WELCOME TO
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE.
THIS WEBSITE IS DEDICATED TO PRESERVING THE PHENOMENAL LEGACY OF KAREN CARPENTER AND RICHARD CARPENTER.
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE COMES TO A CLOSE: PLEASE READ MORE BELOW
LAST UPDATE: FRIDAY JUNE 22, 2007
THIS PAGE IS UPDATED ONCE A MONTH
CHECK THE "CARPENTERS NEWS" SECTION NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE FOR INFORMATION ON A FEW NEW RELEASES!
THIS MONTH'S OFF TOPIC FEATURE:
PETER, BJORN AND JOHN
(KEEP SCROLLING YOU'LL GET THERE SOON IT'S TOWARD THE LOWER HALF OF THE PAGE)
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE COMES TO A CLOSE
THE MAIN CARPENTERS ONLINE WEB SITE (WHICH IS WHERE YOU ARE AT RIGHT NOW) WILL COME TO A CLOSE ON JULY 7, 2007. THE WEB SITE WILL REMAIN ONLINE UNTIL THE END OF JULY BUT AFTER JULY 6th IT WILL REVERT TO A NON-PAID SITE WHICH MEANS IN IT‘S LAST FEW WEEKS IT WILL LOOK A SLIGHT BIT DIFFERENT.
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE CAME INTO EXISTANCE ON NOVEMBER 16, 2002 WHEN IT WENT LIVE ON THE INTERNET. AT FIRST THE WEB SITE WAS GREETED WITH A LUKEWARM RECEPTION WITH ONLY ABOUT 50-75 PEOPLE VISITING IN THE FIRST MONTH. THOUGH AS EACH MONTH PROGRESSED THE WEB SITE ATTRACTED MORE AND MORE VISITORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. BY THE FALL OF 2006 THERE WERE OVER 7,500 PEOPLE VISITING THE CARPENTERS ONLINE EVERY MONTH.
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE ACCOMPLISHED QUITE A BIT IN IT‘S FOUR AND A HALF YEARS. WE‘VE BUILT A LARGE DATABASE OF FANS WHO WRITE TO US ON A REGULAR BASIS. THE CARPENTERS ONLINE RECEIVES 200-300 EMAILS A WEEK. WE‘VE ALSO FEATURED MANY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE ASSOCIATED IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER WITH CARPENTERS. THESE INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED BY RICK HENRY (THE DEVELOPER OF THE CARPENTERS ONLINE). RICK HENRY INTERVIEWED SUCH LUMINARIES AS RUSSELL JAVORS, LIBERTY DEVITTO, ROB MOUNSEY, RANDY SPARKS, STEVE EATON, RANDY SCHMIDT, CHRIS CHRISTIAN, DEE LONG (KLAATU), PALMA PASCALE AND OTHERS.
OVER THE YEARS WE KEPT A CARPENTERS ONLINE TOP TEN BEST SELLING ALBUMS. OUR MOST POPULAR CARPENTERS ALBUMS ENDED UP BEING “CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT”, “GOLD: 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION”, “CHRISTMAS COLLECTION”, “KAREN CARPENTER (SOLO)“ AND THE FABULOUS “HORIZON”.
CARPENTERS ONLINE HELPED TO ENRICH THE WORLD WITH HELPING TO KEEP THE LEGACY OF THIS FAMOUS DUO ALIVE. BUT NOW IT‘S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE. ALAS, THE CARPENTERS ONLINE WILL NOT DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY AS THE CARPENTERS ONLINE FORUM AND THE CARPENTERS ONLINE ON MYSPACE WILL REMAIN ON THE INTERNET. IT‘S ONLY THIS THE MAIN WEB SITE WHICH WE BID A FOND FAREWELL.
IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN IN CONTACT WITH THE CARPENTERS ONLINE AND WITH RICK HENRY PLEASE BOOKMARK THE FOLLOWING WEB SITES:
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE FORUM: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FORUM
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE ON MYSPACE: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MYSPACE SITE
THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC SITE: CLICK HERE TO SEE RICK HENRY‘S OTHER WEB SITE
RICK HENRY ON MYSPACE: THIS IS RICK HENRY‘S PERSONAL MYSPACE SITE - CLICK HERE TO VISIT
AT THIS TIME I WOULD LIKE TO THANK SOME OF THE PEOPLE I'VE COME TO KNOW FROM THE CARPENTERS ONLINE. I WISH TO THANK YOU MY FRIENDS FOR HELPING TO MAKE THE CARPENTERS ONLINE A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT ON THE INTERNET. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR CONTRIBUTING IN THE MANY WAYS YOU HAVE. MOST OF ALL I WISH TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOYALTY IN FRIENDSHIP.
