Anyone read this?

A Snippet from today's Billboard Chart Site:
Oct. 21, 1989
Elton John tops Adult Contemporary with the inspirational "Healing Hands" from his album Sleeping With the Past.
The set would also yield the top five AC hits "Sacrifice" and "Club at the End of the Street." "Healing Hands" became the eighth of John's 15 AC No. 1s;
he and the Carpenters share the mark for the most leaders in the chart's 53-year history.
 
Here is one tidbit , obviously I have no way to authenticate this, so take it for for what it's worth:

Source:
http://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-is-for-vintagedisneylandtickets.html

"Disneyland Line, October 9, 1970:
ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION'S VIC GUDER is the Mr. GuderThe Carpenters sing about on their first album, Close to You.
The album is selling very fast and it is predicted to sell over a million copies."

"Mr. Guder premiered last summer during the Burt Bacharach Concert at the Greek Theatre."

"Just to set the record straight.....I never fired Richard Carpenter...a great musician. Richard only worked at Coke Corner for our summer seasons and special events...Karen appeared at a special event ....so sad we lost Karen..a wonderful talent.Also for the record I am still playing the woodwinds and happy to have the wonderful memories of the Disney days and my 20 years in Music education and directing Broadway Musicals...Music is the highlight of my life and may the world of Music continue to live in our lives. I do miss the Carpenters and their unique sounds..but the recordings continue to reflect their great music....now you have the facts.." MR> GUDER"FEBRUARY 10, 2010 A
 
Recently been on holiday which gave me a chance to catch up on this thread, so many great articles, even the ones that obviously don't really appreciate Carpenters.
 
Finally, some words from Steve Martin --sometime opening act for Carpenters and Tonight Show Part- Timer:
Steve Martin interview: 'I'm a naif in the music world!'
“....But yeah, I was very reluctant on this one, because Edie’s such a perfect singer.
There are only two singers I’ve worked with who have this pitch.
One is Edie and the other was Karen Carpenter. I opened a show for Karen Carpenter in the Seventies and it was just amazing.
Her voice was so pure and Edie has that same quality.”
Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...n-interview-Im-a-naif-in-the-music-world.html
 
I read in a dirt mag way in the back when that Steve Martin and KC had a dating thang. I think it was the Enquirer so I know that it was on the money!
 
I read in a dirt mag way in the back when that Steve Martin and KC had a dating thang. I think it was the Enquirer so I know that it was on the money!

It's actually true - she did date Steve Martin in the late 70s.
 
Take this for what it's worth:
'Elvis did my song all wrong' Neil Sedaka
By Nottingham Post | Posted: October 30, 2014
NEIL Sedaka was – and still is – a huge fan of Elvis Presley but he stands by his criticism of the King's version of one of his classic songs.
"He did it wrong, he did it off beat," says the 75-year-old New Yorker of Solitaire, which was one of Presley's standards during his live shows in the 70s.
"I've had much better versions – Shirley Bassey did it beautifully and there was Karen Carpenter's and Andy Williams' versions."


Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Elvis...tory-23792527-detail/story.html#ixzz3Hiw2td00
 
Anumber of recent references to Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft:

November 2 2014: (UK News)
:
"The fireworks were choreographed to a space-themed soundtrack, which included Out of Space by The Prodigy,
Starman by David Bowie, The Carpenters’ Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft and Spaceman by The Killers."
Friday 17 October 2014:
"..the then research-chemist Margaret Thatcher's favorite song) to the Carpenters gently bizarre "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft".
"...putting me in mind of The Carpenters' heroically odd 'Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft'."
 
