Anyone read this?

Australian Women in Music Awards recognise industry trailblazers at ceremony in Brisbane.​

Dame Olivia Newton-John has joined fellow Australian music legends inducted in the Australian Women in Music Awards Honour Roll, with icon Tina Arena performing a touching tribute celebrating the singer-songwriter.

Arena sang Newton-John's global-hit I Honestly Love You, rousing the crowd to a standing ovation as they celebrated both of the music powerhouses at the Australian Women in Music Awards at the Tivoli in Brisbane last night.

Newton-John, who accepted the award via video from her home in California, said she was thrilled and grateful to accept the award following after some of her favourite singers — Helen Reddy and Judith Durham.

"I want to encourage everyone to support the work of Australian Women in Music Awards, because diversity is everything," she said.

"There are so many talented women who have never thought about going into a certain area of the music industry, not just to sing, as well as producers, engineers, technicians, and there's a whole world waiting for them.

"Once one person does it, others will follow — lead by example, thank you so much."

Arena presents inaugural award​

Following her tribute to Newton-John, Arena spoke of the challenges she has faced throughout her career, saying she had learnt so much about the discrimination in the industry.

"The preying on the vulnerability of artists is something that is really quite pathetic in the day and age in which we live, so it is our duty to speak up about it.

"But it is also our duty, I feel, to bring change with love."

She presented the inaugural Tina Arena special impact award to Dina Bassile for her work creating disability access at live music and arts events.

Bassile thanked her friends, family and "every single conversation" with artists with disabilities who have listened to her.

"And people who have listened to me and heard my voice and been willing to make the change to being more inclusive and more accessible to the disability community," she said.

For championing new opportunities for those often under-represented in music, and for her own talent, disability activist and musician Eliza Hull received the diversity in Music award.

Yorta Yorta woman Deborah Cheetham AO was honoured with the Queensland government's lifetime achievement award, for her devotion to the industry as a soprano, composer, educator and leader in the arts for more than 25 years, accepted on her behalf by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The event, the first held in two years due to the pandemic, also included artists and music professionals speaking about the significant toll the years of COVID-19 had wreaked on the industry.

Change-makers recognised​

The room fell silent as "Little Pattie" Amphlett spoke about the imbalance of power women face in the industry.

AWMA founding executive producer and program director Vicki Gordon created the change maker award, presented by Little Pattie, to recognise the brave women who have fought against bullying, sexual harassment and bad behaviour in the industry.

The award was presented to Tamara Georgopoulos, who spoke out about sexual harassment at Sony Music, and independent artist Deena Lynch, who performs as Jaguar Jonze, who spoke about sexual assault publicly, for sharing their stories publicly.

The crowd was entertained with musical performances by Sahara Beck, Dizzy Doolan and Barkaa, Emma Donovan & Kee'ahn, Montaigne, and Sandy Evans and Satsuki Odamura.

Newcomer Martha Marlow was recognised with the emerging artist award, while the songwriter gong went to Tania Doko.

The ceremony at the Tivoli also honoured the many talented women working behind the scenes to make Australia's best music happen.

This year Frontier Touring's Sahara Herald received the music leadership award, celebrating her contribution to the industry.

The creative leadership award went to musician and festival director and programmer Emily Ulman.

Calls for more women in off-stage roles​

Live creative production award, presented by Brisbane singer-songwriter Katie Noonan, was awarded to Kait Hall, who said it was the first time she had been in front of the lights at the Tivoli.

"It's really quite exceptional to be recognised creatively in the industry, we often get overlooked for these kinds of things, so to have someone understand the importance of what we do to bring your vision as songwriters to the stage is really quite an honour," Hall said.

"I'd also like to ask that all of the women that are in this room that get to make the choices about how they will be creatively represented on stage, whether that sound of vision or writing, please consider creating a diverse environment in your crew.

"Very little has changed in the two decades I've been doing this … nearly always, I am the only woman, front of house."

By Antonia O’Flaherty, From ABC News web site, May 19th, 2022.
 
newvillefan said:
I found these interesting images on the Instagram page for Ludwig Drums. They captioned the pictures with the following notes:

“An original Super Sensitive Snare played by the legendary Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters on display at the Ludwig showroom in Monroe, North Carolina courtesy of Ludwig artist Bun E. Carlos”.

