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Heard Carpenters

On a related note, I wonder how many members have called in to DJ's on
Karen's Birthday, and the 4th February, to request a song be played in her honor?
Up until a few years ago, I would call in on those days and request Close To You or
We've Only Just Begun.
My phone requests were quite successful on most occasions--until the last time --when
the DJ stated that he would try and 'locate' one of the songs, he did not believe they possessed
a copy of either song.
So, that ended my yearly routine.
 
If I get up early enough on Saturday morning, I turn on NPR to listen to Michael Feinstein's program "Song Travels". This morning I was able to catch most of his interview with Ginny Mancini, widow of Henry. As we all know, daughter Felice wrote a beautiful poem for her parents which Henry put to music. The result is "Sometimes", recorded by K&R. Listen to this snippet (start at 42:45) of the story and song (just the vocal part (probably due to time constraints) and to the comments made afterward by Feinstein (the dean of The Great American Songbook) and Ginny about Karen.

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/17/400356055/ginny-mancini-on-song-travels
 
MissK said:
Listen to this snippet (start at 42:45) of the story and song (just the vocal part (probably due to time constraints) and to the comments made afterward by Feinstein (the dean of The Great American Songbook) and Ginny about Karen.
Click to expand...
I enjoyed listening to the discussion (by Feinstein and Mancini) and the Carpenters' performance of "Sometimes" in this clip.
Spoiler Alert: Some dialogue:
Feinstein: "That voice, Karen Carpenter's voice. Oh my gosh."
Mancini: "Rich, rich, rich."

I'm sure Mrs. Mancini was using "rich" as an adjective to describe Karen's voice. Or was she (subliminally) trying to give Karen's brother his due? ("Rich, Rich, Rich") :)
 
Thanks for the NPR Piece,
The Mancini Goodyear Christmas Album (1975) and
"Sometimes" (1971) appear to be the only times whereby Mancini
and Carpenters were connected in some manner (?...am I forgetting anything).
Although, the Coleman Biography includes some words from Mancini.

Am I the only one who wonders why there wasn't more collaboration between them?
 
GaryAlan said:
Thanks for the NPR Piece,
The Mancini Goodyear Christmas Album (1975) and
"Sometimes" (1971) appear to be the only times whereby Mancini
and Carpenters were connected in some manner (?...am I forgetting anything).
Although, the Coleman Biography includes some words from Mancini.

Am I the only one who wonders why there wasn't more collaboration between them?
Click to expand...

Musically connected I don't know. But HM did present them with their 2nd Grammy Award of 1971 (best new artist). He seemed very pleased, holding up two fingers as if to say "great going kids, you've got TWO"! He was clearly a fan.

 
In a restaurant with the Sirius XM 70s channel on, we just heard "Please Mr. Postman" and moments later it was "Play That Funky Music White Boy" and "You Ain't Seen N-n-nothin' Yet".

SSheesh. The 70s were sometimes pretty awful.

Harry.
 
Harry said:
In a restaurant with the Sirius XM 70s channel on, we just heard "Please Mr. Postman" and moments later it was "Play That Funky Music White Boy" and "You Ain't Seen N-n-nothin' Yet".

SSheesh. The 70s were sometimes pretty awful.

Harry.
Click to expand...
Ah, high school. Don't forget "She's a brick . . . house"
 
Hey @GaryAlan, I had occasion to travel north recently and was in range of that 99.7 FM that you've mentioned. It's not a very powerful signal, but I got to enjoy about two or three songs I hadn't heard in ages - no Carpenters though. And then it faded out...

Harry
 
Harry said:
Hey @GaryAlan, I had occasion to travel north recently and was in range of that 99.7 FM that you've mentioned. It's not a very powerful signal, but I got to enjoy about two or three songs I hadn't heard in ages - no Carpenters though. And then it faded out...

Harry
Click to expand...
...then we should perhaps start a "Not Heard Carpenters" discussion.
 
GaryAlan said:
A Sidetrack--heard Richard Carpenter--here, on Larry King February 17, 1986 .
(This one is different from the 1987 Interview):
Another eye (and, ear) opener.
Click to expand...

What did you find eye and ear opening, Gary?
Were any forum members among the callers in?
 
