Added: 4 years ago
From: LoveHowardBanister
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  • This is a good song but it's a little too high for range...if this was adjusted down a few keys and the musical arrangement jazzed up, if they pulled her voice out to the front more...added some 70s backing vocals, it would be great.

  • THANK YOU for sharing this. "That album is Fucking great"...now from what we've been able to hear, & Karen knew... It's more than a shame, the decisions that were made ...I wonder what may have passed, had Karen been given creative freedom to express as was her due. When they said no in L.A. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been. Karen was so insightful, talented, fantastic drummer and angelic singer... trapped in a cage set up on stage where she couldn't be her own dreamer.

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  • What's wrong with this song? Nothing! It is great. Why wasn't it released? I have no clue, but it should have been released because Karen never lets me down. She lifts me up upon a star at midnight.

  • @Tracevidence1

    i think that is because they think the song contain some sexual Suggestive

  • Beautiful. It would be so great to have this on vinyl!

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  • Oh my goodness. I had heard rumours of this song's existence but now I find its for real! If only Richard would release all these gold nugget treasures. I can dream, can't I? I start and end each day with a Karen song. I wish this one were another but I have the video here if nothing else. Thanks so much. I hope there are more.

  • I JUST HATE THE FACT THAT THIS WONDERFUL SONG WASN'T RELEASED :( ITS A BIG SHAME! THIS SONG IS SO GOOD :)

  • Who arranged and mixed this and the other songs that were not released until after Karen's death? It's rather heavy-handed, in my opinion, for Karen's perfect vocals.

  • LOVE THIS SONG very jazzy/disco style to it LOVE IT! Karen was amazing! I wish she was still around, she will never be replaced! :)

  • lovely song, full of mystery and darkness. a different change of pace for karen

  • As usual, she could sing ANYTHING. She had such a beautiful, sweet n sexy voice. My all time favourite singer.

  • Absolutely gorgeous. As far as I'm concerned, Karen's voice was 'the' voice. Maybe my favourite female singer of all time; and I'm a prog rock fan! Today's singers can't hold a candle to her. I hate all these high pitched, tinny, helium-filled gerbil inflected modern singers who can't hold a note.

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  • @UltimateKarenTribute Listen, we'll make things easier for you. Why don't you just upload a video here on Youtube with you singing? I'm sure you can upload a video. Show it to us, and yeah, we'll be the judge if you do sound like Karen. Because no one's gonna believe unless you show proof.

  • wow why haven´t they realeased those Karen´s songs??

  • Her managers & Richard made the decision for her. It would have been better just to let her try and do something on her own.

  • @bookwoman53 Richard has said in several documentaries that Karen ""could've"" pushed A&M to release the album...but Herb, Jerry...among a few others didn't think this was Karen's "best" work...but i love the album ... and these outtakes...there is one song that hasn't surfaced, but would love to hear it...the song "Basket Case"

  • She was so beautiful in every way...THAT VOICE!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!

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  • @nakluts

    haha, are just mad teenagers

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  • @Karenfan09 i agree. that nakluts is one hell of a wannabe, and nothing but a wannabe.

  • @Karenfan09 fuck you

    

  • @wawottayubong I can see you mastered the English language, whattadong....How long did it take you to think up such a brilliant post ????

  • @wawottayubong Ikaw ay isang puki !!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @wawottayubong Ikaw ay isang puki !!!!!!

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  • Hey, I don't care how good the quality is. If Karen sings a song, I automatically fall in love with it. I miss Karen and her voice so much....

  • I can understand why the boys back home weren't crazy about her solo stuff--it didn't compliment her voice very well, and it was too disco-y. It wasn't unique, save for her vocal gifts. And the song is mixed too loud--it almost drowns Karen out. But Karen could have salvaged her solo effort--she had the raw material from the sessions in NYC. I wish she would have reworked it or just released the thing and built things from there.

  • Existe en el mundo otra voz así de perfecta? sweet sweet voice! love u KC! ur the best ever!.

  • one of the finest vocalists to grace this planet.....no matter how bad the mix!

  • does anyone have a mp3 of this song? i've been looking for it for years

  • Karen's voice is far too receded in the background, while the rhythm section is too far forward. This song pretty much sucks, even with KC singing.

  • infinera: You're right, her voice is too far back. But remember that these were unreleased songs, and most of them weren't even mixed properly (in some, you can even hear Karen's directions to the musicians — which I love!). In this case, I'm guessing the cut was "untouched"; since the remix would have to be done without Karen's approval, they might've decided to leave them alone. Just a guess.

  • Nice picture of Karen in her bedroom at Newville ave in Downey. I've been in that house and that bedroom. Too bad the Cuban family that bought it back in 1997 destroyed the music room section (so many great songs were perfected in that room ... please seach "Carpenters Jerry Dunphy interview" to see the music room). The original part of the house is still intact.

