• Our Album of the Week features will return next week.

Anyone read this?

Transcribe, transcribe, transcribe!
Written by Ron Gorow
(May 9, 1939 – February 28, 2008)
"My whole career, my whole life, has been shaped by a single, simple passion. At 20 years old, I was a bebop trumpet player and I knew nothing of the music business. I knew enough to be in Los Angeles, because that's where a lot of jazz musicians were playing and there were a lot of jazz clubs and jam sessions. I was obsessed with the trumpet playing of Clifford Brown; curious about how he could weave such beautiful lines through the chord progressions, even at fast tempos. So I started to transcribe his solos.
It was tedious at first, but with patience and practice I was able to get the notes down. (Yes, in those days the media was LP records!) I learned to do this without a piano, just my trumpet to get started in the right key. That was fortunate because now I appreciate the benefits of transcribing without a keyboard or other instrument -- it is much faster, which is important if you're working as a composer, orchestrator or arranger. After transcribing solos of Clifford and other musicians whom I admired for about two years, I had inadvertently trained my "ear" or, more correctly, my perception.
A few years later, when I found myself married with babies, it was time to get serious about working. I started copying (with pen and ink in those days) for record sessions and tv shows. There were only three of us working together in a house. One day, my employer got a phone call from Herb Alpert, who had just had his first hit record. Herb said, "Can you come over and write down some music for me?" My friend said, "No, but there's a guy here who can." That was the beginning of a 25-year relationship with Herb. I transcribed, copied, orchestrated and attended recording sessions of the Tijuana Brass and his other projects.
Being at A&M Records almost every day, I met a lot of singers, songwriters and musicians. During the 70s, that was a hot spot in the world of pop music. Joe Cocker and Cat Stevens were there; Carole King recorded her Tapestry album there. Even musicians who could write their own music preferred to have me transcribe so that they were free to create without having to fuss over notation. Soon, I met Richard and Karen Carpenter and started transcribing and orchestrating for the Carpenters, another career that lasted over a decade, until Karen's death. To this day, I still work for Richard Carpenter on his various projects, transcribing "live" as he plays the orchestral parts on the piano."
-----
"The technology will change and continue to improve but music remains music.
If you train your ear and trust your ear, nothing will be out of reach, whether you are composing,
orchestrating, arranging, performing, recording your own music or working on someone else's music."

Source:http://www.miles.be/articles/13-transcribe-transcribe-transcribe
 
Astronaut Wake-Up Songs:
"There are specific lyric references, like the line "Good morning, America, how are you," from the song "City of New Orleans" played
to the Apollo 17 crew in their Command Module "America."
That same crew heard the Doors "Light My Fire" when it was time to burn engines to leave lunar orbit,
and also heard The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun."
That was played to show that the last lunar mission would not be the end of lunar exploration.
The Carpenters were also featured during Skylab 4, with " Top of the World" joining an eclectic playlist ."

Source:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/wakeup_calls.html
 
Music History for June 24, 2015:
" In a watershed moment for the brother/sister duo later known as The Carpenters,
the jazz combo known as the Richard Carpenter Trio wins the Hollywood Bowl’s ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest in 1966."
Coleman,page 59-60:
"The group's originality impressed the judges."
"A multi-time signature rendition arranged by Richard ( for ' The Girl From Ipanema') drew applause from the judges."
Los Angeles Times: "The musical surprise of the evening was the trio of Richard Carpenter, a remarkably original soloist
who won awards for best instrumentalist and leader of the best combo. Flanking his piano were Karen Carpenter, his
talented sixteen year-old sister, at the drums, and bassist Wes Jacobs who doubled amusingly and confidently on tuba."
 
