McCartney Times

The reputation of the Carpenters has turned quite a bit in the past 40 years. During the duo’s 1970s heyday, they were as white bread and harmless as could be: during the same time when Black Sabbath, the Ramones, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Frank Zappa were pushing the boundaries of popular music, the Carpenters were the safest and least offensive act anyone could find.

In time, the merits of the band’s music began to come to the fore. Karen Carpenter’s superb skills as a drummer were obvious, as was the pristine vulnerability of her voice. Richard Carpenter might have had a heavy hand when it came to production, but his arrangements were undeniably lush and fascinating in their construction. It became slightly less embarrassing to admit that ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ‘Superstar’ were great songs, and Karen’s tragic life put the entire story of the group into a new light.

But no amount of cultural acceptance or Sonic Youth covers/odes will ever make their cover of The Beatles’ ‘Ticket to Ride’ anything other than pure pap. It’s perfectly fine to stand up for the Carpenters today, but there was a reason why they got so much flack and ridicule during their contemporary career: they had some real schmaltz. This was especially true when it came to covers – exactly nobody’s favourite version of ‘Please Mr. Postman’ is the Carpenters’ version, despite it ascending all the way to number one in America during the early months of 1975.

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