⭐ Official Review [Album] "KAREN CARPENTER" (SP-4804/CD-0588)

[Chris May]

Also with noting is that Rod's arrangements aren't just four voices. They're jazz-based so there's some polychording going on there that Richard didn't use.

Yes!! Everything aside, I completely agree and think that it surely had to be a privilege for Karen to sing Rod's arrangements. This stuff is tough, even under the most comfortable of circumstances when you're truly aiming for perfection. She certainly brought that to those arrangements.

 

[GaryAlan]

Songwriters Hall Of Fame Announces 2015 Nominees For Induction
Rod Temperton
Oscar-nominated (for The Color Purple’s “Miss Celie’s Blues”) English songwriter/producer Rod Temperton is best known for the songs he wrote for Michael Jackson, including “Rock With You” and “Thriller.” But he was also a member of the funk/disco band Heatwave, for which he supplied the million-selling U.S. hits “Boogie Nights” and “Always And Forever.” Among the numerous artists who have also recorded Temperton tunes are James Ingram, Michael McDonald, Rufus, Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Patti Austin and Karen Carpenter.
Key songs in the Temperton catalog include: * Always And Forever * Boogie Nights * Give Me The Night * Off The Wall * Rock With You

Source:
http://www.songhall.org/news/entry/songwriters_hall_of_fame_announces_2015_inductees

 

[GaryAlan]

An interesting question/answer exchange from the Official Carpenter Webpage:

Song 6 15 :
Q: When you first heard "IF I HAD YOU" from Karen’s solo sessions…were you amazed at the intricate harmonies? Was Karen pleased by it?
Richard Carpenter:
Not quite amazed, but certainly impressed and yes, she was pleased.

 

[cam89]

I asked that question. I also asked about SOLITAIRE, Karen's crowning achievement....I was pleased he answered them~

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Cam, what did you mean when you asked "were you amazed?"

So I am taking it that Richard meant he wasn't amazed meaning, he knew all along that she was capable of doing that kind of intricate harmonies so it wasn't like he was speechless but he was impressed.

 

[cam89]

Yeah I was amazed when I heard it, so I wanted to know how he felt about it....

 

[cam89]

I also asked if they had sung Solitaire during summer of 1975 in concert and he said NO.

 

[GaryAlan]

The Official Carpenter Web Page, again:
Richard Carpenter:
My favorite selection from the solo album, "If I Had You" was co-written by our friend Steve Dorff who also co-wrote "I Just Fall In Love Again."
I remember Karen calling from New York and relating to me how much effort this imaginative vocal arrangement called for.
As the listener can hear, it was worth it.




NY Times,1996, again:
Richard had steadfastly refused to release the whole album.
After declining several requests to be interviewed for this article, Richard said through his manager, Sherwin Bash,
that he was only respecting what he understood to be Karen's final wish, that she didn't like the album and didn't want it released.
''He only acquiesced,'' Bash says, ''when fans and writers kept begging him for this last piece of her legacy.''
In a note to The Times Magazine, Richard wrote, ''I wish it nothing but success.''

 

[newvillefan]

NY Times,1996, again:
After declining several requests to be interviewed for this article, Richard said through his manager, Sherwin Bash,
that he was only respecting what he understood to be Karen's final wish, that she didn't like the album and didn't want it released.

Isn't it funny that the general consensus - from Ramone to her personal friends to Karen herself (through the call to Ramone on February 3, 1983) - is that she loved the album, yet Richard seems deaf and blind to this possibility?

In a note to The Times Magazine, Richard wrote, ''I wish it nothing but success.''

GaryAlan, have you ever come across this article?

 

[GaryAlan]

Stephen, here is the entire NYTimes Article, written by Rob Hoerburger, October 6,1996:
"Karen Carpenter's Second Life"
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/06/magazine/karen-carpenter-s-second-life.html

Along with his other Article:
"I'm Here, I'm a Carpenters' Fan, Get Used To It"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/magazine/im-here-im-a-carpenters-fan-get-used-to-it.html?_r=0

Rob Hoerburger, an editor at the magazine, is writing a book about growing up a Carpenters fan.

