Would Be Album from 1978/79

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I couldn't agree more with these comments. The album was definitely a 'gift' to fans. In fact, Diana Baren at A&M is quoted as saying, 'This is for the fans'. The only promotion given to the project was very limited ad space in a few magazines. Richard did nothing to support it, and Phil Ramone was expecting the opposite to happen, so he was very disappointed it wasn't spotlighted as it should have been. So were Karen's fans, but at least we now have it in our collections, which was the intention all along.
 
Richard will not "cover" another artists' pop hit.

With all due respect, I have no idea where in the world you got that idea. Richard selected plenty of other artists' hits to cover throughout their entire career.

"Ticket to Ride" (The Beatles, #1)
"Get Together" (Youngbloods, #5)
"Help" (The Beatles, #1)
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (Dionne Warwick, #6 Pop, #1 AC)
"Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, #8; Smith, #5)
"A Song for You" (Andy Williams, #29 AC)
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (Hank Williams, #1 Country)
The entire "Oldies Medley" on side 2 of Now & Then
"Please Mr. Postman" (The Marvelettes, #1)
"Solitaire" (Andy Williams, #23 AC)
"There's A Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits, #4)
"Goofus" (Les Paul, #21)
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Neil Sedaka, #1 in 1962, #8 in 1975; The Partridge Family, #28)
"Beechwood4-5789" (The Marvelettes, #17)

Most relevant to this conversation, since Karen's death Richard has released:

"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles, #3)
"Dancing In The Street" (Martha and the Vandellas, #2)
"California Dreamin'" (The Mamas and the Papas, #4)
"The Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog [Jim Henson], #25)
"Still Crazy After All These Years" (Paul Simon, #40 Pop, #5 AC) Technically a Karen solo, but first released on the From The Top box set in 1991.
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (Barry Manilow, #10 Pop, #1 AC) Recorded before Barry's version but not released until the Interpretations album in 1995.

Not to mention all the other songs they recorded that were technically cover versions, even though the original version was not a hit or a single:

"Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" (Buffalo Springfield)
"Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin)
"(They Long to be) Close to You" (Dionne Warwick, Richard Chamberlain)
"For All We Know" (from the film "Lovers and Other Strangers")
"Superstar" (Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge [on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen album], Bette Midler, Cher)
"Hurting Each Other" (Ruby and the Romantics)
"It's Going to Take Some Time" (Carole King)
"This Masquerade" (Leon Russell, Helen Reddy)
"Sing" (from "Sesame Street")
"Desperado" (Eagles)
"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Harry Belafonte)
"Calling Occupants..." (Klaatu)
"Touch Me When We're Dancing" (Bama)
 
Wow, that is an impressive list!! However..couldn't we also include "From The Moment On?"
In fact, the CD "Interpretations" was all about a compliment to interpret someone else's song.
 
Right on Actorman!!! Actorman hits the ball. It's outta the park! The crowd roars! Game over!
We love their music and Karen makes each song her own or gives us a different light on it. So I say, C'mon, Richard Carpenter! Please open the vaults and let the music out!
 
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I cringe every time you bring up sales regarding Karen's solo album and you do it over and over. I just think it's so unfair to equate her solo album in any sales figures relating to Carpenters or any sales in general. Her album was released as a gift to the fans, not meant to create sales or generate hoopla to the world. Heavens...she was not even alive to help promote it, Richard never helped to promote it, I don't even think Phil did anything to promote it and the music was so dated when it did get released, how was it ever to generate record sales?

So poor sales mean nothing for her solo album, for me it was never meant to be judged that way. I find it hard to believe that Richard, Phil or A&M released it believing this was going to generate record sales. If they did, shame on them.
I like to think it was a gift.
I can sense that you have a "soft spot" for Karen's album-nothing wrong with that.