4CCDCEE9-5B47-44DE-AEC2-A0398F17C23F_zpsqjcsjogk.jpg


DE85D133-2EDD-45FB-88D7-67255CFAA33C_zpsoaq8p8z3.jpg


38FA5330-D65E-4639-B5F9-EA83CFFE998D_zpsqmhhulim.jpg


I wonder how this ended up falling out of Richard’s hands?

Also with added notes on a Facebook posting:

Ludwig Drums
Click to expand...


Just adding a readable image of the letter (visible in the first photo of original post in 2018 from newvillefan) that describes the path of ownership of this particular "Super Sensitive Snare" of Karen's. Can't figure out if it was gifted to Bun E. Carlos or he purchased it.


 
Interesting post. As the original drummer for Cheap Trick, I'm wondering if Bun E had an admiration for Karen and the Carpenters which Todd Trent was aware of to take the time to gift him the snare drum? And did Bun E donate Karen's snare to the Ludwig factory so visitors could view it with the other music memorabilia in their exhibit area? If I'm ever in the Charlotte area I'll definitely take the short trip to Monroe to check it out!
 
www.yahoo.com

Why Carpenters Were Cooler Than You Think

Often pigeon-holed as AOR, Carpenters were actually musical mavericks, thanks to Richard Carpenter’s forward-thinking arrangements and Karen’s unique voice.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

Why Carpenters Were Cooler Than You Think

Being hailed by a Watergate-shamed President Nixon as “young America at its best” is probably not the best thing for your street cred or reputation. For years thereafter, the music of Carpenters was pigeon-holed as AOR or soft-rock – tags that belied the duo’s boldness and creativity across a remarkable body of work. Those who listened closely, however, knew far better.

The Carpenter’s beginnings​

Richard Carpenter gained a grounding in music through his father’s 78pm records, an eclectic collection that included Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and the Dixieland jazz of Red Nichols. In his late teens, he formed The Richard Carpenter Trio – a band in which he was pianist, sister Karen Carpenter played drums and friend Wes Jacobs was on upright bass and tuba – and the group won a prestigious battle of the bands, in June 1966, at the Hollywood Bowl. However, even Richard admitted that “our brand of rock-tuba was never going to catch on.”

When Richard and Karen moved away from instrumental jazz, they recorded a song he had written called “Looking For Love.” Despite the rawness of a track recorded in a garage lock-up in Los Angeles, the song had innovative elements, such as the phrasing of 16-year-old Karen’s vocals to the use of the flute. The demo tape impressed A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert.

Richard was subsequently given carte blanche by Alpert to write songs for their 1969 debut album, Offering. The title track, a cover of The Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” (which later gave the renamed album its title), was innovatively arranged as a slow ballad. It’s fitting that a gorgeous reworked version for the new orchestral album was recorded in August 2018 (with Richard as arranger and conductor) at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles first cut the track in 1965.


Though there were glimpses of real talent in Richard’s arrangements – including his use of the harpsichord in a baroque pop way – his promise was not really fulfilled until Carpenters released their second album, Close To You, which came out a year later. Richard said of the inspiration for the sound of this album that “Les Paul and Mary Ford probably had the biggest influence on me because of the overdubbed sound. Boy, did Karen and I take to the whole multi-track thing.”

Being hailed by a Watergate-shamed President Nixon as “young America at its best” is probably not the best thing for your street cred or reputation. For years thereafter, the music of Carpenters was pigeon-holed as AOR or soft-rock – tags that belied the duo’s boldness and creativity across a remarkable body of work. Those who listened closely, however, knew far better.

The Carpenter’s beginnings​

Richard Carpenter gained a grounding in music through his father’s 78pm records, an eclectic collection that included Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and the Dixieland jazz of Red Nichols. In his late teens, he formed The Richard Carpenter Trio – a band in which he was pianist, sister Karen Carpenter played drums and friend Wes Jacobs was on upright bass and tuba – and the group won a prestigious battle of the bands, in June 1966, at the Hollywood Bowl. However, even Richard admitted that “our brand of rock-tuba was never going to catch on.”
When Richard and Karen moved away from instrumental jazz, they recorded a song he had written called “Looking For Love.” Despite the rawness of a track recorded in a garage lock-up in Los Angeles, the song had innovative elements, such as the phrasing of 16-year-old Karen’s vocals to the use of the flute. The demo tape impressed A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert.
Richard was subsequently given carte blanche by Alpert to write songs for their 1969 debut album, Offering. The title track, a cover of The Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride” (which later gave the renamed album its title), was innovatively arranged as a slow ballad. It’s fitting that a gorgeous reworked version for the new orchestral album was recorded in August 2018 (with Richard as arranger and conductor) at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles first cut the track in 1965.

