Another Son
Well-Known Member
Two of my favourites out of Karen Carpenter's unreleased solo tracks are 'Midnight' and 'I Do It For Your Love'. I also think that she could have done a brilliant job with 'Something's Missing In My Life' with another take or two. I prefer American-Australian singer Marcia Hine's version of 'Something's Missing', which was a big hit in Australia in 1979. However, I think that the song was perfect for Karen and if she'd finished her version with a polished vocal, it would have been sublime. (I believe what we've heard is a rough work vocal; not a finished product). ((I also have the Paul Jabara and Donna Summer version of the song, which is quite okay)). I love the story-telling style of the lyrics of 'I Do It For Your Love' and Karen tells the tale wonderfully. It's interesting that two Paul Simon songs were recorded. Seeing as both original versions were on the same Paul Simon album, (from memory), clearly Karen would only have been able to include one on her album. Info about 'Still Crazy After All These Years' was used to stir up interest in Karen's solo ventures during recording. Even in Australia, in 1979, we got the news, "Karen Carpenter is recording a solo album and it will include a version of Paul Simon's 'Still Crazy After All These Years'. If 'Midnight' had been a single in 1979 / 1980, I would have rushed out and bought it, and loved it. There are a couple of other unreleased solo songs from the project that I really like. I think 'Truly You' is one of them. (I haven't listened to the tracks for a while). I agree with what a few people have said in this discussion - that 'Keep My Love Light Burning' could have been a single. In reference to 'Don't Try To Win Me Back Again', I have Vicki-Sue Robinson's version from a couple of years before and it's more gritty and believable than Karen's. One of my main disappointments with the solo material is that the beautiful deep, full, rich tones in Karen's voice that we hear on Carpenters recordings are missing, (except for in a couple of places). And although Karen sounds beautiful when she sings high on Carpenters recordings such as the upper regions of 'Ave Maria', 'Now' and 'Love Is Surrender', that fantastic vocal quality is missing in most of the higher-placed sections of the solo album, I feel. Also, I wonder if Karen's public would have wanted to see her projected in the sexual light that she seems to have aimed for during the solo project. On the unreleased tracks, there are a couple of thinly veiled references to 'cumming', for example, ("You know how easily I'd come", from 'Don't Try To Win Me Back'), and 'Love Making Love To You' is overtly suggestive, ('Get it while it's hot' and something like, 'Give me all you've got'; I can't remember the exact words). I can understand what some people have said in this thread - that Karen was going for a new direction and was trying for a new image, but I wonder whether it all would have worked had the material been released at the time. On a different note, there was a review of a Carpenters concert where the reviewer criticised Karen of singing prissily rather than naturally. She doesn't do that on Carpenters recordings, but she does it quite a bit on the solo stuff. I wonder whether it was because she was so physically weak and unwell. Perhaps she just didn't have her previous vocal strength and depth. Getting back to what I like about the solo recordings, apart from 'Love Making Love to You' and 'Jimmy Mack', I prefer most of the unreleased tracks to the ones that were released. My personal opinion, though, is that the solo stuff is generally below the standard that Karen was capable of. I feel that if Karen had come back with a totally different approach, a different bunch of songs and maybe a different producer, she could have come up with something stunning. That's my opinion. I guess it's all a matter of personal taste.