 

[Daniel Perales]

If the heads of power at A&M saw 'fit' to release "Time", there is no musical justification to keep Karen Carpenter locked away.

No offence, but I really wish people would quit using this type of reasoning pitting Karen's and Richard's solo releases.

Different times, different circumstances when each of their solo albums were first recorded then eventually released.



Danny

 

[GaryAlan]

No offense taken, Daniel....I always appreciate input, regardless of whether, or not, it agrees with my stance.
That is the very nature of discourse. I do not need validation of my viewpoint.
Use any "type of reasoning" which satisfies your needs and the dictates of logical discourse!
However, please keep in mind that I use the term 'musical justification' in my post, nothing
whatsoever to do with temporal circumstances.
Obviously, you are correct, Richard Carpenter ,sadly, had no choice in the matter.
Karen,however, chose her time and place to record her solo album.
What she did not have, and Richard did have, is the chance to release her solo album in her lifetime.
Needless to say, I stand by my use of the term "musical justification".

 

[Nikifor Blavatsky]

In Little girl blue we read A&M "would not" release Karen Carpenter AND Karen decided to shelve it. I wonder whether it was like "we are not putting it out, Karen, unless you REALLY MAKE A FUZZ about it, so you think carefully" or "we are DEFINITELY NOT putting it out, no matter what you do or say".

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

No, I think it's been said before but A&M wanted her to make changes or go back and record more but by then Karen was under other constraints....time was the issue she already spent too much time on it as it was and now Richard was ready to get back to Carpenters. I don;t think Karen was the kind of person to say, Richard you will have to wait another year as I'm going to go back and record more so I can get my solo album released. She was stuck.

 

[Nikifor Blavatsky]

I don't know... Ramone has stated that it would not be the case of mixing it differently OR record some more songs to get it "fixed"...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I don't know... Ramone has stated that it would not be the case of mixing it differently OR record some more songs to get it "fixed"...

Yes, conflicting outcomes we have hashed this many times before, we may never know what really happened but we have her solo album and that's all that matters at this point. I think Karen would be proud that it was finally released and the exact way she left it for us!!!

 

[newvillefan]

I think Karen would be proud that it was finally released and the exact way she left it for us!!!

This is a interesting point Chris. Up to the point of Karen's passing, her album seemed doomed to an eternal shelf life and Richard had no reason yet to embark on the grand remixing project that would continue into the new millenium. So a) she had no reason to believe it would ever be released and b) she had no clue this is what he'd do once she was gone (including remixing her own solo tracks). I know in the VH1 documentary he said how great it would be "if Karen could come down for one day - like in Carousel or something - and I could play her all the things we've done posthumously and remixed and all...and I could say to her 'Karen, listen to this!'".

Question - which tracks do you think he was referring to in particular and do any of you think she'd approve of all the tinkering he's done?

 

[GaryAlan]

Fine Points, All !
Didn't Richard Carpenter say words to the effect that "..Karen would come down and 'get' him.."
if he were to release the song "Rainbow Connection" ?
Please correct me if I am wrong, as I have no source for that purported comment.
Sadly, given that Karen told Phil Ramone, in 1983 no less, "that album is f....g great",
gives me pause to wonder why the subject was broached at all in that (brief?) phone conversation---
Karen obviously ( still ) had that album 'on her mind'.
There can be no denying this album was very important to her, musically and psychologically.
1996 Press Release from A&M points specifically to resurgence due to the Tribute Album/CD;
what would have transpired if that 1990's resurgence in popularity had not occurred?
Although, I must say that many of those Karen Carpenter songs were 'leaked' to Napster
at some point---presumably from a former A&M Staffer.
One wonders, had it not been for the onslaught of digital technology through these years,
perhaps nothing more would have been available.
My own opinion, such as it is:
Richard Carpenter would have kept the solo album shelved.
Karen Carpenter probably would have kept Rainbow Connection shelved!

