My body keeps changing my mind

[newvillefan]

and then imagine it done with rpo instead....

Judging by the first one there wouldn’t be any discernible difference.

 

[Jarred]

I think Richard’s insistence that CP was Karen’s real first solo album is his way of saying, “see? She did have a solo album, and she did get to have creative freedom, etc” and attempting to take significance off of KC as her first branching out endeavor.

She was still under the Carpenter name and it was still their type of sound. No one on earth ever thinks of it as a “solo album”.

 

[Geographer]

I always took his comment to mean as, for the duo, she did all the "heavy lifting" for her part. He delegated most of his role out to the likes of Peter Knight and such; however, I still don't see it as a "solo" effort at all.

 

[Jarred]

I always took his comment to mean as, for the duo, she did all the "heavy lifting" for her part. He delegated most of his role out to the likes of Peter Knight and such; however, I still don't see it as a "solo" effort at all.

Even if A&M would allow it, would Richard ever be ok with it being called “Karen Carpenter’s Christmas” or something like that?

 

[Harry]

Get real.

 

[Jarred]

Get real.

Exactly my point.

 

[aaflyer98]

I love hearing everyone’s different opinions on Karen’s solo album, which ever one you feel it is!
As for Karen Carpenter, the album, I wish Richard would never have remixed or done anything to the KC tracks. That was Karen’s album produced by Phil Ramone. Yes some edits and remixes are nice, but he didn’t want it released in 1980. My opinion is it is her album. Not his. Regardless of what he may wanted for her, that solo project was hers.
I am not Richard bashing. I have great respect for him with the Carpenters.
I’m just saying Karen’s Solo project should not have been remixed by anyone other than someone under the Phil Ramone camp. All things, and persons considered with the ultimate shelving in 1980.

 

[Proudofyou]

Moderators, please delete this if it's in the wrong place and I know the topic of the solo is testy, but now that I think of it....why did she have to use her own money in the first place? Shouldn't A & M have paid for it, if she was still signed with them? I guess b/c she was signed as the Carps but why did she need their approval if she paid for it herself? I guess that's where her angst came from. I know this is music biz 101 and it's probably well documented in one of the books, but maybe I missed that info. Thanks. (and thanks for all the interest in my post).

 

[motownboy]

Just because a remix exists, that doesn't negate the existence of the original. This "it shouldn't have been touched" argument is narrowminded. Anyone can pick and choose whether they want to listen to an original mix or a new mix or both.

 

[newvillefan]

Moderators, please delete this if it's in the wrong place and I know the topic of the solo is testy, but now that I think of it....why did she have to use her own money in the first place? Shouldn't A & M have paid for it, if she was still signed with them? I guess b/c she was signed as the Carps but why did she need their approval if she paid for it herself?

I’ve always wondered this. The label wanted her to do it. Did she or Richard have to pay for any of the Carpenters’ previous albums out of their own money? I don’t think so. If Karen had been more strong willed at the time, she could have gone to A&M and said she wanted to take it elsewhere and release it through another label. They were licensed to A&M as “Carpenters”, I don’t think she was bound to the label as “Karen Carpenter”.

 

[Jarred]

I’ve always wondered this. The label wanted her to do it. Did she or Richard have to pay for any of the Carpenters’ previous albums out of their own money? I don’t think so. If Karen had been more strong willed at the time, she could have gone to A&M and said she wanted to take it elsewhere and release it through another label. They were licensed to A&M as “Carpenters”, I don’t think she was bound to the label as “Karen Carpenter”.

But she didn’t know a “world” beyond A&M. She may not have been in control but she knew the people and the way they ran things and such. It was comfortable for her because it’s all she ever knew as an artist.

 

[GaryAlan]

1979 or 1980....can anyone think of a label at the time willing to 'touch' anything by Karen, or Richard, Carpenter ?
A dj ( mid-1978 radio interview with Karen) commented on lack of radio play at that time.
Only my supposition, but, were it not for A&M releasing their product at that time, no other record label would gamble on it.
Sad to contemplate, even reading the dec 1978 review of Christmas Portrait: "you don't hear much from the Carpenters anymore."
There is a clause in (the decade book ?) stating: "Karen and Richard Carpenter record exclusively for A&M Records."
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980....just a few years I recall where I was the ONLY person in my school who listened and purchased their product.
1980, Music, Music, Music placed LAST in the TV ratings.
The reality of the time was dire, indeed.

 

[Jarred]

1979 or 1980....can anyone think of a label at the time willing to 'touch' anything by Karen, or Richard, Carpenter ?
A dj ( mid-1978 radio interview with Karen) commented on lack of radio play at that time.
Only my supposition, but, were it not for A&M releasing their product at that time, no other record label would gamble on it.
Sad to contemplate, even reading the dec 1978 review of Christmas Portrait: "you don't hear much from the Carpenters anymore."
There is a clause in (the decade book ?) stating: "Karen and Richard Carpenter record exclusively for A&M Records."
1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980....just a few years I recall where I was the ONLY person in my school who listened and purchased their product.
1980, Music, Music, Music placed LAST in the TV ratings.
The reality of the time was dire, indeed.

