It's 'Yesterday Once More' as Richard Carpenter recalls 1970s pop duo

 More than 50 years after We've Only Just Begun  and Yesterday Once More, Richard Carpenter is looking back on the California soft pop duo with his sister Karen that ruled the charts but got a rough ride from music critics.

Currently, he tells the story for the first time in Carpenters: Musical Legacy. This is a book based on Richard’s hundreds of hours of interviews with writers Mike Chidonilenox and Chris May. Packed with photos, posters, programs, reviews and work schedules, it’s meant to be the definitive story of a 1970s recording star.

“It really covers Karen and I, making music, and heritage together from our childhood to our years. Focusing on the music we make rather than personal ones. “It’s done,” said Carpenter, his home near Los Angeles, full of gold discs and Carpenters memorabilia.

“Since Karen and I first hit’Close to You’, there’s been a lot more than the nasty and malicious things written about us,” said 75-year-old Carpenter, who told the music press. I remembered how I ridiculed the mellow ballad. A square of the era when rocks were the dominant force.

After the 1970 breakout single (They Long to Be) Close to You, the Carpenters released hits such as “Top of the World” and “Rainy Days and Mondays,” winning three Grammy Awards and being unique. Broadcasted the TV program of. .. They made 10 albums and gained distant fans from Japan, Norway and Zimbabwe.

Their career came to a tragic end when Karen died of heart failure in 1983 due to complications of anorexia nervosa. She was 32 years old.

Richard Carpenter, who arranged and harmonizes all the music, hates Karen’s death and prefers to focus on her talent.

“She had a timeless voice … Karen was natural. She didn’t have to practice … she just instantly sang perfectly, whether it was live or on record. “He said. “She was my sister, my professional partner, and my best friend.”

This book will be published on November 16th.

January will be followed by a new album, Richard Carpenter’s Piano Songbook, in which Carpenter plays a classic arrangement on some solo pianos of the duo’s hits.

Carpenter, who once dreamed of becoming a concert pianist but hated practicing, said he was “very happy” to be asked to make a record.

“My parents would have been by their side,” he said. - Reuters