Karen's Solo album

Status
Not open for further replies.

goodjeans

Well-Known Member
[Moderator note: This has been split from the "why don't we hear..." thread]

I too would give anything to have seen what Karen's solo album cover inside and out would have been approved to look like by Karen, we do know that Karen signed a large cover of VOTH photo album w/out the Carpenters logo, she signed it and presented it to Itchy Ramone this was around the time of her solo album, it's interesting cause here we have the exact photo that was used for VOTH by Richard.
UGH. I just read the Liberty DeVito interview where in it he states that Karen's solo was originally intended as a double album! I think that would have been great. If it is true, when then did she decide on only one album and did that change her idea for the cover??? Earth to Karen...we are your friends. And I want to know! I also want to know if anyone has more info. on the duet she was going to do (or did) with the black woman for her solo album???Way ahead of her time, that Karen was.
 
I had John Bettis on my flight from LA to Nashville a few years ago (I'm a flight attendant for American Airlines) and asked him (more like grilled him!) about Karen's solo stuff. He was less than happy with her solo stuff... he said it "wasn't Phil's best work, and certainly wasn't Karen's best work". He went on to say that the last time he saw Karen was when she was in New York (I don't know if that was during the hospital stays or recording the album), and he was trying to persuade her to go to dinner and a show with him and Donna Summer. I asked if he wanted the two to duet, he said well that would have been nice, but more than that he wanted Karen to meet Donna because she had been through so much rough stuff with her record labels and was, in his words, "tough as nails...and Karen needed some of that". But Karen declined the offer as she was not feeling well. He went to Karen's hotel, but she rushed him away, saying she was fine, just tired. He never saw Karen again. He was tearing up as he told me this.

John Bettis wrote the lyrics for a Donna Summer song, "The Woman In Me" released in 1983. Also, let me throw this in and try to make it related,.... Donna Summer is releasing her first new Studio album in 17 years, and it's called "Crayons". The first single is a club dance promo, "I'm A Fire" (currently #9 on Billboard Dance Club Play chart) and the first single to mainstream radio is "Stamp Your Feet", premiering next week. Nice to see someone from the same era as the Carpenters getting some respect and making new music!

I really wish the Karen Carpenter / Donna Summer meeting would have happened for many reasons. A duet would have been awesome. And the friendship for the two of them could have been remarkable.

Now where can we read about the Liberty DeVito interview? Double album??? Ahhh what could have been!
 
I'm not so sure I believe that Karen's solo was ever planned to be a double album, for a couple of reasons.

1. Double albums are risky propositions at best, and the Carpenters' sales fortunes at that time were not such that the label would have wanted her to do one. (And she was smart enough not to do it, too.)

2. Almost any album has enough tracks recorded for it to make two records out of, if you include everything. Just the number of Carpenters 'leavings' that have been released since Karen's death attest to that.

So while it's entirely possible (and likely!) that enough material was recorded to fill two records, I highly doubt that a double album was ever the plan.

I'm not sure a Karen/Donna duet would have been a good idea. That thing Donna recorded with Barbra Streisand, "Enough is Enough," is one of the worst things ever committed to wax. Although it's likely a Karen/Donna record would have been a ballad, which would have been better.
 
I'd say then the Karen/Donna Summer duet would have been something to have looked forward, too... Summing up, it's a real shame we've missed out on such a proposition over the years, which in light of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder ("Ebony & Ivory") and McCartney and Michael Jackson ("Say, Say, Say") I have no doubts may have materialized, especially in restoring Donna's credibility after her duet with Barbra, which there were really few fans of, least as far as the song the two "duetted" on goes, in which hardly anyone probably ever even begged either of them to ever repeat such an event...

As for ever committing material to anything that was more than One Disc--and we are talking vinyl, here--it's unlikely anyone at the time even in Karen's stature at the time whether really regarded as being good or poor, at least sales-wise, would ever entertain the idea, let alone really have a worthy wealth of material to launch such a project... (It never really worked for Cher in the case of, I think, one Double-LP she made and in the case Frank Sinatra's Trilogy: Past, Present Future was a "fluke offering" which seemed to be worth "toying with" no matter what the outcome might'a been as far as Sales Figures go and on such grounds if even speculated, actually revealed...) It all sums up to a "general idea" that Double-Albums were mostly for "Greatest Hits"/"Best Of's" and Live LP's, at the time and this "rule" holds true today...



