Richard Carpenter's Piano Songbook

Nothing in music can compare to the beauty of Karen Carpenter's singing voice- but brother Richard Carpenter shows he still has the chops. His new Richard Carpenter's Piano Songbook collection takes beloved songs from the duo and reimagines them in an elegant solo piano setting.  

Imagine if you will stripping down everything from the Carpenters album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra including Karen's voice. The resulting album is straightforward and anything but simple. His renderings of hits like Close to You and We've Only Just Begun reveal the man's God-given genius in arranging and recognizing a beautiful and memorable melody. In particular, I Need to Be in Love shines. It all comes together in a nice, clean, well packaged recording on Decca- not A&M Records; a first for any Carpenters project.

Aside from the horrible cover art (by and large another long-standing Carpenters problem), it is an absolutely fine collection for what it is: background music for the late night dinner party. Be forewarned- Listening will make you want even more of Karen. You can't divorce her voice from these definitive recordings as beautiful as they are. Read more about the Richard Carpenter's genius and his thoughts on their career and music in the beautiful new book, Carpenters: The Musical Legacy by Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May. 

(Photograph copyright Decca.)