SONG BY SONG: "KAREN CARPENTER" (SP-4804/CD-0588)

[Graeme]

Most days it's If I Had You but All Because of You would be a close second. Least favourite would be Lovelines. I want to like If We Try I really do. But it all falls down for me when you get to the chorus - bit like I Need To Be In Love (love the lyrics and the verses but don't like the chorus - though I do like the live versions). Love Making Love To You my favourite unreleased solo songs and Don't Try To Win Me Back Again a close second.

 

[cam89]

I prefer IF I HAD YOU. It just sparkles! I remember working as a COOK at a restaurant in Winnipeg in 1996, and to my surprise, hearing IF I HAD YOU being played on the radio. I also remember buying it, and the excitement that was. I bought it at the HMV store and in cassette form. I remember loving it. I just wish it had had more photos on it....

 

[Chris May]

After a lot of thought, I voted for "Last One Singing The Blues". On first listen of the solo album back in '96 , I thought what a cool song to finish the album, and loved the fact you could hear Karen talking.

The "Lib" that Karen is referring to on drums in the outtake at the top is none other than Liberty DeVitto, long-time drummer for Billy Joel (amongst others), and also played several of the tracks on Karen's album. Liberty is going to be joining our radio show to talk about his work on this album, his relationship to Karen and his thoughts about the project on the whole. I expect the interview will air a week from this Monday. If you guys think of any questions for him, post them here and I will certainly ask in the interview.

 

[Mark-T]

One question: What did you think of Karen's drumming, and did you guys ever play together?

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Chris: What tracks from Karen's solo album did Liberty play on? What about her unreleased solo tracks, did he play on any of those? The liner notes don't specify which tracks Liberty played on.

I read on the net that Liberty said his favorite track from her solo album was "Remember When Lovin' Took All Night" saying "It's the way everything fits together, the groove , her voice, the amazing background vocals. Its all there."

My Question:
When you learned that her album would not be released, after all the hard work Karen and everyone involved on the album put forth, were you shocked or surprised? What is your belief in why her album was not released in 1980? What songs do you feel would have charted?

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Here is a photo of Karen and Liberty. What can Liberty tell us about this photo?

 

[A&M Retro]

What is your favorite memory of working with Karen? When did you last speak to her?
Unrelated to Karen:
What is your favorite memory of working on Billy Joel's "The Nylon Curtain"?

 

[arthowson]

the phrase……"then i'm with you.." on all because of you, makes this album for me. so intimate, so vulnerable. i've listened to that line over and over and over.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I wish that I could vote again listening to the SHM-CD...I've changed my mind yet again

 

[GaryAlan]

I'm excited, as I finally ordered the Karen Carpenter SHM-CD, today (from cdjapan).
I was trying to resist any more purchases, but the overwhelming reviews here sent me over the edge.
The more I listen to this solo album, the more I love it.
She definitely chose some infectious material, and the more I ruminate about her solo effort,
the more I respect her for branching out into unknown territory.
It took guts.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Just some random thoughts:

~Do you think "Last One Singing The Blues" would have appeared on the album if it had been released in 1980?

~Have you ever listened to her album and wondered what some of these songs would have sounded like if she had sung them "live" in a concert setting? Can you feel the energy?

~If the album had been released and Karen booked a mini concert tour, do you think Peter Cetera would have appeared on a few concerts as guest artist for "Making Love In The Afternoon" and if not, would she have selected another backup singer to fill in?

 

[mr J.]

Chris: What tracks from Karen's solo album did Liberty play on? What about her unreleased solo tracks, did he play on any of those? The liner notes don't specify which tracks Liberty played on.

I read on the net that Liberty said his favorite track from her solo album was "Remember When Lovin' Took All Night" saying "It's the way everything fits together, the groove , her voice, the amazing background vocals. Its all there."

My Question:
When you learned that her album would not be released, after all the hard work Karen and everyone involved on the album put forth, were you shocked or surprised? What is your belief in why her album was not released in 1980? What songs do you feel would have charted?

Liberty played on "Remember When" and "If I Had You"-and possibly a few of the outtakes.

 

[BGW]

Hmm, I hadn't seen that photo before. I like it because Karen looks excited, but at the same time......ugh. She really looks terrible. It's so hard to look at her in her later years, she was such a beautiful woman. To see the extent she withered away from her crippling struggle with anorexia... That photo make me more sad than anything.

 

[Natesmommy77]

Chris May:

My question for Liberty...

Simply, what was it like to be around Karen? What was she like? What's your favorite memory of her?

I cannot wait to hear this show!!!

 

[Rudy]

I had to go with "Lovelines". I haven't listened to this album much, but there is something about the lead-off track that sets the tone for the entire album. That voice is familiar, but the whole setting is different, and it's like opening up the front door to a whole different sound. Sort of a promise of what is to come, in other words. (I often find that an album's lead-off track is a favorite of mine for that very reason.) Still a tough call though. The Cetera duet is also one that sticks with me.

