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.