The problem for me has been the Muzak-y song selection and production. But some of the group's songs were good or even classics, despite the fact they were cheesy. As for the production, recently I've been looking for multitrack versions of songs for some artists. I've been hoping to find that for the Carpenters in order to try to de-Muzak-ify the syrupy as best I could. The bad news is I couldn't find such multitracks for the group, but the good news is that someone else had them and already did what I wanted to do, stripping the songs down to their core of just Karen Carpenters' voice, plus bass and drums. There are some additional instruments and/or vocals here and there, but not much.
In my opinion, listening to these songs in this way is a real revelation. By removing all the overproduced gunk, you can hear just how great her voice is. She doesn't do vocal gymnastics like TV talent show winners do (thankfully), but there's something about the sound of her voice that demands one's attention. Thanks to Jeremy Doe for making these stripped down versions. I'm calling this album "Near Acappella" because that's the term he used.
If you listen to this, I promise I won't tell anybody! ;)
This album is 55 minutes long.
UPDATE: On March 3, 2026, I updated the mp3 download file. I added two songs: "All I Can Do" and "All of My Life." Musical friend Fabio from Rio found them while he was looking for songs for other Carpenters album projects. I also changed the cover to one I like better.
01 Ticket to Ride (Carpenters)
02 All I Can Do (Carpenters)
03 All of My Life (Carpenters)
04 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Carpenters)
05 We've Only Just Begun (Carpenters)
06 For All We Know (Carpenters)
07 Rainy Days and Mondays (Carpenters)
08 Superstar [Groupie] (Carpenters)
09 Goodbye to Love (Carpenters)
10 Hurting Each Other (Carpenters)
11 It's Going to Take Some Time (Carpenters)
12 Sing (Carpenters)
13 This Masquerade (Carpenters)
14 Top of the World (Carpenters)
15 Yesterday Once More (Carpenters)
16 Please Mr. Postman (Carpenters)
17 Only Yesterday (Carpenters)
https://pixeldrain.com/u/2HNebtRT
alternate:
https://bestfile.io/rMEwKW7v7mRdnxy/file
For the cover art, I chose a picture that shows the drums, since these versions feature that instrument prominently. Interestingly, Karen Carpenter was a really good drummer, and she's the one playing the drums in this picture. This comes from a TV special on CBS in 1972.
I had a chance to listen to this today. Interesting, entertaining and enjoyable but I'm not sure how it will stand up to repeated listens. I need more than drum and bass, although a couple of the later songs have a bit more stuff on them. I'm tempted to ask a friend of mine to add a guitar to each in a jazzy style.
ReplyDeleteHey Uncle Dan, if you are still there (after 8 years!) I would suggest that you check both the "Carpenters Full Acapella" volumes that Paul posted in March 2026, and also the "Carpenter's piano recital" that at the time of this writing, are about to be posted here at the ATSE blog
DeleteThanks for the feedback. I wonder if I had the multitracks I could just add in more guitar without including the rest, but I don't, so I can't. It would be interesting to see what your jazzy friend might come up with.
ReplyDelete