A Fitting Tribute to Karen Carpenter
December 12, 1993|EMILY ADAMS, LA Times

Do you ever find yourself thinking about Karen Carpenter?
Man, what a voice.
Sure, a lot of her songs fell into the bubble-gum/pop category, but most musicians and music critics still shake their heads, thinking about that voice .
So it just seems right that the first group to perform in the new Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach is the South Coast Chorale,
a group that lives for song.
The performing arts center got its name after Karen's brother and musical partner, Richard Carpenter, kicked in $1 million toward construction.
Getting a look at the 1,250-seat, brand-spanking-new theater might be worth the cost of admission. It has an enormous neon chandelier. (That's right, neon.) It still smells new. The lobby bar is one big angle--about 6 feet wide at one end, 3 feet at the other--and the entire place is decorated in shades of purple. Now there's a party.
Bob Phibbs, director of the South Coast Chorale, assures us there are no bad seats. He also mentions that the stage is huge, and he sounds just the teeniest bit nervous, as if the magnitude of the place, or the memory of Karen Carpenter's voice, will swallow his 30-person choir.
No, they won't be singing "We've Only Just Begun." For this holiday concert, the chorale has a song list that is nothing if not eclectic.
When the chorale hits the stage, they begin with a Nigerian carol sung in the Yoruba dialect, accompanied by conga and bongos. Next up is the more recognizable "Ave Maria," then a traditional Hanukkah song called "Hineymahtov." (You don't have to worry about pronouncing these songs, you just have to listen.)
And just in case you thought this group was stuffy, they're also including the song "What's This?" from Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas."
Actually, stuffy would be exactly the wrong way to think of this group. The very name of their holiday concert is an inside joke. A member of GALA, the international association of gay and lesbian choruses, the chorale chose to call its holiday concert "Don We Now. . ."
Bob Phibbs likes this joke. He laughs again, just in the telling.
"Don We Now. . ." will play Dec. 19 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach.
The chorale takes the stage about 4 p.m. The $15 seats are sold out."

Source:
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-12/news/hl-1300_1_karen-carpenter
 
JUNE 26, 2015
SiriusXM Settles Royalty Dispute Over Old Recordings
For the last two years, the music industry has been watching a series of lawsuits centered on an obscure aspect of copyright law:
whether the performers on older recordings should get royalties when their songs are played on digital radio services.
On Friday, one of those lawsuits was settled when SiriusXM, the satellite radio provider, announced it would pay $210 million
to the major record companies over its broadcasting of songs made before 1972.
The settlement may open the door to millions of dollars in new royalty payments for older performers, who in many cases have not been paid from Internet and satellite radio. And coming just days after Apple — nudged by Taylor Swift — reversed course over its plan not to pay royalties during trials of its new music service, the Sirius’ settlement was interpreted as another win for artists in the digital age.
“This is a great step forward for all music creators,” said Cary Sherman, chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, which coordinated the suit on behalf of Sony, Universal, Warner and Abkco, an independent that controls rights to early Rolling Stones songs. “Music has tremendous value,” Mr. Sherman added, “whether it was made in 1970 or 2015.”
The issue behind the suit is complex, but has been intensely followed in the music industry. Federal copyright protection, which has long applied to songwriting rights,
was first extended to recordings only in 1972. For that reason, many digital radio services, including Sirius and Pandora, have not paid recording royalties when they play older songs.
(Those services still pay separate songwriting royalties, even on older songs.)
But two years ago members of the 1960s band the Turtles — whose hits included “Happy Together” — sued Sirius in three federal courts, saying that their songs before 1972
were still covered under state laws in New York, California and Florida. The group accused Sirius of broadcasting them without permission, and sought $100 million in damages as part of a class-action suit.
The major labels soon followed with their own case, in California state court. On Friday, Sirius disclosed through a securities filing that on June 17 it had reached
an agreement with the labels that would cover its use of old songs through the end of 2017, and would negotiate with labels for new licenses thereafter.
SoundExchange, a nonprofit clearinghouse for digital royalties, has estimated that in 2013 artists and record labels missed out on
$60 millionin royalties for pre-1972 recordings. Last year Sirius had $4.2 billion in revenue, and Wall Street analysts estimate that the company
paid around 10 percent of that — approximately $400 million — in music royalties.
Artist advocates said Friday that the Sirius settlement still left questions unanswered, including how the labels would disseminate the money to their acts.
A spokesman for Warner — whose acts include Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell — said the company would distribute payments from the settlement through SoundExchange.
The other labels declined to comment on exactly how they would pay.
The major labels also have a similar case pending against Pandora.
The Sirius settlement may place pressure on Pandora to do the same, but a company spokesman said in a statement, “We are confident in Pandora’s legal position on this issue.”
The suit by the Turtles is still unresolved.
The group has won important rulings on the case in federal courts in New York and California, although this week Sirius was granted summary judgment in the Florida case.
The Turtles’ suit has been certified with class-action status, although the labels’ settlement with Sirius will reduce the size of that class.
In its filing, Sirius said that the three big labels and Abkco supplied about 80 percent of the pre-1972 songs it played.
“We are happy to have paved the way for owners of pre-1972 recordings to be compensated for use of their recordings,” said Henry Gradstein, a lawyer for the band.
“We trust that the labels will share this money with the artists, and we look forward to resolving the balance of the class with SiriusXM.”
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/b...tles-royalty-dispute-over-old-recordings.html
 
