Close To You
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Album Summary
Close To You was laid down at the legendary A&M Studios right there in Hollywood, California, and released on A&M Records in August of 1970 — the Carpenters' second studio album and the record that turned two talented kids from Downey into certified superstars. Produced by Jack Daugherty, with Richard Carpenter's creative fingerprints all over the arrangements, this album arrived on a wave of momentum that nobody could have predicted moving quite so fast. Richard's lush orchestrations framed his sister Karen's contralto voice like a jewel in velvet, and together they captured something in those sessions that the whole world was hungry for — something warm, something real, something that hit you right in the chest the moment the needle dropped.
Reception
- The title track '(They Long To Be) Close To You' climbed all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1970, planting its flag there for four consecutive weeks and announcing to the world that the Carpenters had arrived in a very serious way.
- The album itself peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and earned a platinum certification, cementing the duo as one of the most commercially formidable acts of the early 1970s.
- 'We've Only Just Begun,' one of the crown jewels of this album, rose to number 2 on the Hot 100 and became one of the most beloved songs of the entire decade, helping earn the Carpenters the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1971.
Significance
- This album was nothing less than a blueprint for the soft rock and easy listening sound that would define an era — Richard's meticulous production and Karen's emotionally restrained delivery together created a template that adult contemporary artists would be reaching for throughout the entire decade that followed.
- Karen Carpenter's vocal performances across this record stand as some of the most remarkable in the history of popular music — a tonal purity and depth of feeling that came through every single time she stepped up to that microphone, setting a standard for female pop vocalists that endures to this day.
- For A&M Records, Close To You was a landmark moment that proved the label could nurture and deliver mainstream pop success of the highest order, broadening its identity well beyond its rock and folk roots and expanding its commercial reach in ways that shaped the label's entire trajectory through the seventies.
Tracklist
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A1 We've Only Just Begun 89
3:04
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A2 Love Is Surrender 102
1:59
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A3 Maybe It's You 77
3:09
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A4 Reason To Believe 81
3:02
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A5 Help 88
3:02
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A6 (They Long To Be) Close To You 89
4:34
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B1 Baby It's You 83
2:50
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B2 I'll Never Fall In Love Again 141
2:56
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B3 Crescent Noon 88
4:09
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B4 Mr. Guder 84
3:17
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B5 I Kept On Loving You 91
2:13
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B6 Another Song 120
4:22
Artist Details
The Carpenters — that's Karen and Richard, a sister and brother duo out of Downey, California, who came together in the late 1960s and hit the world like a warm California breeze — gave soft rock and pop a soul that could make even the toughest cat pull out a handkerchief, blending Richard's lush orchestral arrangements with Karen's voice, which was, and still is, one of the most achingly pure instruments ever recorded. They ruled the early-to-mid 1970s with hits like "Close to You," "We've Only Just Begun," and "Rainy Days and Mondays," racking up Grammy Awards and topping charts at a time when the music world was pulling hard toward hard rock and funk, proving that tenderness had a place on the airwaves. Tragically, Karen's passing in 1983 from complications related to anorexia nervosa brought a devastating spotlight to eating disorders, making the Carpenters not just a chapter in music history, but a story that changed how the world talked about mental health and the pressures put on artists in the spotlight.
