![]() ![]() “I think that’s what makes this very special: the fact that it’s his music and he knows it.” ![]() It’s not somebody else interpreting, which is what normally happens,” said orchestral manager Ian Maclay. The RPO have previously recorded hugely successful orchestra albums around the music of Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin and Roy Orbison, but the Carpenters orchestral album marks the first time a featured artist has played a key role in the recording process, with Carpenter acting as producer, arranger and conductor. The track exemplifies the benefits of having the resources of one of the world’s great orchestras, as they beautifully underscore Karen Carpenter’s shimmering vocals. “It’s the same line, but it’s richer, because there are so many more players,” the 72-year-old said. On this new orchestrated version, he was able to quadruple the number of violins. ![]() That 1970 version featured a sparse string arrangement, for around 10 violins, which he thought “sounded a bit thin”. As well as playing piano, Wurlitzer electric piano and harpsichord on the original version of ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’, he scored the orchestration. When he arrived at Abbey Road in August 2018, Carpenter, who had finished working on the arrangements on a piano in his hotel room, started with the sound of the strings. Though Richard Carpenter recognises that the original was “a perfect record”, recording a Carpenters orchestral album gave him the opportunity to set their classics on a larger scale, with an orchestra of nearly 80 musicians. The song, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was a breakthrough hit for Carpenters in 1970, earning a Grammy for best contemporary performance by a duo or group. The A&M/UMe album Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, released on 7 December 2018, featured new versions of 17 of their best songs, including ‘(They Long To Be) Close to You’. “Karen was marvellous, she is one of the greatest singers who ever lived,” said the pianist, producer and arranger, who was one half of a duo that have sold more than 150 million records worldwide. I particularly love listening to Karen's drumming on these types of tracks.Richard remains in awe of his sister’s voice, a quarter of a century after her tragic death at the age of 32. But then I am more interested in the jazz they played in the 1960s, and a handful of deep cuts from their early Carpenters albums. Karen's voice is great no matter what, but the music became less interesting after their third or fourth album. Their later stuff became more and more bland. And I heard or read in an interview that Richard felt the same.įor me, the reason is that the music isn't so predictable. It is the best ballad/hit they ever produced. The original is simple, clean and clear, and the added electric guitar is unnecessary, it just adds noise, muddying it up.Īs great as Karen's voice is on so many of their hits, I believe they knocked it out of the park with TTR. Click to expand.I first listened to their initial album (Offering/Ticket To Ride) only about three months ago, and I loved about half the songs ( Invocation and Benediction, Someday, All I Can Do, Eve, Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing), but especially Ticket To Ride.Īnd I much prefer the original album version over the single or the the reworked version from the greatest hits album. ![]()
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