Part Nine: Karen records "If I Had You"

[Rick Henry]

Monday March 5, 1979

Phil Ramone and his wife Karen arrived in L.A. just the night before to meet with Karen Carpenter, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.

It's 9:00 a.m. Monday morning Phil, Herb, Jerry and Karen are in the executive office of A&M Records. They are scrutinizing each others' contracts with their attorneys. One contract Karen signed binds her to the agreement that she will record three albums between 1980 to 1989 with Richard as the Carpenters regardless of how successful her solo album is. The same contract calls for her to record a second solo album by 1989.

In the contract Phil presented to A&M Records he names Bob James and Rod Temperton as part of his production team.

After all contracts are signed Karen and Phil met his wife Karen at the Hamburger Hamlet in Beverly Hills. Karen always loved this restaurant for it's Shakespearean quotes on the walls. Both Phil and his wife Karen each ordered a avocado cheeseburger with french fries. While Karen (Carpenter) went all out and ordered the delicious Lobster Bisque. Both Karen's hit it off instantaneously. To avoid confusion they came up with the nickname "Itchy" for Phil's wife Karen as her maiden name is Itchyumi.

Karen jokingly said to Phil, "Now that we've signed our contracts why don't we start working on the album tomorrow."

Phil looked at Karen then toward his wife. "Excuse me girls," Phil said to the Karens, "I need to powder my nose."

The girls just giggled at Phil's silly comment and continued talking as he left the table.

Phil was gone near fifteen minutes. When he returned Itchy commented to Karen, "He's got a lot of nose to powder." All three laughed at that comment.

"Okay Karen," Phil says as he sits back down, "now what were you saying before I left?"

"Well," Karen scratches her head, "uh, oh yeah I was kidding about starting the album tomorrow. But I was only joking around."

"Actually Karen we could do that if you really wanted to," Phil comments back.

"What?" Karen looked puzzled at Phil.

Phil continues to talk, "I just called Bob James. He says he available for the next four and a half weeks. Bob is on the phone to Rod. I know we can get Rod into the studio later on in the week."

"Well, well wait a minute," Karen says with a funny smile on her face, "We don't even have any songs chosen to record. We're just not ready for this."

"You are ready Karen," Phil interjects, "You have the golden voice. I have a few demo tapes with me. You can listen to them tonight or on the plane to New York. It's up to you Karen. If you want to wait until next month to start things that's alright too."

"Really, you've got demos with you?" Karen curiously inquires.

"Yes," Phil responds.

"You know Phil," Karen exclaims, "I need some spontaneity in my life. Richard and I always had things so perfectly mapped out when we recorded our albums. Maybe it's time for a new approach. Let's do it. Let's fly to New York in the morning.

[Rick Henry]

Tuesday morning March 6, 1979

Phil, Itchy and Karen are now settled in their seats on the private lear jet which will fly them to New York.

"I listened to one of the tapes you gave me," Karen said to Phil.

"You like anything?" Phil asks.

Karen sings to Phil, "I wouldn't have the TV in the bedroom. I wouldn't have this teardrop in my eye."

"Ah, 'If I Had You'. I can hear it's perfect for you," Phil says. "Steve Dorff is one of the co-writers."

"Oh really Steve Dorff," Karen comments back, "He wrote 'I Just Fall In Love Again'. He's a great songwriter."

[Rick Henry]

Wednesday March 7, 1979

Karen and Phil meet with Bob James, Rod Temperton and Rob Mounsey at Phil's New York studio. Karen is staying with Phil and Itchy in their home.

Phil announces that Karen has chosen a song to record. Phil plays the tape of 'If I Had You' for the group. He also had sheet music for the song which he passed out to everyone there.

Bob James begins playing the melody on the baby grand, while Rob Mounsey sits down at the electric piano and joins in. off to the side Karen and Rod are talking over vocal techniques and styles.

After about ten minutes Bob has figured out the opening lines and plays it for everybody. Karen with Rod's coaching jumps in to sing along. After about two and a half hours of rehearsing, Bob, Rob and karen record a very basic track which will be used as a guide for the rest of the band to learn the song.