THANK YOU:
abbafanusa
Tom Boats
Aaron (centurycity)
Christian
DR Drummer
Federico Cruz
heartwaves
JohnnyAngel (Jorge)
Karl Brade
Kevin (KCMusician)
makapipi
MerlinJones
Moe
mrbillis4u
Nessie
Chris (neverbeenalone)
OceanKing
Stephen Brock
PeterUK
phoenixfan4
PVTScotty
rmjoots
SammiBrown
Shalalala (Mark)
Steve1975 (Kelly Lynn's dad)
sunnybunny
the copey
Tracey
Mariah Andrews
Yvonne from Ireland (author of one of our first "Favorites List")
THANK YOU TO THE SUPERSTARS
Dave
Cameron Longo
Beth Mosior
Mary Ann (beaner)
Ken (Carps1000)
Leo Tarring (Prisoner_Walking)
Rob813
Roland Chayer
Kathy (smoothie)
Dana Britten-Stein
Jenny Sinclair
Russell Javors
Liberty Devitto
Rob Mounsey
Randy Sparks
Dee Long (Klaatu)
Steve Eaton
Chris Christian
Randy Schmidt
Palma Pascale
HONORARY CARPENTERS ONLINE STAFF MEMBER
James Hutchinson
THANK YOU TO THE CARPENTERS ONLINE STAFF
Ming
O.E. (ps11932)
Wisejester7
GoodOldDreams
enigma
Timothy San Paolo (a big thank you to you Tim)
I thank everyone who has helped throughout the way.
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE HALL OF FAME
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE HALL OF FAME PAGE FEATURES MUSICIANS, FRIENDS, FAMILY, INSTRUMENTS AND EVEN ARTICLES OF CLOTHING WHICH HAVE SHAPED THE MUSIC AND PERSONALITIES OF OUR FAMOUS KAREN AND RICHARD CARPENTER.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST ON THE CARPENTERS ONLINE HALL OF FAME
RELATED WEB SITE…
RICK HENRY HAS DEVELOPED THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC SITE. IF YOU LOVE ALTERNATIVE ROCK PLEASE CHECK THIS PAGE OUT TO FIND OUT WHAT‘S HOT AND NEW IN THE CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC SCENE.
CHECK OUT THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC SITE: CLICK HERE
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE ON MYSPACE
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE IS NOW ON MYSPACE. CHECK OUT THE GREAT PICS AND FRIENDS OF THE CARPENTERS ONLINE. FRIENDS INCLUDE SUCH LUMINARIES AS HERB ALPERT, HAL BLAINE, STEVE GADD, LEON RUSSELL, ROD TEMPERTON, BOB JAMES, DAVID ALLEY, JUICE NEWTON, MICHAEL FRANKS, KLAATU AND MANY OTHERS.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CARPENTERS ONLINE ON MYSPACE
AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT CHECK OUT RICK HENRY'S MYSPACE. RICK'S SPACE FEATURES ORIGINAL ARTWORK AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST.
CHECK OUT RICK HENRY'S MYSPACE: CLICK HERE
THE NEW CARPENTERS ONLINE STORE
CHECK IT OUT! IT'S ONLINE NOW THE NEW CARPENTERS ONLINE STORE. FEATURES FAVORITE CARPENTERS ALBUMS AND MORE ITEMS OF INTEREST.
CLICK HERE TO SEE NEW STORE
INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES: ANOTHER NEW FORUM BOARD
ALSO NEW ON THE FORUM IS THE "INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES" BOARD. ON THIS BOARD YOU CAN READ ORIGINAL INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES WRITTEN BY THE CARPENTERS ONLINE STAFF. This board is part of the 200 CLUB: To view you must be a registered member and have a minimum of 200 posts on the forum. With your 200th post you will automatically receive the password to this board.
Interviews with Rob Mounsey and Palma Pascale have been recently added.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INTERVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES BOARD
THE ORIGINAL CARPENTERS ONLINE STORE
CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL CARPENTERS STORE. THIS IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN VIEW ALL COMMERCIALLY RELEASED CARPENTERS AND RELATED ITEMS. INCLUDES CD's, BOOKS AND DVD's.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CARPENTERS ONLINE STORE
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE MAILING LIST
THE CARPENTERS ONLINE SENDS OUT A MONTHLY EMAIL WITH UPDATES ON THIS WEBSITE AND ALSO NEWS ABOUT THE CARPENTERS. IF YOU WISH TO BE ADDED TO THE CARPENTERS ONLINE EMAIL LIST PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO kandronline@yahoo.com TO REQUEST INCLUSION ON THE LIST.
