The Carpenters—a couple of hot-rod honchos? You'd better believe it, bub, 'cause it's right there on the cover. Now some may find the idea of Richard and Karen out cruisin' for burgers to be just this side of screamin' lunacy, but shit, we all gotta get down sometime.
Side two's the big time here, where America's foremost schmaltzrockers get back to da rootz, pay their dooz and cop just about all them other similarissimo cliches. Skeeter Davis, Bobby Vee, Shelley Fabares—all them early Sixties musical institutions get whole heaps of homage paid to 'em. And hot damn, there's even this creaky old Top 40 DJ type running all this vintage AM gobbledygoop down yer throat.
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You're supposed to get the idea that it's comin' out of a car radio.
"Fun Fun Fun" has got some badass Chuck Berry guitar that really gets on the case. I'll be damned if it didn't blow me right off the stool first time I heard it. And while Karen's version of "Johnny Angel" ain't exactly running Blue Oyster Cult off any of the local turntables, at least it does get me feelin' sorry for myself whenever I hear it. A great song to get drunk to, and pretty good downer music too!
And humor, hell, this stuff's an endless guffaw when you're wrecked. Two Buds and you start noticing how Karen sings real funny, sorta like she's turning up her nose at the material. Real proper-like (on "Dead Man's Curve"?)—reminds me of the time I saw a newsreel of Pat Nixon eating an ice cream cone—with a spoon.
Side one (the Now side) ain't quite as exciting, but it's got its moments, including that runaway blockbuster AM smash of a hit called "Sing," where the Carps are joined by this viscerally homogenous boys' choir singing in the higher ranges of castrato. This song's got that Lawrence Welk feel from start to finish, so you just know it's gonna be getting tons of ink come Grammy time.
Now & Then covers the present and the past—what about the Carpenters' future? Well, rumor has it that their next album's titled The Carpenters Go Slumming, and if you think this one's ace, Slumming will absolutely burn yer eyeballs out. (RS 138)
GORDON FLETCHER
