The Carpenters Music Survey

[jaredjohnfisher]

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[GDBY2LV]

Fun survey. Lots of great questions. I’m not sure when or where the answers might appear? I encourage anyone with 10 minutes to spare, to take it.

 

[Portlander]

I took the survey also and it was simple with some great thought provoking questions.

 

[David A]

Done, was fun to do.

 

[Martin Medrano]

I also did the survey it was fun

 

[Carpe diem]

I also participated. I really hope the results are made known. The questions were very good.

 

[John Adam]

Yeah this was fun sharing my personal views on the Carpenters output. I would be interested in hearing what A&M Corner family members thought were career crossroads for Richard and Karen. I believe that was the gist of the question? That would make this a fun thread.

 

[John Adam]

OK, I'll start. For me, being a Carpenters fan since Karen's passing, my perspective may be different because I didn't grow up with the Carpenters.
My viewpoints are more historical.

My crossroads moment: In 1979 Richard sought help and got treatment for his addiction to sleeping pills and took the rest of the year off. Whereas Karen did the opposite and emerged herself in recording a solo album in New York City with a different producer.
Next:

 

[Proudofyou]

Turning point: When they were with Joan Lunden and Karen wants to work separately and together and Richard says he's prefers to just work with her. She wants to do musicals and branch out and suggests he score a film. He says no. She says maybe you'll score my film, and he says, yeah call me when you get one. (something like that). She wanted to break away. He did not. Not going any further than what the clip showed. That is the most telling clip of them all. Growing pains.

 

[ullalume]

enjoyed it. Only thing I wasn't sure about was what they classified as a studio album the both worked on. I said 10, not including greatest hits, live albums or post humous releases.

 

[newvillefan]

I would be interested in hearing what A&M Corner family members thought were career crossroads for Richard and Karen.

The turning point for me was Karen’s decision to put their career on hold in late 1981 to seek therapy. During that time, there was the disastrous family meeting in Levenkron’s office and Karen also began divorce proceedings. It was probably Karen’s lowest point and there would be no more new music released, no more Carpenters beyond the point that Karen made this career decision in late 1981.

 

[Portlander]

The beginning of the downward slope for me was when Richard fired Neil Sedaka during the tour in 1975. Neil was at fault for breaking unwritten protocols that are reserved for the headliner that are still adhered to with concert tours today. Richard was too emotional and reactionary and should have had his management (who was not present in Las Vegas at the time) handle the situation with more class and dignity. If the Carpenters would have allowed Sedaka to finish out the remaining US tour dates it would have turned out much better for them professionally.

The negative backlash from the media (I just graduated from high school) was swift and damaging and I feel it really impacted their sales, radio play and future chart success. "Solitaire" at #17 and "There's A Kind Of Hush" at #12 were the released after the incident compared to "Please Mr. Postman" at #1 and "Only Yesterday" at #4 prior to it. The well acclaimed and very successful Carpenters 1976 television special along with the lower rated follow up shows still kept them relevant in the public eye but not to the same degree of popularity.

And yes, changing preferences in music tastes and their battle with personal issues were huge factors in the eventual decline but they were not the actual turning point in my opinion. They had an amazing 5 year run with 14 top 12 hits including 3 Top 40 number 1's, 11 AC number 1's, three Grammy Awards, an American Music Award and sold out concerts around the world. From 70-75 they were "great" and from 76-81 they were just "good" and the combination of both still created a wonderful music legacy to be proud of.