50th project PLEASE Richard Carpenter!

I don't quite get your response. A better remixed version of the album would be welcomed by lots of fans, if not you. This is the kind of specialty release one sees on the twice yearly Record Store Day events.

I do like the album and I think it'd be interesting to hear whatever remix was done. Richard, on the other hand, clearly only got involved in putting it out because he was being hounded about it. He had nothing to do with its production. That alone would likely ensure that we'll never see anything else from it. Further, the album tanked. No reason to revisit a flop album if you're Universal. "Time" is even less likely to see any further action because I believe it remains the worst bomb in A&M Records' history.

Ed
 
I do like the album and I think it'd be interesting to hear whatever remix was done. Richard, on the other hand, clearly only got involved in putting it out because he was being hounded about it. He had nothing to do with its production. That alone would likely ensure that we'll never see anything else from it. Further, the album tanked. No reason to revisit a flop album if you're Universal. "Time" is even less likely to see any further action because I believe it remains the worst bomb in A&M Records' history.

Ed



Her solo album reached the Top 20 in Japan and Top 200 of the UK charts.
 
"...it remains the worst bomb in A&M Records' history. Ed[/QUOTE said:
Can someone please post the source for this claim? I've heard it before and am very skeptical of it. There have been many an artist on A&M that were "one and done" with their record deals because of lack of sales. It doesn't seem possible that Richard's solo album is true to this claim. But I could be wrong. What's the source?
 
Can someone please post the source for this claim? I've heard it before and am very skeptical of it. There have been many an artist on A&M that were "one and done" with their record deals because of lack of sales. It doesn't seem possible that Richard's solo album is true to this claim. But I could be wrong. What's the source?

I'm not completely sure of its accuracy either but it definitely wouldn't surprise me. Not sure why anyone at A&M thought people would be interested in a Richard Carpenter solo album - especially one that didn't even surface until 1987. Still, I've never actually seen proof that this is the lowest seller ever.

Ed
 
Her solo album reached the Top 20 in Japan and Top 200 of the UK charts.

It didn't do a blessed thing here in the U.S. Not sure about anywhere else other than Japan and here. They waited way too long to put it out. They should have released it after the movie when Carpenters' nostalgia was a thing. It wasn't in 1996.

Ed
 
I'm not completely sure of its accuracy either but it definitely wouldn't surprise me. Not sure why anyone at A&M thought people would be interested in a Richard Carpenter solo album - especially one that didn't even surface until 1987. Still, I've never actually seen proof that this is the lowest seller ever.

Ed

It completely does surprise me! In my opinion it is the best of three "solo" efforts by the duo. "Something In Your Eyes" got some regional airplay on radio. Plus it's got his name behind it. Not everyone (in fact, not even "most" everyone) has a deep-seeded hatred for Richard as some here do. Was it a hit? No. But I sincerely doubt it was the least-selling album in A&M history (there are a lot of acts that have briefly cycled through A&M because of lack of sales of their one album, I'm sure). There's just no way this claim can be true.
 
It completely does surprise me! In my opinion it is the best of three "solo" efforts by the duo. "Something In Your Eyes" got some regional airplay on radio. Plus it's got his name behind it. Not everyone (in fact, not even "most" everyone) has a deep-seeded hatred for Richard as some here do. Was it a hit? No. But I sincerely doubt it was the least-selling album in A&M history (there are a lot of acts that have briefly cycled through A&M because of lack of sales of their one album, I'm sure). There's just no way this claim can be true.
Or how about acts like B.L. Mitchell that only got 1 45.

B. L. Mitchell: Where I Want to Be (1978)
 
It completely does surprise me! In my opinion it is the best of three "solo" efforts by the duo. "Something In Your Eyes" got some regional airplay on radio. Plus it's got his name behind it. Not everyone (in fact, not even "most" everyone) has a deep-seeded hatred for Richard as some here do. Was it a hit? No. But I sincerely doubt it was the least-selling album in A&M history (there are a lot of acts that have briefly cycled through A&M because of lack of sales of their one album, I'm sure). There's just no way this claim can be true.

I don’t have a deep-seated hatred for him at all. I just think the record is a disaster. He didn’t lean on his strengths at all for most of it. Even with Karen, he was fairly cold after 1976 with only a couple of middling hits after that. By 1987, his name meant nothing. Either way, the point is we don’t know if that claim is completely accurate or not.

