Richard Carpenter on BBC 4

[Graeme]

Richard Carpenter is one of the interviewees on The Joy of Easy Listening which is to be shown on Sunday, 27 April at 11.20pm on BBC 4. The Radio Times review states "Songwriters Jimmy Webb (Up, Up and Away and MacArthur Park) and Richard Carpenter (worldwide sales of 100 million) are on rebarbative form, bridling at the uncool tag. I defy you to watch this without getting the urge to download one catchy-cheesy track from iTunes or browse a hitherto shunned aisle at HMV."

Someone should inform the reviewer that you won't find any Carpenters' albums in the Easy Listening section of HMV. They're listed under Rock and Pop!

 

[Chris Mills]

Also being aired this Friday (24 Apr) @ 22:00.....good documentary.......was shown on BBC4 sometime ago, worth a repeat just to watch Richard.

 

[Chris Mills]

Also @ 21:00 on BBC4 (24 Apr) Carpenters will sing "Close To You" in a show called "......Sings Bacharach & David". If you miss these shows, they should be available on BBC iplayer soon.

 

[Graeme]

Also @ 21:00 on BBC4 (24 Apr) Carpenters will sing "Close To You" in a show called "......Sings Bacharach & David". If you miss these shows, they should be available on BBC iplayer soon.

I thought it sounded familiar! More sensible time too. Will have to set the video or watch BBC iplayer for the Sings Bacharach and David - 3.35am a bit early/late for me.

 

[Natesmommy77]

Where can we in the US view this? Is there a way to get it online?

 

[Chris Mills]

Don't think BBC iplayer is available outside of the UK, it might be on YouTube. Also need to correct myself, the dates should be Fri 25 April.

 

[mr J.]

Richard Carpenter is one of the interviewees on The Joy of Easy Listening which is to be shown on Sunday, 27 April at 11.20pm on BBC 4. The Radio Times review states "Songwriters Jimmy Webb (Up, Up and Away and MacArthur Park) and Richard Carpenter (worldwide sales of 100 million) are on rebarbative form, bridling at the uncool tag. I defy you to watch this without getting the urge to download one catchy-cheesy track from iTunes or browse a hitherto shunned aisle at HMV."

Someone should inform the reviewer that you won't find any Carpenters' albums in the Easy Listening section of HMV. They're listed under Rock and Pop!

I don't know how record stores in the UK operate-but in the US ,Carpenters albums are usually stocked in the "Vocal" or "Easy Listening" section-and always have been.

Carpenters in the Rock section would be sure to generate alot of raised eyebrows! K&R are barely even Pop-let alone Rock.

Would be interested in seeing this RC interview.

 

[Rumbahbah]

I think it's a sign of their popularity in the UK that they are now stocked in the Rock & Pop sections of music stores rather than the Easy Listening section. HMV certainly used to put them in Easy Listening back in the 1980s, but this section would be small and tucked away in the store, like the Jazz and World Music sections. I can imagine they were moved because the stores realised they'd sell more copies (and probably have to field fewer questions about where the Carpenters CDs were located) if they were put in the Rock & Pop section.

The move also seems quite symbolic of their critical rehabilitation of being accepted as part of the mainstream in the UK at least. They always seemed pretty out of place in the Easy Listening section, most of which was made in the 1950s, and to me it always seemed a bit insulting to put them in there - back in the day, describing something as 'Easy Listening' had derogatory overtones. While they may have taken inspiration from people like Pat Boone who have always been found in the Easy Listening section, if artists like Bread, the Captain & Tennille and James Taylor belong in Rock & Pop, then the Carpenters surely do as well.

 

[Tapdancer]

The Radio Times review states "Songwriters Jimmy Webb (Up, Up and Away and MacArthur Park) and Richard Carpenter (worldwide sales of 100 million) are on rebarbative form, bridling at the uncool tag. I defy you to watch this without getting the urge to download one catchy-cheesy track from iTunes or browse a hitherto shunned aisle at HMV."

I had to look up the definition of "rebarbative"....Ooh, sounds like one interview not to be missed!

Catchy-cheesy? Catchy - yes. But cheesy means "cheap and low-quality". What an insult. The reviewer needs to get his arse whipped.

To any musician who has a truly musical mindset, Jimmy and Richard are some of the coolest on the planet. They just don't have to work or 'act' trendy or cool, as their sophisticated, timeless songwriting and arrangements speak for themselves.