Even though Karen's album was issued as a catalog item,A&M still had an expectation that it would sell a certain amount of copies-which it didn't. Record labels are running a business-and they're in the business of selling records and making money.It's nice to think that A&M released the album as a benevolent gesture for Karen's fans,but it costed money to make the album in 1980,and it costed money to master & prepare the album for release in 1996.And,as with all albums,A&M had to press a minimum amount of CD's at the pressing plant(usually 10,000)-which also costed money upfront.The decision to release the album was contingent on the belief that the album would sell enough copies to recoup these costs,and make a minimum profit on top of that.That is the accounting standard that every new release or reissue is measured by-including the solo album release in 1996.

There was no need or expectation to promote Karen's album-(again)it was released as a catalog album.But,even a catalog item is still expected to sell a minimum amount of copies.If A&M didn't believe it would generate sales,I can guarantee it never would've been released.
I couldn't agree more with these comments. The album was definitely a 'gift' to fans. In fact, Diana Baren at A&M is quoted as saying, 'This is for the fans'. The only promotion given to the project was very limited ad space in a few magazines. Richard did nothing to support it, and Phil Ramone was expecting the opposite to happen, so he was very disappointed it wasn't spotlighted as it should have been. So were Karen's fans, but at least we now have it in our collections, which was the intention all along.
I don't think you quite understood what Diana was really saying: "This is for the fans" means the album will only appeal to Karen's loyal fans-not the general record-buying public.

Casual fans or "curious" record buyers would buy "Love Songs","Interpretations" or "Christmas Portrait"-but Karen's solo album wouldn't appeal to them.
 
I think, Mr. J, we're just saying its hard to get an accurate measure of its proper sales impact due to being released so late in the game when their career was over.
 
With all due respect, I have no idea where in the world you got that idea. Richard selected plenty of other artists' hits to cover throughout their entire career.

"Ticket to Ride" (The Beatles, #1)
"Get Together" (Youngbloods, #5)
"Help" (The Beatles, #1)
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (Dionne Warwick, #6 Pop, #1 AC)
"Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, #8; Smith, #5)
"A Song for You" (Andy Williams, #29 AC)
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (Hank Williams, #1 Country)
The entire "Oldies Medley" on side 2 of Now & Then
"Please Mr. Postman" (The Marvelettes, #1)
"Solitaire" (Andy Williams, #23 AC)
"There's A Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits, #4)
"Goofus" (Les Paul, #21)
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Neil Sedaka, #1 in 1962, #8 in 1975; The Partridge Family, #28)
"Beechwood4-5789" (The Marvelettes, #17)

Most relevant to this conversation, since Karen's death Richard has released:

"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles, #3)
"Dancing In The Street" (Martha and the Vandellas, #2)
"California Dreamin'" (The Mamas and the Papas, #4)
"The Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog [Jim Henson], #25)
"Still Crazy After All These Years" (Paul Simon, #40 Pop, #5 AC) Technically a Karen solo, but first released on the From The Top box set in 1991.
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (Barry Manilow, #10 Pop, #1 AC) Recorded before Barry's version but not released until the Interpretations album in 1995.

Not to mention all the other songs they recorded that were technically cover versions, even though the original version was not a hit or a single:

"Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" (Buffalo Springfield)
"Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin)
"(They Long to be) Close to You" (Dionne Warwick, Richard Chamberlain)
"For All We Know" (from the film "Lovers and Other Strangers")
"Superstar" (Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge [on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen album], Bette Midler, Cher)
"Hurting Each Other" (Ruby and the Romantics)
"It's Going to Take Some Time" (Carole King)
"This Masquerade" (Leon Russell, Helen Reddy)
"Sing" (from "Sesame Street")
"Desperado" (Eagles)
"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Harry Belafonte)
"Calling Occupants..." (Klaatu)
"Touch Me When We're Dancing" (Bama)

The statement "Richard will not cover another artists' pop hit" came from Richard himself,actually.He stated this in the "fans ask" section of his website.Notice "will not" is present tense! We all know that K&R did several remakes & covers during their career.But Richard is not speaking of what was prevalent 35 0r 40 years ago-he is speaking about his stance today.

