{"id":26026,"date":"2025-01-19T20:07:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T20:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=26026"},"modified":"2025-01-21T07:00:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T07:00:50","slug":"music-song-for-you-carpenters-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=26026","title":{"rendered":"MUSiC: Song For You, Carpenters, 1972"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3047-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26024\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3047-1.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3047-1-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3047-1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"184\" height=\"30\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/stars_11_six-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26025\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An absolute classic. The Carpenters best album, in my opinion.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*Subject to change, based on experience!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I actually find it quite hard to listen to the whole album in one go. Why? Because, like some Joni Mitchell, I find it emotionally devastating. Okay, it\u2019s very <em>very<\/em> different from Joni Mitchell, in so many ways. But it <em>does<\/em> have emotional power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The more I listen to Carpenters, the more I feel complex feelings about the core duo of Richard and Karen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"440\" height=\"537\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3049-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26027\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3049-1.jpg 440w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_3049-1-246x300.jpg 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 440px) 100vw, 440px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Karen, Wes Jacobs, and Richard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>They got a boost winning a talent show, as callow youths, in trio form, with Wes Jacobs on bass (and, or so I\u2019ve read, tuba!). And it\u2019s clear that, from the get go, Richard &#8211; the elder of the siblings &#8211; was the driver, ambition and musical arrangements wise. But Karen obviously became a focal point, ultimately to her own great detriment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3Cz60nGaopM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pure unalloyed joy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s so great about this album is that it perfectly balances Richard\u2019s geeky goofiness with Karen\u2019s terrific voice, and it finds them presenting one of their best and most consistent sets of compositions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ok, \u2018Intermission\u2019 is <em>almost<\/em> a redundant throwaway bauble, and Piano Picker another reminder of Dick\u2019s doofus persona. But truth be told, this awkwardness silly, clever, earnest stuff, is all part of the siblings\u2019 DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the single most compelling ingredient, and they both have it in spades, despite any\/all of the razzle-dazzle showbiz chutzpah, is good ol\u2019 fashioned melancholy. And this album drips melancholy, like a wounded rubber tree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An absolute classic. The Carpenters best album, in my opinion.* *Subject to change, based on experience! I actually find it quite hard to listen to the whole album in one go. Why? Because, like some Joni Mitchell, I find it emotionally devastating. Okay, it\u2019s very very different from Joni Mitchell, in so many ways. But &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=26026\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;MUSiC: Song For You, Carpenters, 1972&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-6LM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26026"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26026"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26059,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26026\/revisions\/26059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}