TRAINWRECKORDS: "Passage" by Carpenters
Vložit
- čas přidán 17. 08. 2021
- Calling occupants of interplanetary what? Faced with falling sales and a sinking profile, '70s soft rock superstars the Carpenters tried everything to revive their careers: jazz, country, showtunes, and... aliens. Seriously, aliens.
(The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/toddintheshadows0821)
I'll give this album this. Karen Carpenter singing about aliens is still better than Madonna rapping about soy lattes.
That's your bar
Good point
But Karen Carpenter can sing - aliens is just an unusual topic. Madonna should not be rapping about anything.
Who was the better Evita, tho
I'm drinking a soy lattay
I get a double shottay
"Imagine you're playing a video game. Then it starts a twenty minute cutscene. And it's the funeral monologue from Steel Magnolias."
*Hideo Kojima begins furiously scribbling in his notepad.*
Featuring motion-captured David Eggers crying profusely in a neon jumpsuit while lecturing the main character about biogenetic philosophy.
@@solarpunkcyborg4663 Kojima: Write that down! WRITE THAT DOWN!
The difference is that the cutscenes in Kojima games actually have relevance to what's going on; "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada" has dick to do with this album, much like Steel Magnolias funeral monologue would have dick to do with any video game ever... aside from maybe a Sims-esque life simulator.
Bahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Yes!!!
@@Jaceblue04 Really? Mr. "70% of my body is movies" wouldn't find a place for the Steel Magnolias funeral monologue in a 20-minute cutscene? I find that hard to believe, especially because Kojima is terminally long-winded.
With all the references to the Carpenters being "lame" and "whitebread," I feel like it's important to mention to those who don't know that they were both absolute MONSTER players. Karen is legitimately comparable to Jon Bonham on the drums, and Richard shreds the keys like you wouldn't believe. They could have made the most proggy of prog rock if they wanted to. Instead, they had an ear and a penchant for pretty pop tunes.
Karen was actually voted Best Rock Drummer ahead of Bonham in a 1975 poll
... and with John Bonham reacting to that like a douchebag
This reminds me of how Sarah McLachlan (yes, the lady in all those "save the pets" commercials) used to front an industrial rock band, and her otherwise soft voice was a surprisingly good contrast to really heavy music. It's always really neat to find out that artists you associate with one particular style actually have a lot of history and/or range in other genres. I think it's one of the reasons why artists will sometimes perform solo, or start up other bands, so they can be eclectic and escape any sort of "branding" they might have under their current persona.
Kinda makes me sad that both of them seem like would 100000% prefer to play some experimental jazz or whatever obscure genre was most "hip" at the time, but chose to stick with easy listening. I'm guessing it was for money reasons, which makes me even more sad as all it did for them is lead to Karen's misery and early death from anorexia, and Richard's drug addiction. And I can only imagine what his sisters death did to his future life, as someone with one sibling who's a woman as well; but I can imagine him regretting it for the rest of his life.
But I guess it took me reaching my 30s to realise that life is kinda short and chasing money no matter what, sacrificing your relationships with family snd friends,, will make you absolutely miserable and empty, with regrets every time you think about said friends and family spending these decades just enjoying life, spending time with eachother, starting their own families and so on, whilst you spent your whole life so far at work, and basically wasted years or decades of your life you can never get back, to have a nicer car or a more spacious apartment, that's about it.
@@drygnfyre I need to look into their music
11:28 Say what you will about the album but Karen’s hoodie drip was ahead her time and Todd owes a lot to her.
People at the time must have thought that was so lame but right now that's pretty good style!
Like... legit, I could see someone rocking that look TODAY and it'd look trendy and hip.
I was born in 1969, and almost everyone I knew thought hoodies were lame back in the 70s. But then, bell bottoms were in then, and I hated those whether they were fashionable or not.
But even with her hoodie onnnn she made you look
She kinda looks like Juno
"You put the drummer the charge, you get more drum solos"
The irony here being that Karen was actually a VERY talented/underrated drummer; she played the drums WAY more often in the earlier Carpenter days before being pushed aside to focus on her voice--and it should be noted, being able to play the drums and sing at the same time, and do it well, is a RARE skill.
"being able to play the drums and sing at the same time, and do it well, is a RARE skill."
Yeah. I can't even do either apart from each other.
My best friend is an incredible drummer and a powerful singer but she dare not even try to do both at the same time
Grant Hart abides
Shout out to Anderson .Paak!
I'm a pretty decent drummer, and I can tell you that playing drums and even talking at the same time is fucking hard, let alone singing.
"Karen Carpenter performing her Top 40 hit about talking to aliens on a Star-Wars inspired variety show special" is simultaneously the best and the worst game of 70s Mad Libs I've ever played.
The fact that it ISN'T is whats scary
And it’s a Klaatu cover!
@Perverted Alchemist And now, on with the countdown.
This makes more sense than what happened in the actual Star Wars Holiday Special.
Star Wars Holiday Special was all I could think about when seeing those clips.
hearing Karen sing “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” made me cry. something about Karen singing it with pure kindness and intrigue hit so hard and felt so genuine, especially due to how sweet and heartfelt Karen was in her music.
funny thing is that its a cover song from Klaatu a Canadian band
@@artexjay We know. Todd states it in the video. That doesn't detract or diminish what Karen brought to her version.
This guy gets it.
People like to goof on that song because the lyrics are pretty cringy with the alien voice and everything, but if you listen to the arrangement and orchestration, it's really some of Richard's best work.
This song makes me absolutely sob for reasons I cannot adequately explain and which I am probably entirely unprepared to unpack. It is an easy 10/10 for me.
I was not prepared to see Karen Carpenter look me right in the eyes, and solemnly sing "Calling occupants of interplanetary craft."
Now imagine if you were an occupant of interplanetary craft
one time my parents had a verbal argument about whether the carpenters were pop, rock or easy listening and it got so intense that i hid in my room
Are you the heir to twitter god damm.
sounds like the worst version of rock, paper, scissors ever
You confuse me. Your name references Pokémon Sun and Moon but your profile pic is Morgana from Persona 5. But you do you, hermano.
I've always considered them to be adult contemporary/easy listening
Boy I’d love to hear the argument for them being rock.
It's crazy Trainwreckords went from "i barely get requests for this series" to arguably his most beloved non pop song review series
I knew it was an awesome idea for a series as soon as I saw that Jewel album review. I love how Todd combines his music criticism with a mini documentary-like format with some humor thrown in. Always makes for an engaging watch.
I would not at all be upset if he stopped doing top 40 reviews. I stopped listening to top 40 radio when quarantine hit and I don't know if I honestly will again.
@@brendanb2982 I stopped listening like 5 years ago tbh
You forgot One Hit Wonderland sweetie,that too is v popular and well yeah,this is all p good through trainwreckords.
