"Your Navy Presents" Rerelease?

[Bartog739]

I find the absolute stiltedness of Sam Riddle's super-scripted questions to and answers from Karen and Richard to be hilarious. It's like some of the T.V. skits on steroids. I try to picture video in my mind to go along with what I'm hearing. It always gives me a good laugh. I really enjoy these. Doug Strawn and Karen together is always a big win!

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

If this comes out, I'm cool. Not everything has to be about sonic perfection. Moments were captured and in this case, I think the moment is miles more important than sonic perfection.

My father was in an offshoot of the U.S. Army Band (The Army Blues) and they put out five records while he was with them. The albums don't sound amazing but the EQ-limited copy tapes used the press the LPs they gave out as promotional items (which are in my possession) are leagues better. The session masters for four of the five albums are, sadly, no more. Getting the tapes to all five albums was a positively herculean task and they weren't stored in the best of conditions either. I literally had to gain permission to search through their archives for one of the albums. Thankfully, I got them all baked (the oxide was shedding off of all of them and this is a common practice) and transferred them over to digital so nothing is lost.

All of that said, it's likely that the source for "From the Top" was was an LP rather than the tapes themselves, though the electrical noise would be present on the EQ-limited copy tapes they'd have used to press the LPs. Being quite well-versed in how the military handles its musical history, it's quite possible that both the master tapes and the EQ-limited copies are long gone.

Ed

 

[Harry]

If this comes out, I'm cool. Not everything has to be about sonic perfection.

Agreed. If it gives the fans a chance to hear this formerly rare show, so much the better. And if the compilers found the legalities to do this, that's great. I just don't want anyone expecting "sonic perfection" and getting what this is likely to be. In other wards don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

 

[Nemily]

If this comes out, I'm cool. Not everything has to be about sonic perfection. Moments were captured and in this case, I think the moment is miles more important than sonic perfection.

Precisely. They are unpretentious. Boisterous. What I love is the raw energy that these 12 recordings capture. K&R and the entire touring group were truly relishing in the moment and having the time of their lives and that is what shines through on these recordings to me. They were signed 4/22/69 and had a short time to get a touring group together. Their first public appearance with the touring group as Carpenters was 12/1/69. By the time they did the recordings for Your Navy Presents in March 1970 they were playing together pretty solid!

As @Vinylalbumcovers mentions, this is a special moment. A moment when time would stand still for them. They were in the precarious months after Offering’s release on 10/9/1969. Of course, a short 45ish days later with the release of (They Long to Be) Close to You on 5/15/70 the single, everything would change.

And they are still so young. My goodness. If you have Carpenters the Musical Legacy, the Chris May and Mike Cidoni Lennox book, check out the photo on page 68 which was taken June 1970, not long after YNP (recorded March 1970) and CTY (recorded 3/24/70), then listen to anything on the album. Carpenters really were quite an exceptional act and I adore this chapter.

 

[Harry]

(Hope that's OK Chris/Mike in view of the conversation.)

 

[A&M Retro]

That's one of my favorite pictures in Chris and Mike's book. It captures their excitement of the time perfectly. And we also see Richard sporting the same t-shirt that he wears on the cover of the 'Ticket to Ride' LP.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

2 members are smoking cigarettes when your young even your voice is invincible?

 

[GDBY2LV]

It was the late 60’s and the majority of adults, and some kids, smoked . To me it was, and still is torture. The smell, and my lungs, really hate it. I was the only non smoker of a family of 5. 4 of them are now dead. 3 from cancer. It was just the social norm back then. Especially if alcohol was involved.

 

[David A]

It was the late 60’s and the majority of adults, and some kids, smoked . To me it was, and still is torture. The smell, and my lungs, really hate it. I was the only non smoker of a family of 5. 4 of them are now dead. 3 from cancer. It was just the social norm back then. Especially if alcohol was involved.

^^ Can relate - I am 1 of only 2 of 5 family members who did not smoke. 2 are gone (1 from cancer, another died because he needed a transplant but because he heavily smoked he was deemed too much of a risk to survive the operation), a 3rd is currently fighting stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. Hate it, hate it (smoking).