"The Tan Album"

You can change it if you want. I don't care it's totally up to you.

Hi Son,

I want to preface this by saying my next album to write you about was going to be The Flaming Lips. I had even started that note and tabled it, because I got completely sidetracked by something else. For about two and a half weeks I worked from home while taking care of you and your mother. During that time, when I got the chance to get work done, I would sometimes put on live music on YouTube. One day when my homepage came up on the Apple TV, there was a performance by the Carpenters in 1971 at the BBC. Now I am going to preface the preface…I have no idea if there is a term for that. Growing up I knew of the Carpenters. They produced this easy-listening style of music with Karen Carpenter’s very distinct voice. To admit listening to the Carpenters was kind of risky in that you could be considered a fragile, sensitive soul. In my teens and 20s, I wouldn’t dare want someone thinking that of me. The first song I can remember hearing and remembering of theirs was “Close to You.” The setting was not the radio, instead it was on during the movie “There’s Something About Mary.” Ben Stiller’s character, Ted, is picking up Cameron Diaz’s character, Mary, for the prom. Ted goes to the bathroom and looks out of the window while urinating. “Close to You” begins playing while he notices birds sitting just outside. The birds fly away and he finds himself staring into the window of Mary and her mother in Mary’s bedroom, with Mary half-naked. Ted freaks out over the embarrassment and tries to zip up his fly as quickly as possible. That would ensue one of the most painful and traumatic scenes I have seen in any movie.

To compound things about my perception of the Carpenters, up until about a year or so ago I thought this was a band similar to the Partridge Family where it was a family of Carpenters having Karen performing as the lead vocalist. If you listen to their music, every chorus sounds like several male and female voices providing backup vocals. What opened my eyes to what the band actually was, came from another Substack post about Karen. It was a wonderfully written piece on her life and career that I wish for the life of me I could remember so I can reference it. In the post I find out the Carpenters is not a full band, but only Karen and her brother Richard. So how did Richard and Karen manage to sound like a “full band” of vocalists? What I learned from the 1971 at the BBC performance and also their 1972 performance in Australia is that they used overdubbing of their voices. Each of them would sing and record different harmonies of the lyrics and then during production the harmonies would be layered on top of each other. Richard was actually the mastermind and arranger of their music. He was really damn good at it too. Karen’s voice was perfect for the overdubbing method. I mentioned her distinct voice earlier, which spanned three separate octaves and could go fairly low for a female voice. The other thing of note is that Karen was the drummer of the group. Something I did not know until watching the YouTube videos. How good was she? Let’s just say someone thought highly enough of her to rank her above John Bonham.

My notes to you focus on an album of work. Given I had not listened to any of the Carpenters records in full, until a few weeks ago, I had to make a choice on which one to pick. Their second album, “Close to You” was the album that put them on the map. The title track I mentioned that I heard while Ben Stiller was destroying his junk with the zipper from his prom suit. There was also “We’ve Only Just Begun,” which is considered their best song by many. However, I was taken by several songs performed in each of the YouTube videos I watched that were recorded on their third album. This album was self-titled “Carpenters” and would become known to some as “The Tan Album” which was a bit of a play off of the Beatles self-titled known as “The White Album.” Furthermore, after going through most of their discography, “The Tan Album” ended up becoming my favorite. It created another handful of hits in the Carpenters catalog. The opening track being one of them. That was “Rainy Days and Mondays.”

The name of the song pretty much spells out the melancholy nature. Karen’s vocals make you feel like you are on your porch, drinking coffee and watching a steady downpour. A harmonica accompanies her lyrics during the opening verse. This song is comfort food for the soul, which for your dad is grocery store Chinese food. The real beauty of this song is not the feels you get at the beginning, but it’s the last third of the song. There’s a constant build to where Karen ratchets up an octave and emphatically sings, “Hanging around. Nothing to do but frown. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.” It’s like yelling at “Mondays” and “Rainy days” to tell them they suck and you just let them know it! By the end of the song, you go from wanting to curl up in a ball to being ready to take on that bastard of a day. It’s a phenomenal song. The next hit of theirs was “For All We Know” that was their rendition of the song. It was initially released for the movie “Lovers and Other Strangers” by Fred Karlin, Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin. Richard arranged the Carpenters version by using The Wrecking Crew (who provided a lot of backing music on this record, including “Rainy Days and Mondays”) that opens the song with an oboe. It’s a very steady song of Karen singing at roughly the same harmony with wind instruments accenting her voice. It’s the kind of song I could imagine dancing to with your mom in a quiet intimate setting.

