Karen Carpenter Solo Sessions - Continued

Brendon McMahon said:
Was it always the intention to release the album a year after its recording?
That seems odd ... Why would they have not released something off the album as a single early in the piece? Surely that would have been a teaser for what was to come?
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A single release would have been a great thing to have done. I don't understand why they didn't do it either. It would have been a fair thing to have been done although I know fairness isn't necessarily a high priority in the music business as well as quite a few other human endeavors unfortunately. It would have made for a bit of a compromise or at least a less extreme reaction in my opinion.
 
David A said:
There are countless stories of music artists who had to be "reigned in" or otherwise advised, so they didn't go completely off the rails and produce an album with little commercial appeal or be so all over the map stylistically that it was just a mess.
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I'm remain a bit confused because of what's said above. It refers to the album specifically. I just don't agree that the album is "a mess." Your mileage varies and that's totally fine.

Ed
 
Bartog739 said:
It's not exactly Dylan but it's a fun flirty song.
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I love it musically. I'm not aware of many songs with Rob Mounsey lyrics; he usually just writes music or he arranges. Clearly, it's better this way...:laugh: Heck, Karen gave him the "I was only trying to memorize you there" lyric when he couldn't come up with anything if I'm not mistaken.

Ed
 
Vinylalbumcovers said:
I love it musically. I'm not aware of many songs with Rob Mounsey lyrics; he usually just writes music or he arranges. Clearly, it's better this way...:laugh: Heck, Karen gave him the "I was only trying to memorize you there" lyric when he couldn't come up with anything if I'm not mistaken.

Ed
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Yes. Wasn't the original lyric "I was only watching the flower in your hair"? Something like that. So Karen changed the lyric so it wasn't specifically sung as male to female.
 
Vinylalbumcovers said:
I'm remain a bit confused because of what's said above. It refers to the album specifically. I just don't agree that the album is "a mess." Your mileage varies and that's totally fine.

Ed
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Apologies for the confusion - I do not think Karen's album was a "total mess" or "off the rails". My paragraph you quote above was in support of my contention that Phil did bear some responsibility for how the album came together and whether it needed more focus and direction, a point we simply disagree on.
 
Chris said:
Yes. Wasn't the original lyric "I was only watching the flower in your hair"? Something like that. So Karen changed the lyric so it wasn't specifically sung as male to female.
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If it's true she came up with "I was only trying to memorize you there" is actually quite good given that she wasn't a lyricist by profession. It's definitely not a cliche and I remember taking note of it and liking it when I first heard the song long ago.
 
Vinylalbumcovers said:
I love it musically. I'm not aware of many songs with Rob Mounsey lyrics; he usually just writes music or he arranges. Clearly, it's better this way...:laugh: Heck, Karen gave him the "I was only trying to memorize you there" lyric when he couldn't come up with anything if I'm not mistaken.

Ed
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Would love to discover the source on her changing the lyric as I think I heard that somewhere as well
 
Vinylalbumcovers said:
Yeah but then he's "gonna ruin this poor girl from out of town" because she doesn't "know what's going down." I'm not sure what it means either. LOL!!

Ed
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I sing along to this song all the time but I still don’t really understand the lyrics. So is she’s flirting with this guy from across the room but then they hold hands. Don’t mean to intrude don’t want to break this mood? The lyrics are kinda crazy and all over the place. I guess it’s just all innuendoes?
 
Rick-An Ordinary Fool said:
What does the song I Guess I Just Lost My Head mean? She says they don’t know each other and she’s asking for forgiveness and keeps says she lost her head. What is she talking about? Lol
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It's one of those songs with meaningless lyrics. The Bee Gees were masters at it with some of their album tracks and B-sides :laugh:.

They were lampooned for it in the 1980s by the parody group The HeeBeeGeeBees (consisting of a trio of well-known UK comedians). Their first single was "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)" and Barry Gibb - notoriously thin-skinned when it came to criticism - really didn't see the funny side...



The golden rays of golden sun
Fall on your golden hair
And I brush aside the golden sheet
And see you golden there
And I wonder what you and I
Are going to do all day
But I can't think of anything
I want to do or say
And so I'll have to do what I did yesterday
And sing you

Meaningless songs in very high voices
With a thousand violins
Meaningless songs in very high voices
In a pair of tight gold jeans
Meaningless songs in very high voices
And Aaaaah!... whatever that means

The world is very very large
And butter is better than marge
And love is better than hate
The world is very very big
And bacon comes from a pig
But it's you I really want on my plate
So I'll sing you
 
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newvillefan said:
It's one of those songs with meaningless lyrics. The Bee Gees were masters at it with some of their album tracks and B-sides :laugh:.