For the record,the strict definition of a "cover" is an artist recording a (pop) song that was made famous by another artist.This definition doesn't apply to standards,jazz material,or songs recorded by another artist that have remained "obscure".
 
I can sense that you have a "soft spot" for Karen's album-nothing wrong with that.

I think your missing my point...well yeah I love the album but that doesn't have anything to do with equating her solo record sales to the Carpenters catalog, correlating the 2 is just an unfair comparison in my opinion. Passage being contemporary and her solo album in the same vein does not mean we should compare how many Passage albums sold verses Karen's solo album.

Even though Karen's album was issued as a catalog item,A&M still had an expectation that it would sell a certain amount of copies-which it didn't. Record labels are running a business-and they're in the business of selling records and making money.It's nice to think that A&M released the album as a benevolent gesture for Karen's fans,but it costed money to make the album in 1980,and it costed money to master & prepare the album for release in 1996.And,as with all albums,A&M had to press a minimum amount of CD's at the pressing plant(usually 10,000)-which also costed money upfront.The decision to release the album was contingent on the belief that the album would sell enough copies to recoup these costs,and make a minimum profit on top of that.That is the accounting standard that every new release or reissue is measured by-including the solo album release in 1996.

There was no need or expectation to promote Karen's album-(again)it was released as a catalog album.But,even a catalog item is still expected to sell a minimum amount of copies.If A&M didn't believe it would generate sales,I can guarantee it never would've been released.

Well, we are really only guessing right? I know I was not there to hear how this all went down and unless you were part of the discussions we don't really know how they finally agreed to releasing Karen's solo album. I know this is a business and this is how releases are measured and the expectation is there to sell so many copies. However, we all know that A&M, Richard and everyone else involved did not approve and did not support Karen to go onwards...so she decided to shelf it. If 16 yrs later, A&M finally agrees for a release and they expected her material (16 yrs old at this point) to make record sales then they were out of touch with reality. If her album did in fact not sell the minimum copies as requested by A&M (and do we know this is true where are the figures in writing?) then maybe they should have released it when it was recorded, maybe this is a loss A&M should have ate and wrote off on the books as "in loving memory of our dear Karen".

We also don't know if Richard who finally agreed to the release said hey...if it doesn't make the minimum sales I will take up the slack, this is for the fans. We don't know any of this, we are just guessing.

So I end this saying, the liner notes is really all the public has regarding the release and Richard made it clear that it was time for the album to be released. I just can't believe that A&M would have said, "Richard if we didn't believe that her solo album would generate min sales 16 yrs later we just would not agree to release it". I'm sorry but if that is true than I am left with an even bitter taste in my mouth than I ever did. It sounds so cold. It is my desire not to believe that was their logic behind releasing her album.
 
Interesting to compare A&M's attitude to the C's first album.The executives just had this gut feeling, even though they lost heaps financially, that there was great potential in the Carpenter sound - so they persevered. They were astoundingly correct in perceiving that future gain would exceed current pain.

But by the time Karen's album came around, their lack of enthusiasm may have been due not so much to the belief that they'd lose money (they'd previously absorbed losses as mentioned above), but possibly because of the more damaging loss of established reputation surrounding brands 'Carpenters', 'Karen' and 'A&M'. Having heard her solo product, and as much as I love the lady, I think they again made the right - if harsh - decision at the time.
 
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Lots of great comments on all of the above. For me though, the fact remains that there are some beautiful songs - left somewhere - sung by a beautiful vocalist, arranged - no doubt, beautifully, and we don't seem to have much chance of hearing them in the future...

How can the fan base get a message to Mr. Carpenter - that hearing a few of these songs would be a terrific gift to a longstanding appreciatve group of descriminating listeners?

Let's not forget 'The moon is a Harsh Mistress'...

Barry T

PS / I believe it was Rosina that wrote me back in the day and told me that either I Believe You or Thankyou for the Music was going to be the "next single". Also - I think Sailing On The Tide was mentioned somewhere along the way....
 