Song4u ,
Some of The 1986 interview is 'new' to my ears:
(1) Richard Carpenter reiterates: "We were definitely, primarily, a recording act" (4m15s)
(2) He states:"..arranged all save the Christmas Album..." (5m39sec). (an oversight, no doubt.)
And, "for a while she (Karen) was a 'classic' tomboy". (of course, we all know that)
(3) Karen had 'read- up' on her disorder ( ?) (11m32sec)
(4) "No way she could have been up to (doing) a tour (in 1983)" (12m54sec)
(5) " (Richard) had my own place (in 1983)--my wife and I. " (13m5sec) (i.e., they were cohabitating).
(6) The other (later) interview expresses a much more negative view, compared to Richard's view
of Karen's health here--in that he only says she was tired. (at 14m20sec)
(7) I see Touch Me When We're Dancing was one of his top five of all of their songs.
(Karen ,also, loved ' Calling Occupants')
(8) At 25:03 he states he likes some of the new sounds, the synthesizers !

Those, just a few things that caught my ear, thus far !
Another interesting piece of this historical puzzle !
 
There's nothing intriguing or revelatory about this 1986 Larry King Interview-but there's a few highlights:


A caller singled out Made In America as K&R's best album-and Richard concurred that it was K&R's favorite project.

In response to a caller,Richard mentions "Now" is one of his favorite tracks.

Interesting how Richard mentions his wife Mary(who's also his cousin) as being someone he met through an employee.
 
mr J. said:
Interesting how Richard mentions his wife Mary(who's also his cousin) as being someone he met through an employee.
Click to expand...

He's always referred to Mary as being an acquaintance of an A&M employee, presumably to avoid mentioning he's actually related to her.
 
I must say, I find every interview with Richard Carpenter to be both "intriguing and revealing".
As the 1986 interview is being heard for the first time (2015--by me),
I can not but be elated with the new-found information,
especially had I been blessed with hearing said interview upon its
original air date. I would have learned much in 1986.
Again, making my thought-processes transparent, I am listening to the interview--as if-- I were a
listener back in 1986---not, as a much more informed listener in 2015.
(1) A'las', I did not know Karen had drum lessons at Cal State and there learned how to 'read' music under Bill Douglas.(32min19sec)
(2) Apparently, in 1986, Richard Carpenter was considering putting (some of) TV Christmas Specials on video format.(31min10sec)
(3) Note, a caller and Larry King were (still) unaware of the (then-1985 ) recently released video Yesterday Once More.
(Thus, accentuating the difficulty I had in obtaining that Video at retail level. I believed I was alone--at the time-- in having said difficulty)

Well, I won't continue, however as my two posts delineate-- a listener in 1986 would have learned quite a bit.
I would have learned quite a bit...in 1986.
The information since accumulated does not diminish one wit
the interview's revealing and intriguing nature !
I'm placing myself as a listener in 1986, not 2015.

Now, putting it all together and comparing to other extant source material,
also, intriguing !
 
Nice interview. He's always great on radio. . .it's only when the cameras are rolling that he stiffens, somewhat. His memory is great. Never really heard Larry before. . . he's a master at fielding those calls.
 
ullalume said:
Never really heard Larry before. . . he's a master at fielding those calls.
Click to expand...

What really annoys me about Larry's interviewing style is the way he starts talking over Richard before he's even finished answering the last question. It gives the impression he's not actually listening to what the person is saying.
 
From the almost heard category:

While in a McDonalds today, the moldie oldies channel was on with the Shirelles version of "Baby It's You." Not thinking too much about it, I became amused when a short time later they played the Marvelettes version of "BEechwood 4-5789."

Harry
 
Great find GaryAlan, just finished listening to the interview. Richard's response to the question about a possible release of Karen' solo album was interesting. As far as he was concerned, there was no way it would ever be released, as Karen had decided to abandon the project. Also I liked the bit about a string player putting cotton wall in his ears during a concert rehearsal because of the amplified sound used by the band. Richard gave the string player a ticking off.
 
Yesterday Once More was chosen by former X Factor contestant Stacey Solomon on Ken Bruce's 'Tracks of My Years' segment on BBC Radio 2 this morning. Her mum was a big fan of the Carpenters and Karen was one of Stacey's biggest infuences. She spoke about her smooth tone and how she wished to emulate her. Never heard her sing before but I suppose there is a smoothness to her vocals.

Actually, she sounds a bit Corrish here
 
Last edited:
Radio today playing Carpenters' 'Hurting Each Other' at 11:30 a.m.,
Before that,
Frank Sinatra /Nelson Riddle with
an awesome rendition of 'From This Moment On'.
 
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