Karen Carpenter

SP-4804 (unreleased) – CD-0588 (1996)

Recorded in 1979 & 1980, Karen Carpenter’s solo album was shelved until 1996, when it was released as CD 0588.

TRACKS:

1. Lovelines 5:06
2. All Because Of You 3:31
3. If I Had You 3:54
4. Making Love In The Afternoon 3:57
5. If We Try 3:47
6. Remember When Lovin’ Took All Night 3:50
7. Still In Love With You 3:15
8. My Body Keeps Changing My Mind 3:46
9. Make Believe It’s Your First Time 3:12
10. Guess I Just Lost My Head 3:36
11. Still Crazy After All These Years 4:17
12. Last One Singin’ The Blues 3:24

RECORDED BY (guest musicians):
Guitar: Ray Brown, Russell Javors, Eric Johns-Rasmussen & David Williams
Bass: Doug Stegmeyer & Louis Johnson
Drums: Liberty DeVito, John Robinson, Steve Gadd
Percussion: Ralph McDonald & Airto Moreira
Keyboards: Bob James, Greg Phillinganes, Rob Mounsey, Richard Tee
Other notables: Peter Cetera, Michael Brecker & John Robinson

Special thanks to: Roberta Klein, Nancy Sorkow, David Alley, Billy Jones & Ardel Travel

Produced by Phil Ramone
Vocal acrobatics by Rob Temperton
Engineered by Jim Boyer, Glenn Berger, James Guthrie & Ray Gerhardt
Engineering Associates – Bradshaw Lee, Chaz Clifton, Dave Iveland, Ralph Osborne, Randy Pipes & David Crowther

Production associates – Ed Sulzer, Michele Slagter, Laura Lonchteaux & Karen Ichiuji
Recorded at A&R Studios, New York, N.Y., A&M Studios, Los Angeles, C.A., & Kendun Recorders, Burbank, C.A.

Remixed by Phil Ramone & Jim Boyer
Originally Mastered at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen
Mastered at A&M Mastering Studios by Dave Collins

————————————————————————————————————————

Much has been written about this album by fans, and much will continue to be bandied about.  This is Karen’s fabled solo album from the 1979-1980 period, shelved for sixteen years and finally released in 1996.  Four of the recordings had already appeared on LOVELINES, and a couple more showed up on box sets, so it wasn’t *totally* a new experience for fans. Some of those tracks were remixes by Richard for a more “Carpenters” sound, but the full solo album has the tracks as produced by Phil Ramone and as approved by Karen Carpenter (with just the one additional bonus, unpolished track.)

Prior to release, A&M released a promotional “wallet” version of the CD to radio stations. It had a company-type generic cover with the album’s fonts. It had a catalog number of 31454 0588 2 ADV, though the CD was the same as the released version.