The Carpenters Beatles Covers

Originally Posted by LennonStarrFan

Help!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb-GpvEjxJ8

Ticket To Ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5X64JcnWHA

I like their covers. Love Karen's voice. :)

Karen's voice is like a lullabye... so beautiful.

I liked the Carpenters well enough when they did their Bacharach-esque numbers like Close To You, Yesterday Once More and so on. For saccharine MOR, they were ideal.

But they had nothing to bring to Beatles songs and I couldn't listen to any of their Fab covers.
Far too schmaltzy for my taste.
Their sugary treatments are just poles apart from where the songs were at.

It's like listening to Sinatra murdering Yesterday or Mrs. Robinson.
Indubitably a great artist, Frank nevertheless would have been far better to stick to his strengths instead of trying (and failing) to be hip by covering contemporary material that was almost the opposite of what he was about.

I loved Karen Carpenter's voice -- absolutely beautiful -- however, I cringe every time I hear her version of "Ticket To Ride" -- absolutely the wrong song for her -- "Help" was almost as bad..... although not quite as bad as Bing Crosby's hideous performance of "Hey Jude" (complete with the "Little Drummer Boy" rum-pa-pum-pum at the end.... total embarrassment!)

Originally Posted by John Cee

I loved Karen Carpenter's voice -- absolutely beautiful -- however, I cringe every time I hear her version of "Ticket To Ride" -- absolutely the wrong song for her -- "Help" was almost as bad..... although not quite as bad as Bing Crosby's hideous performance of "Hey Jude" (complete with the "Little Drummer Boy" rum-pa-pum-pum at the end.... total embarrassment!)

Well said.

The "Help" cover is amazing!

Here's a cover of "Good Night"



Here's one of "Nowhere Man"



Here's one of "Can't Buy Me Love"

I guess we could call this thread "The Walrus and the Carpenters"

Compare these covers to the tape of Lennon's "Carpenter Sessions". His and Yoko's rendition of "Close to You" is to die for.

(just kidding, just kidding!)

It was a damn crime what the Carpenters did to Beatle songs. I thought the Carpenters' covers were simply quite atrocious!

quite an underrated drummer as well. take a gander at some of this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dJUnh6N8-U

Originally Posted by beatlebangs1964

It was a damn crime what the Carpenters did to Beatle songs. I thought the Carpenters' covers were simply quite atrocious!

I only regret that they never covered "Yer Blues". I would have loved to have had that in my CD collection.

I've moved this thread, after careful consideration , to the Abbey Road forum.

It just seems better off there. "And Your Bird Can Sing" I view as a BEATLES music forum. Abbey Road is more "general" a forum.

Speaking of Klaatu, there was even a rumor in 1977 that Klaatu was Beatlemania, the long-running show on Broadway!

If I had only heard the Carpenters' execrable rendition of one of my favorite songs, "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," I'd never have known that I love the song. I can't stand the Carpenters' gross mistreatment of it. The Beatles' original has always been one of my favorites and remains so to this day.

For example, I love asparagus. Fresh, real asparagus, not that crap in a can. If all I'd ever eaten was that craparagus in a can, I'd never know how delicious asparagus really is! Same with the Carpenters. If the only versions of great songs I heard were the Carpenters' atrocious covers, I'd never know how great the songs really are!

In 1976, some people think that the Beatles had secretly recorded the album name Klaatu. This is a Beatle reunion of a high degree of heat, some people think it is about 5 minutes. They are actually a Canadian band.

What a voice there's a better clip with Karen singing Ticket to Ride acapella.

I think the Carpenters' execreble renditions of Beatle songs belong in the toilet.

Atrocious!