Tears of joy on a first listening

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Tapdancer

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I'm sure many of us get a little dewy-eyed at times when we're filled with joy listening to some Carpenters magic. But has anyone had to reach for the Kleenex upon a first listening of their songs??

Well, today I finally discovered the Perry Como 1974 Christmas special featuring the Carpenters. Until now, I'd never heard any Carpenters performance of the all-too-familiar standard Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, so I wasn't expecting anything particularly special.

Somebody should have warned me!! By the time I got to the song's 1 minute mark, I simply had to pause the video, and replay it again and again from the start, lest I was imagining things. Everything I'd want in a new Carpenters song, was there. Everything. A bright opening, a jazzy arrangement with a laid-back feel, Karen's voice produced front and centre, hers now at the pinnacle of perfection, harmonies - layered, unusual - arriving at the perfect moment. How refreshing!

And Karen's treatment of the lyric! I always thought this was a kids' song. Wrong. To my ears it's one of the most sensual renditions of any song she's attempted, maintaining that wonderful combination of womanly maturity and girlish temptation in her voice which I've always found so appealing. And she looks fantastic.

[Easy to say in retrospect, but kicking-in after the horns in the lead break, Richard's piano played with a little syncopation may have been the better choice, perhaps including only a little of the harsher sax towards the end.]

Anyway, here is this Christmas gem:

 
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I have always felt that the Carpenters' 1974 Santa Claus is Coming To Town is one of the most brilliant
songs that they ever recorded. How it can escape from the consciousness of the general listening public
has always baffled me. Tapdancer, your observations regarding this song are quite on the mark.

My kleenex song is really the choir-less version of Ave Maria, or Little Altar Boy.
 
"Little Altar Boy" gets me every time. Not just Karen's vocals and Richard's production (or did Peter Knight produce this one), but the lyric as well. As a Christian, it reminds me that I am a sinner, something I often forget. Runner up is "Trying to Get the Feeling Again". Absolute perfection especially Richard's baroque arrangement. Sophisticated and memorable. More memorable than Mr. Manilow's version. It definitely belongs on "Horizon". It would have the album more sublime and popular.
 
Until I checked, today, it had eluded me that Peter Knight did do the arrangement on Little Altar Boy.
And, finally, I see someone (else) who believes that Carpenters' version of Trying to Get the Feeling Again is
more memorable than Manilow's version! I do so love the arrangement by Richard, and can only imagine how
it might have been finished back in 1975 for inclusion on Horizon (if only it had been considered at that time).
 
OMG! I remember getting my copy of the Canadian version of Interpretations and listening to each of the new tracks. I had a really nice stereo system Harmon Karmin? It was like magic. I wept. To hear every little nuance in Karen's voice and Richard's overdubs and reading the liner notes for the first time, etc. Wow, what an experience!

On a side note, there used to be the original Tryin' to get the feeling.. video on youtube showing tony and richard in the studio mixing the song. does anyone have the link?

thanks!
 
Re: the above TV clip - is it just me or is Como's singing truly awful? I guess it was all about the personality with him! On the plus side, KC absolutely nails "It's Impossible" and "And I Love You So". Oh, to imagine Carpenters recording Don McLean songs ...
 
milwaukeeburt, "Little Altar Boy" hits me the same way. Renews this sense of humility in me- always good for my faith! All of the spiritual songs get me, but "Silent Night" just slays me. There's something about the last lines and the way she sings them that brings a couple of tears at times.

"It's Impossible" was always a song I wished there was a full version of. I wrote Evelyn at the fan club and pleaded for it to be on the upcoming album (Horizon). On the other end of the unreleased spectrum, "Old Fashioned Way" remains one I'd love to have. A very romantic song sung with that breezy effortlessness I heard in too few of their recordings.
 
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