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A&M AMLS 68403 December 9 1976 (CD: Pickwick PWKS 572)
Recorded at The Palladium Theatre, London England, November 22 to 27, 1975.
NOTE: on the Pickwick CD release, Piano Picker is a separate track instead of part of the medley.
When it comes to listening to great music, there is nothing more entertaining and exhilarating than a live concert. On this recording you can now experience this excitement with the delightful interpretations of The Carpenters Live At The Palladium.
With their wholesome image, this versatile brother and sister not only sing a selection of their favourite and well known hits but also treat us to a fine piano medley from Richard Carpenter which includes three George and Ira Gershwin tunes - Strike Up The Band, S'Wonderful and Fascinatin' Rhythm, also a dramatic performance of Warsaw Concerto.
Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Richard was born on October 15th 1945 and began playing piano at the age of 12, he later studied at Yale University. In 1963 the Carpenter family moved to California, where Richard continued his musical studies at Cal State University at Long Beach.
Younger sister Karen was born on March 2nd 1950. Karen had developed an interest in drums and the pair of them, plus a bass playing friend Wes Jacobs, formed a jazz trio, the band managing to obtain a first place in the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands Talent Contest.
Their next group was called Spectrum which became quite well known in the Los Angeles area. It was at this time that the duo decided to go it alone and to experiment with vocal harmonies, using overdub techniques. They made demo tapes of experimental new sounds and after a year of hustling various companies one of these tapes landed on the desk of A&M Records owner Herb Alpert who was quick to sign the two up.
Richard Carpenter and his sister Karen began singing professionally in 1967. Their first disc released was a cover version of the Lennon and McCartney Number One smash hit Ticket To Ride, this was a minor hit for them.
Songwriter Burt Bacharach had heard The Carpenters' version of this song at a concert where they were appearing, and decided to take them with him on other shows in New York, St. Louis and Hollywood. Their next release (They Long To Be) Close To You a Hal David / Burt Bacharach song written in the early sixties and recorded on album by Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, was to set the pattern for a string of smash hits lasting well into the seventies. This song soared to the Number One slot in America where it stayed for four weeks, and reached the Number 6 spot in Britain. The disc selling over three million units globally. A further ten million-selling singles resulted with such titles as We've Only Just Begun, For All We Know, Rainy Days And Mondays, Superstar, Yesterday Once More and Please Mr. Postman. International singles and albums had now sold in excess of 25 million, with sellout concerts around the world. The Carpenters 1973 album The Singles 1969-73, is among the biggest selling albums of all time.
With excellent material from such writers as Bacharach and David and Paul Williams, along with the delightful voice of Karen and the group had an overwhelming appeal. Richard was mainly responsible for arranging and musical direction. The group were well respected by other artists in the industry for their musicianship, excellent choice of backing group and their professionalism. In the late seventies the duo kept a relatively low profile, although in 1981 their album Made In America brought them to the fore again when it reached the Number 12 position in the British charts. At the end of the following year however, the career of the group ended when sadly Karen died after suffering some time from Anorexia.
The Carpenters Live At the Palladium gives you the chance to relive those great performances by a truly professional duo. Digitally remastered to bring you the performance as it really happened.
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Buy: Carpenters - Live At the Palladium CD |
Just over a year after the performances captured for this release, and a few days before the Live At the Palladiumalbum is available to the public, the Carpenters returned to London's Palladium. Here is a review from the New Musical Express pop newspaper.
"LADEEZ AND gentlemen," said the tape, "Mr Richard Carpenter!" Thunderous applause.
Lights go up and there is Richard Carpenter, a vision of virginity in white, sitting, bum to the audience, surrounded by three sets of keyboards.
Christ, where is Karen to sing Kind of Hush? Have they had an argument? Has she run off with a man? Has she collapsed? I want my money back.
Sorry, there she is, entering stage left, to more thunderous applause.
Looks every inch a Clacton housewife dolled up for the Women's Institute. White jacket, white boots and white baggy culottes. She may look like a housewife, but she sure don't sing like one.
Absolute magic as she starts. Sound is good, voice is pure, she doesn't miss a note.
Actually, she's the one person in the world I can never imagine missing a note.
Gosh I am enjoying this.
No I'm not. Jambalaya has the band drowning Karen's angelic voice. Karen moves round the stage. She is not the most graceful person I've ever seen. In fact she has as much grace as Marie Osmond (you can work that one out for yourselves).
She also has no presence.
But she has got that voice.
Trouble is, I can't hear it too well.
Everything is forgiven for the next number, I Need To Be In Love -- sure its corny as hell, but it's sad and its a real sentiment and I think it sounds truly wonderful.
The audience for once agrees with me (We disagree later).
For Sing Karen changes clothes -- this time a white midi dress that isn't very becoming.
"You can see her hip bones sticking out," says my companion.
Still, Sing provides everyone with some giggles. Usual audience participation stint with Karen and Richard going into the audience to get them to "sing along" -- the twist is that the audience are taped, sing very much off key and hear a playback in an instant later.
Giggles seems to be what the Carpenters are trying to achieve. Or so it would appear, for during the course of the show we are also treated (?) to a skit of Grease which is so embarrassing I won't go into any detail, save for the fact Karen wears enormous false boobs and sings a song about being a virgin.
Also the whole band attempted a disastrous Spike Jones take off.
Both receive rapturous (though probably polite) applause; both I find unnecessary.
I've never doubted both Karen and Richard possess a degree of, if not a lot of, musical ability, but there is such a thing as OD. And Richard playing the Warsaw Concerto with a mirror dropped in front of him so we can see the workings of the piano I count as OD.
More acceptable is Karen playing assorted drums for Strike Up The Band. Certainly she seems to enjoy it.
But they are undoubtedly masters of simple, beautifully sung songs -- with Karen sitting, rather than looking awkward wandering around the stage, and Richard playing it straight rather than for laughs.
When they finally get into Superstar and We've Only Just Begun, I could forgive them anything. There is no way you can knock a voice like hers...
Last changed: Sun Jul 8 10:49:33 EDT 2007