Has anyone read the Phil Ramone book, Making Records (2007) ?
(Forgive me if this is 'old news' to the members)
One finds this tidbit on page 98:
"..Karen called me at home. She and Richard had signed a new deal with A&M records earlier in the day.
We'll be making a new Carpenters' album and I just wanted to tell you how much I love you.
Then she lowered her voice, and said '...I still love our f.....g record' ,
... in the morning she was gone.
"
 
Has anyone read the Phil Ramone book, Making Records (2007) ?
(Forgive me if this is 'old news' to the members)
One finds this tidbit on page 98:
"..Karen called me at home. She and Richard had signed a new deal with A&M records earlier in the day.
We'll be making a new Carpenters' album and I just wanted to tell you how much I love you.
Then she lowered her voice, and said '...I still love our f.....g record' ,
... in the morning she was gone.
"

Cheers Gary,

Interesting. . . though I tend to take those memoirs with a pinch of salt. . . did Karen and Richard sign a new record deal on February 3rd 1983. . .I don't think so. We know Richard saw Karen for the last time on Feb 1st and to sign a document both would've had to be present in person. And as for them making a new record together. . . .of course they were, they'd already made MIA and laid down tracks a year earlier for the new album. Apparently they'd also booked studio time from Feb 11th onward. I doubt all this suddenly crystallized during this phone call.

I think the reason she spoke to Phil was coz she was due to fly over and stay with him and Itchy for the birth of their first son on Sunday 6th. . . .it just doesn't make for a very entertaining memoir, I suppose.
 
(A nod to Karen Carpenter:)
Voices Heard: Women In Rock And Roll

https://woub.org/2014/10/21/voices-heard-women-rock-and-roll
To quote Peter, Paul and Mary, "I dig rock-n-roll music."
My spirit lifts when I lift the needle, gently place it down on the record, adjust the volume and let the music stream through the crackle of my record player.
I have some prized Richie Havens, James Taylor and CCR records, but I usually reach for the Joan Baez, Janis Ian or Aretha Franklin albums.
Music from powerful, talented female artists gives me such euphoria. Their music makes me feel proud to be a woman.
Rock-n-roll and rock criticism are fields largely dominated by males (just take a gander at Guitar World magazine, or visit the nearest Guitar Center), but the female influence is significant and must be regarded.
When I hear Joni Mitchell sing, “I am a woman of heart and mind,” or Carole King declare that “it’s too late,” or Mama Cass and Michelle Phillips [harmoniously] shout that “you gotta go where you wanna go,” I feel a surge of female power and energy that is overwhelming.
It is music about traveling, loving, feeling, forging and freeing ourselves without necessarily being with a man. Ellen Willis, the first popular music critic for The New Yorker (1968), wrote not only about albums, performances and musicianship, but about the way the music made her feel. I would argue that’s what music is about--the way it makes us feel.
Women bring something to music that men could never. The crystal-clear notes that Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez master, and the low, sultry notes Aretha Franklin belts out (Franklin was voted the number one singer of all time in Rolling Stone magazine) can not be equated by male musicians.
Female musicians liberate women with their words, their rhythms and their soul. There’s something about the sizzling hi-hat, saxophone solo and piano bits mixed with Franklin’s singing out about the respect she expects (and all the bread she’s got).
Similarly, how can one deny Carole King’s demand to “get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart?”
Thirteen of King’s songs are compiled on an album called The Legendary Demos, “Beautiful” being one of them. Some of the other songs include “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Way Over Yonder,” and “It’s Too Late.” All of the hits on the album are indeed, legendary.
Oftentimes, folks aren’t aware of all the hits Carole King wrote/helped to write (e.g.,“Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”). King was also the first female writer/artist to win record, song and album of the year, for her album Tapestry.

The list goes on for influential female singers: Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Etta James, Karen Carpenter, Grace Slick, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Stevie Nicks, Janis Ian and dozens, dozens more.
Women are an important part of rock-n-roll history. When I imagine rock-n-roll without the influence of women, it is an empty, monotonous past. Women have a voice, and a darn good one at that.
 
Dave Thompson authored a book in 2002 entitled, Music Lover's Guide to Record Collecting:
On page 111 is a Top Ten List of Carpenters' Records for collectors:

Close To You (A&M LLP- 125, Jukebox Album, 1970)
Do You Hear What I Hear (A&M- 2700, seven-inch promo, 1984)
Horizon (A&M QU-54530 Quad LP, 1975)
I'll Be Yours (Karen Carpenter Magic Lamp ML-704, seven-inch, 1967)
Love Is Surrender (UK A&M AMS-832, seven-inch, 1971)
Offering (A&M SP-4205, LP 1969)
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (A&M 1648, seven-inch,picture sleeve, 1974)
Sounds Like The Navy (US Navy, Transcription Disc,1975)
Ticket To Ride (A&M-1142, seven-inch,1969)
Yesterday Once More (A&M-2735, seven-inch, picture sleeve, 1985)
 
This, from Billboard Magazine, May 18,1985 (author Paul Grein):
Carpenter recently signed a new management pact..and a new booking deal. And, he re-signed as a solo artist with A&M.
"Carpenters' Hits Resurfacing": Album, Videocassette Due
Yesterday Once More : Richard Carpenter-" We've remixed six of them and re-recorded parts.
..hiss on some of the pre-Dolby things, so we transferred them from 16 to 24-track and re-did the piano
in Dolby and in Stereo. It's quieter now."

Source:
http://books.google.com/books?id=HC...AEwAzgU#v=onepage&q="karen carpenter"&f=false
 
August 12, 1976 Schenectady Gazette (Bill Rice):

"When the Carpenters' show began Tuesday night, an announcer said it was the 'all new' show by the Carpenters.
This reviewer took a defensive attitude 'I'll believe it when I see it', and braced myself for the worst.
A year ago I sat through their show and was bored to tears, and I said so. The 1975 act consisted of one hit after another and
phrased note for note exactly like the records. As it turned out, happily, the announcer did not speak with forked tongue. They have
revamped their show turning it into a viable piece of entertainment, rather than a nonstop instant replay of their chart-topping records.
The amphitheater was sold out, but the crowd was sparse,attendance was 5700. In an interview, Richard said it was his idea to change the show
from a singathon to a Las Vegas spectacular with as much trappings as could be taken out on the road. It now begins ordinarily enough.
Richard conducts a tape-recorded orchestra, which plays an introduction for Karen, who comes out in a dazzling white outfit. She sings There's
A Kind of Hush and I Need to be in Love, and it looked at that point like it was going to be 1975 all over again. Zzzzz.
Then came the first of the surprises. The entire band did Close To You Spike Jones' style, with tooting bells , clanking horns and shooting guns.
They then came up with a 50's bit from Grease that would make Sha Na Na sit up and take notice--Richard on motorcycle and Karen dressed like
a tight-sweatered car hop with dimensions that Playboy magazine wouldn't believe. Next, they musically traced their careers.
The show stopper consisted of Karen on drums playing as she has never played before, with a lot more rhythm and drive than I ever thought possible.
She looked as though she were having the time of her life and the audience loved it. Karen looked a little hurt after the show when I said she had never
been 'featured' as a drummer before. "I used to play everything that Cubby does now" , she said. "Yes, but not anything like that", her brother chimed in.
"Do you get a kick out of it ", I asked. "Ooooh, Yes" she said.
Richard went classic with the Warsaw Concerto, with a mirror that was lowered and tipped so the audience could see the piano from above, the needed touch
of theatricality to make the show's one high brow segment work.
The Carpenters are an easy target for the rock critics who maintain that their music is too
slick and polished. Their image has always been the kids next door who are too good to be true.
Their string of hits--which, thankfully, was condensed for the most part into a medley--is amazing.
"Actually, said Richard, people began to think we were something we weren't. I guess our goal right now is to get back to what we always were."
Last fall the brother-sister duo receive notoriety for dropping their opening act, Neil Sedaka because he was upstaging their show.
Maybe it was the little boot they needed to get their show in motion.

Complete Article:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...bPwtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cYgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=916,2465495
 
^^Thanks Gary, I enjoyed reading that one.

quote above
"Karen looked a little hurt after the show when I said she had never been 'featured' as a drummer before. "I used to play everything that Cubby does now" , she said. "Yes, but not anything like that", her brother chimed in."

huh? so Richard had to interject and place doubt that Karen was not capable of working the drums like Cubby did? Is this true, was Karen not as versed in drum playing as Cubby? I don't get that interject from Richard.
 
Yes, but NOT anything like that???

I'm gonna take some time
This time...

And pretend I didn't hear that.

Jeff
 
"The show stopper consisted of Karen on drums playing as she has never played before, with a lot more rhythm and drive than I ever thought possible. She looked as though she were having the time of her life and the audience loved it."

In our rush to once again portray Richard as evil, I believe his quote was in reference to what the author was stating a couple lines up in the piece.

Just sayin'...
 
(Watch your blood pressure on this one)

From: April 19, 1974 The Observer-Reporter --Sugar Sweet Inc.( by Tom McNully)
"Attended recent Carpenters Concert. In two shows they were able to prove two things.
One, The Carpenters are perfect, and second, perfection can be terribly boring at times.
This show was one of those times.
For half the price of admission you could have purchased their Greatest Hits package, put it on your stereo and
stared at the album cover.You would have gotten the same effect. But, if you did that, you wouldn't have seen the
few extra pounds the girl-next-door has added to her image. You also would have missed the children's choir doing back up on 'Sing'.
The Carpenters first played in Disneyland and immediately began canning their music.There's sameness about their songs.
The redundance is tolerable when the songs are relaxed six months apart.But, when they are lined up back to back in concert, you
can't help but think they were written by some huge Walt Disney computer. The need for some kind of active performance is vital.
In this concert, the Carpenters were not willing to break out of their well rehearsed shell and entertain.They apparently felt their work
was finished when they cut their last album.No need to expend any more energy on a chilly Friday night in Pittsburgh. Just a note: Get rid
of the comedy team that precedes you--they are upstaging you--they managed to carry the evening with their brand of lunacy
."

Source:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...XFeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e2ENAAAAIBAJ&pg=2250,3998835
 
Just a note: Get rid of the comedy team that precedes you--they are upstaging you--they managed to carry the evening"

That has a familiar ring to it unfortunately...Sedaka anyone?

It seems they couldn't really win when it came to their live shows. Criticised for being too boring and criticised for going too far the other way with the Ken and Mitzi Welch revamp.

For half the price of admission you could have purchased their Greatest Hits package, put it on your stereo and stared at the album cover.You would have gotten the same effect. But, if you did that, you wouldn't have seen the few extra pounds the girl-next-door has added to her image.

Aside from this being a completely unnecessary sideswipe at Karen, it doesn't add up. This review is dated April 1974, by which time Karen had svelted back down from her heavier appearance the year before. Look at the pictures below of Karen in 1973 and then again one month before this article was published...I don't see any 'extra pounds' to speak of.

carpenters+sing.jpg


8-1%20RollingStone_5-22-74_4x5.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yes, Stephen, the April 1974 Review is quite off-base. (Unpleasant to read, actually.)
I took away the same response, as you aptly point out.
Seems like the reviewer may have been a Carpenters 'basher' to begin with.
They were damned if they do, damned if they don't, in the Live shows.
For every positive review of the concerts, I come across equally negative reviews.
So,perhaps I am wrong: I love the 1974 Budokan concert, tolerating the 1976 Palladium concert
(CD only, mind you) --but, apparently I am in the minority view.
(Give me entire songs, no medleys, and no Warsaw Concerto.)
But, to each his own!
( I would have attended any concert, regardless. But, I wanted more Karen !)
 
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