@@Karmy. There was a brief period in high school when I stopped and started listening to more classic/alternative rock and slowly transitioned into more indie rock. After that I just kinda phased out of my music hyperfixation and top 40 in particular dropped dead when quarantine hit.
Being a contralto myself, hearing people heap praise on Karen Carpenter for her voice lifts my spirits. It's nice to remember that not every great female vocalist is a pop diva singing twelve ledger lines above the staff.
As a bass, I feel your pain.
Our pickings are slim enough that "Wherever You Will Go" by the Calling is legitimately one of the few songs I can consistently find and pull off at karaoke.
Karen made it acceptable to sing in a contralto range. The popular singers before her were sopranos like Mary Hopkins. There’s before Karen and after Karen She opened doors for people like Anne Murray and even Stevie nicks and yes, even me
I learned to play guitar by ear because it’s easy to transpose the block chords into a lower key to accommodate my contralto range
Given that Karen Carpenter was rumoured to be able to sing a song presented to her in perfect pitch after receiving it, I'd say it's not about how high a person can sing. Sheer talent can come with any vocal range. Carpenter was one of my mom's favourite singers for that reason. But she often gets annoyed with singers now (Nelly Furtado and Rihanna) that try to sing outside of their range and strain their voices. With the former it's a lack of technique that bothers her: Furtado gets nasally and doesn't use her diaphragm to sing when she hits the high notes. For the latter it's a lack of enuciation issue. Technique is important.
When I used to do karaoke, I would sing Carpenter songs because she didn't have those high octaves and I could stay on key. Unfortunately I don't have her pitch or silky voice but I did okay.
The thing is....Karen Carpenter could sing the phone book and still melt your soul with her incredible voice. Even if the songs suck....she never did....EVER!
Ain’t that the truth
“Gosh darn those mean smarty-pantses anyway”
Whoa, easy Carpenters. Hate speech is never ok. Don’t fly off the handle.
Please censor this next time. Alot of people find those types of words very offensive
Think of the children that could read this, Carpenters, would you want your children to speak to you in that manner?
LANGUAGE!
Deliberately misquoting them to further your agenda, I see. They actually said "old" and not "mean". Quite different! 😎
Man, when the carpenters get savage they take no prisoners
This is probably the nicest Trainwreckords Todd has ever done... which seems fitting.
I'll be honest, even though I was never into the Carpenters I had a very big and very warm smile on my face during the ending; it was a really heartfelt way of concluding the video.
He was probably afraid that the Ghost Rider would hunt him down, if he dissed Karen!
@@thefoss5387 Speaking of, according to commentary on the movie they had to fight to get the rights to play a Carpenters song in it. Now you know.
@@wariodude128 Apparently, you have to go to Richard himself to get the rights to use the Carpenters music in anything and it took a heartfelt letter from Nicolas Cage himself to secure "Superstar."
He technically said the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” sucked :( that was mean
I'll say this, Todd sets up a nice afterlife situation. Karen Carpenter is hanging out with aliens watching over us, and The Scatman is out in Scatland wishing us all happiness.
I hope Olivia Newton John is with them now too at the intergalatic diner.
Yes. And thank you, Todd.
He IS Todd in the Shadows. Perhaps he is an unusual death god and the music thing is just a hobby?
Scatman John and Captain Jack have long since settled their differences, and are now in a firm alliance.
Wait scatland or SCATLAND?
I actually really like that "B'Wana She No Home" version they did. The total lack of guile or condescension in her tone helps I think. Karen sings the song like how a braindead, racist housewife would talk to a housekeeper about these things at the time: Convinced of her own innocence and the necessity of talking down to an immigrant she hired. I feel like that's as much of a "character" as the sleazy guy taking advantage of the same person in the original, two sides of the same awful coin.
Great point.
As he said, "really putting the Karen in Karen Carpenter".
It's possible that that's what they were going for, but...ask someone to describe the music of The Carpenters and "ironic" would be close to the last adjective anyone would pick, probably only beaten out by "edgy". Karen Carpenter was just not the sort of performer who could convey that sort of sarcasm without making the sarcasm so obvious that it ruined the joke.
i agree people who hire cheap foreign labor are awful.
@@51Dutchman I mean, you're completely right, but it's not a character I'd really want to hear from.
I was not expecting The Carpenters to sing about aliens, but Karen's sincere and calm voice really sells it more than one would think. It's pretty impressive.
Honestly that song is pretty underrated, it's endearing
Jimi Hendrix had a song about aliens that was pretty sick.
“ And up in the clouds I can imagine UFOs jumpin' themselves
Laugh as they say
Those people so uptight, they sure know how to make a mess”
@@sonikmuff yeah, it's just a wild choice, and a solid mid Sunday morning song when Karen sings it.
A total bop, I don't care what anyone says!
Karen actually sounds like a 5000 year old alien woman welcoming us into the Galactic community & I'm here for it.
@@RestingJudge yeaaaaah, totally.
Unfortunately, the occupants of that interplanetary craft are Oasis still playing "All Around the World" and drunkenly calling each other tossers.
A version of All Around The World that was just the band plowing away while Liam and Noel hurled guitars and profanity at each other for the whole duration would still be better than the agonizing behemoth that was actually on Be Here Now.
@@noesunyoutuber7680 Actually screw the rest of the band, just the brothers Gallagher bickering for 11 minutes would be much more listenable.
LOL, I’m rolling 😂
@@hiimemily I mean you can listen to that. A 6 min clip of the 2 arguing during an interview leaked in the mid 90s and charted in the UK. Fucking legends!
@@hiimemily that charted, remember?
todd: "calling occupants rules actually"
me: "no way not possible this sounds awful on paper"
me: *listens*
me: "calling occupants rules actually"
no way not possible this sounds awful on paper
edit: calling occupants rules actually
... This song actually slaps, in that '70's ballad" kinda way.
Went into this having only heard that song, which rules, and was not prepared to believe the rest of the album could be a trainwreckord...
yes it does.
I grew up on this song so I never batted an eye until Todd said I should. But I’m glad he around on my favorite Carpenters’ song or else we’d have to start fighting.
28:20 Jesus. You can see how horrifyingly thin Karen was when you look at her arms. Her death might be the saddest in music history. She didn't kill herself or destroy her body with drugs. She wasted away and she didn't get the help she needed because anorexia wasn't well known back then.
From what I heard (I don't exactly remember as it was a long time since I looked into it) she was abused by her husband and her mother refused to help. She didn't get the help she so desperately needed or support from her mother. Poor girl. No matter what happened, she deserved better. You can tell she was the epitome of a gentle soul 💔
For me it was the green dress at 29:00. That belt around her waist is cinched at least 5 inches tighter than her hips. And this was like 5 years before her death. She must have been struggling for so long..
I was thinking the same too. Poor Karen.
@@SoftTangerineDreams I've sadly heard that her Mom was narcisstistic, treated Richard as the favorite, and her family basically smothered her instead of helping her. Her death was 💯 preventable.
