Talk of The Town concert February 1974 London

[Graeme]

Yeah it was a work lead and probably would never have seen the light of day had Karen lived. I'm just nit picking over what my ears hear I guess. One of the rare occasions where auto tune might have helped correct this, had it existed back in the day.

Ditto. You listen to these songs so often and are so used to Carpentery perfection that nit-picking sometimes crops up. You start noticing things you may not have noticed before (a snippet of Karen talking in the background vocals of If I Had You and I've read on this forum about the sound of a closing door on another track though I can't remember which one). As Chris says, Do You Hear What I Hear was only a demo, though as she usually nails other demos or guide vocals it seems more of a shock when she doesn't quite hit a note.

 

[jaysee]

When Karen starts singing 'For all we know' it seems like maybe she was out of breath more than anything because she had trouble holding notes that for her were usually effortless with her seemingly endless reserve of lung capacity...just my two shekels worth...

You're quite right. What the short clip doesn't show is that just before 'For All We Know', Karen had just finished drumming 'Johnny B. Goode' to conclude their medley. If you've ever seen her perform that piece, you'll know how much she gets into it... Although Richard bought her a couple minutes’ rest (while introducing Pete Henderson), she still momentarily fell prey to a dry throat at the start of FAWK.

 

[jaysee]

Yeah it was a work lead and probably would never have seen the light of day had Karen lived. I'm just nit picking over what my ears hear I guess. One of the rare occasions where auto tune might have helped correct this, had it existed back in the day.

DYHWIH final note spectrum = http://imgur.com/gRhqX7w

No Auto-Tune needed on the copy of 'Do You Hear What I Hear' I have (see linked semitone spectrum chart above). Although Karen's vibrato varies a little more here than usual (at least for her), that's not too surprising given that she's holding the final note near-perfectly for over 10 seconds...

 

[LondonRobert]

DYHWIH final note spectrum = http://imgur.com/gRhqX7w

No Auto-Tune needed on the copy of 'Do You Hear What I Hear' I have (see linked semitone spectrum chart above). Although Karen's vibrato varies a little more here than usual (at least for her), that's not too surprising given that she's holding the final note near-perfectly for over 10 seconds...

I actually feel like it is her use of her vibrato, rather than being off key. She wavers her vibrato quite a bit initially, then smooths it to a still note, so right at the beginning it sounds different to later in the note. Perhaps she decided not to 'vibrato' it for the full length of the note and changed it.

 

[Guitarmutt]

The art of adjustment: every performers' best friend and worst enemy. We are all human and changeable. Karen and Richard too.

 

[GaryAlan]

45 Minute Talk of the Town Show posted this February 4th.
My first ever complete watch of this program.
Absolutely Stunning!

 

[Guitarmutt]

45 Minute Talk of the Town Show posted this February 4th.
My first ever complete watch of this program.
Absolutely Stunning!

Wow! I've never seen this. There is so much energy in this performance! Plus, it was fun to see Rich taking front and center while Karen drummed and Pete played the keys. Great! Mind blown!

 

[newvillefan]

Amazing to see this in full for the first time!

One moment that made me slightly cringe was in Richard's opening introduction, about the song 'Mr Guder':

"We'd like to feature Bob now on the flute and this is a tune that we wrote about six and a half years ago about a man that we worked for at Disneyland. He didn't care for us, we didn't care for him so he fired us and we wrote the tune".

Watch his face after he delivers the 'punchline'...I think he expected a laugh from the audience at this line and...silence

 

[wolfi69]

Amazing to see this in full for the first time!
"We'd like to feature Bob now on the flute and this is a tune that we wrote about six and a half years ago about a man that we worked for at Disneyland. He didn't care for us, we didn't care for him so he fired us and we wrote the tune".

As much as I cherish RC's brilliant work and respect him as a person, I can't ever imagine getting into this kind humor. It could be described "dry" or "hard-headed" at its best, but weird and disturbing most other times...

