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That’s correct, and stayed on the charts a total of ten weeks.I believe SOLITAIRE hit #17, not #18 as he states.
After Richard and Neil both die, I can see Universal or another record label licensing those recordings for release.Unfortunately, it seems to me, the "Sedaka incident" derailed Carpenters' career
to a greater extent than anyone at the time could ever have imagined it would.
Regardless of personality, I will not deny that Sedaka is musically brilliant in his own way.
Did Richard keep the recordings of those 1975 'Carpenters-Sedaka' concerts ?
Did Richard and Neil ever speak amicably again ?
To be completely transparent Jim, we don't get into the story in this book. However, once the book is out and people have had some time to read it, I think I can provide a bit of clarity—off the record—which will make a whole lot more sense now to fans about what was actually going on during that time.It did and I'm curious to see if the Sedaka firing is covered in the new book and I'm not looking for Chris to divulge anything because I can wait until November. I do wonder if Neil reached out and called, would Richard talk to him and finally make peace after all these years? It would surely have made Karen happy if she was still with us because it was an unsettling situation for her from what I've read.
It all came down to one thing…And the lack of wisdom for putting the to acts together in the first place...
Sherwin Bash's percentage?It all came down to one thing…
The conventional wisdom in booking acts, is to hire either a musical act that is just starting out, or a comedian, as the opening act. You want to make certain that the audience is there to see the headliner. The problem with having Sedaka as the opener, was that he was arguably more famous than Carpenters were, particularly among the older demographic that frequented Vegas in the 1970s. I suspect that a significant percentage of the audience were there primarily to see Sedaka perform. To further compound matters, Sedaka was a natural showman... to some in the audience, the Carpenters set may have been an anti-climax.Call me naive,
but, what exactly is...."the lack of wisdom" in putting the acts together in the first place ?
It seems to me that it certainly began as a well-intentioned venture, pairing the acts together.
I must be missing the big picture.
Billboard January 18, 1975:
Please Mr. Postman #2
Laughter in The Rain #3
You hit the nail on the head. Shame on their manager, he is the one who holds responsibility.Well said Chris and I understand Richard's reluctance to rehash an old incident that unfairly tarnished the Carpenters brand at a time when their popularity was peaking. In my opinion, it gave the media and critics of Karen and Richard a golden opportunity to turn radio programers and DJ's across the country against them which definitely led to diminished airplay which was vital to their continued success. Neil came off as a wounded star from the sixties who was in the midst of a comeback and he played up the firing to his full advantage and won the public relations game. Shame on Sherwin Bash (managed both artists) for not giving Richard the proper advise he needed during this period because the etiquette issues started way before the actual termination.
I’d say probably talking out of both sides of his mouth, the manager assured each of them that “they” were the star, Neil probably assumed as much as he was the more tenured artist and then behaved that way. The behavior was probably allowed and encouraged by the manager.Call me naive,
but, what exactly is...."the lack of wisdom" in putting the acts together in the first place ?
It seems to me that it certainly began as a well-intentioned venture, pairing the acts together.
I must be missing the big picture.
Billboard January 18, 1975:
Please Mr. Postman #2
Laughter in The Rain #3
here:
The Hot 100 Chart
www.billboard.com
I’d say they probably had some, but they hired a manager to handle those things for them. They were exceptionally busy and a good business manager should be handling their interests appropriately. They likely also trusted him implicitly.Am I to assume that Richard and Karen had no control over who was to be their headlining act by this time ?