MY CD RACK: Various Artists - If I Were A Carpenter [1994]

Genre: Tribute Album, Indie Rock, Alternative, Noise Rock

MySpace: kandronline, sonicyouth, shonenknife & crackerhatesmyspace

My opinion & thought: This tribute album is just cool. All the amazing bands cover The Carpenters' classics in a brand new creative way. The best tracks are from Sonic Youth, Cracker & Bettie Serveert.

Stands out track(s): Superstar, Rainy Days and Mondays, For All We Know, (They Long To Be) Close To You

Part 1, Part 2

If I Were A Carpenter is a tribute album to The Carpenters released in 1994. It featured alternative rock bands covering the songs of Richard and Karen Carpenter. The cover featured a cartoon-like drawing of Richard and Karen against an orange background listening to an LP album. One of the most acclaimed songs on this album isSonic Youth's rendition of "Superstar". This song, and the entire album, was featured in the 2007 film Juno.

The album received a four-star review from Rolling Stone.

The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and press materials is simply "Carpenters", without the definite article. During a period in the 1970s when louder and wilder rock was in great demand, Richard and Karen produced a distinctively soft musical style that made them one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

The Carpenters' melodic pop charted a record-breaking score of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming leading sellers in thesoft rock, easy listening and adult contemporary genres. The Carpenters had three #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen #1 hits on the Adult Contemporary Chart (see The Carpenters discography). In addition, they had twelve top 10 singles (including their #1 hits). To date, The Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million units.

During their fourteen-year career, The Carpenters recorded eleven albums, five of which contained top 10 singles (Close to You, Carpenters, A Song for You, Now & Then and Horizon), thirty-one singles, five television specials, and one short-lived television series. They toured in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan,Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium. Their recording career ended with Karen's death on February 4, 1983. Karen passed away due to a cardiac arrest due to complications of anorexia nervosa. Extensive news coverage of the circumstances surrounding her death increased public awareness of the consequences of eating disorders.