 

[GaryAlan]

Goodbye to Love and Close To You are standouts for me, here.
Beautiful performance.
But, also, when Karen drums on that Oldies Medley....Wow!
I do not understand the Camera angles in this program, why would the
cameraman ever be at Karen's back when she is singing?
(Although, I do not know how many Cameras were utilized,
and this may be before three cameras became somewhat standard.)

 

[kc4eva]

That is fantastic thanks for alerting us to it! It's the exact copy I had on my hard drive before it decided to stop working.

 

[kc4eva]

Found some transmission dates for the Talk of the Town show.

It was first broadcast on Sunday 3 March 1974 on BBC Two at 20:15pm and had a repeat on BBC One on Friday 26 April 1974 again at 20:15pm.

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/da8bcc6e7ff74953bd347a917fe59ed1 - original showing
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/322a6f70b84a4f4690c7aec981b788ae - repeat showing

 

[kprather]

Funny little bit at 36:18: Check out Richard's "WTF" look on his face when Karen does an unexpected drum fill during "Daddy's Home".

 

[Guitarmutt]

I love this find. Rich looks awkward up front, but that's what you put Karen thru!!!!!!!. Being up front is not easy!

 

[Harry]

Amazing to see this in full for the first time!

One moment that made me slightly cringe was in Richard's opening introduction, about the song 'Mr Guder':

"We'd like to feature Bob now on the flute and this is a tune that we wrote about six and a half years ago about a man that we worked for at Disneyland. He didn't care for us, we didn't care for him so he fired us and we wrote the tune".

Watch his face after he delivers the 'punchline'...I think he expected a laugh from the audience at this line and...silence

I was at earlier concerts (1972) where this line was delivered as part of a much longer exposition on Richard's employment at Disneyland and many of the lines got pretty big laughs.

Harry

 

[GaryAlan]

And, apparently, Mr. Guder holds no malcontent toward the song or the duo :
Disneyland Line, October 9, 1970:
"ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION'S VIC GUDER is the Mr. Guder The Carpenters sing about on their first album, Close to You.
The album is selling very fast and it is predicted to sell over a million copies.
Mr. Guder premiered last summer during the Burt Bacharach Concert at the Greek Theatre."

"Just to set the record straight.....I never fired Richard Carpenter...a great musician.
Richard only worked at Coke Corner for our summer seasons and special events...Karen appeared at a special event ....
so sad we lost Karen..a wonderful talent.Also for the record I am still playing the woodwinds and happy to have the
wonderful memories of the Disney days and my 20 years in Music education and directing Broadway Musicals...
Music is the highlight of my life and may the world of Music continue to live in our lives.
I do miss the Carpenters and their unique sounds..but the recordings continue to reflect their great music....
now you have the facts..MR> GUDER."

Source:
http://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-is-for-vintagedisneylandtickets.html

 

[Guitarmutt]

And, apparently, Mr. Guder holds no malcontent toward the song or the duo :
Disneyland Line, October 9, 1970:
"ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION'S VIC GUDER is the Mr. Guder The Carpenters sing about on their first album, Close to You.
The album is selling very fast and it is predicted to sell over a million copies.
Mr. Guder premiered last summer during the Burt Bacharach Concert at the Greek Theatre."

"Just to set the record straight.....I never fired Richard Carpenter...a great musician.
Richard only worked at Coke Corner for our summer seasons and special events...Karen appeared at a special event ....
so sad we lost Karen..a wonderful talent.Also for the record I am still playing the woodwinds and happy to have the
wonderful memories of the Disney days and my 20 years in Music education and directing Broadway Musicals...
Music is the highlight of my life and may the world of Music continue to live in our lives.
I do miss the Carpenters and their unique sounds..but the recordings continue to reflect their great music....
now you have the facts..MR> GUDER."

Source:
http://disneylandcompendium.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-is-for-vintagedisneylandtickets.html

Wow, I love the song. Love his attitude toward it! I wish we could all have such healthy attitudes towards the things we deal with in our lives!