Karen Carpenter's Second Life

[Rick Henry]

?*

Hi Dave, thank you very much for posting this article. I really enjoyed reading it. I truly do love Karen's solo album and the unreleased solo tracks. I really think Karen was on the right track with her solo material. She really would have burst into the 80's in a big way with this album.

[BethMosior]

I agree whole heartedly with you Rick, A&M should have never shelved Karen's solo album, A&M should have let the public hear it, when Karen was still alive and not wait till way after her passing to finally release it I think Karen's solo album would have done very well on the charts I'm glad that they finally did release it I just wish that they would have done it sooner

[Rick Henry]

Dave said:

They finally finished in January 1980, delivering 11 of the 21 songs they recorded. Karen chose the white sweatshirt shot for the cover, and Olivia Newton-John invited Karen to sing on her latest TV special. All that was left was the routine playback for the label presidents, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the A and M of A&M. Also in attendance, at Karen's request, was Richard Carpenter.

The silence was deafening. "She was expecting them to come up and hug her after every track," Ramone says. "But they just sat there."

Alpert remembers liking the album but not loving it. "It just didn't ring my bell the way a Carpenters album would," he says between heavy pauses. A friend of Karen's recalls a management meeting in which she was accused of tryng to sound "like a black chick." It's unclear what everyone was expecting, but what they clearly weren't hearing was wedding songs.

My repsonse to this is in 1980-81 the public didn't want sentimental wedding songs. We wanted upbeat happy danceable tunes. This is what Karen was offering (for the most part) with her solo album.

Here's a few songs that were popular in 1980-81:
Rock Lobster - B-52's
Call Me - Blondie
Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
Don't Stand So Close To Me - Police
Kiss On My List - Hall And Oates
Fashion - David Bowie
Funky Town - Lipps Inc
Cars - Gary Numan
It's Still Rock And Roll To Me - Billy Joel

Than you put a song like "Touch Me When We're Dancing" next to these songs and there's just no chance of the Carpenters surviving. I know I'm being critical here, but A&M really made a bad judgement call here. Karen Carpenter was on the right track with her solo album. Songs like "Making Love In The Afternoon" and "Guess I Just Lost My Head" would have held up very well next to what was popular in 80-81.

Dave said:

Karen Carpenter may not be the great American pop album, but it holds up with anything that like-minded singers -- Barbra Streisand and Olivia Newton-John -- were recording at the time, and especially with anything the Carpenters put out immediately before or after. If there is no We've Only Just Begun on the album, it doesn't really matter. Fans typically crave an artist's most personal work -- even it it isn't a masterpiece.

I think Karen's solo album is a masterpiece. The vocal arrangements are out of this world. The musicianship is top rate. Karen's vocal performances are inspiring, especially on songs like "Make Believe It's Your First Time" and "If I Had You".

As far as holding up to albums made by Barbra Streisand and Olivia Newton-John at the time. I feel "Karen Carpenter" is every bit as solid as Streisand's "Guilty" album and is miles better than Olivia's (which I consider to be a fair album) "Physical".

I know I get a bit heated here, but this is what I feel about the subject of Karen's solo album. This was a great album. It was solid all the way through. It was better than a lot of albums released during the 1980-81 season. But what happened is a shame.

[Rob813]

Thanks Dave for posting the article. It confirms much of what I suspected about the control of Richard and A&M over Karen. They certainly didn't respect her. To think that an artist of her level of talent being treated like a child makes me furious. The sad part is they probably still don't get it after all these years.

They put poor Karen in a cage and no matter what she did they wouldn't let her fly out!

Karen's solo work shows how much talent and courage she possessed in the face of impossible odds. The more I listen to it, the more I appreciate the extraordinary level of musicianship in every song. Everyone attached to the solo album did a fantastic job of creating a new and exciting sound for Karen.

[Mariah Andrews]

Now that I think it over, I guess Karen's principles got in the way of the solo album's release. It's hard to let go of old values at times, and maybe she didn't want to risk scarring the Carpenter name. In my opinion, had it been released in 1980, perhaps it would have helped both members of the brother-sister band in many ways. I also believe that the future of Karen from that point may have turned out differently. There could have been a second solo album. Then again, the Carpenters as we know them could have ceased to exist, thus no "Made In America" album could have existed.
Sometimes, a star has to change her image in order to survive and continue making it. Karen I suppose chose to remain true to her principles.

I could relate to having strong principles and values that I hate to let go of. In my personal life, I have sold out and I truly hate myself for it.