Early Carpenters Interview with Fred Napoli

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Thanks for this, Chris!
It is certainly 'new' to me.
Always a pleasure to hear these interviews.
I love that Karen wanted to be 'home for Christmas'.
She loved Christmas, and that, another beautiful part of her personality.
And, Richard: the group should sound as much like the record as possible.
Priceless.
 
Great stuff!! Thanks for the cool post. Karen really was at the helm during that interview. You can tell she's still just a kid. They sound happy, raring to go and they're brimming with creativity. This had to be the very week they first heard 'For All We Know' for the first time, based on their upcoming Toronto dates Karen mentioned.
 
This was just posted part 1 and 2 interview after 1st album.

"Karen and Richard Carpenter came to Toronto on a tour after the release of their first album in 1969. Toronto broadcaster Fred Napoli interviewed the brother and sister team before their appearance at The O'Keefe Center."

Great find Chris! I'm a bit confused though - they talk about the harmonies on 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', so isn't this after the release of 'Close To You' rather 'Offering'? Close To You was released in August 1970 and they mention upcoming appearances in November, so that must mean November 1970 not 1969. They also mention a tour in Australia and they definitely weren't famous enough to be offered international tours after the release of the first album. That only came after 'Close To You'.
 
It seems that Fred Napoli has his own website and was trying to upload this interview but he was unable to according to his comments. Some additional information about his interview which he says was early 70's. So I'm thinking this was sometime in 1970 as Stephen mentioned, would be cool to know the exact date for cataloging. I tried searching the Carpenters newsletters but no mention of this interview so it had to be before the fan club. I wonder if this is his own you tube site the interviews were posted to. I need to convert these to mp3 to save to disc and catalog. Precious memories......Karen so talk- a - tive :)

http://www.frednapoli.com/home/night-stories/19-karen-a-richard-carpenter-interview

http://www.frednapoli.com/home/nigh...early-seventies-interviewaircheck-fred-napoli
 
Does anyone think that this photo was from this interview? I don't think I've ever seen it before.

KarenampRichardInterview1970wFredNapoli.jpg~original
 
It's so neat to hear Karen say "I want to be home for Christmas and then Richard say...."Home for the Holidays", then Karen says, Oh that ought to be a tune....Ha, and later it literally became one.

So this interview had to be before "Merry Christmas Darling" was released as a single, because Karen says they are working on a Christmas song. So maybe this was Aug or Sept 1970? MCD was released Nov 20, 1970, right?

If you listen closely to the last few seconds of part 2 Karen says, we will be at the O'Keefe till 31st which is SAA, so to me that sounded like Saturday the 31st, now if you go to 1970 the only Sat the 31st would be Oct 31, 1970 (Sat) so this interview was right before that time or earlier in the week?
 
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Thanks so much, Chris, for posting this gem! It's so refreshing to hear Karen bubbly and enthusiastic and actually dominating an interview - contrast that to most of the later ones with Richard speaking more. I love the part when they almost nonchalantly mention that they "have a Christmas song", too. As we and the world all now know, boy did they, and WOW, what a song!
 
I am blown away from this interview....who knew that it existed? to think it's been kept locked away for so long, pretty cool to hear this after all this time. I think this is probably one of my favorite interviews because of Karen's enthusiasm, she really took control over this one. I also just love hearing her talk.
 
I am blown away from this interview....who knew that it existed? to think it's been kept locked away for so long, pretty cool to hear this after all this time. I think this is probably one of my favorite interviews because of Karen's enthusiasm, she really took control over this one. I also just love hearing her talk.

Me too Chris. It's also funny hearing the language of the day. Both of them use phrases like 'far out" several times and a couple of minutes in, Karen describes their big vocal sound as "gross" before being questioned by Fred Napoli about what she means. She then replaces it with "huge-o", which isn't even a word :laugh:
 
This was just posted part 1 and 2 interview after 1st album.

"Karen and Richard Carpenter came to Toronto on a tour after the release of their first album in 1969. Toronto broadcaster Fred Napoli interviewed the brother and sister team before their appearance at The O'Keefe Center."




That was 'far out' Chris! I'd never heard this interview before. Nostalgic vernacular indeed.
 
Really enjoyed listening to this interview, Karen sounds very happy and full of enthusiasm and pretty much dominates the whole interview. It must have been a magical time for Karen & Richard.
 
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