Karen's Solo album

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Naw, he didn't do it. He would have wanted money for it.

Well, who's to say that he didn't GET money for it? Hmmm? It would have then been in someone else's hands - perhaps the first then to spread the wealth around as the tracks began to reach the public-at-large.

Harry
 
I thought it was established the unfinished tracks were leaked out when master tapes were being moved around between vaults in 2000, when Polydor bought A&M from Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.
 
Polygram bought A&M in 1989. Universal bought PolyGram in the late '90s.

Harry
 
...not much of a mystery if you look into the people who post often and combine it with true last names.
I am just saying..., and that is all that I am saying. It does not take a forensic troubleshooter to total the equation.
 
Ok! Well, maybe these same people can release the remaining tracks in the vault, like "Thank You For The Music" and whatever else is in there! I'd be grateful, as would thousands!
 
Ok! Well, maybe these same people can release the remaining tracks in the vault, like "Thank You For The Music" and whatever else is in there!

I have to say, based on their performance on 'The Tonight Show' in 1978, I wouldn't be bothered if they didn't release this track. Karen's reading of it is not very good at all, her voice doesn't suit the song, she doesn't have blonde hair so that line always jars with me, and the live version is pretty spartan when it actually needs to be a big rousing choir in the chorus. Heaven forbid Richard ever does put it out and use the OK Chorale for that purpose!
 
Richard did say something to the effect that Benny & Bjorn's (i.e., ABBA guys) version was the definitive one, and that implies that anything else would just be a somewhat pale or inferior version...
 
Given the success that so many people involved with the Solo Project endured in the early eighties after 02/04/83...:idea:would she have made it, I wonder if that would have been enough for Karen (and possibly Rich) to re-evaluate and explore -if not the solo project- the musical direction it was heading. I believe KC was on to something and while this initial release would have not "lit" up the charts, would a "thriller" be that far off if KC fueled it?
 
That is the hard part because we will never know if her album could have charted big. I personally believe some of the songs would have charted. If she had a good marketing team pushing it then it could have done quite well.

Now if Karen had released the album and she had the marketing team of Taylor Swift it would have sold millions. Taylor has the worst voice in country music yet she is marketed to the public so much that the public looks past the fact that she can't really sing and embraces her.

We are left with reviewing Karen's album well after it was recorded and say oh it would not have made it. The music became dated by then.
 
I've often wondered if the delay in release- instead of putting the solo set out in October 83- was actually a desire to distance Karen and her solo work with the obvious chart possibilities from Karen as part of the Carpenters as a duo. The solol album would have sounded contemporary in 1983, not so much in 1996.
 
Given the success that so many people involved with the Solo Project endured in the early eighties after 02/04/83...:idea:would she have made it, I wonder if that would have been enough for Karen (and possibly Rich) to re-evaluate and explore -if not the solo project- the musical direction it was heading. I believe KC was on to something and while this initial release would have not "lit" up the charts, would a "thriller" be that far off if KC fueled it?

The fact that Phil Ramone was on a hot streak at the time leads me to think her album might have gotten a little more attention than some fans believe. Also think the female half of MOR duos (Carpenters, Captain & Tennille, Sonny & Cher, Donny & Marie) generally enjoyed a bit more latitude with their image than the men. Separate them from the guy and suddenly, it was safe to like them. That was the impression I got at the time. I was a college sophomore at the time Karen was recording her LP.

Richard's opinion had to have weighed into A&M's decision, purely from a business perspective. Do you release her album knowing that the press will be asking him what he thinks of his sister's album, and knowing his response probably won't be flattering? What's that going to do to their ability to continue as a team? Kind of wonder if that wasn't an "oops" the label hadn't considered, and they couldn't think of a way out.

Just some rambling, useless conjecture on my part.
 
I like useless rambling! :)
Besides, I'm sure Richard would have thought on something nice to say about her album to the press. Maybe "Karen has one of the best voices of all time, and I very much like Phil Ramone's work. It was a great opportunity for them to work together. " Correct, honest, but shrewd as well.
 
Would Karen not have had demo cassettes sent to her bfotre she selected which recdings to pursue for her solo album - it would be nice to hear how some of these sounded when the songwriter submitted them for possible selection by a recording artist

.......How did Karens solo performances (unreleased even now) find themselves into the public domain ?
 
Someone on here may correct me if I'm wrong, but it was rumoured that an A&M Engineer copied the solo master tapes before A&M was closed down/sold (can't remember which).

Karen demo'd hundreds of songs with Phil Ramone on the car journey to and from the studios every day. I guess there may be demos of songs out there but unless their demos of Karen singing I'm not that interested lol :)
 
Had Karen been up to it, physically and more important, emotionally, she should have told A&M it didn't matter what Richard thought of her album. Period. Release it. And if A&M still didn't want to release the album, Karen should have pushed for an out in her contract to release the solo album on another label (Maybe Curb?).We know she wasn't strong enough to do that. Had it been released, Richard would have glossed over his comments as both of them always did when the tough questions came in interviews.
 
I still think if this were to have been released it AND DONE WELL (mind) that it would have definitely boosted her confidence up and maybe have even opened her up to her disorder and seeked help sooner? Who knows really.
 
I still think if this were to have been released it AND DONE WELL (mind) that it would have definitely boosted her confidence up and maybe have even opened her up to her disorder and seeked help sooner? Who knows really.
I totally agree with Masqueraded. Richard claimed that Karen looked like hell when she came back to CA. Maybe that was the reason why. I love the solo album and understand where she was going. I also understand her conundrum.
 
What I should have realized then, although I don’t know if A&M would have gone for it, is that “Christmas Portrait” is Karen’s album, and should have been titled accordingly, not Carpenters. (I did oversee the mixes, of course, but that falls under production.)
...I do not buy this for one second. ...."folks put runners on their surreys, and forget about their worries" is Richard enough for me. The siblings harmonies and Richards attentive ear and talents do not make this a Karen solo.
 
"Christmas Portrait" should have been credited to "Carpenters, featuring the Peter Knight Orchestra and the Tom Bahler Chorale" or something to that effect -- which would have signaled music buyers to the prominence of the chorale and orchestra throughout. You're almost five minutes into the album before you even hear Karen.
 
...almost Happy Birthday Karen. I truly believe that the timely release of you awesome solo album would have been life changing. Place the emphasis on life. :) Your lifetime devoted friend.
 
...I was just watching an old Barry Manilow Interview with Dionne Warwick. Dionne was smoking. LOL. They recorded her 'comeback' album at the same time that Karen was recording with Phil Ramone. I wish that Barry had had the opportunity to produce Karen. I am not dissing the album, just saying...
 
...I was just watching an old Barry Manilow Interview with Dionne Warwick. Dionne was smoking. LOL. They recorded her 'comeback' album at the same time that Karen was recording with Phil Ramone. I wish that Barry had had the opportunity to produce Karen. I am not dissing the album, just saying...

There's another Barry that I wish had produced Karen's album....Barry Gibb. Phil did the best he could with the hand he was dealt (in Jerry Moss' words, A&M weren't throwing him a lot of songs for the project) but Barry had that familial connection as he was also part of a family group so he understood that 'unspoken bond' that Karen had with her brother and at the same time he was/is also an outstanding producer. I think had the Bee Gees written songs for her album and Barry had produced it, A&M may have been faced with a product that was too good not to release.
 
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