Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands 1966

Walkinat9

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Does any of you have a copy of this album?
130932054819.jpg


I wonder what the competition sounded like that RC, KC & Wes were up against.

I found some titles and names (although not very well readible unfortunately) here: Roots Vinyl Guide »

This page mentions that our trio won 3 trophies, but only mentions the Combo Division and the Sweepstakes. Does anyone know what the third one was?

Also, are there any clear pictures of them performing at this contest?

I wonder if Richard made a nostalgic trip to the Hollywood Bowl last Friday, since it was exactly half a century ago that he and his sister and Wes stood there for the first (?) time, on June 24 1966, which incintentally was also on a Friday :cool:

Greg
 
Hi all,

Does any of you have a copy of this album?
130932054819.jpg


I wonder what the competition sounded like that RC, KC & Wes were up against.

I found some titles and names (although not very well readible unfortunately) here: Roots Vinyl Guide »

This page mentions that our trio won 3 trophies, but only mentions the Combo Division and the Sweepstakes. Does anyone know what the third one was?

Also, are there any clear pictures of them performing at this contest?

I wonder if Richard made a nostalgic trip to the Hollywood Bowl last Friday, since it was exactly half a century ago that he and his sister and Wes stood there for the first (?) time, on June 24 1966, which incintentally was also on a Friday :cool:

Greg
Richard won the trophy for Best Instrumentalist.
 
I'm not sure is this is the recording from that LP, it might be.

"In 1966, the Richard Carpenter Trio played "Iced Tea" and "The Girl from Ipanema" at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands. They won the competition, and shortly after recorded three songs at RCA Studios: "Every Little Thing," "Strangers in the Night," and the Carpenter original, "Iced Tea." "Iced Tea" is the only recording that was officially released to the public."


 
I bet Richard has a copy of this LP in his collection. It would be cool to hear it, a shame it's not available online to listen.

I wonder if the original master tapes still exist. If it was just done by a local company in the Hollywood area that didn't do any major distribution, then the tapes may no longer exist if they closed up shop, or may be in someone's basement growing mold. Plus, how good is the sound quality of the recordings on the LP? I was just looking online and the only other 2 albums that I can find of Hollywood Bowl recordings were by The Beatles and the Doors, and apparently both were arranged by the respective record companies, and the Beatles recording has never been issued on CD due to the original masters having been recorded in a terrible fashion. Apparently the acoustics are not the best on the LP, and the one track that has been issued on CD, the quality is nowhere near even "commercial acceptability" for the 1960's, and those shows were recorded in July/August 1964 and August 1965, with no LP till 1978).
 
The applause/crowd noise on the title track of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was taken from their Hollywood Bowl appearance. :)
 
I do have recordings of the Hollywood Bowl recordings of these, and it sounds thrilling and genuine. Karen never sings, but you can clearly hear her voice saying 'Yeah!' Or some such after. It's clearly live, but I don't have the entire recording. I've always wondered who competed, who came in second, but, what I can say, ahem, is the Carp recordings are exciting, weird, and great!

My copy came from an online friend kind enough to share.
 
I do have recordings of the Hollywood Bowl recordings of these, and it sounds thrilling and genuine. Karen never sings, but you can clearly hear her voice saying 'Yeah!' Or some such after. It's clearly live, but I don't have the entire recording. I've always wondered who competed, who came in second, but, what I can say, ahem, is the Carp recordings are exciting, weird, and great!

My copy came from an online friend kind enough to share.

Are those recordings you have the same ones from this LP? Is this LP very rare?
 
That YouTube video above was not all that great sound-wise. It sounds like it was dubbed from a mono LP using a stereo cartridge with a lot of noise in both channels. Furthermore, the two channels were a little out of alignment, indicating that a cassette was probably involved somewhere along the line.

