]

My new life motto shall be "If you sit in your recliner long enough, you will catch all you missed". :eusa-whistle:

The Carpenters special started again, and there's a lot more interesting stuff in the first part. Didn't know Herb Alpert (the "A" of "A&M Records", also the leader of the Tijuana Brass) was the producer who gave them their first break. :handgestures-thumbup:

EDIT: Close to You was written by Burt Bacharach, originally recorded by Richard Chamberlain (the actor in Shogun), BB tried an instrumental, they all threw up their hands on the song, but Alpert heard it and steered it to Richard Carpenter, and, well, there you go! :eusa-clap: And then to see Shirley Jones and David Cassidy presenting them a Grammy for the tune, wow!

 

[Huey]

I remember the exact moment I heard that she had passed in 81 or 82. My mom was just dropping a buddy and I off at the outdoor ice skating rink when it came over the radio. I always liked The Carpenters and was just listening to their greatest hits the other night. Thanks for sharing Botch, and I'll have to see if I can find and record it.