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"We've been called sticky sweet, goody two shoes and squeaky clean, among other things by a lot of critics," Richard Carpenter has told interviewers about himself and sister Karen, who are the Carpenters.
"To me, a music critic should be more concerned with music than dress and cleanliness," he contends. "But as long as they keep bringing it up, being squeaky clean is relative, isn't it?"
"I mean, when we came along in 1969, it was right in the middle of acid rock, when all the performers had this negative sort of 'Take me as I am attitude'. And then we walk out, just normally clean. Most people shower, right?"
Whatever the complaints, the fact remains that the Carpenters earned in their first four years 14 gold records and three Grammy Awards. They'll play the War Memorial Auditorium Saturday at 8:30 p.m. under the sponsorship of WHEN.
Technically, the sound the brother-sister team creates is achieved by building four-part chords and overdubbing them twice for a total of 12 voice parts.
Occasionally, they expand the harmonies up to 13-part chords that cover three octaves. With triple over-dubs, this produces a sound like a chorale of 39 voices. Their version of I'll Never Fall in Love Again is an example of this.
Critics have called it "commercial" in uncomplimentary terms. But the Carpenters take pride in it. Richard admits, "It is 'commercial' to a point, but when you believe in what you're doing like we do, and it happens to turn out a success, what could be better?"
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Last changed: Mon Jun 15 19:21:33 EDT 1998