It really is staggering to understand that 1975 was really their last big year/hurrah. Just three years later CP is out and a review says we don’t hear much from them. That’s a huge drop. And even CP didn’t become huge until later years it seems. They were in a wholly different realm in the industry/cultural consciousness post-1975.

 

[newvillefan]

But she didn’t know a “world” beyond A&M. She may not have been in control but she knew the people and the way they ran things and such. It was comfortable for her because it’s all she ever knew as an artist.

And more’s the pity. That’s what I meant when I said above “if Karen had been more strong willed at the time”. They were sheltered and mollycoddled by A&M all through their career. Had they had a more traditional artist-label relationship, they (or more importantly she) could have walked away for solo projects.

1979 or 1980....can anyone think of a label at the time willing to 'touch' anything by Karen, or Richard, Carpenter ?.

For Karen’s album yeah: RSO and Atlantic Records. They had Bee Gees and ABBA respectively in 1979 and 1980, both creating huge waves. Richard, no.

 

[A&M Retro]

The reason Karen paid $400K of her own money was because the project stretched out far longer than originally anticipated. A&M set a budget of $100K and recording costs and travel far superseded that amount. That’s why they pinned the additional expense back on to future Carpenters royalties.

Pretty crappy move on A&M’s part, but business is business, I suppose. You’d think they’d have allowed its release just to recoup their investment, but they chose to shelve it altogether. Poor Karen really got the shaft.

 

[GaryAlan]

Two things are certain: Karen would never split from Herb Alpert (A&M Records) nor her brother.
Recall: Richard Carpenter stated he was not a "label jumper" (Billboard 1981).
A&M was it for the duo.

 

[tomswift2002]

The reason Karen paid $400K of her own money was because the project stretched out far longer than originally anticipated. A&M set a budget of $100K and recording costs and travel far superseded that amount. That’s why they pinned the additional expense back on to future Carpenters royalties.

Pretty crappy move on A&M’s part, but business is business, I suppose. You’d think they’d have allowed its release just to recoup their investment, but they chose to shelve it altogether. Poor Karen really got the shaft.

You have to think, did Karen or Richard ever think of buying out A&M’s share of the album? If the album cost $500,000, and Karen paid 4, then she owned 80% of the album.

 

[A&M Retro]

You have to think, did Karen or Richard ever think of buying out A&M’s share of the album? If the album cost $500,000, and Karen paid 4, then she owned 80% of the album.

That’s an interesting question. I heard many years ago that Richard owned the masters to Karen’s solo album, so I’d assume he could do whatever he wanted with it. But not sure if he owns them or not.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

That’s an interesting question. I heard many years ago that Richard owned the masters to Karen’s solo album, so I’d assume he could do whatever he wanted with it. But not sure if he owns them or not.

You can see from the copyright on the bottom of the CD that we got back in 1996 that A&M owns the album masters, not Richard. These also got burned up in the Universal Fire if I'm not mistaken and only digital backups still exist.

Ed

 

[newvillefan]

You can see from the copyright on the bottom of the CD that we got back in 1996 that A&M owns the album masters, not Richard. These also got burned up in the Universal Fire if I'm not mistaken and only digital backups still exist.

Wow. I didn’t know Karen’s album master was also in the list of those that went up in flames. Does anyone actually have a definitive list of which Carpenters album masters were destroyed? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.

 

[tomswift2002]

You can see from the copyright on the bottom of the CD that we got back in 1996 that A&M owns the album masters, not Richard. These also got burned up in the Universal Fire if I'm not mistaken and only digital backups still exist.

Ed

I thought Karen’s analog masters were still in storage, since none of her tracks were involved in the SACD project of 2004, and the last album to feature any solo tracks was “Ultimate Collection (NL)/Collected” (2006/2013) which I believe was compiled in Europe and was using the Remastered Classics/digital masters rather than the original analog masters. Before that, it was “The Essential Collection” with only “If I Had You”, which was the 1989 Remix single version.

 

[newvillefan]

I thought Karen’s analog masters were still in storage, since none of her tracks were involved in the SACD project of 2004

That would make more sense to me.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I thought Karen’s analog masters were still in storage, since none of her tracks were involved in the SACD project of 2004, and the last album to feature any solo tracks was “Ultimate Collection (NL)/Collected” (2006/2013) which I believe was compiled in Europe and was using the Remastered Classics/digital masters rather than the original analog masters. Before that, it was “The Essential Collection” with only “If I Had You”, which was the 1989 Remix single version.

The tapes belong to A&M, not Richard. As such, they'd have been in the vault, not with Richard. He has outtakes of a lot of things but the proper albums belong to A&M.

Ed

 

[newvillefan]

I thought Karen’s analog masters were still in storage, since none of her tracks were involved in the SACD project of 2004

The tapes belong to A&M, not Richard. As such, they'd have been in the vault, not with Richard. He has outtakes of a lot of things but the proper albums belong to A&M.

I think by storage he meant Iron Mountain, as opposed to Richard’s personal archives or the Universal lot that was the scene of the fire.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I think by storage he meant Iron Mountain, as opposed to at the Universal lot that was the scene of the fire.

That was the Universal vault.

Ed