Ed
 
I'm not completely sure of its accuracy either but it definitely wouldn't surprise me. Not sure why anyone at A&M thought people would be interested in a Richard Carpenter solo album - especially one that didn't even surface until 1987. Still, I've never actually seen proof that this is the lowest seller ever.

Ed

Perhaps it was a contractual thing. Something that was agreed upon before Karen died but that still applied after her death.

I know Richard has the exclusive rights to all their product so maybe he used this fact as leverage. . .no more greatest hits packages unless. . .etc. etc.

Or maybe it was a gesture of gratitude and friendship from Herb and Jerry to Richard. (I know the last one is a long shot, but you never know.)
 
"Once the album was released (Voice of the Heart), Richard needed time to
"decide exactly how I wanted to proceed." (Richard Carpenter).
His decision--"after talking with many people and doing a great deal of soul searching" (RC)--
was to continue as an artist and producer. He (RC) broached this idea with Alpert and Moss,
asked for the opportunity to proceed, and got the green light. His first solo album came out in
August 1987. Says Carpenter, "A&M is really a class act all the way."
(Page 50, A&M Records: The First 25 Years).
 
Or maybe it was a gesture of gratitude and friendship from Herb and Jerry to Richard. (I know the last one is a long shot, but you never know.)

I haven't talked to Herb and Jerry, of course, but I can just about guarantee their thought process went like this:

"He's not only a friend, he's made us millions and millions of dollars, so of course he can do whatever he wants."

And then: "Who knows, maybe it'll be a hit. We can afford to take the risk."
 
^^Mike, what you have in quotations COULD have been applied to Karen as well when she presented her solo album to Herb & Jerry:

"She's not only a friend, she's made us millions and millions of dollars, so of course she can do whatever she wants."

And then: "Who knows, maybe it'll be a hit. We can afford to take the risk."

The same conditions applied in 1980. A&M was in a very good place financially. Karen's voice was their bread & butter. I have no doubt, the sales of Karen's solo album if allowed to be released in 1980 would've "walloped" Time.
 
^^Mike, what you have in quotations COULD have been applied to Karen as well when she presented her solo album to Herb & Jerry:

"She's not only a friend, she's made us millions and millions of dollars, so of course she can do whatever she wants."

And then: "Who knows, maybe it'll be a hit. We can afford to take the risk."

But they didn't. They shelved it.

The same conditions applied in 1980. A&M was in a very good place financially. Karen's voice was their bread & butter. I have no doubt, the sales of Karen's solo album if allowed to be released in 1980 would've "walloped" Time.

Of course it would have. Karen was always the star of the show. I'm not sure Karen's solo album would have done well but it certainly would have done better than Richard's. I think it might have done okay on the novelty of a solo album from her. Carpenters were commercially cold at that point so I'm not as certain of commercial success as you are.

Ed
 
^^Mike, what you have in quotations COULD have been applied to Karen as well when she presented her solo album to Herb & Jerry:

"She's not only a friend, she's made us millions and millions of dollars, so of course she can do whatever she wants."

And then: "Who knows, maybe it'll be a hit. We can afford to take the risk."

The same conditions applied in 1980. A&M was in a very good place financially. Karen's voice was their bread & butter. I have no doubt, the sales of Karen's solo album if allowed to be released in 1980 would've "walloped" Time.

It's very sad that this rule of thumb wasn't applied. They afforded Richard the luxury of a solo album after Karen was gone, but not to Karen during her lifetime. A&M had absolutely nothing to lose by allowing Karen that one luxury at that stage in her career.
 
Yet Karen would have had many more opportunities to market her solo album even on television, Olivia’s Hollywood Nights as an example. Other networks would have jumped at the chance to have Karen Carpenter as a guest showcasing the first single off her new album. Just the idea that she was going solo would have peaked interest.

I’ll go a step further and say she was such an established artist at this point she could have had her own music tv special “Karen Carpenter and Friends” showcasing not only cuts off her new album but other top artist joining her show performing their music. People would see the show and go out to buy the album.

“There’s a way to be together and still work separately”
 
Last edited:
I don’t have a deep-seated hatred for him at all. I just think the record is a disaster. He didn’t lean on his strengths at all for most of it. Even with Karen, he was fairly cold after 1976 with only a couple of middling hits after that. By 1987, his name meant nothing. Either way, the point is we don’t know if that claim is completely accurate or not.

Ed

You don't know the accuracy of that claim yet you are the one who first posted that claim in one of your posts above. I am curious where you read or heard this claim that it somehow stuck in your memory enough for you to post it here.
 
