1976 Television show with Karen singing 'Live'.

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phoenixfan4

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Well hello everybody! It's so nice to see this forum being actively used everyday by all of the members and visitors. BRAVO !!! This is a GREAT site.

I've been a HUGE fan of the Carpenter's since 1969, and like so many fans like us I search the net looking for anything C's related to satisfy my 'itch' for more information and news regarding the wonderful music and talent that both of the Carpenter's represent. What a magnificent team they made!

I miss Karen so very much every day. *Sigh* But we still have Richard thank God and I know that we still have the terrific opportunity to hear his music and perhaps (BIG WISH HERE) reading someday soon that Richard has reformated their T.V shows for sale to the world on DVD or video. That would make my day,month,year and lifetime I tell ya'. Richard is a musical genius, period.

My question to all of you really bright and interesting fans is this:

Do you think that Karen was lip-synching to her own voice while performing in their first television special in 1976? I've watched it sooooo many times (Fans do that....) and I'm fairly convinced that Karen sang 'live' for the majority of the filming and filled in only those spots where she was simply not able to be in the presence of a microphone during the filming. I could be very wrong because Karen was reported by many music professionals to be a PERFECTIONIST in her lip-synching ability. I know this is an odd question, but for those of you who have had the opportunity to see the Television show may agree with me that ANYTHING where we can see Karen actually singing 'live' is fascinating to watch because she allows us the chance to watch how she vocalizes and brings the songs around to bear such a strong feeling and strength.

Don't you agree?

I dunno....Just thought I'd ask. At any rate, it's a real pleasure to be a part of this website. Thank you for letting me share my own love of the Carpenter's with all of you. I enjoy stopping by here on a daily basis to see what interesting questions, facts, and news that you offer up to people like me. Thank you again - I look forward to actively participating in this totally wonderful group of people. :cool:
 
Nice to hear from you. :) I see that I am not the only one totally in love with the Carpenters.

I have about 10 tapes of the Carpenters' Specials beginnig with the Ed Sullivan show.

I noticed that some of their songs were likely lip-synched. Either that, or the background music was synched.
The UK performances were live. The Top of the Town special is awesome.

My all time favorite performance is Karen's duet with Ella Fitzgerald singing "Masquerade" in one of their TV Specials. It is AMAZING.
 
Welcome aboard, Phoenix, nice to have you here. Please feel free to contribute.

It's been a while since I've seen that first special, but my recollections are that certainly most of it was lip-synched. That's not to say that Karen and/or Richard didn't specifcally record new tracks FOR the special - we've learned from As Time Goes By and the box sets that that was indeed the case. Typically, a number which was just from the record would be a lip-sync. That was standard procedure on television and remains to this day. When performing with a guest star, though, it was more often than not, done live at the time of taping. But as I say, we've learned from Richard's liner notes that Karen would often pre-record her portions of duets with others, like the one with Ella.

I'll have to dig out my ugly VHS tape of the special and give it a look.

Harry
NP: early morning silence
 
Thank you Harry and Drummer girl for making me feel so welcome. I must admit Harry that some of your questions/answers to the topics here are very well thought out and technically informed. Such a pleasure to read all of the forum members responses, but some of you really stand out...no offense to anyone at all by that statement. You as fans are all equally terrific in my opinion !

Regarding my question about Karen and Rich lip synching VS. singing live on the television show, I arrived at my hypothesis by 'listening and watching' the interaction of Karen singing with Richard in the joke sequence ("These are the jokes, folks...") and also from the duet Karen sang with John Denver. The joke sequence was obviously sung with the C's signature back up over-dubbing, as was the John Denver/Karen duet. However Karen's voice was overwhelmed by John D on several occasions to the point where all you can hear clearly is John Denver's soaring Tenor voice drowning out Karen's Harmonies to his lead. That would seem to indicate that Karen's mike wasn't ramped up enough to be on an equal sound level as John D's. That stood out to me as a clear indicator that karen and John D. really were singing that piece (Comin' thru the Rye) in a 'Live setting with only background music and overdub vocals playing. You can really see how pleased that Karen and John D. were by their performance just by watching their reactions to each other at the end of the song. John Denver is saying "That was GREAT !!!!" and Karen says something along the same lines, but I can't really make out what she is saying. Oh well, as long as they had a good time singing it together, that's all that matters. I love the way that they both presented that song.

As for the joke sequence Karen and Rich both are singing very much in a 'Live' session to their overdubs. It would be pretty difficult to lip synch that song without flubbing it up. I may bewrong though since K and R really could lip synch rather well together.

