Anyone read this?

What I find interesting--yet, perplexing--is:
Billboard August 16, 1975, Poll of Radio Programmers....
Polling began July 3, 1975 of 5500 subscribers,
One sees that Carpenters are doing well---winners based on highest totals
accumulated for each category---Carpenters Tops for Pop Singles Duo and Pop Album Duo.

See Here:
Billboard
 
As I remember 1975 was a good year on radio for every hit played it seemed there were three past hits also in rotation.

It was Solitaire that was the first disappointment in charting. This article was before it landed at number 17. And, There’s A Kind Of Hush did not do that bad in the trows of the disco world. It was the Hush album that was too easy, just too Lawrence Welk type in structure. It was then the Carpenters lost all but their fan base and radio play but those lost did return for the TV specials that scored well in the ratings.
 
What I find interesting--yet, perplexing--is:
Billboard August 16, 1975, Poll of Radio Programmers....
Polling began July 3, 1975 of 5500 subscribers,
One sees that Carpenters are doing well---winners based on highest totals
accumulated for each category---Carpenters Tops for Pop Singles Duo and Pop Album Duo.

See Here:
Billboard

Thanks for posting this! Aside from the curious fact about the Carpenters that you highlight, things like this are such an interesting snapshot in time; in this case the radio music world. Quite a trip down memory lane.

Question: the article shows that "Only Yesterday" spent 13 weeks on the chart, with the high shown as '4 (2)'. What is the '2', Easy Listening high? If so, I'd have thought they'd show Easy Listening highs for their other songs as well. 'Please Mr. Postman' was a #1 on the Easy Listening chart. Is the '2' something else?
 
The (2) may signify that it spent two weeks in the #4 position which is something that Billboard normally does for a hit that reaches the first or second spot on the charts. "Only Yesterday" did spent one week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts which I think would eliminate that possibility.
 
The (2) may signify that it spent two weeks in the #4 position which is something that Billboard normally does for a hit that reaches the first or second spot on the charts. "Only Yesterday" did spent one week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts which I think would eliminate that possibility.

Ah, thanks. Then that would be easily verifiable by checking whether the other songs only spent one week at their highest position (I'll check that when I have the time).
 
Heads up, Carpenters Fanatics! On the Decades Channel Nov 24 2017:

The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show - Tony Bennett, George Burns, and more "Today's episode features Tony Bennett, George Burns, Albert Almoznino, Robert Klein, Harvest Moon Ball Dance Champions, and the Carpenters."

broadcasts: 5:30pm & 11:30pm Eastern Time
 
Last edited:
Heads up, Carpenters Fanatics! On the Decades Channel Nov 24 2017:

The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show - Tony Bennett, George Burns, and more "Today's episode features Tony Bennett, George Burns, Albert Almoznino, Robert Klein, Harvest Moon Ball Dance Champions, and the Carpenters."

broadcasts: 5:30pm & 11:30pm Eastern Time
Today's episode showed clips of their first appearance performing CLOSE TO YOU and WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
 
Another pitch for the new book, from France....perhaps we will see a translation in the future,
www.franceinter.fr/emissions/pop-co/pop-co-04-decembre-2017
( If you understand French language, there is audio of a 4 minute interview.)

"With the release of Clovis Goux's book 'The Disparition of Karen Carpenter' published
by Actes Sud, 'Pop & Co' examines the astonishing and startling story of the Carpenters,
an iconic group of the United States of America"
----
"Clovis Goux captures the history of the Carpenters to brilliantly describe all the neuroses of America
in the 1960s and 1970s . In only 125 pages, it scrolls through the social, political and musical history
of the country, with the Carpenters in counterpoint."
 
The 10 Best Singing Drummers in Rock History
9. Karen Carpenter, The Carpenters
"One of the best contralto singers of the 1970s, Karen Carpenter is mostly remembered for her delicate, intimate vocals on AM radio hits like “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Close to You” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Fewer recall that she was an excellent drummer, having started out with her brother Richard not as the preternatural singer the world would come to love, but as the drummer for the Richard Carpenter jazz trio. She could play complex bebop numbers as naturally as Carpenters songs, which was ideal since her crippling anxiety led her to prefer the back of the stage to the front. Once the Carpenters hit the airwaves with their string of radio hits, she was forced into the spotlight as the group’s singer and never quite recovered, dying of heart failure stemming from her anorexia nervosa in 1983."

Another favorite on there...Micky Dolenz...
 
"....a series of video documentaries exploring the continued impact of major news stories of the past,
examines how public understanding of this issue has evolved since the startling death of the singer Karen Carpenter in 1983."
"....30 million people will suffer from eating disorders in their lifetime,
yet decades after Karen Carpenter died from anorexia, myths about eating disorders continue."
By RETRO REPORT on Publish DateDecember 3, 2017.

Watch the companion clip: Randy Schmidt interviewed, Karen Carpenter profiled.
In a Deadly Obsession, Food Is the Enemy
 
Website 24/7 Wall Street has an article listing their 50 Best & 50 Worst Christmas Albums. Carpenters made the Best list twice: (47) An Old Fashioned Christmas, (26) Christmas Portrait.
 