In Joe Osborn's Words:
For All We Know – The Carpenters (1971)
"This is a perfect example of listening to the song telling you what to play.
Richard [Carpenter] brought in the basic line written out.
Karen [Carpenter] was running late, so we were just running down this track.
When she started to sing, all those slides and things around the basic part started to come from the vocal.
If she hadn’t come in, it would have wound up exactly as what Richard had wrote.
It was a pretty line, but it didn’t have all those slurs and things.
It becomes almost a bass and vocal duet all of a sudden in those spots,
and it’s entirely of what she was singing that those licks came."
Yesterday Once More – The Carpenters (1973)
"Karen played drums on this one. She had a jazz trio before she even knew she could sing.
After we did this track, I had already moved to Nashville when Richard called me and said
we had to do the first half of the song over, though he liked the second half.
He wanted to play the first half and splice it together, because he didn’t want to redo the last half.
I said, “Richard, I don’t know if you can.” Going from the front and cutting it in the middle… if the tempo varies any,
it’s not going to match. Unless you did it to a click, which we didn’t.
He said, “Let’s just try it again anyways.”
It’s a real testament to Karen’s time, because it cut together perfectly."

Source:
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2012/07/19/stories-behind-the-songs-joe-osborn/

 
GaryAlan said:
After we did this track, I had already moved to Nashville when Richard called me and said
we had to do the first half of the song over, though he liked the second half.
He wanted to play the first half and splice it together, because he didn’t want to redo the last half.
I said, “Richard, I don’t know if you can.” Going from the front and cutting it in the middle… if the tempo varies any,
it’s not going to match. Unless you did it to a click, which we didn’t.
He said, “Let’s just try it again anyways.”
It’s a real testament to Karen’s time, because it cut together perfectly."
Click to expand...

That's just such a cool anecdote!
 
June 28, 1985, Herald Journal,
For Carpenter, It Is Yesterday Once More:
"..Carpenter is doing everything he can...hoping to offer fans a fuller, lusher Carpenters' sound."
" He remixed several of the songs on 'Yesterday Once More', recently released compilation of greatest hits..."
Carpenter explains..." I didn't change much" transferred Superstar, Goodbye To Love and We've Only Just Begun
from 16 tracks to 24 tracks. " I wanted the change to make people more appreciative, not angry."
His eyes brimming with tears, "Nothing can ever take away her power and charm. Karen had a voice that will live on forever."

Source:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=bM4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4733,8962568&hl=en
 
GaryAlan said:
June 28, 1985, Herald Journal,
For Carpenter, It Is Yesterday Once More:
"..Carpenter is doing everything he can...hoping to offer fans a fuller, lusher Carpenters' sound."
" He remixed several of the songs on 'Yesterday Once More', recently released compilation of greatest hits..."
Carpenter explains..." I didn't change much" transferred Superstar, Goodbye To Love and We've Only Just Begun
from 16 tracks to 24 tracks. " I wanted the change to make people more appreciative, not angry."
His eyes brimming with tears, "Nothing can ever take away her power and charm. Karen had a voice that will live on forever."

