Karen Carpenter Solo Sessions - Continued

[tomswift2002]

Didn't miss it, intentionally omitted it as it wasn't going to be in the album; but if you want my review on that one too, here goes:

Last One Singin' The Blues, fittingly a blues-y arrangement type of track, and despite delivering a great performance both musically and vocally, lyrically it takes a theme that has been tied to Karen on quite a number of Carpenters numbers and perhaps due to how contradictory would have been to put this one along with the themes the other tracks are touching, that's why it was left off the album: singing about the blues, about loving somebody in whom she finds the devil, the best she has met when it comes to fiction, a person that plays with her off and then on again. And she also states something that has been heard before: well someday I won't play, I'll just have to look at you with different eyes if all I do is catch you in the same old lies; and, just like those familiar tunes, it doesn't seem that she will actually do something, she just stays in someday, despite that she doesn't really want to be the last singing the blues.

Whenever I hear this track, I always think that at the very end, where the guitar goes “duh-duh” there should be the sound of high heels clicking on the sound booth floor as the walk out the door (and I get a mental picture of an open door with light from the outside hall streaming in as the rest of the room is in darkness and all I see is the sillohette of the lower part of Karen leaving, from about just above the elbow down.

Of course this topic reminds me of just how many good tracks Karen recorded in 79-80, and how pathetic MIA sounds in comparison to her solo album and it’s outtakes. Really, MIA should’ve been made up of the solo tracks, along with “Touch Me When We’re Dancing”, “Beechwood” And “(Want You) Back In My Life Again”.

If I was producing Made In America in 1981 I would have this line up for the album:

Side 1

Prime Time Love
Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore
Don't Try To Win Me Back
The Uninvited Guest
If I Had You (but remix it so that it ended cold)
Leave Yesterday Behind
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
Remember When Loving Took All Night
The Rainbow Connection

Side 2

My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (aside from keeping Karen's lead track, and the opening drum line (but with added reverb and more stereo separation), I'd re-record the instruments and backing vocals, so that this was a very upbeat dance track, kind of like what Richard did in 1991, but eliminating the disco entirely)
Lovelines
Beechwood 4-5789
Looking For Love* (again a re-record, possible a Richard lead)
I've Got Rhythm
You're Just In Love (just as it appears on As Time Goes By, with Richard dueting with Karen)
Touch Me When We're Dancing
Slow Dance


*if it was written I might even consider Something In Your Eyes with Richard on lead.

Single Releases:

Single #1 If I Had You/Don't Try To Win Me Back (this would be issued shortly after starting the project, as aside from some light editing, they are already ready to go)
Single #2 I've Got Rhythm/Leave Yesterday Behind (to tie-into the Carpenters 1980 TV special)
Single #3 My Body Keeps Changing My Mind/You're Just In Love (this would be released within the month prior to the album's release)
Single #4 The Rainbow Connection/Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Single #5 Touch Me When We're Dancing/Making Love In The Afternoon
Single #6 Prime Time Love/Lovelines
Single #7 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore/The Uninvited Guest
Single #8 (non-album single) Do You Hear What I Hear? (duet with Richard)/I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (keep Karen's vocal track from 78, but re-record the instruments, including adding bells to the track)

With Singles 5 & 8, the three tracks that were not on MIA would just be single-only tracks, with a possibility of hinting at what might come in the future, with the Christmas tracks being released somewhere around October/November 1980.

 

[Bartog739]

Hello all! Just saw this on YouTube and thought I'd post the link in case anyone is interested, it's a fantasy tribute to Karen Carpenter's If We Try, hope this is the right place for it!

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Hello all! Just saw this on YouTube and thought I'd post the link in case anyone is interested, it's a fantasy tribute to Karen Carpenter's If We Try, hope this is the right place for it!

I’m not sure if this is his new channel but this video was created by Chris who is a member here. It was originally launched here.

"If We Try" video and colorized Solo album cover

Hi Friends, Since we've all talked about Karen's album cover and how many of us wished it would have been released in its originally intended color scheme, I finally got around to doing a colorized version. I'm happy to share this with you all. For a guide, I looked at the colors of the solo...

forum.amcorner.com

 

[Bartog739]

Sorry about that, I hadn't seen it before. Thank you.