[Rick Henry]

Thursday March 8, 1979

Today Liberty Devitto, David Brown and Russell Javors all from Billy Joel's backing band (and have worked with Phil on numerous occassions) join Phil, Bob, Rod, Rob and Karen.

Also present is Jerry Hey who will orchestrate "If I Had You".

After several hours of rehearsing the song really begins to take shape.

[Rick Henry]

Friday March 9, 1979

Jazz musicians MIchael Brecker joins in on tenor sax and Ralph MacDonald provides percussion for the recording session. Another basic insrumental track is recorded to be used as a guide for Rod to write the vocal arrangement and for the group to learn it's individual parts.

[Rick Henry]

Saturday March 10, 1979

The guys take the weekend off though Karen and Phil met with Rod to work on piecing the vocal track together. They focus on the opening lines and the main chorus. Rod first sings his arrangement with the guide track which was recorded last night. Over the next two hours Karen (with Rod's coaching) has worked on perfecting her vocal for this song. Another guide vocal track has been recorded.

[Rick Henry]

Sunday March 11, 1979

Today Phil and Itchy took Karen to their family church. The traditional Christian church has a congregation of near 1,000 people. Karen states she has always kept a strong faith in God but just has not had the time to devote to church. She commented to Phil that she and Richard recorded a beautiful spiritual song named "He Came Here For Me" but it wasn't completed in time for inclusion on the "Christmas Portrait" album. They arrived an hour early to church to rehearse with the choir. Itchy is a member of the choir. Since karen was there they asked her to join the choir for that day. she also ended up rehearsing a few songs to sing solo for the church.

The church was decorated with beautiful white flowers and white candles in silver holders. Near the beginning of the ceremony it was announced that Karen Carpenter was in the congregation. The Pastor asked her up to the pulpit. He thanked for being in church today. She let the congregation know she was on the East Coast to record a solo album with Phil Ramone. After that the Pastor lead the congregation into prayer while Karen remained up front next to him.

After the prayer the choir came out and sang "A Closer Walk With
Thee". After that Karen stepped up front to sing a Gospel song made popular by Mahalia Jackson "God Put A Rainbow In The Sky". The choir (with Karen singing along) performed a contemporary tuned written by Larry Norman "Why Don't you Look Into Jesus". From there Karen ends the music part of the service with a chilling rendition of "Amazing Grace". When she finished the entire church rose to their feet with applause and gratitude to God.

[Rick Henry]

Monday March 12, 1979

With the entire band assembled today was dedicated to rehearsing the song. Bob James handed each musician their charts and they spent the next two and a half hours perfeting their parts.

At the same time Karen was in the vocal booth rehearsing her parts with Rod. Rod and Karen developed an unusual working relationship. They were somewhat like the odd couple. They seemed to disagree on several things. At one point they even got into a shouting match. But when they came together the results were outstanding. Karen really liked Rod jazz and R&B influenced approach to vocal production. At this point the closing vocal part had not yet been developed. Temperton listened closely as he advised Karen on the nuances of the vocal arrangement. He coached her on how long certain notes should be held to be synchronized with the music. Rod had commented earlier that Karen was a quick study and had an excellent ear for tone, pitch and timing. He said she was near perfect almopst everytime. Karen and Rod painstakingly rehearsed this vocal for hours until it was sculpted to perfection.

After a lengthy lunch break the band reassembled. This time the band rehearsed with karen singing. After about another hour and a half of rehearsal part of the band. The keyboardists and guitarists stayed behind to lay some basic tracks with Karen recording a scatch vocal.

After spending a fouteen hour day they finally wrapped things up at around 10:30 p.m.

[Rick Henry]

Tuesday March 13, 1979

It's 9:00 a.m. Karen and Phil are back in the studio to find Rod Temperton with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a cup of coffee in his right hand.