It also gets a nod because it's a Rod Temperton song. Still fond of his compositions all these years later. And since I mentioned it, one of my favorite albums he worked on was George Benson's Give Me The Night. I'll probably spin that once I'm done listening to my new Led Zep downloads.

 

[Rumbahbah]

I had to go with "Lovelines". I haven't listened to this album much, but there is something about the lead-off track that sets the tone for the entire album. That voice is familiar, but the whole setting is different, and it's like opening up the front door to a whole different sound. Sort of a promise of what is to come, in other words. (I often find that an album's lead-off track is a favorite of mine for that very reason.) Still a tough call though. The Cetera duet is also one that sticks with me.

It also gets a nod because it's a Rod Temperton song. Still fond of his compositions all these years later. And since I mentioned it, one of my favorite albums he worked on was George Benson's Give Me The Night. I'll probably spin that once I'm done listening to my new Led Zep downloads.

That's very true about 'Lovelines' - the start of the track is like the opening of a door to reveal a new world. It sets up where things will go from there. Coincidentally of course, Richard also used it as the opening track on the Lovelines album - even if he doesn't like the song much, it just cries out to appear first in a running order.

George Benson's Give Me The Night album is a classic. It came out in mid-1980 so would have been almost an exact contemporary of Karen's solo album. Quincy Jones' production gives it a somewhat more 'spacey' and precise sound than Phil Ramone's style, but as Rod Temperton wrote about half the tracks on the album, you can hear the similarities between these and those he wrote for Karen. Both the album and its singles 'Give Me the Night' and 'Love X Love' (both written by Temperton) were big hits and it won three Grammys. So even in the 'disco sucks' era, there was plenty of commercial mileage to had for this sound.

 

[ullalume]

For a couple of years I actually thought "Lovelines" was "Loveliness". Don't ask!!!!

 

[aaflyer98]

Ha, Ullalume!! I was just thinking about a couple I knew when the album, Lovelines came out. I bought them copy and wrapped it up as a present, and when they opened it up they both read the title as "Loveliness". I never corrected them as they enjoyed the album!

 

[newvillefan]

Ha, Ullalume!! I was just thinking about a couple I knew when the album, Lovelines came out. I bought them copy and wrapped it up as a present, and when they opened it up they both read the title as "Loveliness". I never corrected them as they enjoyed the album!

Probably because 'Lovelines' isn't really a word - is it?? A 'love line' is one of the creases in your hand that a palm reader would analyse. But to say "you're on my lovelines and that's alright with me" is rather bizarre. I never quite got the lyrics...

 

[A&M Retro]

I always thought it was 'You are my love lines'. LOL>>

 

[Mark-T]

I find, like Chris, that I want to change my mind again. There are too many good songs here, certainly a solid effort.

Maybe it should be "Which side of the album do you like better?"

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I always thought it was 'You are my love lines'. LOL>>

I just realized I have been singing this song wrong since 1996... should I laugh or cry .....
Seriously, I learned something new, in fact I remembered the lyrics were printed in the SHM-CD so I took them out and realized I have also been singing this line wrong as well. "You're right on my lovelines"...leave it to the shimmy to save me from further being a goofus. Now I need to sit down and listen to the whole CD word for word with this lyric booklet and see what else I've been singing wrong for 18 yrs.

 

[Rumbahbah]

I find, like Chris, that I want to change my mind again. There are too many good songs here, certainly a solid effort.

Maybe it should be "Which side of the album do you like better?"

That's an interesting point. In the days of vinyl, where would Side 2 have started? Given that 'Last One Singin' the Blues' wasn't intended to be included on the original labum, would it have been before 'Remember When Lovin'...' or 'Still in Love with You'? 'Remember When Lovin'...' seems the obvious opener for Side 2 (again, like 'Lovelines', it has an 'opening track' feel about it, although maybe I've been influenced by it being the opening track on Side 2 of the Lovelines album). I'm presuming of course that the running order on the 1996 release was what was intended in 1980 had it have been released.

 

[newvillefan]

That's an interesting point. In the days of vinyl, where would Side 2 have started? Given that 'Last One Singin' the Blues' wasn't intended to be included on the original labum, would it have been before 'Remember When Lovin'...' or 'Still in Love with You'? 'Remember When Lovin'...' seems the obvious opener for Side 2 (again, like 'Lovelines', it has an 'opening track' feel about it, although maybe I've been influenced by it being the opening track on Side 2 of the Lovelines album). I'm presuming of course that the running order on the 1996 release was what was intended in 1980 had it have been released.

That is an interesting question. I have always surmised that Side 1 would finish with 'Remember When Lovin' Took All Night', since it has that long fade out and 'Still In Love With You' has a funky feel to it that would make you think 'oh, here's yet another new sound' as Side 2 starts. It is feasible though that Side 1 would finish with the ballad 'If We Try'.

 

[Harry]

I'm sure that Side 1 would have ended with "If We Try" due to the sheer length of the first song "Lovelines". They would have put five tracks on Side One and six on Side Two, each totaling about 20-21 minutes each.

Hrary