The third hit on “Carpenters” is truly one of their best. Some would argue that “Superstar” is the best song they’ve released. This was another song that Richard arranged his own adaptation to. It was written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell. Richard came across it while Bette Midler performed it on The Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson) in February 1971. The Carpenters would release their version in May 1971 on “The Tan Album.” The reason why Richard and Karen were able to turn around the recording of this song in only 3 months was because it only took Karen one take to record the song! Only needing one take is impressive enough, but it was also the first time she had ever sung “Superstar.” I think out of all of the songs I’ve seen Karen sing live, “Superstar” is the most impactful and moving. It really hits hard when I see Chris Farley and David Spade perform it though. Just kidding! I did want to plug “Tommy Boy” as another movie clip reference to the Carpenters from my youth. Speaking of my youth, where my formative years were in the 1990s, there was another version of this song released in 1994 by Sonic Youth. As much as I love Thurston Moore (well kind of, he’s a dick for wronging Kim), his vocals are really sultry and fitting for the song but cannot hold a candle to Karen. This version of “Superstar” was a track on a tribute record that was compiled by various Alternative Rock groups in 1994. Unfortunately, Richard was not a fan of the version by Sonic Youth saying in an interview on NPR:

At least when it comes to something like this, I will say I don’t care for it but I don’t understand it. So, I’m not going to say it’s good or it’s bad. I’m just going to say I don’t care for it.

Personally, I do care for it. It’s most likely due to my affinity for Sonic Youth and the fact that I firmly believe they should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay, I need to come back from my tangent! Back to the Carpenters!

The last track of mention (for me) is a medley of songs that were written by Burt Bacharach (born in Kansas City, MO like your old man) and Hal David. The medley includes the songs:

• “Knowing When To Leave”

• “Make It Easy On Yourself”

• “(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me”

• “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”

• “Walk On By”

• “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”

It’s a five-minute mash up that is really cool. If anything, it further exemplifies that almost any song that is sung by Karen Carpenter is made better. I’ve heard all of these songs sung by other artists, except for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.” Her vocals are just perfect. Also the fact she’s drumming makes this medley somewhat addictive. I’ll admit that I’ve listened to this medley on repeat a few times when driving to/from work. It’s not a track that will ever stand out in their catalog, but it’s one of my favorite recordings in their entire catalog. This track is one of the main reasons “The Tan Album” has become my favorite album of theirs. I’m not going to lie. I am curious as hell to know what “Black” would sound like if Karen did the vocals. No disrespect to Ed, but damn I feel like she would blow my mind if she had still been with us after “Ten” was released.

So that brings me to my last topic on “The Tan Album,” which is more of the entire history of the Carpenters. Karen would leave this universe in 1983 at the young age of 32. While almost every song she sung radiated this incredible inner beauty, inside of Karen was a troubled soul. It’s almost impossible to pinpoint why she chose to live her life the way she did. Karen suffered from eating disorders. I can only speculate that the overwhelming touring schedules, difficult relationship with her mother, a solo album being shelved in 1980 and some oppressive actions by Richard (there was a story that he scheduled an impromptu recording session after learning Karen had a date with Steve Martin) contributed to the struggle she lived with. The way in which Karen handled her weight weakened her body, namely her heart, to the point where it could not go on anymore. She still remains one of the most recognizable voices in the history of music, which is somewhat ironic. Ironic considering that Karen began her music career because of the drums and she considered herself a drummer first, a vocalist second. I’m just grateful I finally came around to learning more about her life and career and the history of her music duo with Richard. My respect of their work has completely skyrocketed. Hopefully anyone else who may have considered them an easy-listening, sensitive group will give them more of a chance to realize just how great they really were.

Love,

Dad