Richard Carpenter Interview

In April of 1969, the Carpenters, Richard and Karen signed to A&M Records, marking their 45th anniversary with the label this year. In this rare and introspective interview, Richard Carpenter joins us to talk about the early days at A&M, as well give us a candid and detailed look at much of what went into the creation of the Carpenters 'sound'. We also discuss a few recent unknown details, as well as some of Richard's own personal thoughts on the music business today and what he is currently doing.

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Richard Carpenter Interview
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Great job, Chris. What a bummer to realize that all of the Carpenters multi-tracks are gone. It makes me treasure my large CD collection even more - and REALLY appreciate that SACD.

Harry

 

I wonder why no mention was made of the upcoming Singles 69-73 SACD release set to appear in March 2014. I guess this will be cancelled? So if it does appear...it would not have been created from the multi track tapes, correct?

It's so sad to think it's all over and no more releases, I wonder if this means compilations and any box sets from Japan as well. I agree...so happy to have all that I do own in my collection and I'm never selling it or giving it away....I see their catalog and rare previously releases sets only getting pricier and harder to get in the future.

 

I don't think that the SINGLES 1969-1973 SACD coming out in March will be cancelled. Of course I could be wrong, but it was known when this disc (these discs) was announced that the multis had been destroyed. If I'm not mistaken, the upcoming SHM-SACD in Japan will just be a two-channel release in the SACD format, using SHM materials, not any kind of 5.1 surround of the prior SACD.

Just think - that 5.1 release SACD might be the best that remains of any kind of "multi-track" in the Carpenters canon, plus whatever Richard may have kept as a copy for himself.

Harry

 

That's awful, how did it happen?

 

The Universal fire.

Harry

 

WOW, so glad I bought that 5.1 SACD when it was released.

I am really feeling sad today about all this....I knew it was coming just not easy to deal with the end, I feel like it's 1983 again.

 

Given the amount of remixing Richard performed over the years, I'm surprised the multi-track masters were still at Universal and not stored elsewhere, and even more surprised that analog and/or digital backups had not been made.

 

Great interview,thank you

 

Stunned at this news.

As been said,you would have thought safety copy's would have been made in case of fire/flood/etc.

What a loss is an understatement!.

 

http://www.deadline.com/2008/06/update-universal-fire-burns-music-history/

Harry

 

As much of a perfectionist Richard is you'd think he'd have copies everywhere....

Very sad to hear this. Karen had one of the greatest voices ever....

 

Great interview...Thank you for sharing it with us....

On another note, regarding the fire at the Universal vaults, it is possible that some or all of the multitracks may have been previously backed up in some way .. According to the link below, Iron Mountain has helped Universal restore over 14,000 "tapes"... See the next to last paragraph on the link.

Perhaps all may not be lost...and RC may not be aware of this possibility...

http://www.confidentialdocuments.co...e-of-mind-for-the-entertainment-industry.aspx

 

Mind boggling that back ups may not have been made. On a smaller scale, how many of us have made back ups of our albums?

 

Depending on how his contracts were when those recordings were made, he might simply have just not had access to them.

 

I hope that Richard actually does have copies... if you know what I mean.

 

So Richard & Al Schmidt (sp?) had the original master multi track tapes when creating the true SACD 5.1 Singles 69-81 that was ultimately released in 2004, then the tapes were suppose to be sent back to Iron Mountain for storage but they were not and the fire broke out in 2008 and were destroyed. So for 4 years Richard thought they were being stored away at Iron Mountain but really they were at Universal. Am I hearing this correct?

What also struck me was when Richard said, speaking about record labels...."I'm not really in it so I try not to think about it" so this solidifies that he will not be releasing anything else in the future. I know he recorded a Christmas album years ago that never got released, I heard one fan say it never got released because he could not find a label willing to release it so it never saw the light of day. However now with this interview it seems he is saying he's out of it all together. Am I hearing this correctly?

 

This is correct. Actually the tapes were relocated prior and unrelated to the SACD. It was afterward that everything was supposed to get put back. I will have to ask Richard what the explanation was for the delay. Again, there are digital copies of stuff - how much, I'm not totally certain. But, that makes it no longer first-generation analog tape. It was an unfortunate situation.

 

Holding on to my SACD just a little harder. Class act.

 

We can only hope!!

 

It is still sad what happened to his sister. Not my kind of music, but great voice.

 

I'm sure there are digital copies. Years ago Richard told me that stuff had been transferred to digital tape. At what point and how much, I'm not entirely certain.

 

<BUMP>

 

This deserves another <BUMP>

(I love the Carpenters music...what a legacy they left us to enjoy, Karen had a once in a lifetime voice...pure and natural...there will never be another voice like Karen's)

 

Bump