Agreed. Karen did one of the better versions of "Dont Cry For Me Argentina"..|Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapple
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Agreed. Karen did one of the better versions of "Dont Cry For Me Argentina"..|Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapple
omg one of my classic favorites was DONT BE AFRAID from ticket to ride..
More of that wondrous voice .....
Ave Maria ...
Superstar ....
Goodbye to Love ....
For All We Know ....
Only Yesterday .....
Watching these videos make me teary..its yesterday once more
She was a master at "one take" recording- anyone working w/ her said she would record a perfect track 1st time, every time, but she wanted to keep going until it was perfect in her own mind. She was hella talented and I wish performers today would strive to be as good a she was. Today, half the singers out there can't sing w/out synthesizers-yes-I'm talking about Britney!
Thanks for the videos ozguy, they are great. I consider Karen Carpenter to be of equal footing with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan & Dinah Washington when it comes to the beauty and clarifty of their vocals. She was taken from us way too soon.
My all time favorite Carpenters song: A Song for You
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Karen Carpenter was breathtaking. Her talent was simply amazing. I got into the Carpenters when I was in 9th grade. There were several documentaries on TV at the time about her life and the Carpenters music. There was something about her voice that just lured me in immediately. It had a very pristine, timeless quality to it. And so expressive. She was gone too soon. Her spirit continues to shine in the great music her and her brother made.
Their single "Superstar" includes a perfect example of Karen's "got it in one take" perfection.Quote:
Originally Posted by kellyd669
And she was reading the lyric off a paper napkin!
There will never be anyone else like her.
She had a very specific voice. Very "clean", very controlled. She wasn't great at conveying much emotion beyond "happy" and "sad" (more "melancholy" in her case), but she was fantastic at getting those two across. They did a good job at picking songs that worked with her voice. "Superstar" is probably my favorite Carpenters tunes.
Lex
omg im listening to their latest greatest hits.. GOLD the 2 disc version.. its odd.. nothing from lovelines is on here..
"Lovelines" was released well after her death, and none of ths songs on it charted as singles. I believe "If I Had You" was released as a single, but didn't have much success; also, "If I Had You" was one of the tracks on "Lovelines" that was originally recorded for Karen's solo project, not a true "Carpenters" release. That's why you won't find any tracks from that project on "Gold."
"If I Had You" was released many years after her death. If it had been released in her prime, I think it would've been big. It had a very unusual arrangement, and played to Karen's talent with overdubbing her voice.
The intricacy of the vocal arrangement on "IIHY" absolutely puts me away!Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapple
Now that girl has a voice on her. Her style reminds me of Dionne Warwicks'. They both can sing a sad song and have you in tears til tomorrow!
I loved the uninvited guest from lovelines.. their new album AS TIME GOES BY is great too
Everyone knows I like Madonna, Cher, Stevie Nicks, Journey, Fleetwood, Mariah, D Summer, Etc. But one person I haven't mentioned much is my TRUE favorite artist.. Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters. I love Richard too but Karen had a personality that just SHINED!
She is my biggest idol. She was a kind person who was not a bitch nor was she judgmental based on what I've read. She was smart, talented, gorgeous, and just amazing overall.
But I wanna know if she was homophobic or gay friendly.. or did it never occur to her? I own everything on vinyl and cds... posters.. tour books... autographs.. etc. But if she knew one of her biggest fans was a gay male.. would she care? Would she preach to me that I was going to hell? I need to know. Thanks!
Don't flatter yourself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madonna
i found this information..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=1932260
omg it was a general statement. You didn't come in this thread to contribute.. you came in here to find a flaw in a post of mine.. and you put me on the spot to look bad to feel better about yourself because you must have low-self esteem issues. I don't run into threads and look for errors to put others down. GROW UP. If you have nothing nice to say or no constructive criticism to give for this topic.. please leave. Be a big boy. If I disagree with a post I say why I feel the way I do and give my statement. I don't go in a thread to put someone down. Why should youQuote:
Originally Posted by Starbuck
Thanks! And at some points Richard was a major cutie.. I never knew that info. I have the movie starring Cynthia Gibb but not the documentary with the Barbie dolls.Quote:
Originally Posted by billysosilly
your welcome glad i could help
It was only speculation though.. I wanna know if Karen was homophobic or not... it gives me an idea but its not a confirmationQuote:
Originally Posted by billysosilly
Karen Carpenter?
Geeez, Madonna, you are truly, perfectly hopeless.
another Slam on me. I can idolize who I want to. And she's unlike most divas today who are so fake. Listen to her live recordings.. its so identical to the studio recordings.. its scary. Her voice is natural and giftedQuote:
Originally Posted by belamy
I can admire... in fact I DO admire Karen's talent, like Julie Andrews' or , but the fact that they were grrreat singers doesn't make the songs they sang any less shitty.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madonna
"Superstar" is one of my all-time favorite songs.
Sonic Youth did a cool cover:
She was a great singer...one of the greatest. And to address belamy, she rarely recorded a "shitty" song. Bacharach/David, Paul Williams, Carole King...they didn't write shitty songs.
I met Karen in 1978 and only spoke with her briefly, but have followed the Carpenters since 1969, and have many biographies, newsletters, et cetera on Karen and Richard.
Karen knew that many of her fans were gay men, and there's no evidence to suggest that this fact bothered her in any way. She was a very private person, a very gracious lady, and not a "diva" by any stretch of the imagination.
Her death was doubly-tragic because she had returned to a healthy weight, and was very optimistic about her full recovery from her anorexia nervosa. However, no one realized how much damage had been done to her heart muscles, which is why she died from a heart attack.
Both Carpenters tended to vote Republican, but one gets the very clear impression that they were really more libertarian...fiscal conservatives, social liberals.
Karen certainly wouldn't have said that you (or anyone else) is going to hell. She didn't think that way. She was religious to an extent, but in no way fundamentalist.
Madonna, rest easy. If she were alive, she'd probably just chuckle at the question and then hug you.
That'd tell you all you need to know.
So whom would you recommend Madonna idolize, belamy?Quote:
Originally Posted by belamy
Geez, the guy was only asking a question...Quote:
Originally Posted by belamy
How many of us have wondered similar things about other famous people (especially if they are/were favorite celebrities of ours), but didn't ask publicly?
The only difference is that the question escaped Madonna's "thought-balloon" (if one were to sketch an artist's rendition) and got posted in a place where somebody might, just might, have the answer.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrAA6VMIPb0[/ame]
How terribly odd....
:rotflmao:Quote:
Originally Posted by Starbuck
There's a made-for-TV movie back there someplace, too. What sticks out to me is this scene where one of Karen's therapists (she had been in in-patient tx for anorexia) brought in Karen's mom as part of the treatment, and (as I recall)explained that at the root of Karen's problems is the feeling -- unfounded of course -- that she wasn't really loved by mom and dad. Mom responded that of course that wasn't true, and the therapist continued by asking Mrs. Carpenter to hug Karen.
TV Carpenter Mom refused to do so. ~"We don't do things like that in our family,"~ was her verbal response, and her body language was stiff, always.
I think the biggest thing that made me cringe at the scene at the time was the therapist's error. He should never have set up an intervention like that without knowing ahead of time how it would turn out.
Later (much), I saw the "Superstar" Barbie movie and, wickedly, I thought it was awesome.
I don't envy Karen her life.
I hear she ate gay babies for breakfast.
poor gay babies :(Quote:
Originally Posted by LilBit
I'm so jealous I wish I coulda met her!!!!! You lucky bastard.. thanks you made me feel better... My username should be her.. not Madonna.. but most people don't like Carpenters.. plus I resemble Madonna more cuz I'm misunderstood and I like to be unique and totally out there....Quote:
Originally Posted by Drewsuf
As a singer, Karen Carpenter was, on balance, about as good as it gets. Her voice, whether live or recorded, was nearly flawless. She had that distinct quality of seeming, at once, intimate and detached. I love the melodies and the lush production values of the "Carpenters" sound. The fact that the lyrics were not all that substantial does not concern me. The artistry of it all is still quite moving. She was so far out ahead of these loud broads today, that they still haven't caught up to her.
Here her orginal tomb in Forest Lawn in Cypress,CA before her brother moved the body......My Grandparents are buried there also
I never thought of someone like Madonna being "misunderstood" or "totally out there". Janis Joplin perhaps but not Madonna.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madonna
Karen was a great singer. I'm a huge Carpenters fan. Some of the solo material from her previously unreleased album is good, too. :)
There was such a sadness to her voice. Even in happy songs she sang.
Sometimes she'd eat gay babies for lunch, too.
Jayden hit the nail on the head. Most of the lyrics in the Carpenter's songs tend to evoke sadness; even in the more uptempo songs. And even when it's not explicitly stated, it's felt. When Karen Carpenter sings the first "hanging around " in "Rainy Days and Mondays," the tonal purity is almost overshadowed by the sadness, mixed with a touch of desperation.
It may be impossible to answer whether she was homophobic or not, but a lot of her home life sounds pretty dysfunctional (cold parents; a domineering/controlling brother). But then, if she had come from a happier environment, I'm not sure if she could, or would, have become the kind of singer she became.
When all is said and done. Its a shame she was taken so soon. I can only imagine how many great cd's she could have made.
Well, in retrospect I think there was a certain calculated, marketed image going on with their record company.
Keep in mind The Carpenter's came on the scene in the early 70's, in the wake of all the acid-induced rock and free love and all of that stuff from the late 60's.
Things tend to go in waves. Music follows culture. Acid freak-outs were giving way to Valium-induced 'mellowness' and perhaps a feeling of needing to take a break from the party that had been the last few years.
The Carpenter's, and more specifically Karen's voice and melancholy retrospection were perfect for this. The lyrics were bittersweet, the production studio-perfect. The tone was, in general, 'the morning after'... filled with regrets and longings...
Just a thought.
This made me smile. You have some of the most famous women artists listed, and then Journey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madonna
One of these things is not like the others...
Oh, well. Anyway you want it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drewsuf
We come from different universes I guess.
That's true, but I always felt that for some songs, you could clearly "hear" her smiling as she sang. That is a quality of her voice that I rarely encounter and therefore appreciate greatly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayden
At least she didn't come from the ghetto. Now guess who's going to post in here? I'm going for some choco CHIP ice cream...
I felt sorry for KC, because though she had talent in her voice, she let her brother control her life. When she killed herself, she gave out those warning signs which her brother talked about and at the time he was too drugged out to take real notice of it. I guess it was her bid to escape the confines of her life. In the documentary about her life I saw, it showed her trying to break out into the pop genre, and her fans hated it vehemently. Thus her fans too were her problem, because no one likes changes especially those who buy her records.
She took the high road, and she died. All very tragic. I just find it kinda morbid.
The wigs thing was already something weird, but in 1966-1974 they were quite common; those mormon dresses however... they always made me think "WTF?".Quote:
Originally Posted by star-warrior
I guess so; most find these two songs to be among the best pop songs of the 20th century.Quote:
Originally Posted by belamy