  • karen could sing in a mariachi band and the song would go straight to number one!god i love and miss this lady's voice!

  • FOREVER KAREN I LOVE YOU

  • greaaat photo

    greaaat song

    amaaaazing women

    love you as always x

  • the only album i have with songs like this is lovelines , im just hearing all these new songs ,there just fantastic

    come on richard release these songs as they are and let us here them , i dont know how many times they can release the yesterday once more album and re name it and redo a different album cover and just move the tracks around that everyone knows theres so much more to the carpenters than there greatest hits

  • Happy Birthday Karen

  • It's so sad----Karen sang about love, yearned for love, marriage, and the white picket fence, yet she never found the love she really deserved. So ironic and tragic. :(

  • Belleza pura!!!Hermoso tema!!! Gracias Karen...gracias LHB!!! Abrazo. Germán.

  • Im Karen Spirit...

    and i love you.

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  • @Karenfan09

    You are my future fan...how obsessed you are, Old

  • Great photo, Karen loved her stuffed animals!

  • I love this song and I love Karen Carpenter!

  • where can I download this song?

  • Just use sound recorder, then converted it to mp3 file

  • Yes, you are correct that Phil Ramone would likely be the one, though Richard did remix some of the solo work for Voices from the Heart and Lovelines. I wish that one or both would do it.

  • I'm sorry that Richard Carpenter hasn't remixed the unreleased songs from the solo sessions. He is an excellent arranger and could add so much to them, as he proven time and time again.

  • If these unreleased solo songs are released most likely they will be mixed by Phil Ramone... the very talented man who produced Karen's solo works.

  • Please God, don't let Richard mess too much with these arrangements. His Liberace approach just drowns out her beautiful vocals.

    This vocal track is a little too high for Karen's range at times, unfortunately, and she's not pushing her vocals here.

  • Mr. Ramone had his chance back in 1980. He blew it. If anyone at all should reorchestrate these songs, that should be brother Richard. But I don't think he wants to.

  • I wouldn't say Phil Ramone blew it. I'd say A&M and the people who wanted Karen's album shelved blew it. The album is outstanding. It's miles better than "Made In America" which was released shortly after the solo album was shelved.

    The unreleased songs should rightfully be mixed by Phil Ramone.

    Richard says he won't release these songs... but I think the demand from fans is very strong... so it may not be up to himwhether or not they are released.

  • This has to be released there is to much crap playing out there now a days, what happened to good music.

  • Her music is timeless. Richard Carpenter is in the category of Burt Bacharach. So much ageless creativity. Both of them total genius.

    This could sell right now.

    Please release this Richard Dean Simms

  • Beautiful! I've thought her solo album presaged much of what happened in the 80's musically. It's great to hear her sound like she's having fun, the fascinatingly unpretentious goddess she is. Thanks so much for posting!

  • Karen's great voice as always, makes this a good song. Great arrangement.

  • agreed. her opening her mouth gives a song 98% of being good. just adding any beat to it usually fills the last 2% of possibility. she could probably sing row row your boat while gardening and make a hit.

  • Awesome!! Oh I just LOVE her voice, How dearly she's missed!! and I love this photo of her with her stuffed animals, so precious! is this solo album going to be released?

  • Her solo album was released in 1996, but these unreleased tracks aren't going to be I bet.

  • Although, it has been said that the nine unreleased solo tracks will not be released... I think when it comes down to it they will eventually be mixed and released. There's just way too much demand for them by the fans. I know I will be in line to buy them when they're released.

  • Hi! can ANYONE tell me where or how to get this famous unreleased Karen solo album? PLEASE! i know we are all fans... sound quality on youtube is not best... can this stuff be purchased? copied somehow whether MP3 or wave files..? Just email me, from one sincere fan of... the greatest (not just her, but also the arrangements, Rod Temperton songs, etc).

  • It hasn't been released, so you can download it free online. Would you like me to send you the download URL?

  • god yes, dont know who you are but there ARE millions of us KC fans after all ;-)) dont know how we do this. i try to send you my personal email addr to your youtube addr... thanks, Daniel Wang in Berlin (orig from NYC)

  • @LoveHowardBanister Yes! I'll take that URL... wow.. though it's been 3 years!

  • well let's not steal anything without the consent of Richard. If he wanted us to have it it would be easy to buy, not copy from a free site. Okay? That's stealing. Just want to help.

    Love Karen forever.

    GOD bless you always †

  • There are several Carpenter's biographies... and quit trying to shove all this Richard stuff down my throat. I have a write to say what I want on YOUtube and you don't tell me what to think and feel or how to interpret waht I see...I'm very capable of doing that on my own...and Howardbanister whoever respected my difference of opinion...as all opinions should be respected for what they are ...whether you like them or not.

