My last Carpenters show got wiped for some reason. Maybe the ghost of Karen?
A sound that no one will forget once they hear it. I am talking about those tight harmonies. Richard's scholarly, clever approach to harmonies often goes unnoticed, but he was quite the craftsman. What can you say about Karen? She wasn't meant to be the star. She was a black sheep. Not meant to shine. Meant to be grounded into fine dust like the Carpenter women before her.
Wikipedia: In early 1966, Karen tagged along at a late-night session in the garage studio of Los Angeles bassist Joe Osborn, and joined future Carpenters collaborator and lyricist John Bettis at a demo session where Richard was to accompany (Dan) Friberg (trumpet player and friend of Richard). Asked to sing, she performed for Osborn, who was immediately impressed with her vocal abilities. He signed Karen to his label, Magic Lamp Records, and Richard to his publishing arm, Lightup Music. The label put out a single featuring two of Richard's compositions, "Looking for Love" and "I'll Be Yours". As well as Karen's vocals, the track was backed by the Richard Carpenter Trio. The single was not a commercial success due to a lack of promotion, and the label folded the next year.
Carpenters - Get Together (1969) Richard on vocals. You can sort of divine, even at this nascent stage, why Richard was not going to do many vocals from here on in.
Karen Carpenter - Jimmy Mack (1980) From the aborted solo album. Backed by Billy Joel's versatile group, these sessions were replete with fawners (of the good kind) like Joel, Paul Simon (who offered up his own "Still Crazy After All These Years"), and Peter Cetera of Chicago. One gets the feeling there was so much respect, almost a quiet but unmistakable hopefulness that she could get well, be free.
Carpenters - Crescent Noon (1970)
Carpenters - Get Together (1970) From a "Your Navy Presents" radio program.
Spectrum - Crescent Noon (1966)
Karen Carpenter - Midnight (1980)
Carpenters - Mr. Guder (1970)
Wikipedia: Richard and Bettis then were hired as musicians at a refreshment shop at Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. They were expected to play turn of the 20th century songs in keeping with the shop's theme. The shop's patrons had other ideas; many requested the musicians to play current popular music. When the pair tried pleasing their customers and honoring the requests, they were fired by a Disneyland supervisor, Victor Guder, for being "too radical". Bettis and Richard were unhappy about their dismissal and wrote the song "Mr. Guder" about their former superior.
Karen Carpenter - My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (1980)
Carpenters - Road Ode (1972)
Carpenters - B'wana She No Home (1977) I like their daring choice and also this version of the Michael Franks tune.
Karen Carpenter - Looking For Love (1966)
Carpenters - You'll Love Me (1967)
Carpenters - The Rainbow Connection (Recorded in 1980, released in 1999) Richard objected to the "syllabification", notably the first verse that Kermit the Frog sings in The Muppet Movie, for whom the song was written. That original was nominated for an Academy Award. So while they dutifully trudged on, Karen wasn't pleased with the outcome and the recording was not released in her lifetime.
Carpenters - One Fine Day (1973)
Carpenters - Piano Picker (1972)
Your Wonderful Parade (1969)
Carpenters - California Dreamin' (1967/1999)
Richard Carpenter via Obscure Media: From Joe's Studio, circa 1967. This is the one tape, 4-track or otherwise, that survives, as, for some reason, Joe gave it to me. Even though the most important ingredient on tape, the lead, is on its own track, the bass, piano, drums and string machine were all bounced to another track, leaving two open…for what, I can't remember.
As a result, in 1999, we transferred the 4-track to 48-track and re-did everything, including a reproduction of my original electric piano solo. I finally got around to putting real strings on the track instead of those on the Chamberlain Music Master that was on the demo. This is one of my favorite tracks on this collection. Karen, at 17, is a marvel. I especially like the way she jumps an octave, from chest voice, to head voice on the letter (and note) "A" in the opening and then seamlessly back to chest on "Dreamin'". There is some electronic noise on the lead track, we don't know why. And I realize now and I should have then, that we have an incorrect word in the second verse: "began to pray" should be "pretend to pray".
Karen Carpenter - I'll Be Yours (1966)
Carpenters - Morinaga Hi-Crown Chocolate Commercial (1975?) Morinaga was/is a Japanese candy company. Hi-Crown Chocolate was, as far as I can tell, a way to market sweet, sweet nicotine to kids:
From the Morinaga website:
CANDY FIT FOR AN EMPEROR
1964 - Hi‐Crown chocolate debuts, and becomes a major hit from one end of Japan to the other. This was the start of a long string of hit Morinaga candies -- including you-know-what. [ed: I don't.]
The Morinaga Group’s Corporate Philosophy
The Morinaga Group’s Corporate Philosophy is composed of Our Mission, Our Visions, and Our Commitments. Our Mission states how the Group will contribute to society, and Our Visions comprise the five visions that we will pursue toward the future.
Our Commitments represent the values that we have developed during more than 100-year history since the founding of the Group and will continue to uphold as our firm belief for many more years to come. To describe the essence of our Corporate Philosophy in one word, it is “Delicious, Fun, and Healthy.”
Carpenters - Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (1975/1994) It would have appeared on the Horizon album but Richard decreed that the album already had too many ballads. This was recorded before the version we all know by Barry Manilow. I love her version. So weary. So deep and sad. This should have been released.
The Richard Carpenter Trio - Every Little Thing (1966)
Carpenters - Suntory Pop Jingle #1 (1977)
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