Source:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=bM4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4733,8962568&hl=en
Click to expand...

It annoys me that reviewers don't do their homework. This article has Karen's passing as February 1982 and states that An Old Fashioned Christmas is just a reissue of Christmas Portrait. Nice comments from Richard though, especially about the remixing process.
 
November 26, 1971, Miami News:
"A good show The Carpenters put on here last week. They led off with happy-go-lucky guitarist Denny Brooks,
who really warmed up the crowd. Karen and Richard came on with a whole bag of stuff, running from semi-smooth
ballads to Rock. They did their major hits, but they also tossed in some Kern, Bacharach and David, and their interpretations
were excellent. Karen did something I never would have guessed she'd get away with: a mod treatment of
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. It was too much. The Carpenters also did the very nearly banned
Cinderella Rockefeller thing and the audience loved it. Those kids were really great."

Source:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AAIBAJ&sjid=N_MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=950,1984619&hl=en
 
On This Day....(for) July 4th, 1974...Rolling Stone Feature Article:
"The Carpenters seem to be going through what they would like to be a transition period.
They have an idea of what they are unhappy with but apparently no clear picture of what would make them more content.
They would like to change the image people have of them.
They would like to change their way of life. It is just that they are not at all certain what they would like to become.
They are reluctant to give up the sheltered existence they have known,
and change is such a foreign concept to them they can only approach it with great caution."

Read more:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-carpenters-up-from-downey-19740704#ixzz3epKrYIac
 
GaryAlan said:
On This Day....(for) July 4th, 1974...Rolling Stone Feature Article:
"The Carpenters seem to be going through what they would like to be a transition period.
They have an idea of what they are unhappy with but apparently no clear picture of what would make them more content.
They would like to change the image people have of them.
They would like to change their way of life. It is just that they are not at all certain what they would like to become.
They are reluctant to give up the sheltered existence they have known,
and change is such a foreign concept to them they can only approach it with great caution."

Read more:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-carpenters-up-from-downey-19740704#ixzz3epKrYIac
Click to expand...
In other words, they were normal young adults trying to find their own identities as people as well as musicians, albeit a bit later than most do.
 
ASCAP director Paul Williams wants fair pay for songwriters in the digital age:
"The songwriter behind some classic songs including "We’ve Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters
and "Rainbow Connection" sung by Kermit the Frog in “The Muppet Movie,” wants to change how songwriters are compensated for their work.
"The way people listen to music has changed with the technology. People don't buy music and own music anymore.
Everybody's streaming their music and we love that. You know, in 2013, we processed 250 billion streamed performances of music.
So music is being listened to on the most amazing, wonderful devices. "
"The fact is that the way we listen to music has changed, [and] the way we're compensated for it is totally out of proportion and out of date."
"Let's jump forward to copyrights. When you hear music on the radio, you're hearing two copyrights. There's a copyright for the song and there's a
copyright for the recorded material — the sound recording. The money from that copyright goes to the recording artist and the record companies. "
"We cannot —under the way that the laws are written right now — we can't go into court and say, "Judge! Those guys are getting 12 to 14 times more than we get — the songwriter."
"In the rest of the world, it's pretty much 50/50. In our world, 14 to 1 is unfair. "
"The Songwriters Equity Act will us give one thing: The right to go into court and say, "Judge, it's unfair. These are the numbers."
"I had the great honor of writing a couple songs and singing on an album with a group called Daft Punk last year.
We won the Grammy for Album of the Year for the album "Random Access Memories.
" There was a time in my life when having the Album of the Year, you could have bought a house.
Now you can buy dinner at Michael's in New York, but the fact is that this system is broken.
We're talking about small changes that are gonna make [a] huge difference. What I'm also seeing is a lot of studios for sale. "
"Guys that wrote a bunch of hits are selling their houses and moving into smaller places. It's not fair.
Bill Withers is one of my all-time favorite people and a great songwriter. I went to D.C. with Bill and was sitting with a senator.
He's trying to explain to the senator that, "Unless he change the rules we operate under, we're gonna have to do something else for a living, senator.
We're gonna have to get day jobs." And he said, "Senator, you do not want Ozzy Osbourne as your plumber."
 
