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Really? Wow. I read all the letters (albeit, some time ago), but I somehow missed that.One of the fan club newsletters in the 80s stated that the VOTH cover was the original album cover and even posted a picture of it.
That's so cool that you got to see it! Me? Envious? Uh...I can see A&M going back and forth on it, but the version I saw in person was similar to what we ended up getting i.e., similar to that eBay item above.
Oh, no, it would have merely disappeared.....no stealing at all.I could barely believe it myself! If ever I wanted to steal something, that would have been it.
One of the fan club newsletters in the 80s stated that the VOTH cover was the original album cover and even posted a picture of it.
The Karen Carpenter solo project really divides Carpenters fans, love or hate it, the debate continues, and so it should. Amazing to think the solo project was conceived at what was the lowest point of their career, Richard in rehab and Karen on a path of self destruction.
1979 should have a year of celebration for Richard and Karen, they had achieved so much with A&M Records in those ten years. The solo project presented too many unknowns for A&M in LA, who were they really trying to protect? Richard or Karen? We will never know, we can speculate and dissect every little bit of evidence, but one thing that can't be denied is the amount of interest the solo project has raised. This has never ceased to amaze me as the project almost seemed destined to remain locked in the vaults for ever.
I do celebrate what Karen tried to achieve during her project with Phil Ramone, it was filled with hope and deserved to be heard, and luckily we eventually did get to hear it.
My question is - if Karen hadn't passed on, would any of the material of the album have seen the light of day? On one hand, she continued to love it (as she stated to Phil in 1983), but on the other, much of the material is dated and would not have found a receptive audience if released later (as 1996 showed). Would Karen herself, being the perfectionist she was, have kept it (or at least most of it) on the shelf forever? Sometimes tells me she would have.
As an aside, I noticed this week that Karen's album isn't available on Spotify while the rest of the Carpenters catalogue is. It was released on A&M just like all the others, so I wonder why?
For me these "what if"s could go so many different ways. We think we can project a particular outcome based on what actually did happen. So it's very easy to think that, had the solo album been released, it would have changed the outcome. But I'm not convinced that's the case at all. Of course, this is pure conjecture on my part. But if the solo album had been released, and remembering the especially cruel environment into which it would have been released (SNL and its ilk, with increasingly cynical comments being made by comics and celebrity reporters), one wonders if the kind of media bashing and/or lack of commercial success that could have resulted would have been equally devastating to Karen ... just in a different way.The fact that the album is a great “What-If” is the reason it sparks debate. If it had been released could KC have been saved from her fate? If had been released would it have signaled a change in the Carpenters sound and the public perception of them? The conflicting stories from Richard, Herb and Jerry and the continued insistence on the now discredited line that “she didn’t like it” only adds to the mystique. Why continue to say things that the public now knows to be half-truths at best? Perhaps guilt plays a part, but that is only conjecture. We do know that for at least two of those men (RC and Herb) Karen’s absence is still clearly felt 30+ years later. And for an album that was so clearly rejected, one of the 11 original songs (“Make Believe It’s Your First Time”) ended up differently arranged on MIA, and not one, not two, not three, but four album cuts made it to Lovelines in 1989, when Richard had at least enough vaulted material at that point to put in non-solo Carpenters outtakes/material instead. Perhaps even RC and/or A&M had a change of mind about the worth of some of the material they supposedly listened to in “stony silence” (according to Phil Ramone) less than a decade before? Who knows?
For me these "what if"s could go so many different ways. We think we can project a particular outcome based on what actually did happen. So it's very easy to think that, had the solo album been released, it would have changed the outcome. But I'm not convinced that's the case at all. Of course, this is pure conjecture on my part. But if the solo album had been released, and remembering the especially cruel environment into which it would have been released (SNL and its ilk, with increasingly cynical comments being made by comics and celebrity reporters), one wonders if the kind of media bashing and/or lack of commercial success that could have resulted would have been equally devastating to Karen ... just in a different way.
I know what people will say: Karen was used to media rejection and slippage in commercial sales. True, but she was used to that with the Carpenters. This solo album was her baby. So I believe that any kind of rejection of her baby would have been hurtful to her. If that's the case, then the outcome might have been the same either way. She still might have ended up with Mr. Wrong, with the subsequent deterioration in her health. There are just too many variables that we will never know. I'm as guilty as the next person of wanting to project a "happy ending" for Karen, but I also believe there's no way of knowing what, if anything, would have fundamentally changed had her solo album been released.
...the album should have been released. We would not be playing the what if game so many years later. Thank you.I think that's the point though. The possible 'what if?' path that might have resulted if the solo album had been released couldn't have been any worse than the scenario that ended up playing itself out following the cancellation of the album.
It's possible that it may have been equally bad (although that's the worst-case scenario), but it would certainly have been different, and with each difference in the scenario, there's a chance each facet that did go wrong (disastrous marriage, commercial failure of Made in America and the ultimate sadness of 1983) might have gone better or at least less wrong. One thing's almost certain is that while Karen may still have ended up with a Mr Wrong if the solo album had been released, but in all likelihood she wouldn't have ended up with *that* Mr Wrong at that particular time.
I appreciate this is something of an exercise in futility, as what happened happened, for good or (as it seems) ill, but to say that things would have been no better had the solo album been put out is to me like saying that if Karen had rolled the dice again at that stage, she was guaranteed to throw a 1. She might have thrown a 1 again, but there was a much better chance of her throwing a 2 or higher.
Does anyone know if this was a promo issued to radio stations before Karen's solo album was officially released? I've never seen a cover for Karen's solo album look like this one and there is no mention on the front or the disc front of any promo markings. The disc looks exactly like the U.S. release. I wonder if Karen's photo is on the back of this jewel case?
KAREN CARPENTER - 1996-CD »
I have sent an email to the ebayer asking if they could upload a photo of the back of the jewel case. I'm curious if there is a photo at all of Karen.
Is it odd that the artwork would have been decided on so late before release or maybe this is a months in advance copy.
Ahh I didn't catch that yeah you may be right, I also asked the seller what they know about this release so we'll see if they respond.Yeah, my point is that I believe the second picture IS the back of a closed jewel case, with the CD facing outward instead of inward.
Look at the right side. It's just a standard clear spine - on the right side. The white area underneath is just the backside of the green front insert.
Harry
eil.com,
in its description of this item says:
"...Custom title insert with tracklisting on reverse."
Karen Carpenter Karen Carpenter US Promo CD album (CDLP) (113768) »