 

[A&M Retro]

Really, it depends on the record/CD store that stocks Carpenters stuff. Back in the '70's, their stuff was always located in the rock/pop section at chain stores like Music Land, Tower, Record Bar, Camelot, etc. Right or wrong, it wasn't until the CD revolution that they were then placed in the vocal or easy listening sections.

 

[Chris Mills]

Tried to find this documentary on YouTube but it's not there, hopefully somebody in the UK will upload it to YouTube. It really does document what a lot of people thought about Adult Contemporary music......that in fact it's Easy Listening music, even Herb admits his music was Easy Listening. It was a sound track to a better life, positive, aspirational, living the dream. Richard does come across as pretty angry and self indulgent......think they caught him on a bad day!!

 

[Someday]

Oh, dear! RC looked absolutely terrible in this. Very tense, nervy and anxious. They really did catch him on a bad day ...

 

[Chris Mills]

This documentary was originally shown back in 2011, wish I knew how to upload it to YouTube

 

[Jeff]

RC appears "tense, nervy and anxious"..hope the interviewer didn't mention the piano player for CarpenterS thing. Like pulling wings off flies. Could be playing with fire. Apparently what worked so well for Billy Joel as piano man was lost on Karen's brother. I haven't seen this broadcast just feeling a little sass and too being the giver I am submitting a word of caution. Err who dare I say.

Jeff

 

[ullalume]

I've heard/seen many interviews with Richard over the years, and to my mind he was never more at ease than in the radio interview he gave to the BBC back in '93 for the 10th anniversary of Karen's Passing. Everything before this he was understandably somber. . .but a lot of the stuff he's done in the last 10 years seems very stiff, rehearsed. . . of course he's recounting the same facts again and again and again, but still, his body language, gestures. . .everything. . .just seems so calculated.

 

[Jamesj75]

It has been my experience that, in the United States, in the ever-dwindling CD sections in Best Buy stores (where I have often gone to buy CDs), Carpenters' CDs are stocked in the Rock/Pop section. I like to see them here, as they are more accessible. Considering that the Carpenters dominated the pop charts in the 1970s, I think that section is an appropriate locale. If I go to a certain store and find that their CDs are behind another artist and/or on the bottom rack and thus not easily seen, I do some reshuffling/restocking so that Carpenters' CDs are more prominent and visible. Shouldn't shoppers be subjected to Karen's sweet sweet smile staring so serenely in space?

 

[Tapdancer]

If I go to a certain store and find that their CDs are behind another artist and/or on the bottom rack and thus not easily seen, I do some reshuffling/restocking so that Carpenters' CDs are more prominent and visible....

LOL!! Said by a true Carpenters fan!

[If you do a Google video search, you'll find on the Chinese youku website the part (10 minutes into Part 4) where Richard explains his musical background in a couple of sentences, and then very effectively demonstrates why giving Close To You a shuffle rhythm makes "a helluva difference" compared to the original Bacharach / Warwick 'straight-eight' version. Up until this point in the video, he was enthusiastic and positive, if a little tense.]

 

[Jeff]

Even at the used record/cd outlets up here I reshuffle bringing CarpenterS back alphabetically. The lower overstock rows house stock not in the rack until I make my way. An old habit. Routinely I sift these shops in search of...Quads and other more difficult acquisitions. Every now and then I make out like a bandit. Most recently a reel-to-reel Singles 69-73 came home. I don't and never had rtr tape but hey maybe there'll be a demand or who knows what. Like a pack rat I am. I end up with literally stacks of lp's and pic sleeve 45's until room and hoarding accusations demand filing.

Ha! OOps, I had to scroll to see the actual topic here. Sorry I tarried.

Jeff

 

[BGW]

Even at the used record/cd outlets up here I reshuffle bringing CarpenterS back alphabetically. The lower overstock rows house stock not in the rack until I make my way. An old habit. Routinely I sift these shops in search of...Quads and other more difficult acquisitions. Every now and then I make out like a bandit. Most recently a reel-to-reel Singles 69-73 came home. I don't and never had rtr tape but hey maybe there'll be a demand or who knows what. Like a pack rat I am. I end up with literally stacks of lp's and pic sleeve 45's until room and hoarding accusations demand filing.

Ha! OOps, I had to scroll to see the actual topic here. Sorry I tarried.

Jeff

I'm guilty of that. I'm working my way up to having a reel of every album released in the format, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to find one of the quad tapes. I was lucky enough to snag both Offering and the Ticket version on open reel tape last semester. If anyone has a lead on the quad tapes, though....Or better yet, if someone has one, perhaps I could persuade them to loan it to me for transfer...