Context is everything. Listen to early Elvis today, or "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard, and you can still hear the excellence and wonder, but our context is different, we don't really hear the revolution anymore. Little Richard makes sense to us now, so his Tutti Frutti tidal wave is decontextualized. But when it came out, in the context of the pop music of the day, well, that was something. Punk rock emerged from the boredom of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Rap music startled an audience tired of the same old same old.
Well, imagine a world where the Carpenters not only existed, but were immensely popular. A world where "sing, sing a song" actually mattered to people. And then imagine having "Goodbye to Love" dropped into the middle of that world. The lyrics were bad enough:
Loneliness and empty days will be my only friend
From this day love is forgotten
I'll go on as best I can
But then Tony Peluso steps in, with a short solo in mid-song and then a longer blast to close out the record. And if it wasn't for those two solos, I wouldn't even know who Tony Peluso was, but off he goes, with Hal Blaine pounding beneath him... and the only crime is that there wasn't a place for Tony on that Rolling Stone list of the 100 best guitarists of all time.
And I don't care if the above pisses off you Carpenter fans, or if I sound like a snob, but fuckin' A as they used to say, that solo at the end of "Goodbye to Love" is an inspiration, it suggests that anything is possible, it's the most truly uplifting thing that ever appeared on a Carpenters record, it's the artistic truth in opposition to the sap that was the Carpenters.
I think I better play the song one more time...
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
I am a moderate Carpenters fan. The gist of it is Karen had a beautiful, warm, rich alto voice with an undercurrent of genuine sadness that comes through on all their best songs. The arrangements by Richard were interesting and sometimes inspired, and they had great taste for the kind of pop-rock they did.
For me they were either all on or all off - the great songs are:
"Close to You"
"For All We Know"
"We've Only Just Begun"
"Superstar"
"Rainy Days and Mondays"
"Goodbye to Love"
There are quite a few others I like somewhat less.
If you hate anything like this, you won't like them. But if you want to know how good a lot of the songs are as songs, check out the If I Were a Carpenter tribute collection with a bunch of mdern rockers doing their songs - it's a revelation.
If you like sophisticated pop, like say, Burt Bacharach, you can't ignore the Carpenters.
2 - ZuDfunck
The Carpenters were Pop Music! one of the greatest genre's there is in modern Music. Don't forget the producer, I forget his name, but he was one of the Best of his time in addition to the musicians he hired to pull it off.
3 - Joe
Steven you have no musical taste what so ever, you wouldn't know something good if it hit you upside the head. "Goodbye to love" was good but nowhere near the best of their work, all the critics scathing remarks through the years has failed, 100 million plus recordings sold, the Carpenters concert tours had phenomenal attendance, sell out after sell out, there's a damn good reason too they were great.'You may not get it' but a hell of a lot of people do. The Carpenters legacy will long out last the shrill and idiotic yapping of another nobody critic like you.
4 - John
Steven: On your carpenter comments.
I realy wouldn't be so harsh. Hey I grew up loving Jazz, classical, pop and rock. Musical tastes are so subjective.
At the time the Carpenters were big I was an avid Who fan. Used to see them all the time, follow them around and even spent some time with Roger. As a bassist I loved John Entwistle too. But there was somethong about the Carpenters that I liked. It may have been those over-dubbed harmonies, those great Wrecking Crew studio cats playing on their records and of course good, solid pop melodies.
Karen actually was a very good drummer and I have seen cuts of her playing live jazz with Richard and they were super ! Of course though, Hal is amazing. The first time I heard his opening to Drag City I was in awe of him.
I do agree with you on Tony Peluso's solo. It is great! The distortion and the solo itself are among my favorites in all my years of listening to music.
Just lighten up a little. The Carpenters made pretty good pop music at their best. And compared to that horrible Hip-Hop, Rap-crap and whiny American Idol stuff that is around today it sounds like Mozart.
At least it was good melodies, harmonies and REAL musicians playing on the records. Something that has been lost to a great extent in today's music.
John
5 - allan
Ignorance can be a hinderance especially when it comes to music. I am watching the Carpenters documentary on PBS and if one takes the time to find out, the Carpenters may not have been mainstream rock artists but played great songs none the less.
Look at who wrote their songs. Burt Bachrach, Paul Williams and others. If you listen beyond the pop sound, the songs were great, her vocals were great and the arrangements are great. The one guy likes the great guitar solo because that is what makes great music for him. There are other criteria.
6 - Eric Olsen
If you don't like adult-pop, you won't like the Carpenters, but they were great at what they did and the best songs hold up very well.
