Open letter to Richard Carpenter- Legacy

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JAZZ4JEFF

JAZZ4JEFF

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Dear Richard:

Thank you for almost 40 years of incredible music. The music you created with Karen has been the soundtrack to our lives. We can never thank you for bringing so much music into our lives.

However, it is with appreciation and admiration that I question the future of the Carpenters legacy. You have graciously gone into the vaults to release many unreleased tunes over the years. You cooperated with Ray Coleman’s biography of the Carpenters, and also created a PBS Special. You teamed up with alternative artists to create a cover disc of your tunes. However, this was all years ago.

For an artist to be relevant, you have to continue to reinvent yourself to a new generation. The Carpenters legacy has been stagnate for most of this decade. Just look at the ways the estates of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Elvis Presley continue to market their music in new forms and directions. Just this year, Sinatra released a book of home photos and a five CD box set of live performances from Las Vegas. Dean Martin’s family took his original recordings and created new duets with popular artists like Chris Botti, Kevin Spacey, and Martina McBride. The Elvis estate released a film box set, new live recordings, and an ABC special featuring artists singing his tunes. The Carpenters deserve the same treatment.

With each passing year, the Carpenters legacy dwindles. While I understand your desire to stay home and raise your very talented family, there is no need for your music to fade away. There are live concerts you could release as a CD box set. All of your ABC specials should be released on DVD. The Captain & Tennille are having great success and media attention with their ABC network specials just released on DVD. In fact, a Carpenters live DVD has never been released in the United States. Maybe even a short summer tour of “The greatest love songs of the 70’s” headlining you with a full orchestra. Or, maybe just symphony concerts with local orchestras. If you don’t have plans to finish your solo Christmas CD, maybe add the finished tracks to a new edition of “Christmas portrait”? There are so many ways to market your legacy.

The music of the Carpenters needs to be seen & heard. You have control to expose this incredible music to an entire new generation. Please don’t continue to let your legacy lie dormant. You have a gift and the world needs to re-discover the Carpenters.

Thank you for everything,
 
Jeff,

That was well written. I wish Richard would "clean up" those remaining unreleased tracks from Karen's solo album. He keeps saying they are not finished. They sound pretty good to me. With very little work, he could re-release the Karen Carpenter solo album with the unreleased tracks. He would probably have to put it on two discs.

Michael
 
I thought all previous Carpenter songs have been released already, in one way or the other. The only other thing to be released are the t.v. specials, which Richard will not release. If you are a Carpenter completist, then you would want the television specials. I myself, am a Fifth Dimension completist and was so happy they decided to release "The Travelling Sunshine Show" tacky and corny as it may be. I at least have it for my collection. Richard should really re-consider the whole idea. Captain & Tennille and Tony Orlando & Dawn have done really well with their DVD releases.
 
Stealing a page from Barry Manilow...do you know how well Richard could do with an appearance on QVC simply selling the catalog CDs?

---Michael Hagerty
 
It will be interesting to see what Richard's children do with Carpenters' legacy. I have a feeling that Richard could be waiting until they're old enough to take the reins...
 
My guess:
In 2008 Richard will release his new Christmas album. There will be songs featuring other artists like Petula Clark, songs featuring his children and the final track wil be Karen singing AVE MARIA by Schubert.

Why 2008? It it the 25th anniversary of Karen's passing.

Bruno
 
Maybe he will consider doing a Christmas Special on t.v. with Petula & the Carpenter children. I have the Petula Live DVD and Richard guest stars on that.
 
A 2008 Christmas album could then set the stage for 40th Anniversary releases of "Offering/Ticket To Ride" in 2009, "Close To You" in 2010, "Carpenters" in 2011 and so on.

---Michael Hagerty
 
Now this is the kind of thread that I like to read. The promise of future unheard music. Here in Pa they are calling for a few snowflakes and every year at this time I brace myself for a season of CARPENTERS. I wonder if Karen had any idea of the Seasonal legacy that she and her bro' left. Probably not, but I'd like to think so.
 
