All songs arranged by Richard Carpenter and Laythan Armor, except * arranged by Richard Carpenter
* written by Richard Carpenter and Pamela Phillips Oland
Canadian CD release
Veronique is sort of half-way between Scott Grimes and Akiko. It is less "Carpenters"-sounding than Akiko (both in production style and vocal sound), but it isn't quite as ambitious in its "pop" styling as Scott Grimes.
Canadian singer Veronique Beliveau does not sound like Karen. She has a fairly unique sound, actually; the closest pop singer I can think of to compare her voice to is Sheena Easton. However, like Akiko, English is not her first language, although her French accent isn't nearly as heavy as Akiko's Japanese accent.
There are very few ballads on this album. Most of the songs are up-tempo, very pop-oriented. Unfortunately, many of the songs are also rather forgettable. The song I find most interesting is "One of Us," a cover of the ABBA song -- I'm just fascinated by Richard's take on an ABBA song. There is a lot of vocal layering here, and overall it's a much more interesting song than most of the others on the CD.
Most Carpenters-like on this album is the final track, "All Those Years Ago" (which is the only song on the album written by Richard). Complete with an oboe solo by Earle Dumler, this song could have fit right in on a late Carpenters album:
"All Those Years Ago" turned up as an instrumental on Richard's second solo album, and has subsequently been re-made by Petula Clark (with Richard).
This CD was only released in Canada, and it has been out-of-print for years now, making it is quite scarce,.
Return to the Carpenters Album Index.