Week #20: Solo Album, "Karen Carpenter" S/T

[Jamesj75]

This morning one of the oldies stations went through Casey Kasem's Top 40 for some week in the late 1970s (they never said the date!),
and, I must say, I can totally understand Karen's direction on her solo effort.
Given that time period, her choice of material is every bit as good, if not better, than much of the material on the charts at that time.
I give her an "A" for effort, in comparison to what else was on the radio back then.
The production and mixing of the material is my major complaint.

Gary, your point is well taken about Karen's solo CD in comparison with what was on the radio at the time.

With regard to today's radio rebroadcast of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 show, as featured on Sunny 105.9 (http://betaplayer.radio.com/player/1059-sunny-fm), it was from the week February 17, 1979. I try to catch the show when I can on Sunday mornings. It's a prime opportunity to hear Carpenters' songs, as each week they rebroadcast a show from the 1970s (usually the same week/month as present). It is quite the thrill to hear Carpenters' songs and Kasem's anecdotes about the Carpenters and their chart activity. And, for me, it's a deja vu experience, as I indeed heard (and relished) many of these shows the first time around!

 

[GaryAlan]

Yes, James,
that was the station, 105.9, I normally just use scan on the radio (in the car) and catch an overview of all of
the different radio stations, and what's playing these days--or, what passes as music!
Funny thing, when I pause to consider today's re-broadcast, even the production/mixing on Karen's LP
was, at the very least, typical of the day (and genre). Sometimes in approaching something from the past, we have
to pretend we are there, instead of here, and analyze from the standpoint of the time--and not interject/project the
present-day values.
(It is part and parcel of the whig interpretation of history that it studies the past with reference to the present)

 

[newvillefan]

The production and mixing of the material is my major complaint.

In the case of 'Lovelines', 'My Body Keeps Changing My Mind' and 'If I Had You', Richard greatly improved them. These mixes have warmth and ambiance to them, whereas Phil's original mixes sound dry and sterile. In the case of 'Lovelines', Phil also has her backing vocals way too high in the mix. At the end of the first chorus, the backing line "cos lovelines never fade..." totally drowns out the first line of the next verse. You can barely even hear what it is she's singing. Richard corrected that major imbalance, much to his credit.