CD MUSICLINE
CD MUSICLINE IS A AN AMAZON.COM AFFILIATED MUSIC STORE WHICH IS ENDORSED BY THE CARPENTERS ONLINE.
CD MUSICLINE
DISCOGRAPHY OF ALBUMS
THE ALBUMS PAGE OF THE CARPENTERS DISCOGRAPHY IS NOW PUBLISHED FOR VIEWING. YOU CAN SEE THIS PAGE BY CLICKING ON THE "ALBUMS" BUTTON ON THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER OF THIS PAGE. HOPE YOU ENJOY THE ALBUMS PAGE.
VISIT THE ALBUMS PAGE HERE
Note from Rick Henry: This is my favorite of all the albums released by Carpenters. It features the deep and dark side of Karen and Richard. Every song is a winner. The album never drags but moves forward with soul, intensity and class.
Horizon is the album which most Carpenters fans claim to be their favorite amongst all Carpenters releases. Released on June 6, 1975, Stephen Holden (Rolling Stone Magazine) called "Horizon" the Carpenters' most musically sophisticated album. The album is a technical triumph. It was recorded at A&M Records mainly in Studio D using state of the art 24-track recording technology, 30 Dolby, and recorded at 30 inches per second to create the cleanest and clearest sound possible.
Rock album reviewer, George Starostin commented, "Horizon is certainly a good showcase of the duo's (or, rather, Karen's) talents: instead of dividing the material into half brilliant, half unbearable, they prefer to establish a more consistent pattern, and pump out "solid product" that's listenable all the way through."
The Carpenters took the patience to spend a good amount of time and many long hours experimenting with different sounds, techniques and effects. One of the most astonishing techniques used on the album is the multitude of seperate mikings. Every single instrument and voice has it's own microphone.This helped to create a broad, full sound. The drums were recorded on four seperate tracks, one for the kick, one for the snare and one each for the left and right tom-toms. On the song "Only Yesterday" a tape delay is used on the saxophone, this effect accents the instrument and lifts it above the canvas and gives it an extra dimension.
"Horizon" was the Carpenters' sixth studio album. After five consecutive albums peaking inside the U.S. top 5 "Horizon" broke this run by reaching U.S. # 13. the album has been certified PLATINUM by the RIAA for selling over a million copies and most likely will soon be certified DOUBLE PLATINUM. "Horizon" was one of their biggest worldwide sellers reaching # 1 in both Japan and England.
Richard Carpenter stated his goal was to produce an album where every song could be a single. With "Horizon" he achieved this goal as each song on this album could have easily been a hit in 1975.
Another note from Rick Henry: "Only Yesterday" is my favorite of all Carpenters songs. I call it the perfect pop tune.
From the smoothly eerie opening bookend piece "Aurora" the album "Horizon" moves right on to "Only Yesterday", which many consider to be the album's strongest track. Written by Richard Carpenter and lyricist John Bettis, the song was a huge hit worldwide. Believing the song would not be a hit Carpenter and Bettis lost a one-thousand dollar bet to their recording engineer Roger Young. Since the melody was upbeat, Richard asked Bettis to make sure the lyric was not completely sad, so the outlook of the song changes midstream. It goes from dark and deep to bright and propulsive. Bettis described "Only Yesterday" as, "a manipulated positive song". The song is an impressive "wall of sound" with each instrument clearly recognizable. It has the feel of the sixties with castanets and chimes and the technology of the 70's with electric guitar chords and soulful saxophone progressions. With all this outstanding technology it's Karen's voice that remains the focal point. She opens with a haunting Low E Flat and moves gracefully through the range of the song and her voice with ease. "Only Yesterday" is two songs in one with a lush ballad verse which effectively gives way to an up tempo progressive pop chorus.
Only Yesterday reached U.S. #4, UK #7, Canada #7 for two weeks and was certified GOLD in Japan. The song also won the prestigious GRAND PRIX award in Japan.
A BRIEF HISTORY: "Goofus" was written in 1930 by Wayne King and William Harold as an instrumental. The song reached the top 20 in 1932 four separate times by four different artists. In 1950 Les Paul (Karen and Richard are big fans of Les Paul) recorded the song and it reached #21. In 1957 Gus Kahn wrote lyrics for the song which was recorded by country singer Phil Harris and again the song was a hit (but this time as a vocal). Finally in 1976 Carpenters released their version of the song and it reached #56. Though as a single it wasn't a huge hit the Carpenters' version of the song is the best known due to the worldwide popularity of the Carpenters.
