A New Appreciation for This Tune, & Especially This Singer- 40 Years After Her Passing- & Her Genius Brother! [*1 Vid Link Corrected*]
And there's a happy surprise in store for all you Carpenters fans here, too!
Back in the day, this song was just something that came on the radio, and wasn’t among my particular favorites. (Those were the unknown to lesser-known gems like Crystal Lullaby, Reason to Believe, Maybe It’s You…besides the more famous and touching Goodbye to Love….)
Today, this song (Only Yesterday) has grown so much on me, I’m wishing it were longer and didn’t fade out when it does…
Richard Carpenter’s uncanny ability to select the right music, arrange the music — crafting the harmonies, the instrumentations, and the rhythms — are finally recognized as part and parcel of Karen’s musical brilliance. He was always seen as just part of the backing troupe; but without Richard’s astonishing gifts, his skill and instinct as composer and arranger (with his sister’s input as well), Karen’s unique and flawless vocal would not have shone as brightly as it did.
And yet, there might be a Karen Carpenter Doppelgänger right here in our midst today, too.
Meet Tori Holub, a young singer (early 20s?) who says she didn’t start doing this kind of thing till 2 years ago:
This was from a year ago:
She did this all by her lonesome, too:
She explains how the Carpenters made their unique harmony:
[LINK CORRECTED!]
Finally, someone else with something substantial to contribute to music-making takes notice: here’s the collaboration with Jim & his band for a stunning re-creation of a great Carpenters hit song:
Learn a bit more about Tori in a very recent interview:
I’ve been watching and enjoying Tori’s videos for some eight to ten months now, and glad to see others are discovering her talents, too.
She also does an amazing job on the guitar, and sings a few other ‘70s and ‘80s stars’ hits quite well, too, giving them her own touch.
Will see what the future holds for Tori from here on out. It’s looking pretty bright! Meantime, check out all these shorts and videos on her page:
I always liked The Carpenters, but I never bought any of their music, just always heard it on the radio. My Mom introduced me to the great Bacharach/David ‘songbook’, which I have always loved. As an older adult I downloaded a couple of The Carpenters greatest hits albums to my music library. I had already collected and downloaded a lot of the Bacharach David songbooks, from artists like Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Steve Tyrell, who did albums with their music.
“Close to Me” was one of the songs I chose for the vocalist to sing at my Mom’s Memorial Service in July 2021. (The song reminds me of her…she had beautiful blue eyes as well.)
I love listening to this music now…it makes me happy, melancholy and sad, all at the same time, because a lot of the lyrics of these Carpenters and Bacharach/Davis songs have significant meaning to me at this time in my life.
Mil gracias for the intro to this very talented young woman. I will have to check her out and see if she has any albums out with this music! 💓🙏🏻