And yes, Drummergirl it is more than obvious that Karen was close to lip synching to her own voice whenever she would be walking to and from the different microphones, but she seemed to realy be singing 'Live' once she actually was in front of the microphones. Her voice would still be clear and strong though while she was walking away from the microphone with no diminished sound value whatsoever. Kinda hard to do without some kind of microphone feedback.

On the "As time goes by CD you can hear towards the end of "I won't last a day without you" where she 'drops off' the note on the words "Without Youooooooo.......(and drops the note as she ends the phrase.) Clearly she was singing to her own voice during that medley and it stands out loud and clear on ATGB. Kinda cool though! It was something that Richard will never have a chance to go back and correct, and I love it since it gives us a chance to hear in an offbeat sorta way how Karen would sing the song in the studio and then come back later in a 'Live' session and fill in the rest of the song so there wouldn't be any audible lapse in the medley.

Does that even make sense to anyone but me?! I'm a bit of a perfectionist myself, and when I heard that I thought it was wonderful, because it let's the fans kind of peek behind the scenes if you will, to hear how the Carpenter's put the music together on an album. Sorry, I'm not explaining myself very well. I anyone wants to email me so I can try to explain it in a way that makes sense, please do so !

Again, thank yo for allowing me to participate in this forum for my favorite singing duo, Karen and Richard Carpenter. I'll wrack my brain to come up with some new topics to keep picking at your musical brains!
 
I love that little intro into the Carpenter's 25th Anniversary CD.

Hey Phoenixfan! I am a bit like you. I love and listen to the Carpenters everyday. I buy their memorabilia all the time, and can't get enough. I also nit pick on every special I watch. I never got my fill of the Carpenters, and thus, it "fills up my senses" to watch these specials.

Karen Carpenter was my hero in the early 70's when I was begging to play the drums. I pointed to her, and no one could tell me no. :confused:

A lot of my friends tease me about my present love for the Carpenters, but I always smile when her songs bring a tear to their eyes. :D I have found that The Karen Carpenter Story has been seen my many people.

I am waiting for any DVD of any carpenter special. Do you know of any?
 
Hiya Drummergirl!

I'm so glad that you took up the drums ! What a great 'set' of instruments. Wish I could play. I'm a piano guy. And Karen was an inspiration for you as well....Too cool.

The first time I heard the 25th anniversary CD I was blown away by the same song that you love, "Without a song" starting with Karen singing accapella, and then Richard coming in for his accapella line, and then the voices of Karen and Richard melded together to make this lush/beautiful/intricate wall of voices that just made my heart BREAK because of the beautiful harmonies being put together! That sound of overdubbing is what made me fall in love with the Carpenters in the first place. Well, that and Karen's vocals. I remember very clearly putting that fresh new CD of the Carpenters 25th anniversary into my car's CD player and CRANKING IT UP so that the first few notes of that CD would be burned into my head from the get-go. Then the song began..."Without a soooooong the day would never end......" And so on. I can hear it so clearly in my head even as I write this reply to you.

Jeeze, I literally started sobbing very softly to myself while the music was playing in my car stereo. I was in fear that someone would see a grown man crying in his car over a CD! And no - I don't sob like a little lost boy for just ANY singer....I was so happy that I had the fortitude to buy that album. You see, I really couldn't afford it at the time but I thought to myself "The Carpenters have never let me down- BUY THE CD." And so I did without regret.

Boy, was I ever right!

I was also very surprised to find the song "Tryin' to get the feeling again" on that CD. Amazing that the song we have on that album was only a 'lead sheet' read through. She was dead-on perfect. That's our Karen! And I'm so glad that Richard continues to work with 'their' music, continuously. Refining it and putting the music back out to the buying public on ever better Disc material using the latest in recording technology that his Universal/Vivendi budget affords. I think he would be doing this even if Karen were still alive today.

That is, Richard keeps 'refining' the songs and music, because he as a musician and recording artist He has matured over the years and his music is also doing the same thing. How many times did he and Karen re-record a song because they both thought they could make that particular song even better? It's more obvious to us all as fans because we have a tendency to scrutinize Karen and Richard's music to the 'nth' degree, looking to be closer to their music - even trying to 'see' inside of the Carpenters lives through their music. Whoops - I didn't mean to get so serious here !

I know that I got off track here....sorry. I promise to not have my next post such a rambling mess.

It's still a real treat to be here among all of my 'fellow' fans though!

Thanks again for this forum of open discussion about the C's. :cool:
 
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