Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends--Snow Queen (1967)

     Roger Nichols, Muccay MacLeod and his sister Melinda MacLeod comprised the group, "The Small Circle of Friends". Signed to A&M records, Nichols composed several songs with Tony Asher, fresh off of his working with Brian Wilson on the album, "Pet Sounds". Looking back, the songwriting lineup was impressive with songs by Van Dyke Parks, Lenny Waronker, and Randy Newman. One of the shining songs on an album of strong ones was "Snow Queen" written by Jerry Goffin and Carole King.

     Over 45 years after it's release the sounds so familiar even though none of the songs became hits, and the album sunk not too slowly into the sunset. The reason came because of a decision made by co-owner of A&M, Herb Alpert. There was something about Nichols writing that Alpert thought potentially profitable, so he was hired on to the record company as a songwriter. It was here that Nichols met Paul Williams.

     The pair went on to success with a number of hits for the Carpenters (who's musical sound was very close to Nichols'), including, "We've Only Just Begun", "I Won't Last A Day Without You", and "Rainy Days and Mondays". Thus it's not a stretch that this album from 1967 was one of the templates of California soft rock.

     

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The Carpenters--Hurting Each Other (1972)

     It was 1972 when The Carpenters reached number two with this song, becoming easily the biggest charting version of the song, but it has had an interesting recorded history.
     Written by Gary Geld and Peter Udell in 1965, it was first recorded by Jimmy Clanton later that year on Mala Records. This version (which has a more urgent sound) reminds you of something The Righteous Brothers would have recorded. The Walker Brothers recorded a version in 1966 that had a similar feel. Chad Allen & the Reflections, which was the early version of The Guess Who put a bit more of a pop twist to it.  It was released in Canada in early 1966 and reached the top 20.

     The earliest version of the tune in the form we know it by now comes from the singer Ruth Lewis in 1966. Notice how the urgency of the music has been smoothed out and it has become more of a ballad.

     A later version by Ruby and the Romantics in 1969 attempted to split the difference with a bossa nova style verse and a more straightforward ballad chorus. You can find this on You Tube, but to me, all of the energy was taken out of the song going back and forth. It might have been the version to break through on the US charts if it had made up it's mind where it was going.
     It wasn't until the Carpenters took the song that it became a massive hit and looking back at the other versions it was easy to see why. Richard took the urgency out of the music and gave it their patented soft rock sheen. It was replaced by the heartbreaking sadness of Karen's voice. It was a perfect marriage of lyric to voice and one of their best.

    

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The Carpenters--We've Only Just Begun (1970)

      The suits at Crocker National Bank of California wanted something different. The desire was to plan an advertising campaign that was appealing to young couples, but at the same time, desired to steer clear of traditional jingles.  The bank enlisted the songwriting team of Roger Nichols and Paul Williams to write a song that conveyed the feelings of a newly married couple. The plan was to play the song over the film footage, a concept that was fairly new to advertising.

     Late one night, Richard Carpenter was watching TV when the ad came on the air, he immediately recognized Williams voice and the next day called to inquire about it's availability. There were only two verses and no bridge at the time, but the songwriters, who had never had more than a couple of minor hits, didn't want to pass up the chance to work with one of the hottest duos in music at that time, so Williams admits that he flat out lied to Carpenter and told him it was finished. This began a series of feverish, late night sessions to complete the song as they stalled for time until it was complete.

     The song was an immediate hit with it going to #2 on the charts, and helped The Carpenters to win two Grammy's in 1971. It also propelled the career of Paul Williams as he wrote two more top 10 songs for the Carpenters (Rainy Days and Mondays, Won't Last A Day Without You), Three Dog Night (Just an Old Fashioned Love Song), Barbara Streisand (Evergreen) and others.

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