7 - random idiot
Philistine! get beyond your myopic worldview and see the carpenters for what they are..truly wonderful musicians using other truly wonderful musicians to interpret truly wonderful songs. no one is golden on every track on every album but if these siblings could get my butt to sit in my sister's car listening to 8 tracks of the carpenters over and over, there is something there. my sister's other records that i liked? Made in Japan and We're An American Band...nothing subtle about deep purple or grand funk..ergo, there must be something to the carpenters...like quality. sheesh....subjective indeed. like a ten year old kid has any clue about anything other than "it sounds good to me". Ha...pundits, give me a break. The Who were always the red headed stepchild of rock and roll coming in third to the beatles and Stones...but neither of those deserved legends could rock like THAT KIND OF THUNDER in live performance. anyway, 'nuff said.
8 - Neil Hooper
Steven: you've absolutely hit the nail on the head.
There's no question that Karen's voice was exceptional, but like e.g. Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, the choice of songs and the slick production resulted in a particularly bland end product. It's background music for a supermarket.
Any comparison with Burt Bacharach is an injustice to one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. The Carpenters version of "Close to you" is dire (although to be fair, it's probably not Burt and Hal's best work).
"Goodbye to love" is a classic. A couple of short verses (the sad tone to Karen's voice matching the lyrics), a brilliant mini guitar solo between verses and then the crowning glory of the final extended guitar solo.
I agree that Tony Peluso's guitar work is astonishing and is backed perfectly by the soaring backing vocals. Why the hell didn't he go onto bigger things?
9 - corrina
Eric you are talking so much crap, you are just so ignorant. Have you ever took the time to research your assumptions about the Carpenters? I don't know where you got the idea that Karen and Richard ever stated that Karen played the drums at recordings?? Karen did play the drums on certain songs at their live gigs and for tv, it was something she was good at, and at the beginning she played them all the time until they decided she would be beter singing out front. So they hired a drummer to fill in when Karen wasn't doing it, such as recording sessions. They never tried
to pull the wool over anyones eyes by claiming Karen played the drums, it was only on certain occasions.
Richard is a truly great arranger and came up with some masterpeices. They might not be everyones taste, but no one can deny they had something special. So what that Richard took "too many meds" and Karen "didn't eat" whats that got to do with their music ability?
Get off your high horse Eric , you dont know what your on about.
10 - Eric Olsen
I didn't write this post
11 - corrina
Eric my sincere apologies, got the names muddled up, my above rant was aimed at the original comment by Steven Rubio. So sorry!!
Steven, you're talkin out the back of your arse.
Thank you
12 - Rick Henry
Well Steve you are entitled to your opinion. But in the reality of music theory and vocal interpretation, the Carpenters were one of the finest and most accomplished groups in the history of music. http://www.carponline.bravepages.com
Let me start first about Karen playing drums. She played all the drums on the 1969 album "Ticket To Ride" and the 1973 album "Now & Then". She also played on several tracks on the following Carpenters albums "Close To You" (1970), "Carpenters" (1971), "A Song For You (1972) and "Horizon" (1975) - so it wasn't all Hal Blaine.
Professionals who understand vocal tachnique have claimed that Karen Carpenter is one of best vocalists in the history of music. claiming her tones are rich, pure and full bodied. Karen focused on complex jazz patterns in her drumwork and she was a master at the drums.
As for the musical arrangements. the music was all performed to perfection. Tony Peluso was a master guitarist who effortlessly played smooth guitar chords with soul and inspiration. songs like "Superstar", "Close To You", "Only Yesterday" and "Goodbye To Love" have been revered by musicians and fans alike for the clean and fine tuned arrangements.
as for lyrics go. Carpenters lyrics were just fine. so who cares if they didn't make any political statements with their music. the songs were well crafted and cleverly written pop tunes. As for "Sing", if you really look at it the message is quite powerful. It's a song about innocense, about self confidence, and about the universal language of love.
Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to sing
Just sing, sing a song.
Excellent lyrics - strong message.
I'll tell you I'd rather be singing of good things, not bad.
All in all the Carpenters are one of the finest ever in popular music and that's the reason why they still to this day (2004) still manage to seel something like three million units a year every year.
13 - Rick Henry
One more comment Neil said he understand why Tony Peluso didn't move onto to bigger and better things. Would you move on from a multi-million selling group? I wouldn't. I mean how much bigger and better can you get than a group which has sold over 120 million units worldwide to date? And acheived mass critical acclaim. The Carpenters are loved in every corner of the world. Obviously they really struck a chord in many many people and their legacy continues to grow every year.