@@SoftTangerineDreams that is really sad. You hear her story and just want to help her and comfort her. There’s such a tragedy to her story that watching these clips takes on a whole new perspective. She deserved so much better:
"Tonight, I'll pull out this album, and I'm gonna look at the stars, imagine that somewhere, someway, Karen Carpenter is in a giant flying saucer, also enjoying this ridiculous but somewhat wonderful piece of music she made."
That's beautiful, Todd.
He might be a pessimistic defeatist most of the time, but when he's cool, Todd's very cool.
This was very beautiful, indeed.
@@josephschultz3301 well put
@@herrikudo Thanks, yo. Look, I love Todd when he's dunking on bad music. It's his bread and butter. But when he actually gets to enjoy something... it's just super cool.
Yes; beautiful.
tbh, I buy karen carpenter singing a song reaching out to aliens. god knows we need a gentle, reassuring voice to tell extraterrestrials that humans aren't as insane of a bunch of people as they often are
The aliens are gonna be disappointed when they find out about Karen Carpenter.
@@stephaniewozny3852 Is that going to be our Star Trek IV moment? Instead of showing the alien probe whales, we need to show them a living Karen Carpenter?
@@roguishpaladin That is easily the 2nd wierdest thing I've found myself surprised by the fact that I understand what it meant all day. The wierdest is that copypasta about Vaporeon...
I volunteer for the mission!
I guarantee that any aliens capable of interstellar travel are probably gonna be just as fucked up as we can be.
I mean, if they treated their planet well, then what are they here for?
This was weirdly wholesome and I loved it. You also low-key traumatized my husband who did not know that Karen Carpenter was dead.
How long was his coma?
Spoilers
How. . . how on earth did he not know she was dead? Hell, I remember jokes about her death back in 1983 when I was in junior high school. (Why did Karen Carpenter's house sell so cheaply? Because it didn't have a kitchen.)
@@mournblade1066 I'm going to hell for how hard I laughed at that joke just now.
@@mournblade1066 isn't that actually like. a true fact ??
A summation of how truly weird this album is:
The Carpenters album featuring aliens and Che Guevara landed them their first Top 10 hit on the Country charts.
I'm sorry THAT Che Guevara?
@@donovanlocust1106 YUP. The musical Evita has this omniscient narrator named Che who, while never explicitly stated to be Che Guevara, is often portrayed that way in productions of the musical
To be fair “che” is Argentine slang for “guy” so it’s far more likely that the narrator is just meant to be some dude than the Argentine revolutionary who probably wasn’t even in the country that long for Peron’s rule
@@WeDwellinaFiefdom It isn't general Spanish? I mean when people say Che they think of Guevara
@@donovanlocust1106 well Che was from Argentina..the setting of the musical..so..
“Really put the Karen in Karen Carpenter” is a Top 10 all-time Todd moment.
Classic "boom-tsss!!!" moment
8:57
I'm considering putting together a compilation of my favorite jokes from each Trainwreckords episode, and I think that might be the joke for this episode.
@@tuesdaynext7370 For what it's worth, I support this wholeheartedly if you do.
Topkek
Todd about 'Calling Occupants': "This is such nerd sh*t."
Also Todd: "Every time I hear it, I love it more."
Todd is a self proclaimed nerd 🤓
This has been my favorite Carpenters song for ages, I was absolutely thrilled to see Todd cover it, it's so ridiculous and so perfect.
I absolutely cackled at that, because I'd never heard of that song, but I was immediately into the concept and I'm, yes, a weird nerd. I especially have a soft spot for that overlap between new age hippie-dom and sci-fi/fantasy that the 70s was just saturated with.
@@yltraviole Curious if you are familiar with Yes? They're right at the intersection of 70s Sci Fi and hippie spiritualism. Check out their track Starship Trooper! The title might be familiar, but I assure you, the only thing it has in common with the book is the title itself.
@@Aquatarkus96 I've heard of them when I did a little delve into prog rock, but never listened to them specifically. I'll check out that song!
Some people still don’t understand how really good they were. Their recordings were pristine. Crystal clear in a time when there were no vocal correctors
This video shows, with software, how dead-on Karen's notes were in the era before autotune: czcams.com/video/HWB96ZLWUUw/video.html
I want to see Calling Occupants as the intro of a heartwarming sci-fi movie about first contact. Karen Carpenter's performance is exactly the human voice that should be broadcast to extraterrestrials to reach out, echoing through the galaxies. Genuinely a great combination of song and artist I never would have heard of without this episode.
Like what the Valerian movie did with David Bowie?
"Imagine you're playing a video game, and it stopped for a 20 minute cutscene that's just the funeral monologue from Steel Magnolias"
Don't give Kojima ideas.
* *Flashback to Kingdom Hearts III stopping dead in its tracks to do a perfect in-engine recreation of "Let It Go" which wouldn't necessarily be out of place if they had ever once done it before with any other Disney song in any of the seven or eight other games released at that point in the series, not counting the one explicitly song-based-minigame level in KHII because that was gameplay and you knew what it was going into it* *
kojima has already done those :)
It's the first Death Banding game.
@@joshfennell2257 The first Band-type game.
X to grieve
The fact that The Carpenters covered a song by Klaatu is pretty out there but kicking the album off with a threat to deport one of Karen Carpenter's cleaners came even more out of left field
"It's the only Carpenters album that feats Che Guevara."
That's... one more than I would have expected.
As a theatre nerd, my defense of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is thus: in context, it's meant as a political speech, delivered by someone we know to be a manipulator. It's high on emotion, low on content, and isn't meant to make a whole lot of sense, just to be pretty and vaguely inspiring-sounding.
Eh, seems like a legit interpretation, I'm going with that.
It is kinda funny since up until now I didn't know it was a Broadway song. I thought it was a manipulate love song to a girl named Argentina (an uncommon but not unheard name in my country).
Wait, so are you saying that lots of people are egregiously missing the point?
...not surprising, if yes.
Exactly, K B. The next two lines of the musical, the exchange between Evita and the politician on the balcony, are what put the song into context: zero sincerity, total manipulation.
Totally agree. In fact to be expanded to the entire musical, it's meant to be satirical (I think). The character of Che in the musical constantly offers context to what's happening in Evita. Don't Cry... is the big solo but not meant to be taken on face value.
My 56-year-old punk-loving metalhead dad fucking LOVES “Calling Occupants”. He thinks it’s one of the best fuckin songs ever.
I still love this track. It’s a brilliant record and so of it’s time. I was a little kid at the time and it left a lasting impression. Your dad has great taste. 👍🏼
Am I the only one reminded of komm susser todd by this song?
Isn’t Calling Occupants a cover of Klaatu or whatever their name was?
"Hey babe, what you like to hear again?"
"DYEWITNESS."
Your father is correct.
