What RECORDING SESSIONS would you like to see released?

[CarpentersToYou]

I have always been a fan of hearing recording sessions from artists. From Celine Dion to Barbra Streisand - I love them.
I just sent Richard an e-mail asking him if he'd even consider releasing recording sessions. It seems like he wouldn't because he's a perfectionist and doesn't want us to hear any mess-ups. But we don't care, do we? We love the Carpenters!
I think it would be fascinating to hear the Carpenters stuff! They p8ut so much work into it, I'd like to hear all the pieces seperately.

I known some have to exist because we have the outtakes from NOW & THEN and we have the end of LET ME BE THE ONE (From The Top), plus the 1-2-3 intros. It would just be cool to hear all the pieces and how they put them together.

I, for one - would love to have the NOW & THEN Recording Sessions. What do you all want?
p.s. I'd doubt any VOICE OF THE HEART stuff would be available, due to it being leads.

 

[Harry]

I'd take whatever is given - hopefully in small doses. I guess I'm just not that fond of listening to parts of songs, and mistakes. It's somewhat interesting, maybe once, to hear something like that, but it wears thin on repeated listens.

I always think back to the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY and the outtakes presented there. I listened a few times, and now some of those failed attempts are rattling around in my brain so that when I hear the song as presented on the major albums, I can mentally hear the mistakes.

How many of us can mentally 'hear' the end of "Let Me Be The One" that was put on FROM THE TOP. I hear it now every time I hear the song.

So, while I'd take whatever is given, I'm just not all that fond of 'ruining' perfectly good songs.

Harry
...abstaining from voting, online...

 

[Chris May]

Incidentally, "outtakes" so-to-speak generally get erased and recorded over on the 2" master reel of tape once the 'track' take is satisfactory and has gone into the overdubbing process (assuming they confined the basic recording onto one reel of tape only rather than several--even in which case the multiple masters are used again for other projects).

There's no telling what is sitting around on reels of tape that were never destroyed, but I doubt highly that there still remains outtake material on every song the Carpenters ever cut. I think even Richard has mentioned in a round about way that once the material was to his and Karen's liking, it is totally pointless to keep outtakes.

I know in many of the sessions I have been involved in, I occasionally will run a live stereo 2-channel mix out from the board to another machine while tracking, as well as occasionally during overdubs. All this really does is gives you a reference, with studio chatter, take markers and all of what you did during various stages of tracking. I would think it highly likely that R.C. would still have SOME of that stuff.

If I had to pick a specific album that I would love to hear outtakes from, it would probably be "A Song For You", followed closely by the tan album "Carpenters". Both were extremely
creative. -Chris

 

[Chris]

Harry makes a good point about hearing outtakes in your head even when you don't want to sometimes. I too occasionally hear the "figure out where the rest of melody is..." stuff at the end of "Let Me Be The One". Even so, it would be fun to hear some outtakes. My vote would be for "Horizon" because it's my favorite album. To hear a different take from Karen on some of those classic songs would be great, even though she did not vary her performances very much in sessions.

 

[CarpentersToYou]

Good points, all good!

I have many Barbra Streisand sessions and I LOVE THEM! It's great to hear how she got to the masterpiece itself.

I'd also like to hear what they had as alternate recordings. I know there's a lead Yesterday Once More floating out there that is kind of more like the Reprise version (it has lots of steel guitars in it).

Take care all!

I really like the MUSIC! MUSIC! MUSIC! outtakes (video) as well. It's fun to see Karen and Richard goofing around and being themselves.

 

[Mark-T]

"Made in America"- there are probably a handful of unreleased tracks to go with those recording sessions!

 

[engineer]

Y'all need to keep in mind that the Carpenters didn't record "live" in the studio. You only get outtakes of the sort that appear on the Beatles' ANTHOLOGY when a band is recording takes with the entire band at one time.

Karen and Richard built each track layer by layer, so there aren't different takes of "Yesterday Once More" laying around. There might be two or three vocal takes on a tape, but the backing instruments would have remained identical.

Now, when you start talking about different mixes, that's a different story. There might be instrument parts that were recorded but weren't used.
Where you find flubs like the end of "Let Me Be the One" is just something that happened on a track and didn't end up getting erased and used for some overdub. It is highly unlikely that such flubs exist on the majority of the master tapes.

A huge exception to this could be the alleged three different versions of "Close to You" that were recorded. However, these are not three different takes of the song, but three different constructions entirely (as if Karen and Richard were recording three different songs at three different times).

You're not going to find recording sessions where you hear studio chatter between takes, because the tapes would be rewound at the end of each take and started from the beginning each and every time anything was recorded. A stray comment at the beginning or end of a vocal track ("Make Believe It's Your First Time") is all there could be.

Dan

 

[W.B.]

Frankly, in terms of what I'd like to see in this respect, my preference would be along the lines of a book-form sessionography, with respect to recording dates and times, pertinent personnel (musicians, engineers et al.), and overdubs. Would love to know, for example, how many string players worked on the "Close To You" track. Or the pedal steel guitarist on "Top Of The World." (Just as a few examples.)

 

[Jeff]

GOLD's video hits collection has a snippet of Karen in the sound booth singing the first verse of ONLY YESTERDAY. I'm continually mesmorized by this clip. If there is the beginning floating around I wonder 'bout the rest o the song. The HURTING EACH OTHER video clip on REMEMBERING CarpenterS may contain additional footage as well. These and others would be fascinating to experience. Having a glimpse into the magic. Any y'all know of others?

Jeff

 

[Dave]

That is a pretty tough question. With all my listening, all the years I've been listening and what I listen to, I do wonder what goes on in the Recording Studio before and after the RECORD button is pressed.

I have learned just a few years ago that ALL the recording seldom all takes place at the same time. That stuff gets overdubbed, mixed and REDONE!

There are very FEW recordings that you'll ever get a "Makings Of", but I think that would be a very good "marketing scheme" in the next few years--to hear what DIDN'T go on the "finished product", because it was "behind the scenes".

Dave

...who CAN'T make up my mind on any of the above...the recording sessions were probably ALL good...

 

[CraigGA]

I would like to hear the creative juices that happened to them as they made this recording as they were on Top of the World.

 

[jfiedler17]

I always think back to the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY and the outtakes presented there. I listened a few times, and now some of those failed attempts are rattling around in my brain so that when I hear the song as presented on the major albums, I can mentally hear the mistakes.

Same here! The alternate version of "Penny Lane" on ANTHOLOGY 2 (Paul: "What a suitable ending, I think!") has forever toyed with my experiences of listening to the released version of "Penny Lane". Everytime I hear the original single of "Penny Lane" now, I keep thinking I'm gonna hear the brass solo that's in the alternate version and the trumpet notes at the song's close.

Jeff F.