I saw an interesting post on the Ice Magazine forum and thought I would copy it below. I had asked the person who posted if he was a relative of Richards because he had Christmas dinner with him. He isn't but his 1st and 2nd posting are below.
Scott B
I actually sat next to Richard Carpenter at a
Christmas dinner a few years back, as he was
putting together that rarities set. We had a long
chat about what he was up to, and at one point he
actually mentioned wanting to "set the record
straight" about the band via a new compilation
from across their whole career after he finished
the rarities releases. That, plus his well-known
fussiness about sound / recording / mixing would
lead me to believe that this box set will take full
advantage of recent advances in mastering -
though I don't have specific info.
It's a little surprising that they've decided to
basically update a box set (it's not much different
at all, just expanded), so it seems unlikely that
there wouldn't be a lot of big improvements -
though the first box wasn't bad.
2nd Post
Oh no, not at all, it was a Christmas dinner for
Almo / Irving / Rondor songwriters put on by
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. I've bumped into
Richard a few times, and I've always sort of
laughed at what a genuinely nice fellow he seems
to be - somewhat awkward and a little nervous,
but way enthusiastic about talking about his music
(or music in general). It's very much the opposite
of what I've heard about him (that he was difficult
and mean), though I can imagine he could be
pretty tyrannical in the studio getting the sounds
right and all. Based on my meetings with him, I
consider him a real visionary who had an intensely
precise idea of what he wanted, but didn't get the
respect other visionaries might have simply
because the Carpenters' music was considered kind
of weak or lame or soppy or what have you. I've
met musicians who worked with him and don't
talk about him in any less glowing a manner than
they would about Brian Wilson or someone.
Another interesting thing was that I asked him
why, when he was obviously (from our
conversation) still so involved in music, did he not
engage in higher profile activities? He said
although he did a lot of things, but was still
waiting for the right kind of foil to come along to
do something really big - the obvious implication
being that he hasn't found as unique as his sister
to work with yet.
Scott B
I actually sat next to Richard Carpenter at a
Christmas dinner a few years back, as he was
putting together that rarities set. We had a long
chat about what he was up to, and at one point he
actually mentioned wanting to "set the record
straight" about the band via a new compilation
from across their whole career after he finished
the rarities releases. That, plus his well-known
fussiness about sound / recording / mixing would
lead me to believe that this box set will take full
advantage of recent advances in mastering -
though I don't have specific info.
It's a little surprising that they've decided to
basically update a box set (it's not much different
at all, just expanded), so it seems unlikely that
there wouldn't be a lot of big improvements -
though the first box wasn't bad.
2nd Post
Oh no, not at all, it was a Christmas dinner for
Almo / Irving / Rondor songwriters put on by
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. I've bumped into
Richard a few times, and I've always sort of
laughed at what a genuinely nice fellow he seems
to be - somewhat awkward and a little nervous,
but way enthusiastic about talking about his music
(or music in general). It's very much the opposite
of what I've heard about him (that he was difficult
and mean), though I can imagine he could be
pretty tyrannical in the studio getting the sounds
right and all. Based on my meetings with him, I
consider him a real visionary who had an intensely
precise idea of what he wanted, but didn't get the
respect other visionaries might have simply
because the Carpenters' music was considered kind
of weak or lame or soppy or what have you. I've
met musicians who worked with him and don't
talk about him in any less glowing a manner than
they would about Brian Wilson or someone.
Another interesting thing was that I asked him
why, when he was obviously (from our
conversation) still so involved in music, did he not
engage in higher profile activities? He said
although he did a lot of things, but was still
waiting for the right kind of foil to come along to
do something really big - the obvious implication
being that he hasn't found as unique as his sister
to work with yet.