Guilty Pleasures - The Carpenters

Ok, I warned you all this one was coming...in this edition of "Guilty Pleasures" I'm letting the whole world know: I like the Carpenters.

The legendary light rock duo's career spanned 14 years, from 1969-1983. The act consisted of brother Richard and sister Karen Carpenters, with Richard playing the piano and providing back-up vocals while Karen sang lead.

Which one's the sister?

Karen's voice is nothing short of incredible...rich, deep, and considered by many to be one of the best in popular music. Not only was she an amazing singer, but she was also an accomplished drummer.

Richard was the backbone of the group, and his piano playing was integral to their sound, as were his low-key backing vocals. I don't remember when I first heard this band...it's like they've been there, in the background, my whole life. One distinct early memory I do have of one of their songs is Rick Moranis's off-key but touching rendition  of "(They Long to Be) Close to You," written by Burt Bacharach, one of my favorite song writers of the '60s (now there's another idea for a blog post!).

This video pretty much sums of the Carpenters for me. It's a live performance that features their trademark vocals, shows off their lighthearted interaction with each other, and even has some country twang thrown in for good measure.

Call them cheesy, call them gay, call them lame as hell, but don't call them untalented or uninteresting. I dig these two a lot, and it's a shame that Karen isn't around to show some of these auto-tuned pop stars how to really sing.

IRON "MAY"-DEN #3

Iron Maiden - Transylvania

The first of many sweet instrumentals by the band, this one is from a show in 1981 and also features a solo by Dave Murray (a very underrated guitarist in my opinion).

IRON "MAY-DEN" #2

Phantom of the Opera - Live at the Rainbow, 1980

Love the guitars on this one! And Paul Di'Anno's performance is intense!

In Memoriam - MCA

                                                              Adam "MCA" Yauch
                                                                      1964-2012

When I thought of how I could memorialize this very talented fellow Gen-Xer, I knew I had to do it with a video from the Beasties song I liked best. There are so many good Beasties songs to choose from, but this was the one that first popped into my head. I love the beat, love the rhymes, and love the video. RIP MCA.

May's theme - IRON "MAY"-DEN #1

I've been planning this theme month since the week I started this blog, so I'm very excited that May is finally here. Iron Maiden are not just one of my favorite bands of the metal genre...they're also easily in my top 10 bands EVER. At times I don't even think of them as metal, as I feel that label stifles their amazing abilities and variety of sounds. They are at times metal, at times prog, at times virtuosic punk...I really dig everything they did primarily from 1980-1993.

I especially dig on the early stuff...those first 2 albums with original singer Paul Di'Anno totally ROCK. They have such a raw, primal energy. That band came screaming out of the gate on those first 2 albums, and when Bruce Dickinson became their singer in 1982 they didn't lose any momentum...they took it to the next level, and started trading in the punk-on-the-street lyrics for dungeons & dragons style imagery. And they pulled it off very successfully.

I will try and post at least a video a day by them, starting out from the very earliest stuff all the way to...well, we'll see how recently I get. Will infamous third singer Blaze Bayley make an appearance? He might...he just might.

For now, here's some really old footage of the first song from their first LP, a number entitled "Prowler." CRANK IT!

So if I lived in the '70s...

...this would be my office:

This would be my bachelor pad:

And life would be smooth as the top shelf scotch and menthol cigarette I would be holding in my hands...

Score!

Sooooo, this past Saturday the Canadian Belle and I made a pit stop at the Goodwill in DeWitt, MI on our way home from my place of work (I had to run in there on my day off as I left my cell phone charger in my office. I kind of needed it ya know?)

Anywho, I thought I would check out the records and vhs to see if there were any hidden gems. Boy did I score on this outing! The Belle did too...she picked up three Peter, Paul & Mary lps (her collection of records is still in its' infancy but slowly and surely growing). Check out what I found...

9 VHS and 3 cassettes. For $16. Score.