"Gosh darn them smarty pansies anyways"
Omg Richard carpenter would never say that I'm shaking and crying rn
Other commenters have mentioned this, but Karen herself tried to revitalize their image with a self-titled solo album in 1979 while Richard was in rehab for his Quaalude addiction. Phil Ramone produced it and Billy Joel's band backs her up. Karen sings a duet with Peter Cetera, does disco (which she loved but Richard hated), and tried to break out of the "white-bread" image with more "adult" songs. Maybe she would've gotten flak for titles like "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" and "Makin' Love in the Afternoon," but there are some songs there that I honestly think would've been hits ("If I Had You," "If We Try") that would've felt at home in 1980 when it was supposed to be released. She said recording that album was the happiest time in her life. Unfortunately, Richard and A&M Records had a negative reaction to it, it was shelved, and she was devastated. (A&M decided "The Ethel Merman Disco Album" was worthy of release that year, so... logic). She had spent $400,000 of her own money getting it produced, and also now owed A&M the money they put up for it too, to be charged against the Carpenters' future royalties, so she was kinda trapped in "white bread" for the rest of her short life.
That is so heartbreaking. She was only in her late 20’s at the time too.
This is so interesting and sad- HOLD ON, THE ETHEL MERMAN DISCO ALBUM????
@@sonofaspyder3000 Yes, "The Ethel Merman Disco Album" sounds exactly how you think it would sound.
And somehow was deemed more worthy of release than Karen Carpenter's by A&M.
"Let's GOWWWW on with the SHOAWWWW!!!" **unst unst unst**
@@arfies I went and listened to it after I saw this lol. I had to know. It was massively entertaining, albeit not in the way music is supposed to be, but it’s pretty obvious it didn’t need to be made. Especially over Karen’s album. Poor lady.
Apparently Michael Jackson’s off the wall and rock with you were written for Karen’s solo. She didn’t end up using them for the final product though
Calling Karen Carpenter’s voice “otherworldly” surprised me, because I always heard her as a very human, very grounded singer. She expressed emotion with such direct honesty, and yet with such understatement. Her singing gave voice to the feelings we are taught to hide-sadness, lonliness, yearning. Most of us build up a wall of defense against these emotions, for fear of seeming weak. We put on false personas, false attitudes. Karen broke through that. Cool people always have a bit of “you can’t fuck with me” attitude, which explains why the cool kids of her era rejected her. She had none of that.
I think he means "otherworldly" as in so pure and "heavenly".
@@SWLinPHX But unfortunately not versatile for blues, jazz, gritty country, or show tunes.
@@Wired4Life2 I can see her doing show tunes quite easily. The others I agree.
@@Wired4Life2Right but it’s GREAT for pop and soft rock. That was her strongest suit IMHO.
In 1976 Karen wanted to make a duets album with a friend of hers, another person who also had a gorgeous, almost "otherworldly" voice..... lets say her friend died even before Karen did, and Richard didn't like the idea anyway, and Trevor (oops, have I given it away!) didn't like the idea either..... but just imagine the California Girl (Karen) and the ultimate London Scot (her friend) harmonising with those heavenly voices!😉
Karen Carpenter could sing the ingredients off of the back of a packet of cake mix and I'd listen to it. Such an amazing voice
That's harsh considering her health issues...But point taken.
RIP Karen Carpenter. The most underrated drummer in history.
The Meg White of the 1970s
@@nathanwhite64 Holy shit that is spot-on
@Luis Collado #tosoon
@Luis Collado Dude, come on.
@Luis Collado Lmaoo
What I hate about this channel is that I'll be bored and say "I don't give a crap about (insert band here), but I got nothing better to put on in the background"... then 30 minutes later I've been absolutely fascinated by the story and only got half as much work done as intended. Quit being so damn good at your job, Todd.
This video actually made me want to check out some more carpenters songs. Possibly the most positive trainwrecords ever.
If you like the prog rock aspect, I highly recommend their early albums "Ticket to Ride" (groovy covers of "Get Together," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing") and "Close to You" (prog rock-esque "Another Song" is Handel followed by a pleading vocal by Karen and a drums/keyboard battle between Karen and Richard, plus jazz flute) and "Mr. Guder." Groovy covers of "Help" and more.
After watching this video I listened to the "Offering" album and that album fucking rules...
@@TheStarclipse It does, doesn't it? "Offering/Ticket to Ride" is my favorite Carpenters album. I dig that groovy '60s sound.
I wish I knew the first two songs of theirs he showed in the video
@@xibalbalon8668
First one is We’ve Only Just Begun (specifically this performance on the Ed Sullivan Show): czcams.com/video/9hJCr9cq5co/video.html
There’s a snippet of Sing (czcams.com/video/1kvc_dWs1f4/video.html) but the visuals of the Carpenters at Disneyland are from the Please Mr. Postman music video: czcams.com/video/dcLbS0yxzdk/video.html
Second real song is Close To You: czcams.com/video/-XYBj0J99i8/video.html
And just for kicks the one right after that is Rainy Days and Mondays: czcams.com/video/PjFoQxjgbrs/video.html
The world did not deserve Karen Carpenter and Karen Carpenter deserved so much better from the world. This has been a consistent fact of my entire life.
@Stellvia Hoenheim not always. Look at Brian Wilson
I agree wholeheartedly.
Indeed!
I think you can see the effects of Anorexia in this vid.
Lol calm down dude
TRAINWRECKORDS has become my new favorite Todd in the Shadows series. That _Paula_ video will always be a gem.
It’s amazing how much Todd’s evolved in the last decade.
That was my first todd video. Aghh the memories....
Fr it’s crazy how binge-able these series are
Paula is probably one of Todd’s best videos, if not his best
well the parts of one hit wonderland i always found intresting was the failed fallow up section. so haveing a whole series that is just that is fun.
I’ve probably watched each episode of this series at least 5 times. Probably like 10 times for the older vids like the Styx and MC Hammer ones. They’re just so entertaining. Definitely one of the best series on CZcams.
I was introduced to the Carpenters when I got a summer job at my local oldies radio station. We played a lot of what I called "second tier" oldies, which is to say, old songs that were cheaper to license than a lot of the really popular stuff. They weren't bad by any means, they just didn't have quite the cultural staying power as some of their more illustrious peers. I got introduced to a lot of artists I might never otherwise have heard; folks like Jim Croce, Mama Cass, and of course, the Carpenters. I didn't know anything about them, just that Karen Carpenter's voice was as warm and conforting as a thick blanket, as rich and uplifting as hot chocolate on a winter's day. I was always happy when they showed up on the list; over the course of that summer, she became my favorite singer.
When I learned her story, for a while, it almost ruined it for me. I couldn't listen to her music without feeling sad. And then, one day, I just thought to myself "she wouldn't want that." I didn't have any real evidence for it. It was just a feeling, just something that came to me one day, out of the clear blue sky. Maybe it was just me, trying to rationalize my way into once again enjoying something I used to love.
