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The guitar solo in The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love": Yay or nay?


KwadGuy

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There's a tasteful/melodic extended guitar solo near the end of the Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love", played by Tony Peluso. I remember when this song came out, and there was a lot of commotion about how a full out electric guitar solo on a Carpenters record was going to offend sensitive ears. Of course, it was a big hit, and I guess those ears weren't as sensitive as believed. But some MOR stations at the time refused to play it because of that solo.

 

I've always thought the solo was good and fit the song well.

 

Some have suggested that the "searing" guitar solo in the middle of a ballad, as heard in this song, was the roadmap for later power ballads...

 

Other opinions?

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Yay

 

Fucking amazing, melodic and up there with anything produced in the last 50 years.

 

 

That solo caused major issues , Google it.

 

 

Fuck it, I'm gonna edit it some more!

 

I bought a 335 on the back of that solo after watching it being performed live at Earls Court back in the 70's. I turned off my Budgie Album ( mid-Breadfan ) and got taken to a better place by a solo in a fricking skinny bird band :facepalm:

 

 

 

Heres is the footage that turned me on

 

 

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

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Oh, Hell Yeah.

 

One of my all time favorite solos.

 

I hope we've all recovered enough from the 70's (those of us who are survivors) to acknowledge that while The Carpenters' music may be cheesy, it's brilliantly produced and arranged cheese, amazingly performed.

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I'm a big Carpenters fan, but that song was never one of my favorites.

And the solo ain't all that to me, either.

 

Karen could sing, but Richard was/is a {censored}ing GENIUS.

 

He could arrange a herd of goats farting, and it would sell a million records.

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If you're interested in the Carpenters, you should take a look at Todd Haynes's Superstar, his Karen Carpenter biopic in which all the parts are played by Barbie dolls. It's in fact a poignant and compelling movie. Because Haynes didn't get permission for the music (well, couldn't possibly have gotten permission for the music), the film is officially undistributable, but with Google and some persistence you'll find bootleg copies.

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Yea it's a nice lead. When you consider the time, everyone was looking for that compressed sound. Randy California was one of the first I knew to use that sound, he used it in many of his songs with Spirit, many other bands did the same thing. I always loved The Guess Who's "American Woman" and "No Time Left For You".

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I'm a big Carpenters fan, but that song was never one of my favorites.

And the solo ain't all that to me, either.


Karen could sing, but Richard was/is a fucking GENIUS.


He could arrange a herd of goats farting, and it would sell a million records.

 

I'd buy it! :thu:

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  • 11 years later...
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4 hours ago, Phil O'Keefe said:

I suppose it would be nice to hear an extended version, but the version on the actual recording is pretty great as-is. :) 

 

Funny I remember the album credit being a different guy. One of my favorite guitar bits regardless. Typical of the day though, if they'd let the solo run, he mighta taken all the juice out of it. 

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6 hours ago, 1001gear said:

Funny I remember the album credit being a different guy. One of my favorite guitar bits regardless. Typical of the day though, if they'd let the solo run, he mighta taken all the juice out of it. 

The solo was played by Tony Peluso.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Peluso

It was Richard Carpenter’s idea for him to play the melody for five bars, then “rip it up”, and I think that was a brilliant production decision on his part. The resulting solo is proof positive IMO that a solo doesn’t have to be long to be effective. I think what Tony did was perfect for the song.

 

 

 

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On 4/12/2020 at 11:17 AM, Phil O'Keefe said:

The solo was played by Tony Peluso.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Peluso

It was Richard Carpenter’s idea for him to play the melody for five bars, then “rip it up”, and I think that was a brilliant production decision on his part. The resulting solo is proof positive IMO that a solo doesn’t have to be long to be effective. I think what Tony did was perfect for the song.

 

 

 

To execute Richard's idea.....  jes sayin'

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