I've done the best I can to first of all fix the alignment issues, matching the two tracks better. Then I mono'ed the whole thing to help eliminate a lot of the stereo/vinyl noise. Finally I EQ'ed some of the harshness away and the following is the result:

 
It's hard to see from the album cover that the OP posted but wouldn't we assume that this LP was pressed in mono? 1966?

I'm really surprised that Richard didn't feel the tracks still unreleased were worthy of being released on a Carpenters box set. Ice Tea we got on From The Top but why were the others never considered from Richard of being released? I know it was before they became Carpenters but as far as historical recordings these are pretty important in setting the stage for what was to become Carpenters, Karen on drums and Richard on piano.

"The Girl from Ipanema"
"Every Little Thing
"Strangers in the Night"

We know these tracks exist, is it a question of who owns the rights? We may never know these answers.
 
I was so happy when 2 other RCA recordings emerged on YouTube some time ago, but also the Girl from Ipanema performance, since we had only heard part of it in the Karen Carpenter Story on TV. I believe Karen & Richard gave an a capella sample of Ipanema while being interviewed on Brazilian radio 15 years after their 1966 triumph...

But wait! If the RCA studio version of Iced Tea was used for From The Top, that means that there's still a live version out there that appears on the Hollywood Bowl double LP! :eek: I sure hope that this live version will emerge soon enough too, can't wait to hear the difference!
 
The live Iced Tea is clearly live. For one thing, Karen's drum solo is a lot different. The overall vibe is hotter, and you can hear the audience.

I would upload if I could, but just now, I don't have access to a computer with a working CD drive. Maybe the kind person who provided the above videos can make it so.
 
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Are those recordings you have the same ones from this LP? Is this LP very rare?
They are from this LP. the person who shared with me shared mp3's on a cd-r. I can hear the vinyl surface noise, and it's clearly live, but it's just the two Carpenters tracks. I don't have a clue how many copies were made of the record or who else is on it. I assume it's rather rare.
 
My group "The Happy Rock Folk Society" won first place in the vocal group division. We were from Gladstone High School in the Azusa Unified School District. I thought Karen and Richard won 1st the Jazz Combo division and best overall. I talked with Richard a few years ago and we have both been on the lookout for footage from the event. I figure if Richard can't find it, it doesn't exist.
 
Hi all,

Does any of you have a copy of this album?
130932054819.jpg


I wonder what the competition sounded like that RC, KC & Wes were up against.

I found some titles and names (although not very well readible unfortunately) here: Roots Vinyl Guide »

This page mentions that our trio won 3 trophies, but only mentions the Combo Division and the Sweepstakes. Does anyone know what the third one was?

Also, are there any clear pictures of them performing at this contest?

I wonder if Richard made a nostalgic trip to the Hollywood Bowl last Friday, since it was exactly half a century ago that he and his sister and Wes stood there for the first (?) time, on June 24 1966, which incintentally was also on a Friday :cool:

Greg
I can still read everything on my copy if you need more info?
 
I can still read everything on my copy if you need more info?
Great to have you here, Joe! I would definitely like to know what else is on the album. Maybe you could post a photo of the track listing, if that is possible? Is your vocal group's entry somewhere online perhaps for us to listen to, Joe?

I managed to get my hands on a copy of the Battle of the Bands album from the previous year. I wonder if Karen & Richard attended that one to see what the competition was like. Does anyone know how they got the idea to enter the competition at all? Did they read about it in the newspaper perhaps?

Very interesting, by the way, to see that saxophone player Tom Scott was one of the winners in 1965. In the next two decades he would working with the Carpenters on several of their albums :cool:

Greg
 
I just realised that yesterday was the 52nd anniversary of Richard and Karen winning the Battle of the Bands contest in 1966. It’s crazy to think how long ago that was and that Karen was just 16 when they won.

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I've seen a cropped picture of the inside cover and there's a picture of them I don't think I've seen anywhere else... Would anyone be able to scan or take a decent picture of it please? I'd love to see it properly...
 
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