After a beautiful sunny
Ho hum. Onwards and upwards.
Today would have been the 70th birthday of the sublime Miss Karen Carpenter, taken from us far too soon. Hers was one of the finest voices to hit the pop charts in the 1970s, and indeed her million-selling hits with The Carpenters are a mainstay of "mellow" radio stations across the world to this day.
Now, "mellow" is not something one would normally associate with our traditional Tacky Music Monday wake-up call - so imagine my joy in uncovering this gem of a routine from Karen and Richard's own TV show.
The outfits! The dancing! The rictus grins! It's perfect...
Have a good week, dear reader.
Karen Anne Carpenter (2nd March 1950 – 4th February 1983)
More Karen here and here.
Well thank you for that, Jon! Can you not work from home??
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Glad you enjoyed it, Miss Scarlet. The concept of allowing my place of work and my home to overlap is anathema to me - I have repeatedly turned down the "offer" from my employer to do so. Jx
DeleteOh, this video is a blast. Never saw their show because I was busy trying to be too cool for the Carpenters. I also like the quote about the drinking classes, which made me realize I DO drink less since I stopped working. I should have should have slowed down on the drinking sooner!
ReplyDeleteEveryone in that mid-70s-to-early-80s period pretended to be too cool for the likes of The Carpenters, Abba, Wings and so on. Funny that we can all sing every word of every single any of them released... Jx
DeletePS Slowing down on booze in a country like Spain, where a carajillo (coffee-brandy) is a customary breakfast dish? Unfeasible!
It's people who are too cool for Queen I don't understand... I mean I can understand if it's that they can't forgive them playing South Africa, but musically, I just think, you're hearing a different band.
ReplyDeleteWhich they probably are, I heard a lot of Queen as a child and can never unlike them.
Their great "redemption" was Live Aid... Jx
DeleteProbably, and also it's the early associations with a band that never go away. I have too happy early memories of Queen to ever dislike them, despite the South Africa thing which I kind of wish I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteCarpenters sound like they were a band people's parents or grandparents would have liked, even at the time, I think it took a while for people to accept their parents might have a point about anything.
Carpenters-style MOR music was massive in the '70s - Cliff-bloody-Richard, John Denver, Barry Manilow, Val Doonican, Neil Sedaka, Clodagh Rodgers, Dawn, Simon & Garfunkel, New Seekers, Lindsey DePaul, David Soul and so on and on all had hits in the charts alongside the "cooler" stuff like Roxy Music, Bowie, Sex Pistols, the Clash and Gary Numan. Thankfully both the 70s and 80s had such an eclectic mix of styles and genres that there was something for everyone. Maybe it's just me getting older, but I really don't think any decade since has offered similar diversity... Jx
DeleteThere was a lot going on in the seventies musically. Love loads of music from then.
ReplyDeleteThat was the my brother's car playlist- Queen , ABBA, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stephen's Elton John and the soundtrack to Joseph
That is the type of thing that killed disco off.
ReplyDeleteabout as uncool as you can get
Hee hee. Jx
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