Though there were glimpses of real talent in Richard’s arrangements – including his use of the harpsichord in a baroque pop way – his promise was not really fulfilled until Carpenters released their second album, Close To You, which came out a year later. Richard said of the inspiration for the sound of this album that “Les Paul and Mary Ford probably had the biggest influence on me because of the overdubbed sound. Boy, did Karen and I take to the whole multi-track thing.”

(They Long to Be) Close To You​

“(They Long to Be) Close To You” was a breakthrough song for the duo. It was a chart success – No. 1 on the Billboard charts for four weeks in 1970 – and earned a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus a year later, when Richard and Karen beat The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to the trophy.
Indeed, Carpenters deserve credit for their bold and progressive version of the song, composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. There had been previous versions by Dionne Warwick (and Bacharach himself), but even the original songwriter paid tribute to the free-flowing arrangement Richard Carpenter devised (using his Wurlitzer piano) to showcase Karen’s vocals.
Carpenters’ version was punchier than the original, with a swinging harmony and shorter pauses. Richard used a click track to synchronize the vocals (masterfully arranged into four-part harmonies tripled into 12 overdubbed vocal parts) and achieve the right effect. It took 47 takes just to get the extended “wahs” the way he wanted on the closing chorus. Trumpeter Chuck Findley had to repeatedly modify the trumpet part to get the sound waves to modulate in the way the producer wanted. “People were coming in during recording and saying, ‘We’ve never heard anything like this,’” Richard recalled.
Singer, producer, and record company owner Linda Perry said, “Richard is up there with Brian Wilson. He had the same kind of perfectionism and did such interesting things with the production and arrangement he put together.”

The song was an instant hit, and even Dionne Warwick noted, “Carpenters’ version was new enough, fresh enough that people did not associate it with me. It was a unique sound. They made the song their own.”

Richard Carpenter’s genius​

Richard’s perfectionism carried over from the studio to their gigs. He would spend up to an hour before some concerts balancing the mics for instruments and vocals, a job usually left to the sound engineer.

As well as writing great songs, Richard had a knack for spotting winners. He first heard “We’ve Only Just Began” as the music on a television advert for Crockers Citizen Bank Of California and thought “this sounds like a hit record.” Richard rang songwriter Roger Nichols to ask whether the simple jingle had a bridge and a third verse. Nichols said that Richard’s genius for deft arrangements allowed the grace of Karen’s voice to turn lyrics “that were more greeting-card quality than Keats” into a hugely popular tune.

“Goodbye To Love” is another song that shows Carpenters’ enduring relevance. Richard had been watching TV when he saw the 1940 Basil Rathbone/Bing Crosby/Mary Martin movie Rhythm On The River, in which the song title is mentioned but never heard. His instincts were usually spot on; he recognized that the title alone was the building block for a future Top 10 hit, but it was his arrangements that created a sensation. Richard said, “I pictured something that was a little off the beaten path. I wanted two things that ordinarily don’t go together: a melodic fuzz guitar solo.”

The late guitarist Tony Peluso, who was a mainstay of Carpenters’ band for a decade, said Richard told him to “play the melody for five bars and then burn it up! Soar off into the stratosphere. He wanted an aggressive solo in the middle of this Doris Day easy-listening-style record. I thought, He can’t be serious. Inadvertently, Richard had broken new ground. No one had ever really mixed the elements of rock’n’roll and easy listening. Totally crazy but a great idea. From then on, it became very commonplace for a big power ballad to have a raging guitar solo.”

The reaction to this innovation was not universally positive. When Carpenters first heard the music on the radio, a DJ joked about them “doing a Jimi Hendrix song.” They also received mail from fans upset at a perceived musical heresy.

Carpenters’ ambition and experiments​

Ever ambitious, however, Richard was always searching for new orchestration, whether it meant using woodwind instruments, strings, harp or tambourine, or even a blend of them all behind overdubbed harmonies. On “Make Believe It’s Your First Time,” he adapted what he called “tap dancing cheek” – the sound of Karen making three quick pulls on her cheek, with her thumb and forefinger – to produce a tap dancing sound. On “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (a song he heard Bette Midler singing on The Johnny Carson Show) he wanted a lusher sound and laid down a choral arrangement involving a 13-part 39-voice chord. This song earned Richard one of his five Grammy nominations as an arranger.

