I first heard the Carpenters debut album, Offering, in San Francisco in 1995. I had just bought a 1972 VW Transporter in my time off between 4 month stints as a cook on a ship in the merchant marines.

The 120 days in a row working on a ship traveling around Europe may seem glamorous, but aside from cooking lunch and dinner for 40 people every day, I was also washing dishes and cleaning walk in freezers, occasionally getting a half a day off to explore Spain, Italy, France, Greece or wherever we anchored. It was actually a grind, and I promised myself I was getting a bus the next time I got home to Melbourne, Florida. My payoff check was exactly what I needed to get my bus, and I drove it to New Jersey as soon as possible.

While in New Jersey, news came that Jerry Garcia had passed. I had planned to take the bus to a Dead show, and now that would never happen. I then decided to drive cross country from New Jersey with Kent Glenn, a great jazz piano player, to do some gigs in Fort Bragg, northern California.

I had been a fan of the Carpenters when I was a kid, but hadn’t listened to them in years. In second grade our teacher printed up the lyrics to “Top of the World” and had us all sing along. I still have those lyrics, stashed away with my school notebooks. I got their greatest hits collection, The Singles 1969-1973, from the RCA record club in the mid 70’s, but then grew into more of a rock n roll fan. It wasn’t till I heard Offering while on this cross country trip that I dug how hip they had tried to be on their first album.

1. Invocation– This acapella Renaissance-sounding piece opens the album as if we’re in church, and gives us a glimpse of Richard and Karen’s work before 1969. They used to multi-track their voices on Richard’s home tape recorder, emulating Les Paul and Mary Ford. There is a similarity to Brian Wilson’s acapella work for the aborted Smile album. Richard and Karen worked on recordings at bassist Joe Osborn’s studio during 1967, and several of those demos were used for the Offering album.

My friends Sheri and Lauren were in living in San Francisco and I went to visit. At that time I didn’t have a radio in the VW, but while I was there I got great speakers and a cassette player installed. I bought the budget-line cd of the Offering reissue “Ticket to Ride” too. Lauren lived in Haight-Ashbury at the time, and although the bus never made it to a Dead show, it did get to the epicenter of the Summer of Love.

Offering is the ‘cool’ Carpenters album, and would do well behind a hit of Orange Sunshine. Strongly influenced by the music of 1967- Sgt. Pepper, Notorious Byrd Brothers, Eli and the 13th Confession, Smile, and Pandemonium Shadow Show, the music seems quaint for 1969, when the album was released. It didn’t sell well, and was deleted until after the great success of their second album, Close to You, in 1970, when Offering was reissued as “Ticket to Ride.”

2. Your Wonderful Parade– The spoken intro to this song, noticeably featuring Richard’s lisp, is almost word for word similar to the opening of Harry Nilsson’s “Pandemonium Shadow Show” album, from 1967. Even with Joe Osborn leading the way with his excellent plucking bass, the song seems quaint in comparison to the music being released in 1969. By then, psychedelic rock had morphed into heavy rock: Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, The Stooges and The MC5 were all releasing albums by this time. In comparison, the Carpenters’ approach seems behind the times, but it was to prove to be just ahead of the mellow singer-songwriter trend of the early 70’s. Richard’s lead vocals are featured here with Karen as counterpoint and harmony, and even though this song seems hopelessly unhip, the vocal wall of sound is exceptional. The cello solo after the second verse is reminiscent of the Byrds’ version of Goin’ Back on Notorious Byrd Brothers. The marching band drums seem to have been added as an overdub, and their heavily phased sound at the end is pure psychedelia, again very similar to sections of Notorious.

While visiting another friend, Robert, in San Francisco, I recorded “Ticket to Ride” onto cassette at his apartment, and listened to it while driving around the country for the rest of my trip. Robert and I attended a Phish show at Shoreline in early September, which was their fourth since Jerry’s passing. They performed “I’m Blue, I’m Lonesome” as a tribute to him. For the rest of this trip, without planning it, I followed the basic path of the Phish tour.

3. Someday– The melody is introduced by flute and then Karen skillfully carries the rest of the song. Her vocal sound is very mature for a 19 year old: she was a natural born singer. Karen Carpenter is today recognized as one of the best female vocalists of the era, and this early song finds her in full command of her talents. Someday would fit on any of their subsequent albums, featuring one of Richard’s unique arrangements for piano and voice, augmented by an orchestral backing that swells to various peaks and then falls away completely at times.

After Kent and I left northern California and I dropped him off at a friend’s house in Los Angeles, I drove from there to Albuquerque, New Mexico and stayed with Nick and Maria.

4. Get Together– A clean-cut, slightly fast arrangement of this hippie anthem, recorded by several groups in the mid-sixties, including the Kingston Trio, Jefferson Airplane and We Five. The Youngbloods scored the biggest hit with the song when they re-released it in 1969 (they originally had a minor hit with it in 1967.) Richard sings lead, and his and Karen’s background vocals are put through a Leslie speaker in an effort to be psychedelic. Karen’s drumming is excellent, especially during the coda. Augmented by horns, the Carpenters version of this well-known song works surprisingly well, squeaky clean as it is.

I stayed with Nick and Maria about a week, and continued on through Oklahoma and Texas, still vaguely following the Phish tour. I distinctly remember driving through Texas listening to Hundred Year Hall, a live Grateful Dead release that I had picked up in San Francisco. “Dallas, got a soft machine, Houston, too close to New Orleans…” I arrived in New Orleans on October 17th, just before the night that Shannon Hoon died there on his tour bus. Blind Melon had been traveling a similar route. (Their last show with Hoon was in Houston on October 20th.) While in New Orleans I checked in at the merchant marine Union Hall to have my card stamped.

5. All of My Life– One of two songs on the album credited solely to Richard Carpenter, and featuring Gary Sims on guitar, this gentle track has the classic Carpenters sound. Karen sings lead, with she and Richard overdubbing the vocal wall of sound that within a year would make them internationally famous.

In early November I rolled in to Atlanta for the Phish show at the Fox Theatre, made a quick jaunt to Chattanooga, and then back to Florida, just in time to get back on the ship. I had spent most of my 4 months off on the road, and a lot of the money I had earned on the previous stint.

6. Turn Away– Richard sings lead on this track, which seems influenced by Laura Nyro’s Eli and the 13th Confession. It starts as a mid-tempo gospel rave up with sudden tempo changes, perhaps with less soul than Laura’s work. Still, the song is extremely well arranged, with Joe Osborn’s plucking bass sound and clever orchestral string parts. Again, Karen’s drumming is outstanding, and she makes all the right fill choices, especially in the final bars.

Richard Carpenter’s arrangements on Offering are stunning. He also plays keyboards with reckless abandon, kind of like Ray Manzarek minus the LSD, and Karen Carpenter’s drumming is an ace in the hole for her brother’s tricky arrangements. He and Karen had already developed the ‘Carpenters vocal wall of sound’ on the demos they had been recording at home on Richard’s tape deck, so they had their vocal blend worked out. Richard sings lead on 5 songs on Offering. If this album had been a hit, Richard would most likely have kept singing.

7. Ticket To Ride– This song is worth the ‘ticket’ for the entire album. Originally released as the album’s single in 1969 and reaching #54 on the Billboard chart, Richard’s outstanding arrangement and Karen’s sublime vocal stands as one of the best covers of a Beatles tune. Starting with a classical piano intro that was edited out for the single, it switches the gender to ‘The boy that’s driving me mad’ and Karen delivers a fabulous interpretation of the song’s longing, even retaining the ‘ri-hi-hi hide’ of the original but lengthening it till it almost breaks. The song is in the key of B flat, but Karen resolves to an A natural on ‘care’ which makes it so much more interesting! Richard’s electric piano work is outstanding in the middle section, and they cleverly repeat the first line in the fade out- ‘think I’m gonna be sad…’

Their next album, Close to You, is much better than Offering. My, how they grew in such a short time! Karen sings most of the lead vocals, and the dye was cast for their sound. Two singles from Close To You, “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Close to You” were HUGE hits, and the Carpenters were phenomenally successful for the next 5 years.

But that album isn’t ‘cool’ like Offering is. Close to You is already MOR. Beautifully, perfectly MOR, but still, you could listen to it with your grandmother. Not so for Offering- it’s too quasi-psychedelic for your grandmother.

8. Don’t Be Afraid– This tune opens with the vocal wall of sound, and features Richard’s insanely fast electric piano, Karen’s tasteful drumming, along with flutes and horns.