Or maybe, just maybe, Karen Carpenter was calling out to me from somewhere beyond the stars. Who can really say?
Cass was a powerhouse
After the glory that is the Carpenters' version of Calling Occupants, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do *more* prog rock after this. Imagine Your Move by Yes with Karen's voice and Carpenters orchestration
screw that. Cadence and Cascade sung by Karen Carpenter. I'd sell my soul for that. nah just kidding, Your Move sung by her would also be mind blowing
This made me realize that “Close To The Edge: III. I Get Up I Get Down” might be the absolute most mathematically-perfect song for the Carpenters to perform and now I’m actively mad about how many universes away we are from one where a recording of that stood any chance of existing
Karen Carpenter + Jon Anderson singing Close to The Edge and/or Awaken is something I never thought I wanted to hear until now.
why must you tease me with something I can never have?
@@sunsetman22 That, but also, give me Karen Carpenter singing "Prince Rupert Awakes" from King Crimson's Lizard album. Show me the alternate world where Robert Fripp molded her into a 70s prog icon.
As an Irish person finding out that "Calling Occupants" was a number one hit here does not surprise me.
Todd, I say this with no irony: you seem like you’re in a much better place, when you talk about things you enjoy.
I love when Todd likes things! Listen to his Song vs. Song podcast - that’s a lot of him praising songs!
No shit.
RIP, Karen Carpenter. We will keep calling, and when World Contact Day happens, your voice will ring true and strong across all the worlds.
I’m Mexican and Karen singing about sending a Spanish woman back home. That shit had me balling 😂
sending an Ecuadorian woman back home.
It was so random, I have heard some of the carpenters earlier stuff and actually liked it, so to hear that just caught me off guard.
Karen Carpenter is one of my favorite drummers of all time. She's a force of nature. I've never seen any other drummer as comfortable as she was behind the kit, and as in love with the act of drumming. And that love shines through her playing, which is nothing but musical.
And then she was usually singing on top of that too
Speaking of Drums: czcams.com/video/kjhsU31XNog/video.html
@@nobodynothing6551 Her entire body makes music in one go.
She's a good drummer but she didn't play on most of the records. She doesn't drum on any of the tracks from this album for example. A lot of the drumming on Carpenters records is Hal Blaine, who was undoubtedly one of the best drummers of all time.
@@BiggieTrismegistus she was disappointed she couldn't drum on the records and felt a little slighted, but she wasn't a studio drummer. She's a live drummer, an ensemble drummer. Her live stuff is excellent.
Todd listing off the Skillshare classes looks like an Eric Andre edit
Felt like a tribune to the Struthers/ICS ads...'you can also get your degree in accounting!'.
@@MrSchimpf "Devry: We're Serious About Success "
@@MrSchimpf Yes, I was waiting for "TV/VCR repair" to come up.
I'm not even sure if he was trying to sound sarcastic or not
czcams.com/video/Rt-nPHgKNjs/video.html
We all know the correct prompt for a funeral scene in a video game is "Press F to pay respects."
As I’ve said elsewhere, Karen and Richard were ambitious as fuck on this album, and man, it absolutely works in places.
Not to mention, if you’re an alien and Karen Carpenter is the first voice you hear, aren’t you checking out that planet?
It's funny, this is the only Trainwreckords album that Todd actually spoke more positive than negative stuff. I always thought of the Carpenters as critical darlings, it was actually shocking to hear that critics didn't like them.
@Perverted Alchemist I guess because I hear them as "old school music"+Karen being a sweetheart it was odd to me. It's like finding out critics didn't like The Beatles or Creedence Clearwater Revival. I guess once you view music as "old but gold" it becomes untouchable to you.
@@thatlemonadeguy6742 i think you're right, they are "old school music" which works when you're listening to it in retrospect, but I think it probably still sounded like "old school music" at the time it was coming out too.
Bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and almost the entirety of prog rock were not seen positively by most critics
@@ghostofabulletproducciones5748 It was a little different for them though - early metal and prog rock were seen as overwrought, stuffy nerd bullshit by critics, who were largely caught up in an ideology of "three chords and the truth." It's why punk rock was so critically adored, it was the response to prog rock being overwrought stuffy nerd bullshit.
The Carpenters were seen as lame because, let's face it, they're pretty lame. That doesn't mean they're not good! Things can be both lame and good!
I first heard the Carpenters as a child. At that age, Karen sounds like an angel, or a Disney princess, and you don't care about being cool.
So normally I don't care for ad reads, but dressing it up like one of those old tv ads for compilation albums kicked me in the nostalgia.
"and many more"
All it was missing was "TV/VCR Repair"
"Just for four easy payments of 49.99"
Also serves as another stealth MST3K reference
Honestly, this album didn't suck. Calling Occupants still gets heavy airplay on oldies stations today.
really? I haven't heard it since the 70's, where do you hear it?
@@gregoireb3032 oldies stations in Canada, and not the Klatu version.
@@GetBenched2010 that makes sense. CanCon because the song was written by Canadians. I grew up listening to CKLW and get it!
It's still played all the time in Australia. I had no idea the Carpenters werent huge for their whole career based on being a 90s kid whose parents loved the shit outta oldies stations.
@@carly7522 The Carpenters were very successful in Australia - all of their albums charted in Australia. Calling Occupants charted at no 13 in Australia and stayed in the top 100 for seven months. Their posthumous collection "Gold: 35th Anniversary" in 2004 charted #4 in the UK and #1 for Itunes in large sections of the Middle East, as well as top 100 in Australia.
As far as the critics, some of the greatest bands of the seventies were hated by them especially the critics of Rolling Stone. Queen was particularly dragged, pretty much until after Freddy’s death.
To me, the Carpenters (and especially Karen) were brilliant. They were never out of touch with the trends because they never followed them to begin with. That’s what made them so unique. From my understanding, Passages was always intended to be their interpretations of other people’s songs. It was a cool concept album, love it or hate it.
I love pretty much everything Karen did, but the “family” (Richard and mother Agnes) treated her like just another one of Richard’s instruments. And she suffered under the weight of his arrangements imo. She deserved better.
_Rolling Stone_ called Queen a fascist band on account of "We Will Rock You", they had a serious hateboner for them. I don't think RS had that much vitriol for KISS, for God's sake.
@@christopherwall2121 Rolling Stone in the 70s generally fucking despised progressive rock, stadium rock, early heavy metal and blues-based hard rock. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush, Queen, Wings (Paul McCartney's band after the Beatles), and AC/DC among others were all basically derided during the 70s. And all those bands except for maybe Wings are now seen as iconic and influential with classic albums.
I think KISS got a bit of a pass because they never advertised themselves as a serious rock group. They've always been a dumb but really fun party rock band. Rolling Stone generally hates any music that could be seen as pretentious. That's why they LOVED punk rock because it was rebelling against prog rock and arena rock.