I’ve often thought that, after Horizon, R&K should have taken the rest of the decade off to regroup, enjoy the fruits of their hard work/success, get healthy, finish college, etc. If anything, they might have put out the Christmas album (we could have done without the cheesy specials, no?) in ’78 or as the 10th anniversary release in ’79 and called it a decade. Their recorded output between 1976-1979 support me on this, I think...
 
Mr. J.:
I fully understand Diana Baren's comment. It was for the hardcore fan only. That's my point. It was released as a gift. The Carpenters were and remain A&M's biggest sellers in their formidable history. The money had been made, and releasing Karen's solo record certainly would not break them....success or not. I'd be very interested to know just how the record has sold to date. There are a LOT of diehards out there throughout the world (Japan and England certainly come to mind), so it would be very cool to find out the numbers.
 
With all due respect, I have no idea where in the world you got that idea. Richard selected plenty of other artists' hits to cover throughout their entire career.

"Ticket to Ride" (The Beatles, #1)
"Get Together" (Youngbloods, #5)
"Help" (The Beatles, #1)
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (Dionne Warwick, #6 Pop, #1 AC)
"Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, #8; Smith, #5)
"A Song for You" (Andy Williams, #29 AC)
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (Hank Williams, #1 Country)
The entire "Oldies Medley" on side 2 of Now & Then
"Please Mr. Postman" (The Marvelettes, #1)
"Solitaire" (Andy Williams, #23 AC)
"There's A Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits, #4)
"Goofus" (Les Paul, #21)
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Neil Sedaka, #1 in 1962, #8 in 1975; The Partridge Family, #28)
"Beechwood4-5789" (The Marvelettes, #17)

Most relevant to this conversation, since Karen's death Richard has released:

"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles, #3)
"Dancing In The Street" (Martha and the Vandellas, #2)
"California Dreamin'" (The Mamas and the Papas, #4)
"The Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog [Jim Henson], #25)
"Still Crazy After All These Years" (Paul Simon, #40 Pop, #5 AC) Technically a Karen solo, but first released on the From The Top box set in 1991.
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (Barry Manilow, #10 Pop, #1 AC) Recorded before Barry's version but not released until the Interpretations album in 1995.

Not to mention all the other songs they recorded that were technically cover versions, even though the original version was not a hit or a single:

"Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" (Buffalo Springfield)
"Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin)
"(They Long to be) Close to You" (Dionne Warwick, Richard Chamberlain)
"For All We Know" (from the film "Lovers and Other Strangers")
"Superstar" (Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge [on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen album], Bette Midler, Cher)
"Hurting Each Other" (Ruby and the Romantics)
"It's Going to Take Some Time" (Carole King)
"This Masquerade" (Leon Russell, Helen Reddy)
"Sing" (from "Sesame Street")
"Desperado" (Eagles)
"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Harry Belafonte)
"Calling Occupants..." (Klaatu)
"Touch Me When We're Dancing" (Bama)
Thanks for all your hard work on this, Actorman!
 
I'd be very interested to know just how the record has sold to date. There are a LOT of diehards out there throughout the world (Japan and England certainly come to mind), so it would be very cool to find out the numbers.

I might be wrong, but I believe Karen's album has sold in the region of 100,000 copies.
 
Well as it stands I have 10 used cds of Karen Carpenter and another 2 factory sealed. I guess we know who the Oregon die-hard is or is that old news?
 
I’ve often thought that, after Horizon, R&K should have taken the rest of the decade off to regroup, enjoy the fruits of their hard work/success, get healthy, finish college, etc. If anything, they might have put out the Christmas album (we could have done without the cheesy specials, no?) in ’78 or as the 10th anniversary release in ’79 and called it a decade. Their recorded output between 1976-1979 support me on this, I think...


Hmmmmmm....--And NO HORIZON????!!!! We wouldn't have their version of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina", other than Olivia Newton-John and Tom Jones...!

