March 2 2021 Karen Carpenter would have been 71 years old today
~ but on Oct 9 2019 – It was 50 years ago today that Karen
– with her brother Richard – released their first LP called “Offering”.
In celebration, here is a brand new unheard Karen Carpenter “offering”:
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
features the remaining 9 unreleased songs she recorded in 1979 with legendary producer Phil Ramone. Karen’s record company, A&M Records, did not approve of the recordings and all these songs were shelved and unfinished. It was in 1996 that someone from A&M leaked a cassette copy of these uncompleted “demos”. These songs leaked onto the internet in poor quality and have been there untouched for almost 23 years and her brother has never expressed interest in finishing them.
It started as a hobby: But I have edited, added instruments and remastered them to sound as one cohesive collection.
click on the 1980 demo time in blue and you can hear the “demo” version
click on the 2019 time in blue and hear the “improved” version
1. DON’T TRY TO WIN ME BACK AGAIN (1980 demo) 34:23(2019) 0:01 (edited & cleaned up)
2. SOMETHING’S MISSING (1980 demo) 39:14 (2019) 2:58 (edited and cleaned)
3. TRULY YOU (1980) 44:11 (2019) 6:06 (organ solo 7:47 and strings added)
4. LOVE MAKING LOVE TO YOU (1980) 47:33 (2019) 9:13 (edited & cleaned)
5. I DO IT FOR YOUR LOVE (1980) 51:03 (2019) 11:54 (vibe, strings, soprano sax, flute added)
side two
6. JIMMY MACK (1980) 54:50 (2019) 15:34 – (added bari sax, tubular bells, ARP string, synced The Vandellas on chorus, horn and flute on where Vandellas backgrounds were and sampled/inserted Motown brass at instrumental section)
7. MIDNIGHT (NEVER LETS YOU DOWN) (1980) 58:33 (2019) 19:08 (ARP String – Herb Alpert trumpet added 19:50 , cleaned edit)
8. KEEP MY LOVELIGHT BURNIN’ (1980) 1:02:53 (2019) 22:46 (guitar solo 25:11 ARP String, brass/sax riff on chorus )
9. IT’S REALLY YOU, IT’S REALLY ME (1980) 1:06:07 (2019) 26:05
(ARP String, guitar cleaned – edit)
10. I WANNA BE FREE bonus – not recorded with Phil Ramone –
Song I created – 31:04from a 50 second music clip 1:09:32
Karen Carpenter spent $400,000 and A&M records chipped in another $100,000 for her to make a solo double LP for release in 1980. From Wikipedia: “The album was recorded in New York with producer Phil Ramone in 1979 and 1980, during the time that her brother Richard was being treated for an addiction to Quaaludes.
A&M executives in New York approved the material, but the executives in Los Angeles, including label owners Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, responded negatively. Ramone recalls that Carpenter broke down in tears.
Devastated, she accepted A&M’s urging not to release the album. Richard Carpenter later said that the decision not to release the album was Karen’s, who respected the opinions of A&M executives and others— including him. Several musicians that worked on the album have said that Carpenter very much wanted her album to be released and that it was not her idea or decision to shelve it.” In 1996 – 13 years after Karen had passed – A CD of 12 of the songs recorded were released in October on A&M Records without much fanfare. A year later, someone from the Phil Ramone camp released bootleg cassettes & CDs of the 9 remaining songs. Most in poor quality. (Why weren’t Karen’s unfinished songs under lock and key like the remaining Carpenters’ out takes? )
Being a pro musician, performer and novice of studio recording – I began to listen to these songs and cleaned up them (as best as one could with inferior recordings), edited verse and choruses to make the songs more cohesive and added instrumentation to make them listenable for myself.
It it also a shame that Richard in his twilight years never sought to perfect and master these recordings and has it has been reported that these unreleased songs were to him “stepchildren”.
These nine remaining songs are all unofficial recordings but a best attempt to help paint the picture Karen & Phil Ramone (also R.I.P 2013) were hoping to finish ~ 38 YEARS after they had been initially recorded . . . . . . . . . I’ve also lost a sister, Joy ~ at 32 years. And the miracle joy of Karen’s voice IS still heard in these reworked recordings, EnJOY ~ Kevin Cavanaugh
