(They Long To Be) Close To You/ I Kept On Loving You

Here's a beautiful copy of the song that launched a thousand voices (that's about how many Richard Carpenter layered into each vocal track). :-) It wasn't their first single, but it was their first hit, and it's specially edited from a 4:34 album track (about a minute longer). Interestingly, the B side features Richard doing lead vocals on a decidedly upbeat, sunshine-pop style number. 'Course, when the layering starts, I can hear several dozen Karens in the lineup. My wife says she likes it better than the hit side. Note: This 45 record comes in a vintage A&M Records factory sleeve. it grades very close to Mint across the board (Labels, Vinyl (styrene), Audio). (This scan is a representative image from our archives.)