Could we really live without their version of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" w/ the DJ-Alien Dialog and just have the Klaatus' version WITHOUT (and from what I recall, they never put the "Recognition of World Contact Day"-tag, in the title, or did they?!)

Well, where would that leave the Christmas Album? After 1981's Made In America, and just resigned to being Old Fashioned Christmas and as a double LP just to keep the content that Christmas Portrait got?

I do agree, in some way (after all I truly did "Like") but none-the-less, the above questions I posted, can't help but be posed...!


-- Dave
 
Sales of Karen's solo album can not be judged by its 1996 release. It was intended for the 1979-1980 market. What it would have sold then we will never know.
I think that Karen Carpenter 1980, would have sold well enough,better than passage or Mia for sure!
It Deserved to be released in 1980. No doubt in my mind. Its one of my most played Cd's
and dagnabbit I WANT MY 8 TRACK COPY!!!!!!!!(guess ill have to make one myself).
Its a fun and sometimes "funky". a wonderfull treat for a damn fine person and an even better singer.
 
Yeah, I'd sure miss several tracks from Hush and a few from Passage. Granted, neither albums great, but any Karen is better than no Karen! :wink:
 
I think that Karen Carpenter 1980, would have sold well enough,better than passage or Mia for sure!
It Deserved to be released in 1980. No doubt in my mind. Its one of my most played Cd's
and dagnabbit I WANT MY 8 TRACK COPY!!!!!!!!(guess ill have to make one myself).
Its a fun and sometimes "funky". a wonderfull treat for a damn fine person and an even better singer.
And I want my vinyl copy in 12" x 12" with that great cover Chris did for us!
 
I think your missing my point...well yeah I love the album but that doesn't have anything to do with equating her solo record sales to the Carpenters catalog, correlating the 2 is just an unfair comparison in my opinion. Passage being contemporary and her solo album in the same vein does not mean we should compare how many Passage albums sold verses Karen's solo album.



Well, we are really only guessing right? I know I was not there to hear how this all went down and unless you were part of the discussions we don't really know how they finally agreed to releasing Karen's solo album. I know this is a business and this is how releases are measured and the expectation is there to sell so many copies. However, we all know that A&M, Richard and everyone else involved did not approve and did not support Karen to go onwards...so she decided to shelf it. If 16 yrs later, A&M finally agrees for a release and they expected her material (16 yrs old at this point) to make record sales then they were out of touch with reality. If her album did in fact not sell the minimum copies as requested by A&M (and do we know this is true where are the figures in writing?) then maybe they should have released it when it was recorded, maybe this is a loss A&M should have ate and wrote off on the books as "in loving memory of our dear Karen".

We also don't know if Richard who finally agreed to the release said hey...if it doesn't make the minimum sales I will take up the slack, this is for the fans. We don't know any of this, we are just guessing.

So I end this saying, the liner notes is really all the public has regarding the release and Richard made it clear that it was time for the album to be released. I just can't believe that A&M would have said, "Richard if we didn't believe that her solo album would generate min sales 16 yrs later we just would not agree to release it". I'm sorry but if that is true than I am left with an even bitter taste in my mouth than I ever did. It sounds so cold. It is my desire not to believe that was their logic behind releasing her album.

Record labels expect every album to make record sales,whether it's a new album or it's thirty years old.There no guesswork involved here.

Even though we regard KC as our "dear Karen",the record label has a business relationship with the recording artist.

The minimum sales requirement for Karen's album was the same as every other reissue or catalog album.The record label presses a batch of albums,and they expect that batch to sell within a certain period of time.The sales of every album in a label's catalog are reviewed every year-usually in the Spring.If an album hasn't sold a minimum amount of copies during that previous year,the record label makes the decision to not press another batch,and remove that album from the catalog.This album now goes "out-of-print".

For the record,I remember about two years after Karen's album came out,A&M had already reduced the album to "midline" price.That alone was a telltale sign that the album was selling very slowly.

