18. If I Had You (recorded 1980, released 1989)
The day before she died, in February 1983, Karen Carpenter rang producer Phil Ramone to discuss âour fucking recordâ â the 1980 solo album her label refused to release. When its contents were unveiled on posthumous Carpentersâ albums, their decision appeared baffling, as evidenced by I Had You: her patent brand of melancholy given a smooth, shiny funk makeover.
17. Touch Me When Weâre Dancing (1981)
Made in America (1981) was a cautious return after a hiatus provoked by Richard Carpenterâs drug addiction and the anorexia that would eventually kill his sister, but the single Touch Me When Weâre Dancing was great, very gently beckoning a hint of disco into the Carpenterâs luxurious sound world.
R
ichard and Karen Carpenter sit by the ocean, dressed in dinner-party duds and beaming directly into the camera lens, which is pulled to the softest possible focus. The photo on the cover of the Carpenters 1970 album
Close to You is like something you d see hanging in a Sears portrait gallery (Richard himself hated it), and that gauzy, clean-cut image dogged the duo for years. A year later, the Carpenters third LP would have nothing on its cream-colored jacket but the band s name, embossed in its now-iconic baroque font. That record, simply titled
Carpenters, was released 50 years ago this week, and it cemented Karen and Richard s status as (pun intended) superstars. It remains their most successful studio record, too, selling more than 4 million copies and spawning three Top 10 singles.