This is a long post. I have so many random thoughts, so I will try to be as concise as possible.

I have been a huge Carpenters fan since I was a teenager. I remember finding their self-titled album, Carpenters, in my aunt's record collection. I fell in love with Karen's voice immediately. I remember my brother commenting that the opening of "Superstar" sounded like it belonged as the theme song for a James Bond movie.

I have watched several documentaries about Carpenters over the years. I especially like the BBC's Only Yesterday: The Carpenter's Story. I also loved Randy Schmidt's biography of Karen. I saw where Schmidt was also a writer & producer for Starving for Perfection. I really enjoyed it!

- Review -

I enjoyed the interviews and was fascinated by the audio recordings of Karen. I loved how honest she was about being scared when she got really sick. She had so much grace, but I liked how the doc embraced her for her strengths & faults. She had this extremely beautiful talent but had so many insecurities. I relate to her childhood with an overbearing mother, a quiet father, & a brother who could "do no wrong".

I loved the insight from all the interviews & interviewees. I do wish that there had been a longer and more impactful in memoriam portion at the end for Olivia Newton-John (RIP). She was one of Karen's closest friends and they went through a lot together. I remember seeing an interview of Olivia & Karen from the early 80's and they were talking about going on a trip to Catalina Island with their respective partners (Matt Lattanzi & Thomas Burris). Olivia was also a guest at the wedding, so I suspect she probably knew a ton about the heartbreaking disaster that was Karen & Burris' brief marriage.

The interview with Cherry Boone O'Neill absolutely gutted me. It's been about a decade since I read Schmidt's book, so I didn't remember her story. I commend Cherry's strength in opening up about her struggles with anorexia nervosa.

I always adore any mention of Todd Haynes (in any context) and Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. I also had a silly grin when Carnie Wilson was talking about how her dad, the legendary Brian Wilson, is a huge Carpenters fan!

The sequence detailing her performance at the 1976 First Television Special had me completely transfixed! Her talent for drumming so often gets overlooked, so it was cool to see such gorgeous footage of her going all out. I would have loved to have seen her be able to produce more segments for television.

They did a good job at portraying how draining & intense their touring schedule was. I can't even imagine how difficult that must have been. I'm sure it was rewarding, but the entire band seemed to not be able to really enjoy their success in a significant way.

There was the feeling towards the end that always hits so hard - she had so much more yet to give. Her journey towards independence during her solo album & brief recovery has always fascinated me. The story of the rejection that came soon after from the record company & Richard felt so visceral and painful.

- Random thoughts -

I would have liked to have seen interviews with more friends of Karen's like Dionne Warwick and Petula Clark. Although I understand they are both very busy still - both women are still recording music. And Dionne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year! Both have also given insightful interviews in other docs available on YouTube.

I truly think that Karen could have reinvented her career in the 80's and beyond. Even if her first solo album had stayed shelved, I think she could have really explored a unique sound in another album. So many artists like Diana Ross, Bonnie Raitt, Chaka Khan, Cher, & Olivia Newton-John all had career resurgences & experimented with new sounds in the 80's.

I always thought she would have been wonderful on Broadway and/or the West End. And her voice was tailor-made for Disney soundtracks.

Richard continues to be a complete enigma to me. Although I do appreciate his dedication to her memory.

I think if she had felt comfortable opening up about her struggles publicly, she would have been embraced as a solo artist by not only her longtime fans, but by younger fans & the gay community. Maybe she would have become an ally to the LGBTQ community like her friend Olivia Newton-John.

To finish, I love recounting the story about Karen being stopped by John Lennon and him telling her something like, "Just want to tell you love, that I think you've got a fabulous voice!".

Edited to fix some spelling errors.

happened when this was carried up the stairs yesterday. I don’t know if I should just apply wood polish or to paint over it before polishing.

I was reading about how, around their commercial decline, this duo was perceived as uncool, "white bread," and were going out of style on the charts and radio.

Can someone help explain how this happened? I think they're awesome and Karen's voice is so soulful, emotive, and powerful.

Hey guys, i just wanted to share the new Burt Bacharach subreddit with you, Carpenters are the reason why i listen to Burt! The Duo covered song from him, like:

- (They Long To Be) Close To You

- I'll Never Fall In Love Again

- (obviously) Bacharach/David Medley

- Baby It's You

The 'Bacharach/David Medley' is the reason why i decided to listen to him for the first time. I'm sure you will enjoy Burt Bacharach's music if you enjoy Carpenters music and are a fan as much as me.

Feel free to join r/burtbacharach :D

Looking through all his stuff I came across the carpenters Japanese box sets unopened brand. New. Does anyone know what they can be worth or a place I can donate them or something? Any info would be great

While clearing out the attic my dad came across a sheet music for the carpenters for the song "They long to be close to you" signed by both Karen and Richard in 1973, and its in very good condition (been kept in a sleeve all this time). He is interested in selling it but we have no idea what its worth and how to go about doing that. Could anyone point me in the right direction?

Many Thanks

WHAT A SOLID ALBUM

I really like Karen's outfit in this album cover and I was wondering if anyone knows anything about her jeans/denim skirt (can't really tell). Does anyone know where to find similar looking jeans?

Literally all I can think of is Top of the World. I don't count ones like Only Yesterday, which even though it's hopeful, has a lot about 'the pain I was going through' and all that. Most others I can think of are sad or melancholic or whatever, even if they sound cheerful.

Was just listening to Top Of The World, and the lyrics ‘something in the wind has learned my name’ I was just thinking outside the context of the song lyrics, is actually really scary sounding. (But im also fried lol) anyone else?

Does anyone know what would cause nails to back out and should I be concerned?

I want a single word from some Carpenter's song, specifically something that Karen sings, something like 'message', to use as the sound for text messages on my phone. My ringtone is the 'calling occupants... calling occupants... calling occupants' bit near the end of Calling Occupants, and I thought it would be funny to find one for my text messages - just a single word, ideally. The only one that occurs to me is the word 'letter' from Please Mr Postman, which I'll probably use if I can't find something more specific, but yeah, I figured I'd ask it on this sub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnM2dfICjDQ

Hey guys. I’ve long been aware of the Carpenters (heard “Close to You” for the first time in The Simpsons movie, when I was about 5 or 6 years old) but I’m only now really getting into their stuff. After long having seen them as just some saccharine, bland-as-white-bread band, I’ve now started to appreciate them after my reevaluation of pop music in general over the last couple of years. Anyway, I listened to their debut for the first time and really liked it! There were many amazing tracks, but the one that really caught my ear was “Your Wonderful Parade”. It’s impressive just how many great hooks they manage to fit in a 3 minute song with a 40 second spoken-word intro. I’m particularly fond of that little “post-chorus” thing where Richard and Karen harmonize and end with “meet your wife at cocktail time”. So great! Anyway, I was wandering, is there any audio or footage of this song live? I found a video on YouTube which looks like it might be from a life performance, but has the studio track dubbed over. So yeah, please let me know! And if you have any other fun facts about this song I would love to hear them!