They were lampooned for it in the 1980s by the parody group The HeeBeeGeeBees (consisting of a trio of well-known UK comedians). Their first single was "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)" and Barry Gibb - notoriously thin-skinned when it came to criticism - really didn't see the funny side...



The golden rays of golden sun
Fall on your golden hair
And I brush aside the golden sheet
And see you golden there
And I wonder what you and I
Are going to do all day
But I can't think of anything
I want to do or say
And so I'll have to do what I did yesterday
And sing you

Meaningless songs in very high voices
With a thousand violins
Meaningless songs in very high voices
In a pair of tight gold jeans
Meaningless songs in very high voices
And Aaaaah!... whatever that means

The world is very very large
And butter is better than marge
And love is better than hate
The world is very very big
And bacon comes from a pig
But it's you I really want on my plate
So I'll sing you
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I'm gonna have to look those guys up. That's great!
 
I would love to hear Karen sing this song, it could be arranged with a pop flair instead of a country tune. I can see a song like this fitting on her solo album. I like the lyrics.

 
Vinylalbumcovers said:
I get that John has an opinion but this was about Karen.
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I do agree with what John said about it sounding like Karen imitating other singers. In fact, it's one of the first thoughts I had when I listened to the solo album. There are exceptions, of course. But to me, it's lacking Karen's distinctive signature sound. And for me, that makes it a weaker album than I wanted it to be.

Of course, that's only my opinion, and I know that you and many others don't agree with me. It's fine. I do respect Karen for putting herself out there, but in the end, the album fell short of my expectations. A solo album by one of the greatest singers of her generation should sound like a solo album of that caliber, and in my opinion this one just doesn't.
 
byline said:
I do agree with what John said about it sounding like Karen imitating other singers. In fact, it's one of the first thoughts I had when I listened to the solo album. There are exceptions, of course. But to me, it's lacking Karen's distinctive signature sound. And for me, that makes it a weaker album than I wanted it to be.

Of course, that's only my opinion, and I know that you and many others don't agree with me. It's fine. I do respect Karen for putting herself out there, but in the end, the album fell short of my expectations. A solo album by one of the greatest singers of her generation should sound like a solo album of that caliber, and in my opinion this one just doesn't.
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I wonder if Phil Ramone (and others) thought of her as the greatest singer of her generation at the time the work was being done. It's certainly been expressed by him (and others) since then but what about specifically at that time? I'm someone who loves the album although I can see it's weaknesses but I'm still curious....
 
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byline said:
I do agree with what John said about it sounding like Karen imitating other singers. In fact, it's one of the first thoughts I had when I listened to the solo album. There are exceptions, of course. But to me, it's lacking Karen's distinctive signature sound. And for me, that makes it a weaker album than I wanted it to be.
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Honestly, I don't. Who was she imitating on any of the songs? Did she sound silly on "Still in Love with You"? Yeah, she's unintentionally hilarious. Still, who was she imitating? As for "Karen's signature sound" (not picking, just quoting you, I promise), she didn't have one. Carpenters had one...but not Karen. She didn't want that sound; she wanted one that was hers. This album was about her finding it. To that end, she moved through various things in search of something that could be hers. Debut albums tend to do that. It's a very "artist" thing to do and I don't begrudge her that.
byline said:
Of course, that's only my opinion, and I know that you and many others don't agree with me. It's fine. I do respect Karen for putting herself out there, but in the end, the album fell short of my expectations. A solo album by one of the greatest singers of her generation should sound like a solo album of that caliber, and in my opinion this one just doesn't.
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I just have an issue with people aiming for a great album right out of the shoot. Heck, Carpenters didn't give us that. "Offering/TTR" isn't great by any means. There's a fair amount of fumbling around on that album. They didn't know what their sound was so they fumbled around until they found it. While Karen was clearly a very capable singer, she wasn't great then and she even said as much. The record died and A&M gave them another shot. Richard Carpenter didn't give us that on his solo album (and that's as much as I'll say about that album...LOL!). That's kinda how it goes, really. I mean...okay, not anymore because the business has fundamentally changed but for a very long time, that's how things went.

Ed
 
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