You don't know the accuracy of that claim yet you are the one who first posted that claim in one of your posts above. I am curious where you read or heard this claim that it somehow stuck in your memory enough for you to post it here.

I have a feeling this claim was made some years ago on this site by Mr J, who used to post a loton here, although I think he phrased it as 'Time has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the worst-selling albums in A&M history'. Mr J seemed to have a lot of insider knowledge on various things Carpenter, but did have a habit of making statements without providing any supporting evidence, so I've no idea whether this is definitely true.

It does seem rather unlikely that there's no other album on the A&M label that sold less than Time, but equally there seems to be little doubt that it was a poor seller in all territories and may well be the lowest-selling Carpenters-related album (although that could be the Pianist Arranger Composer Conductor album - Soundscan sales presumably exist for that one, but I've never seen them quoted anywhere).
 
It's very sad that this rule of thumb wasn't applied. They afforded Richard the luxury of a solo album after Karen was gone, but not to Karen during her lifetime. A&M had absolutely nothing to lose by allowing Karen that one luxury at that stage in her career.

I think the reason for that was probably the fact that when the solo album was recorded, "Carpenters" was still a viable entity. There was the chance they might make more hits. Given that, the powers-that-be didn't think the solo album was very good. That is the bottom line. They probably felt that releasing a "not good" (to them) album would dilute the Carpenters' catalog and make future Carpenters records harder to sell.

To say they had nothing to lose isn't really true - they would have had the cost of manufacturing, promoting, and distributing the album. I don't know how many thousands of albums they would have had to sell to recoup those costs, but given the trajectory of their career at that time, they probably figured that this "not good" (to them) album wouldn't be a moneymaker.

Keep in mind I'm not opinionating on the solo album here, I'm just pondering what might have happened given the realities of the music business. The business does not operate on sentiment and "feelings" don't really enter into decisions.

Once Karen was gone, "Carpenters" was no more, and thus, no chance for more hits, so they probably figured, since RC has done so much for us, this is the least we can do for him at this point, and who knows? He might knock it out of the park. As it was, there were a few songs on that album that could have had singles potential, but it just didn't happen.
 
Last edited:
I think the reason for that was probably the fact that when the solo album was recorded, "Carpenters" was still a viable entity. There was the chance they might make more hits. Given that, the powers-that-be didn't think the solo album was very good. That is the bottom line. They probably felt that releasing a "not good" (to them) album would dilute the Carpenters' catalog and make future Carpenters records harder to sell.

Keep in mind I'm not opinionating on the solo album here, I'm just pondering what might have happened given the realities of the music business.

Once Karen was gone, "Carpenters" was no more, and thus, no chance for more hits, so they probably figured, since RC has done so much for us, this is the least we can do for him, and who knows? He might knock it out of the park.

There was unreleased material at Karen's passing. There still is. While she is not here anymore to provide new vocals, there is still some life left in the Carpenters that will continue on to the 50th Anniversary and beyond.
 
Are there for sure alternate mixes from Karen's solo album that had Quincy Jones' involvement?
motownboy -- I have been trying to contact you through YouTube. Perhaps you have not seen my message. Would you please contact me at [email protected], I am interested in knowing about your access to original Carpenters multitrack tapes and how you were able to create the "intimate" mix you posted on YT. I have wanted for many years to hear original multitracks to study Richard's arrangements... Hope to hear from you! All the best, Leo
 
Yesterday, Richard's daughter Mindi posted a video to her Instagram story from outside the entrance of, and tagged to the location, Capitol Records. I would presume that she was there with her dad. Richard now records at Capitol, of course most recently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra album. So the big question is... What is he up to now? What is he doing there? I really hope he's working on some unreleased carpenters tracks, perhaps even his Christmas album. Thoughts?
 
Yesterday, Richard's daughter Mindi posted a video to her Instagram story from outside the entrance of, and tagged to the location, Capitol Records. I would presume that she was there with her dad.

I spotted that too and wondered the same thing :)
 
Yesterday, Richard's daughter Mindi posted a video to her Instagram story from outside the entrance of, and tagged to the location, Capitol Records. I would presume that she was there with her dad. Richard now records at Capitol, of course most recently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra album. So the big question is... What is he up to now? What is he doing there? I really hope he's working on some unreleased carpenters tracks, perhaps even his Christmas album. Thoughts?

Can you please post a link to the video?
Thanks.
 
Back
Top Bottom