Just recently I picked up a vinyl copy of the original release of Offering. The cover photograph shows Richard and Karen shot from below, wearing matching outfits with white shoes, looking very somber, very unlike the happy music on the album.

9. What’s The Use– With lyrics by John Bettis, this song perfectly captures the ethos of the 60’s. This was the generation of kids who turned away from chasing prosperity in order to find a simpler way of living. Richard sings most of the lead vocal, with Karen taking the second line of the chorus. The clever arrangement features a modulation between the first chorus and the bridge.

Getting away from all the things that need doing
Lazily here to lose the afternoon
Lying around here on the ground
Is as close to getting up as I can go

Taking a chance to free myself from my worries
Cover them well enough and no one sees
Nobody knows until they show
And the only thing to do is try to cover them again

Hurry yourself, what’s the use? Mountains of wealth, I refuse
To be somebody’s slave for a dime, I’ve got plenty of mountains I’m lookin’ to climb.
Spending my time

Lying around, here on the ground
Is as close to getting up as I can go
Pleasing myself is all that really needs doing
Everything else begins but never ends

Listen to me and you’ll agree
That a man is better off
If he has come to realize

Hurry yourself, what’s the use? Mountains of wealth, I refuse
To be somebody’s slave for a dime, I’ve got plenty of mountains I’m lookin’ to climb.
Spending my time (2x)

This song aptly describes my life at the time- driving my bus around the country, stopping off to see friends along the way, sometimes staying with them, and sometimes sleeping in the bus at rest areas. The best feeling was waking up in the bus, using the facilities at a rest area, grabbing some coffee and heading back on the road. “I’ve got plenty of mountains I’m looking to climb.”

10. All I Can Do– This is the hardest rocking song on the album, although in a workingman’s jazz-fusion kind of way. Reminiscent of Tribal Gathering on Notorious Byrd Brothers, Karen’s drumming is fantastic- what a left hand!
11. Eve– Like Someday, Eve could have easily been on any of the Carpenters subsequent releases. A mournful ballad in a minor key, with the hopeful chorus switching to major, this seems to be about a girl who takes too many chances, and perhaps too many drugs.

The Carpenters recorded many covers during their career, but the penultimate song on Offering is probably their best one, although it’s practically unknown.

12.Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing– Written by Neil Young and first recorded by Buffalo Springfield, this is the closest the Carpenters come to being ‘cool.’ Richard’s arrangement is slick- I give him credit for realizing where the hook is and accentuating it- on their version, listen to the opening “Sing!” In the original, this starts and ends the song – the harmonica flourish. The Carpenters march cleanly through the time signature changes (from 4/4 to ¾ and back again.) It is also Richard’s best lead vocal on the album, and possibly in the Carpenters discography. The horn/woodwind arrangement is smooth, and follows Richard’s piano part in places. After the final drum break near the end, the last minute of the song features a frenetic jam with some of Richard’s fastest, most manic playing- it’s doubtful that many people caught on to this section of the album at the time, being as hip as it is.

Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing was Buffalo Springfield’s first single, and received airplay on Los Angeles radio station KHJ, which is most likely where Richard first heard it. The song only reached 110 on the Billboard chart in August of 1966, and was soon supplanted by For What it’s Worth, following the curfew riots on the Sunset Strip later that year. For What it’s Worth was not originally on the Buffalo Springfield’s debut album, but was added to the second pressing in March 1967, after its success as a single. (Interestingly, Ahmet Ertegun added the parenthetical subtitle (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound) so people would recognize it, since the title is never used in the lyrics of the song.) Clancy is one of Neil Young’s first great songs, although its choice as their first single in 1966 was somewhat ambitious. I wonder what Neil thought of the Carpenters version?

13.Benediction– The closing track on the album is once again acapella, until the final orchestrated 30 seconds.

I had my bus for 14 years, and in 2009 I watched it burn to the ground. Luckily it was in a parking lot, and no one got hurt, but I cried for hours afterwards. Later that year we bought our first house- I guess I couldn’t have two places to live. Now I drive a 2010 VW Routan with air conditioning and heat, and that is MUCH better.

This album still blows me away every time I listen to it- it’s short, but there’s a lot in it. It brings me back to those days, when I was free to roam around the country and barely made it back to the ship with money in my pockets.

Special thanks to Chris Astarita for music theory advice. If you get to check this album out, you’ll hear the closest the Carpenters came to being rock n rollers.