Soooo true about Christmas Waltz! I don't even like the song unless Karen is the vocalist. No one else truly captures the 3/4 time the same way!
 
There are countless Artists I wish I could write a similar letter to if it meant just more CD Reissues of their Long-Lost works...



Dave
 
You know, Michael, several years back Richard WAS on QVC trying to promote his new album (instrumental, not Time). I think he was on an hour or more with Mary Beth Rowe as host. She was terrific with him, but he came across as stilted. The worst part of it was that he would take no calls from viewers. If he had only opened up a little, I think he would have done much better. Overall sales were not overwhelmingly large and he never made another appearance. I, for one, would have called in and tried to get on the air to talk to him. I can understand and sympathize with his reluctance. You never know just what people would have asked and, perhaps, opened up a topic he didn't want to discuss.

Marilyn
 
I am glad this topic started some conversations.

However, I think Richard has done a great deal providing us with unreleased tracks. The fact that he released Karen's solo album at all is terrific. While there are more in the vault, they really would not bring the Carpenters back to the mass audience.

I hope Richard looks at the success this holiday season of Barry Manilow's box set of his first 5 TV specials. It is currently #5 for best selling TV sets. It was released thru Rhino at a very reasonable price ($29.95)

There is a mass audience out there for Karen & Richard. They just have to be reminded.
 
I'm not sure a reminder would make too much difference. I remember one time when John Denver was on the Tonight Show. He said, "I always wondered why I would have sellout concerts all the time, but my new albums don't sell very well...it finally dawned on me that people might have six or seven John Denver albums in their collection -- they don't WANT any more John Denver albums! They still want to hear the old songs."

While the Carpenters do have a gigantic audience, not all of them are looking for new stuff. So it's easy to see why Richard has to carefully consider the business aspects of releasing more "vault" material.
 
True. Between having the original albums out there for years, plus some carefully crafted compilations like SINGLES and GOLD, most fans' needs are easily met with what already IS out there.

Whatever is left in the vault is probably not of sufficient quality to re-generate Carpenters careers at this stage of the game. Most of us have heard the Karen Carpenter solo tracks that were discarded, and while, for us die-hard fans, it's always a thrill to hear Karen singing anything, the fact is that the overall public wouldn't likely be interested in any of it at all.

By the same token, if there's another version of "Ave Maria" out there, its inclusion on a future Christmas album would be a fabulous capper.

Harry
 
I think this is an important thread, I have waited before posting to read others thoughts. We have been in a sorta lull period from Richard these past few years, with the most important release being the Japan Singles Collection Box set released in Japan, however we heard very little from Richard toward the press regarding this release except for the short liner notes that was it, I don't think it was even mentioned on his official site about this yet important singles collection. As a fan I consider this release very important because for those in the US we may not see this materialize so I am glad to have picked this up.

I wish Richard would become more proactive towards a final Christmas release of Carpenters on DVD, it could be packaged with an audio CD of Christmas Portait. If handled correctly could be marketed very well. Each year I dig out my worn out VHS copies transfered to DVD-R of the Christmas Specials, Christmas Portrait ABC tv specials, they are barely watchable being a copy of a copy of a copy..audio fading in and out, yet I could not live without them visually. How I long for a clear clean presentation of these Christmas specials, I feel Karen deserves this, I'm not demanding anything, I just feel she is worthy of a really special Christmas release on DVD, Christmas was very special to Karen. I am suprised after all these years the performance of Merry Christmas Darling taken from the Christmas TV Special has never showed up on a DVD compilation...somewhere. That performance alone warrants a release on DVD and extracted from the TV special it runs like an official video, when the snows starts to fall while Karen is at the mailbox just fits the song ending.

I pray this thread could somehow makes it's way to Richard and that sometime in the near future he may re-consider releasing some of the tracks on DVD of their Christmas specials.