Carpenters had more hits throughout the 70s, and Richard continued to experiment. On the 1977 album Passage he got the most out of Karen’s voice by having a solitary soloist (oboe, flute, harmonica) as the counterpoint to her voice. That album also featured a cover of Canadian band Klaatu’s space anthem “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognised Anthem Of World Contact Day),” a seven-minute blend of orchestra and guitar. As Peluso said, “It’s certainly not the kind of thing you expect from Carpenters. From a creative point of view, we all had a blast. Commercially? No, but I don’t think Richard cared.”

Another track on the album, “B’wana She No Home,” written by jazz singer Michael Franks, demonstrated an innovative use of conga and percussion, and has the unusual quality of seeing what happens when talented session musicians are let loose to strut their stuff.

Richard admitted he understood why he and his sister were dubbed as “goody four-shoes”, and he contested that “crappy” album covers, such as the cosy image on Close To You, did not help the group’s credibility.

Carpenters with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra​

Carpenter was a master of getting the best out of Karen’s exquisite voice, and on the A&M/UMe album Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra he took full advantage of the opportunity to set their classics on a larger scale, with an orchestra of nearly 80 top-class musicians, covering classics such as “Top Of The World” (1973), their US chart singles hits “We’ve Only Just Begun” (1970), “Superstar” (1971), “Rainy Days And Mondays” (1971), “Hurting Each Other” (1972) and “Yesterday Once More” (1973).

But, nearly 50 years on from their first record, the music of Carpenters now receives critical acclaim. Their exquisite multi-layered harmonies, novel arrangements, and creativity helped shape modern pop music.

Look beyond the coy images – and the later tragedy of Karen’s death, aged just 32 – and it’s possible to see that Carpenters were musical mavericks: not least for selling 150 million “soft vocal” records in an era when rock, punk, prog rock, and heavy metal were supposed to rule music.
 
Even though he got a couple of things wrong, it’s a nice tribute. Anything positive is welcome news to me. Thanks for posting this Harry! 👍
 
Yahoo said:
For years thereafter, the music of Carpenters was pigeon-holed as AOR or soft-rock
Click to expand...

Since when were Carpenters ever pigeonholed as...AOR (Album Oriented Rock)? Pretty sure the writer meant MOR or Middle Of the Road.

Ed
 
150 million records sold? I heard that number was actually closer to 110 million a few years ago but I do appreciate the larger estimate! Harry, I think this article was published a second time because I had an exact a copy of it stored in my favorites from a period after the Carpenter RPO was released.
 
The first clue is it appeared on Richard's birthday, Oct 15. The second is at the bottom of the article: "uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG." Started out happily reading how the "Carpenters were cooler than you think" only to be disappointed when you realize this isn't a tribute but a public exercise in keeping good relations between a record company (UMG) and one of their current artists (Richard).

A comment posted on the Yahoo site lamented not enough credit's given to Karen for her "distinctive voice" in the article. I agree. Look at the layout of the article. Practically every paragraph starts out extolling the genius of Richard and how he did this or that. In fact, one paragraph header reads "Richard Carpenter's genius." Not one paragraph is devoted to Karen. Sprinkled throughout are comments like how Richard devised a "free-flowing arrangement (using his Wurlitzer piano) to showcase Karen’s vocals...." or "Richard’s genius for deft arrangements allowed the grace of Karen’s voice to turn lyrics....." or "On the 1977 album Passage he got the most out of Karen’s voice by...." or "Carpenter was a master of getting the best out of Karen’s exquisite voice...." You start thinking Richard was "Geppetto" and Karen his block of wood. A rough word count has Karen's name appearing in the article just 11 times while Richard's name appears some 27 times not including when he's referred to as just "Carpenter."

It's clear Karen's contribution as a vocalist and musician/drummer to the "sound" is given short shrift here. I see her as much a musical genius as much as Richard is, so when she's mentioned only in an incidental way throughout the article as if she's just a tool in Richard's music tool box to use to achieve the perfection he seeks, it irritates me....... but since this article is essentially marketing PR, I'll stop blowing steam about it and wait for that future great Carpenters tribute or honor for both Karen and Richard from some respected newspaper, journal, magazine writer, etc... I hope that happens soon so Karen receives her due as well as Richard.
 
I think it’s obvious of Karen’s contribution since she was the lead, and Richard is always crediting Karen himself in interviews as the star of the duo. Richard sometimes takes a backseat and his contribution is sometimes forgotten in the eyes of many since Karen’s voice is front and center. With Richard still living the shift of focus is placed on him by Universal (as he assembled their sound) in order to sell more records. That was my take from it.
 
