It takes a silver-tongued person just to speak those words in "Knowing When to Leave," let alone sing them, and thus I know that I am not silver-tongued.
You rightly point out that Karen Carpenter's singing skill extends to far more than singing slow ballads.
I wasn't really familiar with this Bacharach-David medley until pretty late in the game. Growing up in my household, we had A Song for You; Now & Then; The Singles 1969-1973 and Horizon (it was 8-track tape back then). I listened to these four albums a lot on my parents' stereo as a young kid and really came to know those songs. I especially loved the oldies medley from Now & Then. My family didn't have the self-titled Carpenters album from 1971 that features this Bacharach/David medley. Furthermore, the medley isn't included in Gold: Greatest Hits or Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (in which Richard Carpenter was heavily involved). I didn't get the self-titled album until only a few years ago, so I didn't hear the Bacharach-David medley until more recently. The medley very splendidly showcases many aspects of the Carpenters' musical talent, such as the close harmonies in those "whoa, whoa, whoas."
Only this year did I get the A Kind of Hush and Lovelines albums. This was in part due to watching short-form videos by Tori Holub covering songs that I realized that I didn't even know. Tori knows her Carpenters, that's for sure, which find impressive in a 21-year-old in this day and age. The music that she chooses to cover at TikTok shows she is well-versed and has good taste in music.
Steverino