GaryAlan said:
Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 2nd, 2001:
Richard Carpenter--at the Los Angeles opening of the Abba Musical 'Mamma Mia'--
"I couldn't help thinking how much Karen would have been thrilled with how
cleverly they used the songs."
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this, what a sweet anecdote.
 
Re-reading The NYTimes (January 3,2014) Rob Hoerburger article, compelled me to some research:
"...the Carpenters themselves have, over the years, been getting respect from unexpected sectors:
the film director Todd Haynes; the bands Sonic Youth and My Morning Jacket;
the alt-cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond; the novelist Mary Gaitskill have all acknowledged
or celebrated the Carpenters in their art. There was a second act after all."

The research? Looking into the music group--
My Morning Jacket,
their song :
'Librarian',
(Partial Lyric)
"Karen of the Carpenters, singing in the rain
Another lovely victim of the mirror's evil way
It's not like you're not trying with a pencil in your hair
To defy the beauty the good Lord put in there"

NPR Interview:
" they got pigeonholed, I guess, as a southern rock band. I don't know what exactly people were calling them,
but whatever you thought they were before, they're not now.
I mean, they're channeling Prince on this album.
There's a lot of experimentation. There's - you know,
there's a song that I really like called "Librarian" in which they reference the Carpenters,
which sounds like, you know, it's like a '60s British folk song, for crying out loud."

It's an interesting piece of music.
 
C
GaryAlan said:
Re-reading The NYTimes (January 3,2014) Rob Hoerburger article, compelled me to some research:
"...the Carpenters themselves have, over the years, been getting respect from unexpected sectors:
the film director Todd Haynes; the bands Sonic Youth and My Morning Jacket;
the alt-cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond; the novelist Mary Gaitskill have all acknowledged
or celebrated the Carpenters in their art. There was a second act after all."

The research? Looking into the music group--
My Morning Jacket,
their song :
'Librarian',
(Partial Lyric)
"Karen of the Carpenters, singing in the rain
Another lovely victim of the mirror's evil way
It's not like you're not trying with a pencil in your hair
To defy the beauty the good Lord put in there"

NPR Interview:
" they got pigeonholed, I guess, as a southern rock band. I don't know what exactly people were calling them,
but whatever you thought they were before, they're not now.
I mean, they're channeling Prince on this album.
There's a lot of experimentation. There's - you know,
there's a song that I really like called "Librarian" in which they reference the Carpenters,
which sounds like, you know, it's like a '60s British folk song, for crying out loud."

It's an interesting piece of music.
Click to expand...

Cheers Gary. I've loved My Morning Jacket for years. Jim Jones has a haunting voice.
 
December 15, 1983, Boca Raton News:
Latest Album is A Legacy of Karen's Style
Richard Carpenter:
"...then there was the whole image--the Great American Success Story--
a couple of kids from a lower middle class family who made it to the top. She (Karen) represented
wholesomeness in every way."
"Top 40 trends come and go, but a great melody will live forever. I hear a three year old kid
singing Top Of The World, and it's very satisfying--knowing we made music that will never go away."

Complete Story Here:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=cI0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4761,5248251&hl=en
 
The history within Omaha's music venues
POSTED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015 12:00 AM | UPDATED: 12:44 AM, SUN AUG 2, 2015.
By Kevin Coffey / World-Herald staff writer

Historic stereo
Drink a good beer and listen to some great tunes on a historic stereo at the Trap Room, 733 N. 14th St.
The hi-fi system at the bar came from Karen Carpenter by way of Omaha musician Jake Bellows.
He happened upon the stereo at a home once owned by Karen and Richard Carpenter’s parents where Karen lived.
Bellows was offered some free items left in a house purchased by his friend’s parents, who told him the house belonged to “this carpenter.”
Upon his arrival, Bellows realized the house once belonged to the Carpenter family. The stereo equipment was used in a home recording studio.
“I found out it was a bunch of their studio monitors and stuff,” Bellows said. “It’s the nicest hi-fi equipment you could buy. It’s really pretty extraordinary.”
He offered it to his friends Jason Kulbel and Robb Nansel, co-owners of Slowdown and the Trap Room, and it was installed in the bar.
The bar now has a collection of vinyl that can be played on the turntable, but you can also bring your own.