A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION: Longtime Carpenters bandmate/friend Wes Jacobs joined in on this song playing the tuba adding a bit of a rustic 40's sort of sound to it with Carpenters guitarist Tony Peluso adding his electrified guitar licks giving the song a modern 70's pop/rock ambiance.
TRIVIA: Throughout the years several Carpenters fans have asked why Carpenters released this as a single. The answer to that question is that when the album "A Kind Of Hush" was released "Goofus" received quite a bit of positive response from fans and also a fair amount of radio airplay. Due to fan and public demand "Goofus" was released as a single. It was released on August 11, 1976.
MORE TRIVIA: "Goofus" is also known as a popular clown theme and is played in circus' and carnivals throughout the U.S.
The Ultimate Collection
The Carpenters begin 2006 with the May 2nd release of a three disc compilation from Holland. This compilation includes every single they released (with the exception of 1984's "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore"). Included amongst the singles are several popular album cuts such as "Desperado" and "This Masquerade". Disc three also includes select tracks from Karen's and Richard's solo projects.
CHRONICLES (BOX SET) RELEASED
Released on September 27, 2005 this is a set which contains three of the Carpenters classic albums. There aren't any new songs or bonus tracks. The set includes the albums "Close To You", "Carpenters" and "A Song For You".
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
This Is Your Life is a 3 disc DVD set which includes the episode in which Karen and Richard Carpenter are honored. It begins with K&R thinking that a promotion is being filmed at A&M records for several of it's artists. The program includes several of Karen and Richard's friends and family members. It's a bit costly but definitely worth the purchase for diehard Carpenters fans or fans of "This Is Your Life". Other episodes include a toast to Betty White, Milton Berle, Jayne Mansfield, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Dick Clark, Lou Costello, Bette Davis, Boris Karloff, Roy Rogers, Vincent Price and others.
THE SINGLES 1969-1981 (THE SACD EDITION)
THE SACD IS HERE AND IT'S EXCELLENT
SACD 5.1 SURROUND SOUND COMPILATION: The new SACD Edition of "The Singles 1969-1981" has been released and it sounds great. A few songs were eliminated and replaced by others. Including "This Masquerade" and "Bless The Beasts And Children". Another highlight are the new mixes of "Top Of The World" and "Superstar". The sound on this is excellent and well worth adding to your collection.
PETER, BJORN AND JOHN - WRITER'S BLOCK
Swedish pop group Peter Bjorn and John are apparently trying to confuse us, and for a brief time, it works.
Their third album "Writer's Block" has the misfortune to open on a rather saggy note, but fortunately hoists itself up for a blurry blend of indiepop and northern atmospheric synth. So straggle through the first two tracks, because the indiepop that follows is solid, multilayered and quite excellent.
It opens with a faint, atmospheric little track that sounds like Sigur Ros tuning up. Then suddenly it careens into nonstop guitar pop in "Object of My Affection," with drums pounding right over those steely riffs. "And you still can make sense/if you just show up and present an honest face/instead of that grin," Peter Morén sings happily.
Not only is it a lot simpler than the other songs, but I got a headache from those relentless drums and guitar. At that point I was groaning, anticipating a whole album of the same. But I was wrong.
Things start perking up with the shimmying, sunny indiepop of "Young Folks," which has some enchantingly feathery edges and constant whistling. The other songs have a similar mix of shimmery keyboard and solid indiepop -- thumpy little marches, swirling psychedelic hymns, gentle ballads blooming into driving guitarpop, folksy ballads, and the shimmering prettiness of "The Chills."
For your info, there is no Peter Bjorn -- it's actually "Peter, Bjorn and John," three Swedish guys who play the instruments and all provide vocals. And despite a couple of mediocre songs on "Writer's Block," these guys really know how to make great indiepop -- lots of northern wind and snow, and a delightfully sunny 1970s pop mentality.
There's plenty of ringing, peppy guitar and unstoppable bass from Morén and Björn Yttling, while John Eriksson provides some fast drumming as well. Yttling swaddles almost all the melodies in a hazy edge of soft, colourful synth, and turning some of them into bittersweet, chilly pop. Most of the songs are pretty upbeat, even with a bit of harmonica and whistling to remind us to be cheery.
Much of the album is about sort of ambiguous -- half of it seems to be about breaking up with a lover, and the other half is about how much you adore them. "Your tongue is sharp/but I miss the taste of it/You said time heals/there's not enough of it..." Moren sings in his slightly nasal voice. It's just a few songs after, "Hours seems to disappear/everyone is leaving -- I'm still with you."
"Writer's Block" has a couple tracks that don't quite fit in, but the overall album is a delicious blend of cheery pop melodies and blurry keyboard. Definitely a good listen.--E.A. Solinas
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