 

[Chris]

Hi guys! Yes, that's the older video that I spruced up a bit and put on a new channel since the old channel is gone. It gives me the opportunity to upgrade some of the previous videos I had and upload some new ones in the future. Thanks, Bartog and Rick.

 

[JohnFB]

Hello all! Just saw this on YouTube and thought I'd post the link in case anyone is interested, it's a fantasy tribute to Karen Carpenter's If We Try, hope this is the right place for it!

Anyplace is the right place for this - easily the best song/vocal on the Solo Album - the right song for the right voice at the right time - a few more like this and the album would have been a big success...

 

[newvillefan]

'If We Try' was a nice way to end side 1 of the album, but I still think it would have been better placed on side 2, in this sequence:

Lovelines
Make Believe It's Your First Time
If I Had You
Makin' Love In The Afternoon
Still Crazy After All These Years

Still In Love With You
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
Guess I Just Lost My Head
If We Try
Remember When Lovin' Took All Night

The original album sequencing was a mess, just like the artwork. Whoever decided it made sense to end side 2 with three ballads in a row needed their head examined. Who was responsible for deciding the final running order?

 

[kprather]

Lovelines
Make Believe It's Your First Time
If I Had You
Makin' Love In The Afternoon
Still Crazy After All These Years

Still In Love With You
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
Guess I Just Lost My Head
If We Try
Remember When Lovin' Took All Night

Gotta disagree with ending the album with probably the weakest track. Maybe put "Remember" between "Still in Love" and "Body", and slide everything else down, ending with "If We Try".

 

[newvillefan]

Gotta disagree with ending the album with probably the weakest track. Maybe put "Remember" between "Still in Love" and "Body", and slide everything else down, ending with "If We Try".

It's one of the catchiest track on the album, with a great hook in the chorus. I'd never have ended that album with a ballad. 'Remember When' has that great long outro perfect to close that side.

Albums have to have a flow and balance between more up temp songs and slower tracks. Olivia's 'Totally Hot' is a great example of how to do it with albums of this kind.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

'If We Try' was a nice way to end side 1 of the album, but I still think it would have been better placed on side 2, in this sequence:

Lovelines
Make Believe It's Your First Time
If I Had You
Makin' Love In The Afternoon
Still Crazy After All These Years

Still In Love With You
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
Guess I Just Lost My Head
If We Try
Remember When Lovin' Took All Night

The original album sequencing was a mess, just like the artwork. Whoever decided it made sense to end side 2 with three ballads in a row needed their head examined. Who was responsible for deciding the final running order?

I agree with Stephen, this track order works so much better. The only thing I would change is switching Makin’ Love and Still Crazy. Makin’ Love is a kinda upbeat tempo track and coming right after another uptempo track like If I Had You might be too much. But this is minor and both work really work.

Lovelines then Make Believe is perfect, you get that perfect start (like Landslide) then you go into a ballad (like Dancing Round and Round)

But where or where is All Because of You?

 

[newvillefan]

Lovelines then Make Believe is perfect, you get that perfect start (like Landslide) then you go into a ballad (like Dancing Round and Round)

Exactly this ^^^

But where or where is All Because of You?

Consigned to the outtakes bin where it belongs

 

[Chris]

Exactly this ^^^



Consigned to the outtakes bin where it belongs

Stephen, I forgot that you are not a fan of "All Because of You". I really like it, but I know it's not a favorite of everyone.
I think she's particularly impressive on the bridge? "In my mind I sing a song for you.. "

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Exactly this ^^^



Consigned to the outtakes bin where it belongs

"Still in Love with You" can follow it there. Russell Javors' tunes were not right for Karen. She couldn't have been more miscast in those settings. Still, I give her MUCH credit for being willing to try it.

Ed

 

[Matthew S]

Exactly this ^^^



Consigned to the outtakes bin where it belongs

I’m with you, I skip it every time I listen to the album.