Dave
 
Mar 21, 2008 1:25 PM
Subject: Liberty DeVitto talks about Karen Carpenter's solo album...
Body: Hi Friends...

Just wanted to let you know that due to several requests... I have posted the Liberty DeVitto Interview I did with him in 2004.



In this interview Liberty shares his thoughts and experiences in the making of Karen Carpenter's solo album.



This interview will only be available online for one month.



Please CLICK HERE to read the Liberty Devitto Interview

http://carponline.proboards21.com/index.action=displayboard=libthread=1206081838
I hope that it's ok for me to post this on here regarding the Liberty interview! I got this from myspace and the Carpentersonline group.
...and maybe someone can edit this freaking url for me 'cause I can't seem to make it work. Thanks in advance.
 
I just read the Liberty DeVito interview where in it he states that Karen's solo was originally intended as a double album! I think that would have been great. If it is true, when then did she decide on only one album and did that change her idea for the cover???

Karen didn't actually change her mind on the album cover. It was planned that the VOTH close up would be the front cover, and the back cover was going to be Karen sat in the purple stuffed chair.

It was changed to that 'colourised' cover of a different picture in 1996, and put out as the album's cover. I think Karen would have hated the artwork for what we now know as her solo album.

The problem is, they couldn't have released it in 1996 with what was the original cover shot, because then there would be two different albums with identical covers. It's a shame Richard used it for VOTH but I understand why he did.
 
this is crazy. if you go to myspace.com I am http://www.myspace.com/interiordesignermainline probably too much information for all of you but this is the only way that I can get the link to the liberty interview. go onto my bulletins and click on one of several bulletins concerning the interview in question and hopefully the site is still valid. thanks for your patience. this is a group of very nice people and it makes sense considering the common denominator on here. have a great night/day/ depending on when you are reading this.
 
you are right stephen. hit 'home' on my space page thing and then down the page their are bulletins. A few of liberty devito. hope this works!
 
I think I can't see them, because I am not added as a friend to your myspace and vice versa. Members only receive bulletins from people they have on their friends list.
 
crap. if there is a way around this I will find it stephen. it is a brief interview but worth reading...
 
The man who typed the interview is going to send me the link which I will then paste here. The previous one didn't seem to work.
 
Nope. All that does is take you to a sign up page for that particular forum (and with all the flashing and gaudiness, not a place I'd want to sign up).

Harry
 
I may have to be signed in but it worked for me. I can't copy and paste it and I don't know why. Rick said to use the link so perhaps it is still the missing one. ugh.

I logged off and it is still working. Who knows...Have a good day!
 
The next month that I joined this forum, Rick from California sent me PM. He recommended carponline. I was not sure if he is an owner.
I had been to the site.
The next year when I read this forum member's message at carponline site, program in my computer told me that virus attacked my computer. I don't think Rick or the webmaster intended to crash my computer. But I thought the webmaster was not good at having site.

Rick H. sent me PM through another A&M member's site 3 days ago. He seemed to misread my post. I didn't talk about his interview with Liberty, but he seemed to think I was talking about the interview.
So I posted that I didn't mean the interview. He has not responded me after that. So I don't know if Rick H. reads my post.

Here is the interview that Rick H. posted to his old site. If the link works, scroll down to big box with "Karen Carpenter"and you can copy.
old page that had interview

I haven't visited goodjeans's link. So I don't know if they are the same interview.
I have thought Rick the interviewer wrote that "The album which was originally intended to be a double album and than later changed to a standard single album was to be released sometime in 1980-81. "
Did Liverty say it?



"why don't we hear ... "
Partly because we don't send requests.

I posted
I heard "Goodbye To Love" on Thursday before Feb. 4th and "Close to You" on the next Thursday, both on NHK FM. I forgot to turn on the radio to find if the DJ played something for Karen's birthday.

Sakura
http://www.amcorner.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8883

I sent requests to the program. Other fans sent requests, so DJ played Carpenters songs!!

NHK-FM aired 6 hours and a half program with Richard on phone before. The DJ hosted and Yuka was there. Too bad that call connection was bad.

lfx radio/TV aired 3 hours Carpenters program at least twice, different ones. Some of you must have heard the program or visited their website.

