Karen Carpenter is one of the greatest female singers of all time. ‘Rolling Stone’ ranked her 94 out of the “100 Greatest Voices of All Time.” Grammy-winning producer Phil Ramone, with hits by Barbara Streisand, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel, said, “A voice like Karen’s—rich, womanly—comes along once every 20 years.”
Karen teamed up with Ramone in 1979, moving out to New York to work on a solo album with him. He added, “Voices like that should have a chance to do a variety of things.” Sadly, she didn’t live long enough.
Musical Styles of the Carpenters
Karen’s exquisite voice was Richard’s favorite instrument to arrange, and he adored arranging and orchestrating sounds. On the 1977 album 'Passage', he capitalized on her vocals by using a soloist in oboe, flute, and harmonica as counterpoints. She was blessed with three octaves and praiseworthy contralto vocals that were enhanced with a low timbre. Richard’s style was experimental and highly-worked.
He was enthralled with dubbing and overdubbing. “People were coming in during recording and saying, ‘We’ve never heard anything like this,’” Richard said. Karen’s soft and soulful voice defines the Carpenters. As Bash said, “She was the one that people watched.” But, Richard’s perfectionist commitment to musical arrangement and talent accentuated her gifts. He said you fail the singer if your arrangement is weak.
The Duo’s Logo
The official Carpenters logo didn’t come about until 1971 when they were creating their third album. Richard was inspired to develop a logo when he saw the artwork Craig Braun created for that album.
“I recognized it to be a great logo as soon as I saw it,” Richard said. The iconic image is pictured on every Carpenters album since then.
The Lost Archives
Shortly after Karen’s death, someone skilled in the art of recovering lost tapes found rare archived footage of the Carpenters’ first TV appearance and other rare recordings. He got in touch with Richard, who allowed him to collect the footage. Hours and hours of tapes were compiled into a VCR recording called 'Yesterday Once More'.
Borrowing the title from one of their albums, the video, which was released in 1985, was a hit. Later, 'Gold', a greatest hits album, was released on the heels of the video success.
Categorizing the Carpenters
The Carpenters’ sound was definitely different. Called pop, easy listening, soft rock, or even jazz, it’s had an uncomfortable seat at the rock ‘n’ roll table. Some thought the duo’s music was too soft to be rock. Others called it “Sunshine Pop.”
However, their rock-star, chart-topping, Grammy-winning success belies the critics. And, increasingly, documentaries discovering the rock ‘n’ roll style of the duo have been produced. These include, 'Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters', 'The Sayonara', and 'Only Yesterday: The Carpenters Story'.