Just finished watching a PBS show/fundraiser about the Carpenters, and it made me realize even more than I had prior just how fantastic (I think) Karen was as a singer. My regret, and its a small one I suppose, is that her brother has taken it upon himself to "remix" most/all of the music they made together; I prefer to hear the music/songs as I recall them when they were new/fresh. Truly a remarkable singer. To me and my tastes.
Karen's wildly premature demise is one of the great musical tragedies of the last ½ century. Yes she could play the kit and her voice was pure velvet! Go back and listen to the beautiful music she was a central figure to. Incredible shame that her time was cut so short.😔
rpeluso, I'm sure you can still get the original mixes. I would trust Richard Carpenter to remix the tracks in a way that is faithful to the original intent while taking advantage of modern technology.
I’m listening to the Royal Philharmonic mixes right now in 24/192 and they are amazing. Karen has never sounded better. I love the orchestral arrangements. It was really a nice surprise to find this today.
This thread reminded me of Todd Hayne’s film school project. For those unfamiliar with it, Hayne’s filmed "The Karen Carpenter Story" using Barbie dolls. Sounds dumb, but after watching moving humanoid figures with dialog for a few minutes, you forget they're made of plastic. [insert joke about plastic surgery and Hollywood if you must] The Herb Alpert character was best, with dark hair and long side burns.
He never cleared the music and as I recall, got sued, so as far as I know, the film never got legitimate distribution but was this underground cult thing. I saw it many years ago.
@roxy54 A BIG +1. The Carpenters Christmas album contains a great mixture of Karen's vocals with Richard's harmonizing and well arranged instrumentals. It is the one Christmas CD the whole family enjoys!
I have all the Carpenters albums/CD;s and have been in love with her voice since I heard her on the radio singing, "Close to You." in 1970. BTW, did you all realize that this song was recorded by both Dionne Warwick and the actor Richard Chamberlain in the early 1960's.
Music on Vinyl released a pretty good sounding double record package called "The Collection" last year. It includes all the hits plus some deep album tracks and obviously songs that the Singles 69-73 doesn't have.
If you love Karen Carpenter’s vocals, a very worthy successor is the artist Rumer. She’s got several good albums, including one of Bacharach/David tunes. Give her a listen.
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