Originally written in August 1992
courtesy of the author Jerry Crenshaw
Recently I watched a video of the Titanic, detailing the quest for a legendary treasure buried deep beneath the sea. Everyone knew the treasure existed, however it laid untouched for many years. In many ways the music of the Carpenters is much the same.
Most fans of the music of Karen and Richard Carpenter believe that all existing studio tracks have been made available via the domestic collection of albums released from 1969-1989, and through the previously discussed release of the boxed set From The Top. Nothing could be further from the truth. Currently stored deep within the vaults at A&M are many gems which remain unheard by the public. In fact, when you examine this more closely you will find at the time of Karen's passing, there were more songs unreleased than were contained in the entire Carpenter catalog thus far.
The Carpenters were known to record far more songs than were needed for any given project. That alone would have produced quite a surplus of material. But remember the group was recording an album in 1978 which was never released, solo material from both Karen and Richard is stored and material recorded for their television specials remain unreleased.
When looking at the television specials, consideration needs to be given to the business aspect of album development. Richard had wanted other tracks to be used in From The Top, however this was impossible due to an impasse during the contract negotiations phase. The recordings of Karen and Ella Fitzgerald fell victim to this tragedy.
Richard was quoted in 1984, after the release of Voice Of The Heart, saying that he felt there was enough material for at least two more albums. We have Lovelines but where is the other album? Richard has always had very high expectations of the releases of the Carpenters, and we can thank him for this. You can also look at the other side of the situation and see that in many cases, songs that were felt to be inferior and left off the project which they were recorded for, were the very songs that would have made the album that much better had they been included. Listen to your favorite songs from Voice Of The Heart and Lovelines and imagine those songs on Passage and A Kind Of Hush and you will see what I mean.
Enclosed in this newsletter you will find the list of unreleased songs. In addition, next to each song you will find the date these songs were added the master card catalog at the A&M studios. This is in some cases the year the track was recorded, but not in all cases. Nevertheless this gives us some indication of the style of music being produced at any given time. It is not certain which songs, if any have been completed through to the recording of the background vocals.
Both Voice Of The Heart and Lovelines were composed primarily of surplus material that, for whatever reason, did not make the final cut on their original album. These songs had Karen's full lead or, as in Now, which was Karen's original early work lead. It is from this that we can tell that few of the tracks had been totally completed. To understand this, it is necessary to examine the recording process which Karen and Richard followed as they tracked a song.
The process starts as Richard makes the final selection of which songs he will present to Karen for consideration. They both then examine each tune for it's potential, both musically and it's marketability. It is customary for 20-25 songs to move into the production phase.
Production begins with Richard making the arrangement for orchestration and vocals. Several tracks are then recorded which provide timing and track structure for Karen's work lead. The work lead is a vocal track recorded early in the process which will guide final orchestration. It is the work lead where we begin to see the true personality which will form around the song. Primarily, to this point, we have three tracks: work lead, drum, and piano. All songs that were originally chosen will be taken to this point. 17-18 songs will now move to full orchestration. This is one of the most expensive processes in the albums development. The tracks now orchestrated are returned to Karen to record the full lead which will be the track which will end up on the album. The process now moves on to the recording of the background vocals and choral arrangement.
The completed tracks are then submitted for mixing and the original tracks are placed in the A&M vaults for storage. Those ten or so songs which are chosen for the album are mixed and pressed for production.
In understanding this it is logical to conclude that the greater portion to the songs listed have at least a work lead. We can see in the song Now how even a work lead can make a terrific song. So again my question, where is the other album?
While it seems that only a few of the songs contain the overdubbing technique made famous by the Carpenters. Songs like Ordinary Fool show us that little backup is needed in presenting Karen's best vocal style, and choral arrangements work well when more detail is needed.
I am encouraging all fans to write A&M requesting another Carpenter product be released. An A&M executive once told me. "...the Carpenters have proven to be one of the most continually profitable act on our label. It would be silly to believe that we would sit on such a goldmine unnecessarily and deprive the world of such talented artists." What A&M needs to understand is that the time is NOW!
A&M RECORDING STUDIO LIBRARY
From the card catalog—unreleased Carpenters recordings—material received as of 2/9/84.
Note: The date after each song title is the date A&M received the tape, usually, but not always, the year it was recorded.
Karen Carpenter Unreleased Album (received April 81)
In December 1996, Yuka Ogura wrote an article to the Newville list describes Richard's comments and feelings on this list of unreleased songs.
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Last changed: Fri Jul 22 13:10:57 EDT 2005