In late 1969 Burt Bacharach heard our version of 
"Ticket To Ride". This led to our being asked by Burt 
to open a benefit show he would be doing in February 
of 1970 and performing a medley of his songs. Herb 
brought an obscure Burt/David song to my attention 
during this time entitled "They long to be close to you". 
It didn't quite fit the medley but Herb felt that we should 
include it in the new album.

"Close To You" was released in late May of 1970 and 
within six weeks the song "Close To You" was number 
one. The "Close To You" album also includes "We've 
Only Just Begun", written by Roger Nichols and Paul 
Williams for a "soft sell" TV bank commercial, "Begun" 
caught my ear after seeing the commercial a few times. 
It became our third single and ultimately our signature 
song. Also featured in this album are "Help"(which was 
slated to be our second single until "Close to you" and 
four songs John Bettis and I wrote while I was still in 
college - The four songs are "Crescent Noon", "Mr. 
Guder", "Maybe It's You" and "Another Song"."

- R I C H A R D   C A R P E N T E R