Any Questions #328 - "People Whose Names Are Professions"

"THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: PEOPLE WHOSE NAMES ARE PROFESSIONS
On-air questions: December 8, 1973 marked the second week that "Top of the World"
by The Carpenters was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song was not originally scheduled to be a single, but after a singer named Lynn Anderson released a cover of the song earlier in 1973, the Carpenters decided to release their version as a single. To commemorate the Carpenters' number-one hit, this week our questions are about people whose last names are professions."
 
Website 24/7 Wall Street has an article listing their 50 Best & 50 Worst Christmas Albums. Carpenters made the Best list twice: (47) An Old Fashioned Christmas, (26) Christmas Portrait.

Hmmm...Christmas Portrait should be in the Top 10 if not the Top 5 of any list of this kind.
 
Rock Hall snubs artists from '60-'70s era
"Rock Hall snubs artists from '60-'70s era"
"Now that the Moody Blues have made the cut, it's time for other bands from the same era to follow.
Here are some examples of those on the outside looking in, all of whom have been eligible for induction for years:
Joe Cocker; Jethro Tull; Jim Croce; Styx; The Doobie Brothers; The Guess Who; Bad Company; Carole King; The Carpenters; Warren Zevon; Thin Lizzy; Tommy James & the Shondells; and the Monkees."
 
https://hyperallergic.com/419404/anatomy-of-a-christmas-song/
Anatomy of a Christmas Song
"It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and kitsch is in the air"
"How people can live in America year in, year out,
without memorizing the lyrics to Christmas songs mystifies me.
Since childhood I’ve been able to sing the entirety of “Sleigh Ride
without knowing anything else about the song...."
----
"And the Carpenters’ cover, released on their epochal Christmas Portrait,
chills and captivates, as the immaculately expert studio-perfect arrangement
deploys woodwinds, strings, and glossy, burbling electric piano to construct several nostalgic layers."
 
"....a series of video documentaries exploring the continued impact of major news stories of the past,
examines how public understanding of this issue has evolved since the startling death of the singer Karen Carpenter in 1983."
"....30 million people will suffer from eating disorders in their lifetime,
yet decades after Karen Carpenter died from anorexia, myths about eating disorders continue."
By RETRO REPORT on Publish DateDecember 3, 2017.

Watch the companion clip: Randy Schmidt interviewed, Karen Carpenter profiled.
In a Deadly Obsession, Food Is the Enemy

Fascinating article and I was stunned to learn that Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychologically based disease. I knew it was high, but wow.
 
Fascinating article and I was stunned to learn that Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychologically based disease. I knew it was high, but wow.
I thought the high rate was from the anorexia nervousa side of the disorder. It is so very heartbreaking that so many questions still arise.
 
^^ The mortality numbers from this insidious disease are shocking; almost 35 years after it was brought to the forefront by Karen's celebrity status. Like with cancer, early intervention seems to be the key.
 
A television show...

" Monday January 15 at 8:00pm - Antiques Roadshow -

Travel to Harrisburg for finds including a Charles "Heinie" Wagner Red Sox archive, Carl Schweninger oil,
"The Artist's Studio," ca. 1850, and,
a 1975 "Yellow Submarine" jacket made for Karen Carpenter.
Can you guess which is appraised for $300,000?
Stay tuned for Behind the Scenes: Antiques Roadshow Harrisburg at 9:00."
 
"With the release of Clovis Goux's book 'The Disparition of Karen Carpenter' published by Actes Sud said:
Well I read it, and when the tiny book arrived I was disappointed, but the print was small and he packs a lot in there. I've been reading a lot of bios of musicians lately, usually with some link to A&M (Herb Alpert file, Rita Coolidge, Captain Beefheart, etc.) and my interest is more learning about the company, but as I go through a book I listen to pretty well all the songs that are mentioned. You can imagine the disorientation going from Capt'n Beefheart to the Carpenters. You find yourself looking for a "happy medium".

Those of you feeling underprivileged because a book came out in France that you can't read don't have to worry, I don't think. It's obvious that most of the information is gleaned from magazines, interviews, youTube and Ray Coleman's book, that you are probably all familiar with. It spends a lot of pages setting up the context of US social history (which a North American public probably doesn't need) with a slightly sardonic perspective. It does include an interesting chapter on renowned anorexics of the past. That doesn't leave much room for a very detailed accounting of their career, and it's only in the final chapters that the pace slows down and puts a microscope to her daily anguish and motivations, such as during her therapy with Dr. Levenkron.

The book will certainly pique the interest of French readers in the music of the Carpenters, but as the summary suggests, the real story here seems to be America, the era, and the role the duo played in counter-balancing the "radical" forces of the time.
 
Nick Coleman: Voices - How a Great Singer Can Change Your Life, review -
earworms explored:Music writer who suffered deafness explores the songs that linger in his memory
-----

"To anyone, deafness is a depressing and terrifying prospect,
but to someone for whom music has been at life’s core,
a shaping force from early childhood, it seems like a living death."
------
"the sumptuous talent of the Carpenters.
Goodbye to Love” is for Coleman “one of the most heartbreaking pop singles ever made,
not a nanosecond of emotional leakage”.

More:
Nick Coleman: Voices - How a Great Singer Can Change Your Life, review - earworms explored
 
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