 

[JohnFB]

...
I think she's particularly impressive on the bridge? "In my mind I sing a song for you.. "

But, what is that accent she's using there? It seems like it's a little bit "southern soul" or her imitation of some of the black Blues singers she heard on records in the family basement years before...she used this sparingly and tastefully on "A Song for You", but it seems forced and unnatural here...

 

[newvillefan]

But, what is that accent she's using there? It seems like it's a little bit "southern soul" or her imitation of some of the black Blues singers she heard on records in the family basement years before...she used this sparingly and tastefully on "A Song for You", but it seems forced and unnatural here...

Aside from the fact the song goes absolutely nowhere, that's another reason I don't like it - Karen's pronunciation is dire...

"I keep singing mah lowve-sawng
In my maa-aand I sing a sawng for yoooo"

It's not great on 'Still In Love With You' in places either, but the tune is uptempo and rocking enough to keep me interested.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Exactly this ^^^



Consigned to the outtakes bin where it belongs

Funny lol
But…Karen approved the song to appear on her album so it has to stay.

So if we take Last One Singing the Blues off the list and make it a hidden bonus track (if could be we would never have heard this had it been released)

How would you make the tracks flow with keeping All Because of You?

 

[Harry]

Imagine me, back in a morning in 1996, picking up Karen's solo CD at the store and beginning my listening to it on the rest of the way to work.

I'd already heard "Lovelines" on the album of the same name, so I click the CD player to track 2, and I get "All Because Of You". Not an auspicious beginning at all, and a really poor choice of a song to include on the album, especially at the #2 position.

 

[byline]

But, what is that accent she's using there? It seems like it's a little bit "southern soul" or her imitation of some of the black Blues singers she heard on records in the family basement years before...she used this sparingly and tastefully on "A Song for You", but it seems forced and unnatural here...

It's one of the very few things I disliked about Karen's singing. Over time, she became more "mannered" in her pronunciation. This is one of the times when she really overdid it, IMO, seemingly trying to overcompensate for something she found lacking. I've never been able to articulate just what, but it's there. At the risk of playing armchair psychiatrist, it's as if she couldn't fully commit to the lyrics, so she overcompensated with vocal techniques.

I think Ed sums it up for me in a post that preceded yours:

"Still in Love with You" can follow it there. Russell Javors' tunes were not right for Karen. She couldn't have been more miscast in those settings. Still, I give her MUCH credit for being willing to try it.

I agree. I think if this weren't the only solo album we were left with, history would be kinder to this one as an experimental step forward for Karen.

 

[Harry]

Over time, she became more "mannered" in her pronunciation.

Agreed, and it's one of the things that annoys me about her singing in live concerts. In an attempt to not sound completely like the record, she twisted some of her pronunciations to be - more stylized, I guess - but it just didn't fit. I know Richard has commented on her "O" pronunciation to mimic Matt Monro, so he surely noticed.

 

[GDBY2LV]

Especially when she sang RDAM live. It made me cringe when she sang the word Around. .

 

[Mark-T]

I think if this weren't the only solo album we were left with, history would be kinder to this one as an experimental step forward for Karen.

Absolutely true! But I don't care, really. I don't have to like all the songs to love the album.

 

[newvillefan]

so I click the CD player to track 2, and I get "All Because Of You". Not an auspicious beginning at all, and a really poor choice of a song to include on the album, especially at the #2 position.

This 100%! ^^^

You've just described what was probably going through the minds of Herb and Jerry when they first heard the finished album too.

 

[JohnFB]

... seemingly trying to overcompensate for something she found lacking. I've never been able to articulate just what, but it's there. At the risk of playing armchair psychiatrist, it's as if she couldn't fully commit to the lyrics, so she overcompensated with vocal techniques.

Poor Dear Sweet Karen - we all love her so much, and are in awe at her amazing talent - but many of us have played armchair or amateur psychiatrist with her and her life and times - it's almost inevitable, or at least highly irresistible...for one good example, some of us are curious what was going through her mind when she finally arrived at the despicable man she married, especially after 9 or 10 previous romantic relationships with mostly good men...didn't she learn anything?

But, I digress...

 

[Harry]

But, I digress...

Indeed.