CARPENTERS Perform Carpenter

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Tim

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"CARPENTERS Perform Carpenter"

Yet another compilation of the same material Richard has been tweaking for twenty years since Karen's passing. I feel embarrassed for him to still be making his living off the voice of his late sister and insulted because he expects "his fans" to keep opening their wallets.

Richard was raised to be the star. It was when Karen's voice overshadowed the musical genius of her brother; they became a "team". With a disappointing 20,000 copies sold of "Time" and the embarrassing performance of "Pianist, Arrange, Composer & Conductor" (again - just a cover of his own 30 year old material) and now "CARPENTERS perform Carpenter", one would hope Richard would finally figure out it is time to move on artistically. He is paralyzed in Karen's shadow.

It is sad. With the talents he once demonstrated and the opportunities offered him, Richard Carpenter could have had great success like Henry Mancini celebrated.
 
Many people feel the way you do. The 'same old songs strung together in a different order' syndrome.

I tend to feel a little more sympathy than you seem to exude. Let's look at Richard's solo career:

TIME - his first solo endeavor after Karen's death. Here, he took some pretty good pop songs, sprinkled in some of his own compositions, sang lead on the great bulk of the tracks, and invited some pretty good guests to sing a few of them - Dusty Springfrield, Dionne Warwick, and the unknown Scott Grimes. Did the fans or the music 'community' welcome this effort with open arms? No. The album died a swift death, with only the Dusty Springfield track garnering any attention. And that attention came with the baggage that most DJ-types thought it was arrogant of Richard not to have included Dusty as the artist, or co-artist. I've always liked the great bulk of TIME, and was saddened that it wasn't better received.

Richard as producer - Three albums in a year or so of time. Akiko, who sounded at times like a reincarnation of Karen with a thick Japanese accent that failed to get any notice, recorded on the unknown Voss label; Scott Grimes, who had a rather nasal and somehwat immature singing voice, done for A&M with the help of Herb Alpert - it went nowhere quickly; and Veronique's effort north of the border - which didn't get very much attention in her home country, and almost zero in the US. I personally like Akiko, dislike the Grimes, and really love the Veronique effort.

Pianist, Arranger, Composer, Conductor - another solo effort by Richard, this time abandoning the vocals after the consistent criticism of his vocal talents on TIME and even Carpenters tracks. He attempted to utilize the talents that everyone had ascribed to him, but the results came out sounding too much like elevator music. Not something I've listened to very often. He would have been better off doing original material here instead of re-hashing old Carpenters tunes.

The efforts Richard undertook for As Time Goes By were massive, and he ended up getting undercut by his record company for failing to come up with the necessary clearances to release it at home.

His biggest successes still come from the frequent Carpenters compilations. I say, that if this keeps him active, so be it. No-one ever forced anyone to buy these - yet many do.

I too wish he had gotten involved in music scoring for films or something.

Harry
...trying to understand Richard, online...
 
Tim your first post & what a downer.

I understand what your saying but I keep saying that most of these compliations are probably to bring in new fans or else to just make more money (not saying Richard wants it or needs it others are involved)

Also there is no-one forcing anyone to buy it & for that matter even look at it. Just pass it by if it bothers some fans so much.

I just received this today in the mail, I unwrapped it but have not played it. Along with Interpretations DVD can't wait to sample these items tonight. I got this new CD basically for the bonus track & the tracks picked look like a good collection of tracks. Glad to see, "At the End of a Song" and a few others.

There are alot of Olivia fans that feel the same way, like if she releases another compilation the fans will just bust.

However a fan who has followed the career of the Carpenters realizes that at this point there is not much else to release.

Also unless you have lost a personal family member you really have no idea what it is like to lose someone brother sister mother father. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, someday's it can feel like an eternity. If I was Richard, revisiting there music would bring me comfort not embarresment.
 
Sure, I'd like to see Richard do different things, but I prefer to think of his current "compilation-itis" as working in his area of legacy. After all, regardless of how successful he may become in solo projects or as a producer, he will always mainly be the mastermind behind Carpenters and Karen's brother. Certainly, nothing to sneeze at.

Mark
 
Well so far I'm very impressed with the sound of this CD.

Why does Maybe It's You sound different to me? Is there a longer piano intro here? Or is it the piano just seems more upfront. Ok I am listening to this on my real player with bose headphones on, do you notice that at the end of Top of the World, Maybe it's You Starts while it still says track 1 & then goes into track 2. They seque into each other. Is this the first?

I can't get over how Crystal Lullaby is so clear sounding, I'm so use to the original CD version from ASFY. It seems odd to hear the very last note of Crystal Lullaby to merge right into the first note of I Need to Be In Love. It is a nice thing to hear, almost like takes you by suprise.


P.S. Did you notice that the only album to have 3 songs on this new cd is ASFY?
 
I am sure Richard is quite proud of the legacy of music that Carpenters put out, albeit with the greatest voice that ever lived singing lead.

I believe Richard's part is underestimated at times, though. He really is a very accomplished pianist, arranger and quite a contender at composing too, and like others have said, I believe he has his difficulties in getting away from the memories of what were probably the best times of his life.

I wish he would expand his gift and work on soundtracks for film, and even try his vocals with a little less restraint. In my opinion, on "Time" it often seemed that he perfected his singing to the point of overproduction rather than "just letting it go" - but the discipline of a true musician dictactes enunciation and perfected attack and decay. He was a little less restrained on "I Kept On Loving You" and even "Love Is Surrender". And, in the selections on the "Now & Then" medley, he even "loosened up a bit" (of course, he was trying to mimic others' recordings too...)

Pat Benatar had to "un-learn" the disciplines of opera to sing rock music - and, being a musician educated "the right way" myself, with the guidelines set up by the "classical masters", I can appreciate the difficulty in "breaking the rules" that were set forth and ingrained into our heads over and over again.

Perhaps he should not try to do an album that sounds like the Carpenters but rather like Richard...he should probably have someone else produce the album for him, and find where he can really go. Not that his production is bad by any means (it was fabulous for Carpenters!!), but it is disciplined in a very different way than the pop music world listens these days.
 
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