Recorded - circa March and/or April, 1970
Released - May 15, 1970
#1 for weeks of July 25 & August 1, 8 and 15, 1970.
From about 1966 until early 1970, the soft-pop genre often went hand in hand with the counterculture, producing a bottomless catalog of trippy yet mellow songs. In 1970, as psychedelia all but drifted away from pop music, the piano took over as the predominant instrument in softer music, and colorful flower power lyrics were replaced by straightforward love lyrics.
As already demonstrated numerous times on this blog, the soft pop genre has been a double edged sword. There have been occasions when a soft-pop song cranks up the sugar and lethargy levels to eleven. Then, there are times when the song, though it may be mellow, has substance and justified gentleness. For an example of the latter, we turn to The Carpenters.
The brother/sister duo of Richard and Karen Carpenter shouldn't be unfamiliar to anyone who grew up during the 1970's. Even the children of the baby boomers should be familiar with the duo's tunes, due to their use in various forms of media. The Carpenters released their first album, which flopped, in 1969. In February 1970, The Carpenters organized a benefit performance for Burt Bacharach, and selected a medley of his tunes to play. One of these was the Bacharach/David composition, "(They Long To Be) Close To You", which the duo would shortly record on their own.
It may be easy to claim The Carpenters as a corporately produced squeaky-clean duo. However, Karen Carpenter was actually an accomplished drummer, and she played on much of the duo's early work. The duo were also perfectionists, and would re-record songs with different lineups of musicians to get just the right sound.
While I wouldn't exactly call myself a Carpenter's fan, I can certainly acknowledge that Karen's vocal performance in "Close To You" is nothing short of perfect. The introductory lines sound as if she is singing live right next to you, or...close to you, if you will. Overall, she gives the song a very lush sound.
Any complaints? Well, I personally would have loved a version of this song with just piano and her voice, as I feel the remaining instruments and backing vocals add a bit too much of an adult-contemporary feel to the song. Maybe I'm just a sucker for stripped down piano pop, but either way, I feel this would have made the song even better. Still, these are but mere personal nitpicks.
"Close To You" would be the first in a long line of hits for The Carpenters. The duo had a total of fifteen #1 hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. They would score two more #1's on the standard pop charts as well. So naturally, we will pick up the story of The Carpenters when we get to 1973.
Final Verdict - "Close To You" manages to incorporate all of the good elements of soft-pop: A great vocal performance, a laid-back music track, and a lush and relaxing feel overall. I may not normally listen to this type of music, but I certainly agree with most critics that it is a classic of the genre.
Coming Up Next - "Make It With You" by Bread.
Until Next Time, I'm Dr. Rock and I've only just begun...to review 1970's #1 hits -
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