14 - Dave Schneuder
That solo by Tony Peluso has to be in the top 10 of all time....It was the first time a fuzz solo came off like that....Never heard one again....I played that solo so many times....Its in a class by itself
15 - Mike
I have to whole heartily disagree with you. I used to think the Carpenters were simply a pop joke. But this was before I really started listening to then. Having spent years listening to greats like U2, Floyd,.. i wanted to try something new. i started listening to the Carpenters and I was amazed to realize how great their music really is. Karen has one of the best singing voices of all time. Bono and other great front men would love to have voices as great as hers. On a purely musical basis the Carpenters are one of the top groups.
16 - skierpage
The producer of many of their albums was Bones Howe, it's really strong production with cleanly highlighted instruments and drums like a white (very white!) Motown. There's no point arguing taste, but what's amazing to me is how their very first album, "Ticket to Ride" is so fully realized.
Tony Peluso is in the "Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters" documentary that was just reshown on PBS, recounting how Richard Carpenter was telling him "No, no, no, just burn!" when he first played it Carpenters-style. He humbly acknowledges his contribution/invention of the power ballad with that shocking solo, though he says it was Richard's idea.
There's a great quote from songwriter Paul Williams in the same documentary. He says "Somebody was talking about the sounds being vanilla ... but what an exquisite flavor vanilla is". So many of the songs are deeply sad despite the saccharine production, sort of like Peanuts cartoons at the time.
17 - Jimi Lee
For guitar sounds I normally listen to the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Buchanon, etc. However I just sat thru a boring meeting at work and found myself humming to the solo of "Goodbye to Love". Wow, what a beautiful smooth solo. It was a great move by the Carpenters to get that Peluso into the band.
To be honest I would not want to have been caught dead with a Carpenters album as a teenager in the 70's. But I did secretly borrowed my friend's and listened to their songs, esp the ones with good guitar sounds. Karen had a beautifully haunting voice, and to me she kicks Celine Dion's ass.
You know, I long for the 70's again, because I believe that the greatest rock songs were from the 60's and the 70's and the Carpenters will always have a special spot during that era.
Think I will listening to that solo again. BTW does anyone know where I get the tabs to the solo?
18 - Graham Vine
Shame you don't like the Carpenters. They were always consummate professionals - unlike the Rolling Stones whose songs are, largely, inaudible. Still you don't have to like the Carpenters any more than you have to like the current purveyors of sheer misery to the masses, the group called, most appropriately I think, Coldplay.
They're enough to make anyone contemplate suicide.
Not so "Good-bye to Love" far and away the Carpenters' best track and lifted into the sublime by the greatest guitar solo of all time from Tony Peluso.
He may not be as well-regarded as other great guitarists of the electric and elctro-acoustic instrument but this one track lifts him well above any of them for sheer, gut-wrenching, power.
I'm 72 and a some-time toiler in the performance of music but I can think of no other track that moves me now just as powerfully as it did when it first hit me all those years ago.
19 - fromcostarica
i agree with most people, carpenters are still well known in every corner of the world including China, did you know that yesterday once more is the most popular not chinese song ever??
I love goodbye to love and must add, the song was written by none other than richard carpenter himself, tony peluso wrote 2 songs for the carpenters both very upbeat
happy (horizon, 1975) and sailing on the tide (voice of the heart, 1983)
20 - Nick B
Steve
You are largely correct, that guitar solo is the best thing 'they' ever did, but the voice as thing of beauty and the orchestrations take some beating. The lyrics are poor.
Cheers
Nick
21 - Mark
I was surpised that to find that Tony Peluso wasn't really Gary Quackenbush, I agree that the guitar work is great but the style has been borrowed so give credit where credit is due, check out SRC, SRC (first album).
22 - Glenny Vee
The solo is ace......he also played a blinding improv around the recorded version on the "Live at The London Palladium" with some very dated phaser on it. Sublime...
23 - Sarah
The Carpenters put some of Paul Williams'music on the top of the charts. Karen had an incredible voice.
Sarah
24 - John Taite
Steve, you don't have to like their music to appreciate their artistry if you're a true music fan. And the Carpenters were superb musical artists. You can't deny this. But then you may be the type that can't appreciate Mozart or a Pucinni opera just because there aren't any rock guitar solo in them.
PS. The fuzz guitar solo was Richard's idea by the way.
25 - Roger Glover
To write off the whole of the Carpenters' catalogue on the basis of the one song, "Sing" ,is pretty moronic. This is a child's song, from Sesame Street. It's well sung and well played, but it's a child's song. You're making the same mistake others did in 1970, i.e you're simply projecting your own bigotry and prejudice about the Carpenters' middle-class background. The music per se can't be faulted.