For the first time in many, many years, I was listening to a live cassette of Carpenters in Adelaide, South Australia, May 22, 1972. When introducing ‘Mr. Guder’, Richard says, “... years ago, before we were lucky enough to get a recording contract, we had to work individually in different musical groups”. I didn’t realise this when I listened to the cassette years ago but I guess this is a reference to the groups that Karen worked in and that he worked in, separately, as mentioned in the book, ‘Carpenters - A Musical Legacy’. At least from memory, one group is mentioned for Karen in that book and a second one rumoured. I think that’s right. Just interesting to notice Richard make reference to their separate groups. I don’t think I’ve heard that, on other concert tapes - although their patter seems to be almost identical at all concerts, so maybe I’m just forgetting.
 
Another Son said:
For the first time in many, many years, I was listening to a live cassette of Carpenters in Adelaide, South Australia, May 22, 1972. When introducing ‘Mr. Guder’, Richard says, “... years ago, before we were lucky enough to get a recording contract, we had to work individually in different musical groups”. I didn’t realise this when I listened to the cassette years ago but I guess this is a reference to the groups that Karen worked in and that he worked in, separately, as mentioned in the book, ‘Carpenters - A Musical Legacy’. At least from memory, one group is mentioned for Karen in that book and a second one rumoured. I think that’s right. Just interesting to notice Richard make reference to their separate groups. I don’t think I’ve heard that, on other concert tapes - although their patter seems to be almost identical at all concerts, so maybe I’m just forgetting.
Click to expand...
Does he mention the question that they got about whether Karen and him were husband and wife rather than brother and sister on that recording?
 
tomswift2002 said:
Does he mention the question that they got about whether Karen and him were husband and wife rather than brother and sister on that recording?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure, Tomswift. There were some sections of the tape that I missed. I'll let you know when I've re-listened to the whole cassette.
 
I just came across a photo-copy that I had of a story about Carpenters from 1970, from the Australian music paper, Go-Set.

It has a couple of brief quotes from Karen and Richard, throughout the story. There's nothing new in what they say, though.

Richard:- "I quit accordion lessons pretty quickly and went on to the piano, which was a lot better. I don't know why my mother ever had me try the accordion because we already owned a piano".

Karen:- "I tried of lot of different instruments when I was a kid but most of my flings lasted for about a week before I got tired of the instrument. Drums were the first ones I really liked and they've become my 'axe'".

Speaking of playing jazz in small clubs and bars; Richard:- "It was pretty bad stuff but it was a good experience. At least I began to write and arrange music".

On winning the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands; Richard:- "It was hilarious! Our bassist was also a great tuba player and on our final number that night, he did a tuba sola that knoocked everyone out! It was so good that it helped us win the contest and get us a recording contract with a major recording firm".
 
Tom_P said:
Saw this today; apologies if I'm repeating something! Article is on p.14 and is typical of the usual 70's journalist who doesn't know how to respond to the Carpenters.

https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/74/Record-Mirror-1974-03-02.pdf
Click to expand...

This is a really nasty review, and very poorly written.

“The rumours are rife on the pair”
“Karen’s got rather big hips you know”

Imagine the latter comment being written nowadays? You read stuff like this and Richard’s bitterness to this day suddenly makes sense.
 
A bit of trivia - Darryl Cotton released ‘Top Of the World’ on one of his albums for children and was in Cotton, Lloyd and Christian with Chris Christian, who wrote ‘(Want You) Back In my Life Again’, released by Carpenters on ‘Made In America’.
 
Herb Alpert brings 60 years of hit-making to Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto Star (May 10, 2023)

Relevant Carpenters part:

“When I heard the Carpenters, it wasn’t the type of music that I play for my own personal collection. But there’s something about (Karen Carpenter’s) voice and Richard’s enthusiasm that struck me, like, this is the real thing. So I … gave them the tune ‘Close to You’ to record and man, bang! They hit hard. They’re still selling records, God bless (Karen). She was a fabulous artist."
 
I admire Herb Alpert and will always be grateful that he signed Karen and Richard. However, it's not the first time he's made comments that the Carpenter's music wasn't his type or style. But he recorded and released "This Guy's in Love With You" which was a great song and a big hit for A&M during the lean years but was just as sappy and easy listening as some of the Carpenter's ballads. He 's kind of saying that he was too hip to have their music in his personal collection but they were very talented which comes off as a back handed compliment in my opinion.
 
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