Phil Ramone discusses Karen's Solo album several times in this article.
Billboard April 19, 1980
Yes, a very interesting article, Rick.
I agree with Phil Ramone’s comment that he didn’t seem to have an immediately recognisable sound.
With some producers, you immediately know it’s their record. I can’t think of any examples at the moment except for Stock, Aitkin and Waterman. Every one of their records had almost exactly the same sound, just with a different vocalist. You knew it was them straight away - it didn't matter who the singer was.
Come to think of it, Alan Tarney is another one, with that very distinctive synthesiser sound on recordings by Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard and Barbara Dickson, etc.
When you know records produced by Richard Perry or Arif Mardin, you realise that there's something similar about them, but you might not have recognised their production work when you heard one of their songs on the radio.
I like the simplicity and space in a lot of Phoebe Snow recordings and productions. I especially like her more acoustic songs - usually, the ones she wrote herself. There's something very peaceful about those - and I agree that the uncluttered approach really suits that style.
It's interesting that Phil suggests in this interview that he leaves a lot of space on his productions when his latest work had been Karen's solo album. Most of those tracks have as many instruments and vocals as could be fitted onto tape!
Also interesting that, when he put out a call for songs for Karen's album, he got a lot of Carpenteresque submissions, even from writers who didn't usually write in that style.
I used to hear Billy Joel’s ‘Glass Houses’ a lot when it was released. At the time, I wouldn’t have guessed that Karen had just done an album with the same band and producer. The two albums have quite different styles, though.
I enjoyed the article. Thanks for posting, Rick.
