Close To You [Remastered]

The song and the LP that sparked America's love affair with Karen and Richard Carpenter! The album, one of the all-time soft-rock classics, hit #2 and the title tune hit #1; it joins the smash We've Only Just Begun ; their take on Help! ; Richard's own Maybe It's You , and more.

When the Carpenters found themselves with a sudden radio hit ("Close to You"), their record company put the pressure on them to come up with a whole album. The album's glue is, of course, the unabashedly sentimental and corny title track and the subsequent chart topper, "We've Only Just Begun." However, their lush covers of now-classic songs such as "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Baby It's You," and Karen's tragic plea on John Lennon's "Help," contribute to the strength of this collection. The band toys with bossa nova sounds on "Love Is Surrender" and explores deeper emotional terrain on the beautiful "Crescent Moon." Close to You stands as a harbinger of the great things ahead for the Carpenters in the '70s. --Lorry Fleming