Source:
http://www.omaha.com/special_sectio...cle_48c6c3f5-a00f-5b9d-be42-9ba33ec6c1d6.html
 
The future of vinyl? Selling music as a lifestyle
By Kieron Monks
Fri August 7, 2015
"Having long since lost the battle for cost and convenience to rival formats, vinyl is nonetheless enjoying its most prolonged revival since the introduction of the CD.
Sales have been rising sharply each year since 2007, with a peak increase of 54% in 2014 - driven by strong figures in the heartlands of the United States, UK, and Germany -- although records still account for just a fraction of total music sales."
"One way to compensate for problems in delivering volume has been to vary the product, and novelty releases are on the rise."
"These details are important now, we see many more limited editions," says Holzel.
"It's important to the real enthusiasts to have something special ... we try to make very individual releases."
Given the relative expense of vinyl and the time required to maintain a collection, its future could be as a luxury niche, believes Dominik Bartmanski,
a sociologist at the Technical University of Berlin, and author of "Vinyl: The Analogue Record in the Digital Age."
"Vinyl is unlikely to recapture the mainstream market but it can stay as an important medium,"
"Digital music is unquestionably very convenient, it is now a standard and thus routine way of consuming music on everyday basis. Analogue music requires more elaborate ritualized attention. It is routine vs ritual.
"Vinyl has a potential for being a better 'ritualistic' medium ... you don't want to download your favourite food, you go to a good restaurant to experience that food. Certain experiences are neither downloadable nor possible to save on a hard drive."
If the record surge is to continue, the industry may need connoisseurs more than consumers."

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/world/vinyl-records-future-lifestyle/index.html
 
The Schmidt Compilation ,Yesterday Once More (2012, 2nd edition,page 195)
includes the Melody Maker article, by Ray Coleman, from November 20,1976,
however, both editions omit the very beginning, which contains these ' bulleted '
quotes from Karen and Richard Carpenter:
* "Yep, One of us is going to get married some day. It'll probably be during rehearsal." (Karen).

* " Why do we work so hard Karen? Not for money anymore. For applause."
"I love the sound of people clapping for me. This is my life--performing." (Richard).

* " I enjoy money. Not enough people in this world are happy. I'm determined to be contented,
and having plenty of money from working hard makes it easier for me." (Karen).

* " Yes, but when you consider we're doing all this basically to enjoy ourselves, we still make
a disgusting amount of money." (Richard).
 
April 6, 1985 Billboard Magazine, Vol.97,Number 14,
New Releases:
" ...A&M's top releases include the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More and Atlantic Starr's As the Band Turns.
The Carpenters album is a two-record set collecting the duo's key hits from (sic.) 1970's Ticket To Ride to
1983's Make Believe It's Your First Time. It's the first Carpenters anthology to be released since
Karen Carpenter's death in February 1983.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar discussions

3
Carpenters: the Musical Legacy at Amazon
Replies
4
Views
395
1969
1
Late2theParty
A senior citizen "newby" story
Replies
9
Views
858
Randy M
Randy M
Mark-T
Compiled Carpenters Recording Chronology
Replies
18
Views
3K
John Tkacik
J
T
Karen Carpenter calendar
Replies
4
Views
1K
JohnFB
JohnFB
Rudy
  • Article
📜 Feature Dionne Warwick Sings the Complete Bacharach/David Songbook
2
Replies
28
Views
3K
Mark-T
Mark-T
Back
Top Bottom