When Rod sees Karen and Phil walk in he perks up and says, "Listen to this. I've got it. The vocal for the end of the song. I've finally figured it out." He begins to sing the lines, "You are my life, you are my everything..."I've written five individual harmony parts for you to sing Karen. We'll take each harmony part and layer them on top of each other."

Karen walks over to Rod. Rod puts his cigarette out as Karen draws closer. She takes a look at the notes he's written down and comments, "You're like a vocal scientist. You've dissected each and every single part of the vocal." Then she begins singing some of those closing lines.

"Ah-ha, yep," Rod exclaims, "You've got it Karen. Just put a little more gut into it. Put a little New York attitude into it."

By now the rest of the band is in the studio. Bob James, Jerry Hey and Phil begin work with the wind, horn and strings sections. Today the horns, saxophone and drums are added to the previously recorded guitar and keyboard tracks.

At the end of another fourteen hour day the group pretty much had the entire song recorded. tomorrow they would fix any errors made and add the finishing instrumental parts.

Karen, Rod and Phil stayed behind after the band left and worked until 1:00 a.m. recording the five different vocal parts which would be blended together for the closing part of the song.

[Rick Henry]

Wednesday March 14, 1979

Karen and Phil dragged themselves back to the studio at 8:00 a.m. after only about five hours of sleep. When they walked into the mixing room they heard a sort of roaring sound. It was Rod they found asleep on one of the sofas in the studio. He continued working until 5:30 in the morning piecing together that closing vocal.

Instead of jumping right into work Phil, Karen and a very jittery Rod went out for breakfast. Rod didn't eat anything he only had coffee. When he says he's on a big project like this he doesn't have an appetite. Rod ensured Karen and Phil that the vocal mix would be a real eye opener. Karen definitely perked up over the idea of one of her songs being an eye opener.

Finally at 10:15 a.m. the three of them returned to the studio where the rest of the band was jamming on some old Hendrix and Clapton tunes.

After a brief meeting Temperton (Rod) played the vocal mix he slaved over into the wee hours of the morning. The entire group sat quietly listening. Karen was sitting up straight and tall with a big smile on her face she was in utter delight as Rod played the song. When it ended the group stood up and gave Rod a standing ovation. He then went on to explain how he interweaved each vocal and layered some on top of each other. Some of the vocal parts were doubled and even tripled to add extra effect. Rod mixed the vocals so that some came out of the left channel and traveled to right and then back to the left.

This cutting edge vocal mix different from anything ever heard on a Carpenters album and Karen just loved it. she was completely exhilarated. She was beaming with excitement over this song. she was completely in awe of Rod's musical talent.

Over the next three hours Bob James worked with the band to fine tune a few parts of the song. From there the final recording of the music and vocals went to the engineers for final mixing and sound tweaking. Karen, Phil, Bob and Rod also took part in the engineering of the song.

By 5:00 p.m. they felt they had the song right where it should be. Though they all agreed they'd get a good night's sleep and come back tomorrow for a final listen just to make sure everything is right.

Before going home they went on to spend about an hour making the arrangements to begin recording the next few songs. Karen really wanted to do a recording of "Boogie Nights" which was written by Rod Temperton and was a #1 hit in 1977 for his group Heatwave. Phil, Rod and Bob all shook their heads against this idea so Karen dropped the thought. But they did prepare to work on three of Russell Javors' songs. Javors had submitted several demos to Phil throughout the years which Karen listened to all of them. She narrowed it down to three songs she liked best "Truly You", "All Because Of You" and "Still In Love With You".

[Rick Henry]

Thursday March 22, 1979

It was announced today that A&M Records would be releasing the first Karen Carpenter solo single "if I Had You" with an early mix of "Truly You" on the b-side. The release is scheduled for Tuesday April 3, 1979. There would be a total of 200,000 copies shipped in it's first week. A&M's press release calls this song the one that will bring Karen's voice back into the top five.

[cam83]

Wonderfully done. Very exciting to read. Gives us an idea of what goes in during a recording session.

My thoughts,
Cam