@@rockingbirdey They hated KISS too, for being sellouts, and shameless about it.
treated like just another of her brothers instruments has got to be the saddest thing I've read today
@@AgentPedestrian I agree
Karen really seemed to have that genuine kindness about her, that warmth that you could feel through her voice.... She reminds me of Fred Rogers that way.
I was alive when this came out, and I was a huge Carpenters fan (still am). I think Todd didn't emphasize the control that Richard had over Karen (and the group as a whole). Karen would attempt to branch out on her own (with Phil Ramone in a very good solo album), but Richard was instrumental (no pun intended) in killing it's release. The Carpenters may have been over with the public, but Karen would've been a giant star on her own. Overall, I loved this accurate review. Good job, Todd!
I totally agree!
Plus, they weren't allowed to change their wholesome image...they wouldn't let her grow up or try sexier songs.
@@suzannelan What does that have to do with Richards control?
I really liked her solo album it’s a shame she didn’t get to see it released if she had more control of her life she probably would be alive right now
@@ediesongbird3163 can it be heard somewhere?
The best lines from this video:
'Really putting the Karen into Karen Carpenter, huh?'
and
'This is a song about aliens, and the aliens are a metaphor for aliens'.
I honestly never knew the Carpenters reputation was so "uncool" and not highly regarded back then. With how highly they are spoken of these days, I thought they would've been so loved at the time. It's sad.
The 1970s were all about being “cool” especially in rock and roll and if you weren’t, like the Carpenters, then you’d get dissed. But even now I think a lot of musicians who were considered cool were big fans of them. Michael Jackson and Madonna were both said to be influenced by her vocal style and of course we know Sonic Youth were stans. John Lennon even once told Karen she had the greatest voice he ever heard.
I would kill for a version of “Calling Occupants” by some Lovecraft-themed noisecore metal band.
Today Is The Day cover of the Carpenters when
Wait a minute I listened to TITD today earlier. Weird.
Look up the album "If I Were a Carpenter". You're welcome.
On a similar note, now I want to hear a metal version of Starship Trooper.
Babes In Toyland do it on "If I Were A Carpenter."
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the music video for “Calling Occupants” gives me the same vibes as Carrie fisher singing in the Star Wars holiday special
I KNOW!!! though I atleast feel hopeful and nice hearing Karen instead of awkardness and shame from a coked up Carrie
"Calling Occupants" is just a goddam masterpiece. It should not have worked, yet it worked, bigly.
on paper it sounds like the most out-of-left-field and wtf idea for a cover, especially by The Carpenters. but it's genius
It’s always ironic how the masses think they understand culture better than the artists who create it. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath publicly stated that he listened to The Carpenters and Frank Sinatra in his free time (when not writing and recording counterculture revolutionary protest music).
Love the channel. Thanks!
🤟
The people making music are usually more open minded than their fans. Rick Wakeman of Yes *almost* joined Sabbath, him and Sabbath were all buddy buddy when Yes and Sabbath traveled together. Management I think axed the idea saying (and I'm paraphrasing here) the fans would throw a fit if the flamboyant keyboard player from a (not at all to use this as a put down, just observational) more feminine coded, gentle group like Yes joined the masculine coded rough and gruff Sabbath. (Again, not to use those descriptions as any denigrating phrases, Yes is one of my all time favorite bands and I have a huge amount of respect for Sabbath)
When he went: " The Carpenters go..." I, in my head completed it with: "Punk Rock?" just because I imagined the most un-Carpenters genre there is to be the next thing they would've tried out on this.
I thought he was gonna say disco since damn near everyone did disco in that era. haha
The Carpenters go synthpop
Mr. Skerpintine, that's just The Human League
The Carpenters go....GRIIIIME!!!
*cue Karen's phony Yardie accent*
The Carpenters go Grindcore.
The Carpenters aren't really my cup of tea. I'm not really into that style of music But... there's no denying the power and allure of Karen's voice. It's just so pure and smooth, absolutely beautiful. It's like honey for your ears.
Look at 14:19. You can already see just how horribly skinny she had become. It looks like skin stretched over a skull with nothing underneath. Very sad.
Karen was the definition of a _transcendent talent_
Even at her worst she could sing a diner menu and it would _still somehow_ be better to hear than 99% of singers singing the best song ever written with all their soul.
@@AlcoholicBoredom That is depressing. I heard she suffered from anorexia but I'm not sure how true that is. It would explain a lot.
@@BlakeGeometrio Unfortunately, she died from anorexia. A great loss.
Fun fact: The guitarist on All You Get From Love Is A Love Song was Ray Parker Jr, singer and songwriter of the Ghostbusters theme.
Huey Lewis has bad news.
@@buckodonnghaile4309 And the Bar-Kays would like to have a word too... :v
cool fact
Bottom line for me about the Carpenters, Karen could sing the phone book and it would still sound angelic. There hasn't been any female singers that have even come close to her tallent in the last 40 years.
She is painfully missed.
The Carpenters' cover of "Calling Occupants..." is the most '70s thing ever.
And I own a vinyl copy of this album for that song alone lol. Everything else is pretty meh, but Todd's on-point with Calling Occupants. That track kicks ass.
The TV special was a fucking mind fuck though 😂
@@girlscanbedrummers5449 I've never seen it, so I can only imagine. Is it Star Wars Holiday Special levels of wtf?
I remember watching that special as a kid and I loved Calling Occupants. I still love it
Next to that one Disco song Jerry Reed did
Man, the Golden Age Simpsons writers knew everything about everything.
I wouldn't be surprised if Richard Carpenter personally thanked Matt Groening for his use of "Close To You" in the Simpsons.
"Calling Occupants" is such a fucking massive tune. Every time I hear it I want to go outside and scream my unending love and project my thoughtforms into the sky.
"It's hard to _not respect_ the ambition and I'd love to tell you that it's an overlooked gem, but ultimately it just does not really work. But you know what? Tonight I'm gonna pull out this album. And I'll look at the stars. And I'll imagine that somewhere... someway... Karen Carpenter is up there, in a giant flying saucer, also enjoying this ridiculous but somewhat wonderful piece of music she made."
Todd, that's just a wonderful way to sign-out at the end of the video. Yeah, the album's weird and disjointed... but it's not bad either. I myself am glad that the album exists, purely because of The Carpenters' cover of "Calling Occupants", which is _very easily_ the best version of the song.
My God, the album is all over the fucking place, but that one song just absolutely saves it for me. I'm glad that it exists. I'm drinking today, I've got my Captain Morgan's and cream soda right here... so, you know what? I'm also gonna dust off this album and give it a spin. Because, for all of the flaws, it also shows just what this silly little sibling act could really do. They were talented, even if the music media was in the middle of really hating them.
Tonight's a Carpenters night. And that's okay, yo.
Everything about this gives me such a Star Wars: Holiday Special vibe.
except passage is more enjoyable
I was thinking of the Star Wars parody segment on "Donny & Marie", which was one of the things that inspired the Star Wars Holiday Special. Musical comedy-variety shows were big on TV in the 70s, sort of the last gasp of vaudeville, and combine that with the post-Star Wars fascination with science fiction and you get something very very special. As in, *profoundly odd*.
@@MattMcIrvin Isn't it curious how we basically overcame the cheesiness of those types of shows by combining it with talent shows and even reality shows?
@@Wired4Life2 The "American Idol"-type talent competition shows are definitely the 21st-century counterpart.
1970s game shows had a similar spangly gala aesthetic. The talent competitions just combine them. Of course there was some of this going on way back--"Star Search", even "The Gong Show" was a contemptuous jokey version.
@@MattMcIrvin That's because the networks were run by old men and watched mainly by a generation that fondly remembered vaudeville, so variety shows were still in vouge so to speak. That would begin to be phased out with the dawn of the 1980's when Boomers and early Gen X would crave something more edgy and era defining for their entertainment leading to the 1990's which gave us NYPD Blue, ER, Friends, Martin, Seinfeld and the MTV reality based and animated shows, and older traditional programing like the variety went the way of the dodo as the preceding generations turned off their televisions and die off.
An episode of Trainrecords we need is Katy Perry’s Witness. I have never *witnessed* a greater disaster.
this is the only album in my lifetime i can remember being a genuine bomb that i could tell was ending a career as it was happening.
I think I might need that episode just cause I'm so detacted from the world I don't know if Katy perry is or isn't a thing anymore
I know nothing of this disaster and wish to know more.
i feel like this and Justin Timberlake's Man of the Woods are the most screamingly obvious modern-era cases, particularly since he already did Paula. People used to constantly suggest Reputation, until she had a bunch more hits after that lol
@@joshthefunkdoc and with folklore and evermore, Taylor is now at a point where a poor album, artistically and/or commercially, wouldn’t mean anything now
Karen Carpenter singing about aliens with her most emotional ballad voice is the most charming thing I've ever seen and I'm so glad she got to do that before her end.
Karen could sing about absolutely ANYTHING and make it sound fucking gorgeous as hell.
As someone who was named after the Captain and Tennille, "Upbeat The Carpenters" and "I don't need that" sums them up pretty well.
You deserve so much better, guy. My own deadname comes from one of the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, and... I guess I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet?
holy crap its tennille flowers
You were named The Captain
I sincerely hope the motivation behind that was "Love Will Keep Us Together" and not "Muskrat Love." (No offense, just making a stupid joke.)
When I first heard the Carpenters' track, I thought it sounded an awful lot like Captain and Tennille, so it's definitely not wrong.
I… wasn’t expecting to feel as many feelings as I did listening to Karen sing that calling occupants song. Like damn. Also, props to Todd for introducing me to bands that I probably wouldn’t have listened to otherwise. Seriously, I gotta do a deep dive on the carpenters now.
You've only just begun : D
Calling Occupants is a great song
As someone who mostly listens to heavier music, even I can attest that the Carpenters rock! Two seriously talented music and with a really interesting back catalogue.
Karen Carpenter will only break your heart.
Be sure to include a listen to the cover album If I Were a carpenter. The covers of Top of the World and Superstar are some of my favorites.
Calling Occupants makes me wish they'd gone full Jeff Lynne on this record. Karen's voice complimented by orchestra pop would've been something else.
Yes! I could see that working.
I grew up in a Carpenters household, and heard calling occupants more times than I can count... And it always stands out. It's always a shock
I feel like Todd would have a field day with Christina Aguilera’s Bionic tbh
I love Bionic... the song. I hate the rest of the album.
With gems such as, "V is for Vanity, every time I look at me, I turn myself on".
Along with the failed remakes of The Bionic Woman and Bionic Commando, I wouldn't be surprised.
I like v for vanity!...thank you mom and daddy! lol yeah I may or may not have a Christina shrine in my room but even I agree that album sucked
@@_Dark222Angel_ Well I clearly have the album to know of that deep cut;p I liked Vanity, Desnudate, Birds of Prey and Not myself. WooHoo was great and should have been a single, imagine the video! I think it's one of Minaj's strongest featured rap verses and works really well.
This is actually quite hard to watch. I've never listened to the Carpenters, but I know how Karen died, and seeing these late-career clips where her health is obviously failing is just unsettling.
The few photos of her in the time before her death are really upsetting. She was only 32 but looks like she could’ve been in her 60’s with how deteriorated her body was.
@@Minam0 😢
Theres a great movie about them that follows the true story pretty close. I'm sure u can find it on CZcams. A heartbreaking story. I watch the movie years ago as a young girl and really felt Karen's story. I never messed around with my eating habits. I think its a movie that should be shown to all young girls.
This is the first Trainwreckords I watched where I actually knew quite a bit going in. Karen was such a hypnotic singer, even listening to “B’wana She No Home” still put me in a bit of trance despite its lyrics. My dad is a big fan of The Carpenters, so I grew up listening to their music.
Honestly, I like everything about their version but the lyrics. Make it about something else and Karen would have sold it to me, her vocals are just so soothing.
I wish Todd was a music history professor at a college because I would happily pay exorbitant university prices to be taught music history of this caliber.
Every Boomer I know will not shut up about how good Karen Carpenter's voice is. They're not wrong though.
Exactly, because they're correct. Her voice was like melted butter.
Eh. It’s middling.
I hate the way she closes her eyes and nods at weird moments
@@joearnold6881 That's to do with her mannerisms, not her voice, surely?
@@isabellamorris7902 it has, and I admit it’s a petty thing.
It’s a part of the whole that is watching her sing, is all.
If The Carpenters focused on making progressive rock, I believe they would have had a better ending to their band before Karen passed away. Calling Occupants is a great song, and probably their best song (because I cannot stomach 70's soft rock in general). Karen was good at playing the "cosmic voice that unites beings" character so well on that track that it baffles me that they didn't go all-out with the space opera theme for Passage. I can tell they wanted to do more with the alien story but were caught up in trying to please everyone.
in a better world, The Carpenters could've pulled a Sparks, moved to the UK and started a new Progressive Rock project that became their main project for a couple of years.
It's such a shame that they didn't realize that they really had something in Calling Occupants and went back and fully retooled to a full sci-fi prog rock (prog easy listening?) album, it absolutely could have been something. if nothing else, people would have had more of an opinion than "wow this album is trying to be everything for everyone, huh?"
Extreme success at a young age is (nearly always) volatile.
To experience so many sudden changes while also trying to grow into 'your natural self'....but it is a self that isn't an option anymore. Only the _persona_ grows - _public and private._
*Karen Carpenter voice* We are the priests of the temples of Syrinx....
They were a progressive rock band in the beginning and were fantastic. Karen did some kickass drumming in “Another Song”
This review is so enjoyable. It gets in those biting digs, but it ultimately is so warm towards Karen specifically that it ends up being no longer caustic but more whimsical.
My dad loves Klaatu, he was way into that album for a while and we heard lots of it at home and in the car. My mom loves The Carpenters, she and I danced to They Long To Be at my wedding, it was very sweet. I wonder if they know about the Carpenters' cover of Calling Occupants!
i swear that "b'wana she no home" song sounds like it'd settle in better on an album of more deeply questionable than usual Frank Zappa b-sides than a Carpenters record.
Haha genuinely lol'd at this. A while ago I caught myself subconsciously singing "Easy Meat" from Tinseltown Rebellion (a record my best friend bought me in high school) and then looked up to a genuinely quite disgusted look on my wife's face. There's some questionable stuff in those deep cuts haha
It's funny you say that, because Richard admitted to being a huge Zappa fan despite looking more like a Pat Boone fan.
I knew I wasn’t the only one that found that name zappa-ish
'B'wana Dik' - Filmore East '71
@Perverted Alchemist If only he talked about that in the video?
This is a strong contender for the best album ever covered on Trainwreckords. It is also Lauren Hill Unplugged levels of tragically sad.
Yes, you're absolutely right that Richard gave Karen and how she would fit into the various musical genres on this album that she is not suited for no thought. I don't want to go on too long of a tirade here because it's rather well documented that Karen Carpenter's life story is an endless string of being mistreated by her entire family, including her brother. As such, my opinion on The Carpenters basically begins and ends with Karen deserved better.
The Carpenters are basically the soundtrack for a large number of my childhood memories. I tee'd this video up expecting a brutal skewering of the band and their times (my times, to an extent). So grateful to hear such a kind and context-aware skewering that - I reckon, if she were still with us - Karen Carpenter would quite possibly laugh along with, and enjoy.
Same here, I love their christmas music
Of all the albums featured on Trainwreckords, Passage seems like the most defendable. If you took out the Bwana song, the Evita prelude and the Calypso song, Passage would have been seen as another Carpenters album with Calling Occupants as ambitious yet endearing centerpiece.
The sad thing about the Carpenters is that if Karen was still with us, I totally could of seen them have a small comeback in the late 80's and early 90's with the rise of adult contemporary and be on the same radio playlist as Richard Marx, Michael Bolton and Wilson Phllips. It would have been short lived with the Grunge Revolution and Adult Alternative rising to dominance but it would have given the Carpenters recognition as a talented group sooner rather than long after Karen's tragic death.
I really like cyberpunk by Billy Idol. Personally that’s my favorite train record.
It’d be a little too guessing-about-alternate-timelines to say for sure how much the impactful nature of Karen’s death might’ve factored into it - it was the subject of the song Sonic Youth wrote about her - but if the whole alt-nation embrace of their back catalogue, the _If I Were A Carpenter_ tribute album, etc. still happened in some form I could see them having support even beyond that.
It would have been even better if Karen had been able to break away from the group to do her own thing. She could have been an amazing independent vocalist, rivaling all others at the time, if she could have broken free from her brother's control of the band.
Bold of you to claim that song was calypso. Maybe the original is, but the carpenters version has all calypso sucked out of it.
@@jameskowanko7574 AYO I LOVE THAT ALBUM!!!
The Carpenters have this rep of being all happy and wholesome yet you listen to a large portion of their music and it's sad, somber and melancholy with a lot of heartache and depressing themes.
And they're right up there with the very best that have ever performed it. Few things get me right in the soul like when they hit that spot. Whether thats in retrospect after what happened with Karen...well, I hope not.
It's like the opposite of The Cure, who have a reputation for being depressing as all fuck and yet all their hits are fun and poppy! I guess it's the physical appearance of the band more than anything else
They're like the Brother and Sister version of the 60's Bee Gees.
Goodbye To Love is terrifying if you listen to it in the wrong frame of mind
I’m glad Todd shows the carpenters the respect they deserve. I remember being made fun of for liking the Carpenters songs and then they later became more legitimately appreciated and cool again because her voice was nothing short of heaven sent.
I knew very little of The Carpenters discography before this, but I’m so happy this video introduced me to “calling occupants”. It’s been one of my favorite songs I’ve heard in the last few years. I listen to it when I’m feeling down about the state of the world and it always lifts my spirits. It genuinely makes me cry. Karen’s voice is just so kind and sincere, it reminds me that humanity is not all bad.
I like how between this and Flock of Sea Gulls and Mike Sambelo the fastest way to Todd's flinty heart is an inexplicable space/scifi song
Don’t forget The Buggles winning Todd over a second time with “Living In The Plastic Age”
Not gonna lie, Automatic Man is in my playlist now & I think it’ll stay there for a while 😅
Nobody gets to diss Space Age Love Song. Todd knows what's up.
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft made it on to their greatest hits album. For those who were wondering when the critics started liking them it's around the time Carpenters Gold came out. Sure Karen's death made them re-evaluate her, but they often said things like "with few exceptions songs didn't live up to her skills." After Gold it became "wow, that's a lot of good songs actually." The same thing happened with Abba Gold. Sometimes it takes collecting a groups best work in one place for critics to get past the filler that often clogged albums of the 70's when bands were expected to churn one out every year or two.
Yeah but ABBA made good albums tho
The sheer output expected in the 60s and 70s is strange to see now. Like, look at the most prolific artists of the 2010s like Drake or Taylor Swift - respectively, 5 studio albums and 7 studio albums over the ten year period from 2010 to 2020, and Taylor only got to 7 because she cranked out 3 albums in a 16 month timespan at the end of the decade (presumably to make up for the massive failure that was Reputation), and the 2nd and 3rd of those were basically just a double album with the two halves released a few months apart.
If you look at the Beatles, they were only putting out albums for 7 years from 1963 to 1970, and they cranked out *13 fucking albums* in that amount of time! Every six months they were putting out an album, while continuing to sell out concerts everywhere they went until they stopped touring. Though, in complete fairness, they're also pretty uniquely prolific.
As someone who will go through an artist's entire discography, I kind of get it. Most singers/bands don't hold up to that kind of scrutiny. Especially in the days where you could regularly put out covers albums.
@@browncoat697 Led Zeppelin released their first 4 albums in the span of about 2 years, which is pretty crazy as well. It makes you wonder why album releases slowed down so much.
My theory is that it’s a combination of artists being more ambitious with their albums and requiring more time and, maybe to a greater extent in recent years, artists shifted towards more touring because album sales alone no longer represent a real revenue stream.
In 1977, David Bowie released Low and Heroes.
she had some sick drum chops, I wish the record label had let Karen play the drums more.
Thank you Todd, if it weren't for this episode, I would have never known about "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" if it weren't for this episode. It is a really great song that has really grown on me since watching this episode.
it certainly is interplanetary and most extraordinary (especially the latter)