Jeff, thanks for taking the time to post this thread, I agree with your comments.
 
How on earth did you ever get the 70's t.v specials on VHS? Didn't the VCR come out in the 80's? I have noticed other older 60's and 70's television programs making it to video and I stil can't figure out how people get a hold of these.
 
All the questions you all have asked RC about re-releasing recordings, videos, TV specials, etc. I have wondered the same thing about a lot of artists.

Maybe the A&M years are an old chapter in his life and he has enough money, and other interests to keep him busy.

later.........Jay
 
JMAR5 said:
How on earth did you ever get the 70's t.v specials on VHS? Didn't the VCR come out in the 80's? I have noticed other older 60's and 70's television programs making it to video and I stil can't figure out how people get a hold of these.
Click to expand...

Home video recorders like VHS and Beta became popular in the later '70s. I personally had one around late '77/early '78 and actually taped some of those Carpenters specials. Unfortunately, because the cost of the blank tapes were so high, the tapes got re-used when something "more important" came along. So I had to rely on copies that others had managed to save.

Video trading has gone on for years and these old tapes have made the rounds - and are doing so again as people transfer them to DVD and trade them all over again.

The '60s and earlier '70s stuff is trickier. There people had to know people who work or worked in television and have access to the tapes that the stations still have lying around, making VHS dubs or DVDs of them and put them into the trading circuit. That's why when you DO find something from that earlier era, it's likely to still have original commercial material still in there.

There were also a few video enthusiasts out there with expensive home VTR machines able to make copies from the airwaves, and those also add to what's available from that era.

Harry
 
I bought my vcr on wednesday Dec 7 1977. It was over $1000-. I bought it because I had just recently been made aware of home vcrs and on Friday December 9th the Carpenters Christmas Special was to be broadcast. The vhs tapes were about $23- and would hold four hours of material.
I still have that first tape and the Carpenters Christmas special is still on it. I have dubbed it over to a dvd-r, but the first tapes made were much higher quality than the ones by the mid 80s and the Christmas special is still very viewable on my tape.
Yes I would like to see all of the specials on DVD but I certainly understand where Richard might not be pleased with what some people would consider the "cheeseiness" of this era. Harvy Korman and Kuka Fran and Ollie may be fine in some ways but they were even then kinda odd choices for the first Christmas special, I love the musical numbers, but I can seriously put myself in Richaerd's place and think I wouldn't want to release these shows in their entirity. Actually Georgia Engall and Jimmy and Kristy McNichol were also questionable guests for the second special.
Gene Kelly was an excellent choice but I'm not sure that the Carpenters really were given the choice of who their guest stars would be. But yes I'd like for them to be released and I understand where Richard might balk at the idea. Since June 1970 I have had a favorite musical group and it has never changed, but I certainly think Richard is and should be the final say so on all things "Carpenters"
 
Hello everyone, Newbie here...
I too am a fan of all things Carpenters. Even got to meet them up close and personal once, back in August of 1977. :badteeth:

Regarding the release of the Christmas special to DVD, a thought crosses my mind and may perhaps have crossed RC's thus not releasing to DVD.
K's illness was becoming very apparent by this point. All anyone need do is watch or view the photos of the "Ave Maria" segment. While her voice is impeccable, she looks emaciated.
Please don't flame me for this observation. I loved her so much and miss her terribly, but it is a fact. It may be too painful for him to release these images of her as she neared the end of her life.

Again, just an observation. :goofygrin:

ML
 
It may be too painful for him to release these images of her as she neared the end of her life.
Click to expand...

I unerstand what you mean, but if that was the case, he wouldn't have released any of the 1981 promo songs. She looks a lot worse then than she did in 1978.

Stephen
 
I remember thinking the same thing when I watched Music Music Music for the 1st time. It was before I knew she had this problem and I thought she was way too skinny
 
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