A&M was under new ownership and management in 1996-and it was the new A&M label chiefs that made the decision to release Karen's album.In all probability,most of these new execs didn't know Karen.
 
With all due respect, I have no idea where in the world you got that idea. Richard selected plenty of other artists' hits to cover throughout their entire career.

"Ticket to Ride" (The Beatles, #1)
"Get Together" (Youngbloods, #5)
"Help" (The Beatles, #1)
"I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (Dionne Warwick, #6 Pop, #1 AC)
"Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, #8; Smith, #5)
"A Song for You" (Andy Williams, #29 AC)
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (Hank Williams, #1 Country)
The entire "Oldies Medley" on side 2 of Now & Then
"Please Mr. Postman" (The Marvelettes, #1)
"Solitaire" (Andy Williams, #23 AC)
"There's A Kind of Hush" (Herman's Hermits, #4)
"Goofus" (Les Paul, #21)
"Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (Neil Sedaka, #1 in 1962, #8 in 1975; The Partridge Family, #28)
"Beechwood4-5789" (The Marvelettes, #17)

Most relevant to this conversation, since Karen's death Richard has released:

"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles, #3)
"Dancing In The Street" (Martha and the Vandellas, #2)
"California Dreamin'" (The Mamas and the Papas, #4)
"The Rainbow Connection" (Kermit the Frog [Jim Henson], #25)
"Still Crazy After All These Years" (Paul Simon, #40 Pop, #5 AC) Technically a Karen solo, but first released on the From The Top box set in 1991.
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (Barry Manilow, #10 Pop, #1 AC) Recorded before Barry's version but not released until the Interpretations album in 1995.

Not to mention all the other songs they recorded that were technically cover versions, even though the original version was not a hit or a single:

"Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" (Buffalo Springfield)
"Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin)
"(They Long to be) Close to You" (Dionne Warwick, Richard Chamberlain)
"For All We Know" (from the film "Lovers and Other Strangers")
"Superstar" (Delaney & Bonnie, Rita Coolidge [on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen album], Bette Midler, Cher)
"Hurting Each Other" (Ruby and the Romantics)
"It's Going to Take Some Time" (Carole King)
"This Masquerade" (Leon Russell, Helen Reddy)
"Sing" (from "Sesame Street")
"Desperado" (Eagles)
"Man Smart, Woman Smarter" (Harry Belafonte)
"Calling Occupants..." (Klaatu)
"Touch Me When We're Dancing" (Bama)

A few more to add to the list: "I Believe You" -previously recorded by Barbara Mandrell & Dorothy Moore.
"Two Lives"-previously recorded by Bonnie Raitt & Randy Crawford
"You're The One"-previously recorded by Jennifer Warnes
"Where Do I Go From Here"-previously recorded by Barry Manilow.
 
Hmmmmmm....--And NO HORIZON????!!!! We wouldn't have their version of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina", other than Olivia Newton-John and Tom Jones...!

Could we really live without their version of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" w/ the DJ-Alien Dialog and just have the Klaatus' version WITHOUT (and from what I recall, they never put the "Recognition of World Contact Day"-tag, in the title, or did they?!)

Well, where would that leave the Christmas Album? After 1981's Made In America, and just resigned to being Old Fashioned Christmas and as a double LP just to keep the content that Christmas Portrait got?

I do agree, in some way (after all I truly did "Like") but none-the-less, the above questions I posted, can't help but be posed...!


-- Dave

Dave, I meant after Horizon, which, in my opinion and Christmas Portrait excepted, was the last great Carpenters album. And mstaft, I agree, there are some choice album cuts after Horizon, but in my “do-over” fantasy, R&K are using the late 1970’s to recover and regroup, so as the fantasy goes, they’d still be making records today...:cuke:
 
I'm confident that Karen's album sold better than Richard's solo outings, as well as 'As Time Goes By'. But I'm glad we have all of them anyway. Each brings something special to the table. And let's not forget Karen's solo stuff is readily available on I-Tunes.
 
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