 

[Nikifor Blavatsky]

I know in the VH1 documentary he said how great it would be "if Karen could come down for one day - like in Carousel or something - and I could play her all the things we've done posthumously and remixed and all...and I could say to her 'Karen, listen to this!'".

Question - which tracks do you think he was referring to in particular and do any of you think she'd approve of all the tinkering he's done?

Could be the remix of One love, for example, it is great, the David / Bacharach medley live from The Reader's Digest collection...

 

[Jeff]

Wouldn't Karen be tickled to hear KAREN CARPENTER in an SACD 5.1 surround? Polished ginger-peachy by Richard as the ultimate tribute. Hell, I'd bet she'd swing by a spell for that turn on the table. She wouldn't have to ask me twice for a first listen some snowy night by the fire. Karen and I taking in her voice spilling thru-out the speakers...me on sing-a-long...or not. Yeah, second thought not.

 

[GaryAlan]

And, with all of the Claude Mougin Session Photographs extant, why--oh,why--- didn't the
Cover and Inner Photos of the Karen Carpenter cd release see those beautiful offerings?
I beg for an explanation: as the cd artwork-- such as it is, 1996,--- should have been graced
with those incredible Session photos.
How about a few words from Rod Temperton or Peter Cetera ?
I am unable to locate words from either regarding what they thought of the delivery of their songs.
Listened (today)to the Bobby Vinton (#78 in 1979) release of Make Believe It's Your First Time,
Karen Carpenter's solo rendition is in an entirely different ballpark.
Bob James arranged and orchestrated.
As one review has noted:
" ...on those rare occasions when the marquee arrangers, most notably Rod Temperton and Bob James,
play to the singer's strengths, it is obvious that she could do more than Carpenters work."

 

[mr J.]

This is a interesting point Chris. Up to the point of Karen's passing, her album seemed doomed to an eternal shelf life and Richard had no reason yet to embark on the grand remixing project that would continue into the new millenium. So a) she had no reason to believe it would ever be released and b) she had no clue this is what he'd do once she was gone (including remixing her own solo tracks). I know in the VH1 documentary he said how great it would be "if Karen could come down for one day - like in Carousel or something - and I could play her all the things we've done posthumously and remixed and all...and I could say to her 'Karen, listen to this!'".

Question - which tracks do you think he was referring to in particular and do any of you think she'd approve of all the tinkering he's done?

He was obviously referring to the three posthumous 80's albums.Richard did a fantastic job on Voice Of The Heart,An Old-Fashioned Christmas,and Lovelines.

I think Karen would've been very impressed with those three additions to their catalog(particularly AOF Christmas).

 

[Jeff]

and an sacd KAREN CARPENTER spin might just get her a toes-a-tappin. After all, "it was a f*c*in great album"! So said she...so say I! Whatd'ya say gang? Dare we disagree with the dear departed Miss?

Jeff

 

[A&M Retro]

Karen had been listening to the solo album in her car on cassette the week(s) leading up to her passing.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Karen had been listening to the solo album in her car on cassette the week(s) leading up to her passing.

It's really something to think she was still listening to her solo album 3 years later....I get chills just thinking about it....as I listen to her solo album now (as just an ordinary guy) to think as I listen....she was listening as well just weeks up until she died...it's no wonder I love the album so much and have been her biggest fan. If she was proud of the final product there is no reason for me to pick it apart, it may not have been a #1 album on the charts in 1980 but it was a start and her name alone in the music business would have made people take a second look, attention and confidence she would have benefited from and adulation from her fan base.

If this project didn't mean much to Karen she would have tucked this away and not returned to it but to be still listening to her album 3 years later on a cassette, tells me this solo project meant more to Karen, maybe even more than just having it released, it was a proud moment to have accomplished something outside her comfort zone and making decisions on her own about what she wanted it to sound like and how it would all come together. I really don't think I'm making more out of this because if she was still listening 3 years later...something was still there in the project that she couldn't let go of...this was important stuff that still meant a great deal to her, I would say both personal and professionally.