XM Radio aired 11 hour program with Richard!!?

Radio 6(?) aired interview with Richard, and this forum member asked Herb Alpert about Carpenters!!

How about Pat Marino? He played the Carpenters songs that we hardly hear on the radio. I think he said something like this, he received request of Carpenters, when he doesn't play Carpenters.

How about Big L? They interviewed Richard.
I sent requests of Carpenters songs, Barry Manilow and Olivia Newton-John. They played all of them!!

BBC Radio 2 aired 4 part or 2 part programs.... about Carpenters or Karen.

When I knew that BBC accept the documentary requests. I'd like to listen to 4 part program in early 2000 again. But fans sent requests of Karen's 2 part programs. I asked fans to vote for the documentary. And BBC repeated the documentary!!!

At Karen's birthday of this month, I heard 3 hour program for Carpenters at error FM!! The DJ played Carpenters songs, Karen's solo songs and some Carpenters covers. That's was great!!

Dutch national radio, RADIO 2 had Carpenters Day!! They played a couple of Carpenters songs every hour. I enjoyed the station with this forum member before.

Error FM and Dutch radio had picture of Carpenters at their website.

Error FM doesn't usually play Carpenters. As Karen's birthday special!! On the day the DJ opened chat room and accept request from fans!!

We may ought to send requests to the radio stations that have aired Carpenters or similar music.

Sakura
 
I was so happy that she wanted to do my song... The only problem was that it was really a man's song to sing to a woman... The second line was "I was only watching the flower in your hair..." Not being a congenital lyricist I was stumped for a substitute line, and it was Karen who came up with "only trying to memorize you there," which I thought was okay and probably the best thing we would come up with...

That's a great quote from the Rob Mounsey interview! I've never read that interview before! I didn't know Karen had taken artistic license with this in the studio. It goes to show you all the small changes that she was influential in, which go unrecorded.

It was no secret that her brother Richard really didn't like the record... For one thing, he thought that Karen should always sing in her trademark basement register...

No surprise there then, is there?
 
Hello friends. This is Rick Henry and I thought I would chime in on this as you are discussing the interview and the forum.

Harry said:
Nope. All that does is take you to a sign up page for that particular forum (and with all the flashing and gaudiness, not a place I'd want to sign up).

Harry

There isn't any flashing and gaudiness on my Forum and the link does take you right to the interview.


SakuraSYayoi said:
The next month that I joined this forum, Rick from California sent me PM. He recommended carponline. I was not sure if he is an owner.
I had been to the site.
The next year when I read this forum member's message at carponline site, program in my computer told me that virus attacked my computer. I don't think Rick or the webmaster intended to crash my computer. But I thought the webmaster was not good at having site.

Rick H. sent me PM through another A&M member's site 3 days ago. He seemed to misread my post. I didn't talk about his interview with Liberty, but he seemed to think I was talking about the interview.
So I posted that I didn't mean the interview. He has not responded me after that. So I don't know if Rick H. reads my post.

Here is the interview that Rick H. posted to his old site. If the link works, scroll down to big box with "Karen Carpenter"and you can copy.
old page that had interview

I haven't visited goodjeans's link. So I don't know if they are the same interview.
I have thought Rick the interviewer wrote that "The album which was originally intended to be a double album and than later changed to a standard single album was to be released sometime in 1980-81. "
Did Liverty say it?

Sakura

I apologize Sakura, for the misunderstanding.

As for my site or forum crashing anybody's computer, this is not true.

The comment made on Karen's album intended to be a double album was discovered during my interviews with Lib, Rob, and Rusell Javors.

I ask, out of respect to Liberty DeVitto and The Carpenters Online, please not to copy the article.

Here is a direct link to the article which is currently making waves on the internet...

http://carponline.proboards21.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=lib&thread=1206081838
 
First time reading this article on Karen's solo album with Liberty Devitto. I was wondering why he said that Karen hyperventilated and passed out while doing the background vocals on "Remember When Lovin Took All Night"? Does he mean that she literally passed out with headphones on? and had to regain conscious or was that just a figure of speech? Is it normal for an artist to have done this while doing backing vocals, or was this song so difficult that it took everything out of Karen to accomplish the backing vocals? I'm kinda confused about his remark about this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom