Carpenters 1978 Interview with Gary Theroux at A&M...

[Chris May]

I stumbled across this interview done at the Carpenters' office on the A&M lot in October, 1979 with Gary Theroux. Being a studio nut myself, I found an interesting nugget of info regarding "Only Yesterday". Richard and Karen go on to tell Gary:

RICHARD: That was my "60's record".

KAREN: That's another of my favorites. A lot of work went into that record. One of the most beautiful verses I've ever heard is "Hope was all I had until you came." I said "Oh, John [Bettis], that's gorgeous"! And then, "I have found my home here in your arms" {sings} "I have found my home here in your arms." John is really brilliant.

RICHARD: That was a hard record to record.

KAREN: Yeah, it was. We used to see how fast we could overdub things. We were into the modulation--"only yesterday, only yesterday"--all the way to the end, and I had that one part down. Richard went to the bathroom, and I finished that whole section before he got back. He comes to me and says "Well, where are you?" And I said, "We're finished." "WHAT?!?!"

Very fascinating no doubt. You can tell those (2) had a blast in the studio! I just hope that Richard puts a book out full of the technical stuff, recording, etc. Randy, what do ya think? -Chris

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I love reading this kind of stuff, thanks.

Karen & Richard were way beyond there years & so intune to there studio work that the final product shows. Karen can be funny, she had such a sense of humor that it was contagious to be around. She was so much more than we will ever know. I hope Richard shares his experiences in a book, that would be special. Say a chapter about each album, then broken down on each song & what it was like to record each track, details, details, I crave them all.

 

[abbett]

yeah, that would be a great book and it's a great idea. i wish he's work on something like that. i think he'd really enjoy it. every time he starts talking about that kind of stuff, he goes on and on. even at the totw event, he introduced each song with a lot of this kind of material. i love hearing it and reading it. maybe someone should suggest to him this idea.

 

[andywithaz]

There should be a website where most of the interviews and newsletters are displayed. Hint Hint