  • Yes, I do respect your opinions, and it was my fault BestKacFan responded to your comments. We're friends and I was hoping with what she said you would understand Richard better. But you have a right, so I guess we can leave it at that.

  • Shortly after her death the parents and I believe Richard do this talk show....and there are NO TEARS..... I would have been rolling around the floor bawling and pulling out my hair on National TV and Flailing the Ground and self flagellating myself with a corded Hemp Rope... so I exaggerate a little but I would have lost it emotionally. Maybe they were numb with the pain or just kind of felt "nothing" ??

  • It was not so "Shortly" after her passing when Rich and their folks were interviewed by David Hartman. Just about 10 months had passed. Your judgment about how THEY Express THEIR grief is absolutely unfair and jack-ass. How anyone displays their grief is personal. They had a job to do in that interview and they did. They told what happened to Karen not what her passing meant to them.

  • A job to do.... a job to do....I guess you don't need to say anymore....just a "JOB TO DO". uggghhh.......I want to vomit now. I have a right to my opinion. MY OPINIONS are just as valid as yours or anybodys. People judge other people's reactions to significatn events EVERY DAY ...watch the news...and listen with your ears...people pass judgement all the time...whether it's right or not....every second of every minute of every day.

  • No....is Ray Coleman a hired hand of Richards? WHERE THE F' was Richard throughout this whole slimming campaign? Was he calling her "FAT" ??? I wonder...

  • NOO! Richard tried to help her, he kept telling her time and again she was too thin and begged her to get help, which she tried. Richard cared deeply for her. Ray Coleman was a personal friends of Karen's and Richard's. I'm not sure if he helped with any records or anything.

  • Figures....TOLD YOU SO ...yeah....Karen and Richard's relationship was so close and loving that she broke away to do a solo album....right? But I'm sure you'll come up with some lame excuse for that episode also. OH WELL....she may be dead but she'll live forEVER and....she does. :)

  • They're not lame excuses, they're fact. I guess I care about Karen AND Rich, which some don't, and I have the highest respect for them both. If you'd rather not pay attention to the facts but rather what you believe, that's fine with me. Everyone's right to their opinion. You have yours, I have mine, and that's that.

  • And she only did her solo album because she was able to, wanted to, and because Richard was taking a break from recording. He gave her his blessing on it. So there.

  • There's so much we don't know and will NEVER know for sure possibly.....and there's ANGER at her/our loss...it's so much of my emotion tied up with her....ANGER ...right or wrong I feel cheated and want her back so friggin bad that it hurts. So ...I'm a hurting fan who is taking FOREVER to heal... Did I mention the ANGER part ???

  • I do understand your emotions, that always comes as a part of adoring Karen. Richard was numb with pain. He was terribly angry when Karen died.

  • Richard and Karen were not tied at the hip. They were both professional musicians and their career choices had nothing to do with their relationship. Your LAME EXCUSE for your "Pointing the Finger" is a futile attempt to sound like your heart is bleeding and simply breaking for Karen. Get OVER YOURSELF! Why not just call up PIERCE BROTHERS and see if they can let you have a peek, just to see if she is really dead.

  • Their careers WERE their relationship....and vice versa.....and throw in the fact that they were brother and sister...and what exactly did Richard do after Karen's passing. How many top ten hits did he crank out again??? He does the circuit as half a traveling act that lives on its wonderful past and tells everything according to Richard.

  • Ray Coleman is a professional Biographer. He is not and has never been a Hired Hand of anyones.

    He wrote the the story about The Carpenters. Richard was doing what he could do during this "Slimming Campaign" - Karen's Anorexia Nervosa.

    If you took a moment to learn more about Richard you would come to understand he was not calling her Fat or anything like that.

    Your comments are Rude, misguided and absolutely immature. Richard IS NOT his sisters keeper. You obviously have no information.

  • Ever hear of the word "FAMILY" and what family is and does...it cares for and protects its members throughout their life cycle - it's not a "job to do" either. The care goes back and forth into old age and death. People INTERVENE all the time in the lives of their family members for all sorts of reasons for the "common good" of all.

  • I heard Karen and Richard fought like cats and dogs. :-/ I think is was Love/Dislike relationship. What fans are saying is: KAREN had the gifted voice and without it the Carepenters wouldn't have been anything...great arrangements or not. It's all about the VOCAL QUALITY and her "spirit"...that something intangible we're unable to find words to describe cuz there are "NO WORDS" for it. !! Someone YANKED HER DOWN in the SELF-ESTEEM department and it's that person who led to her demise.

  • Yes, she was "yanked down in self esteem", but she and Richard loved each other deeply. To KC, Richard was the golden boy He could do no wrong.

  • WELL truth is: KAREN IS NOT HEAR TO GIVE HER SIDE or make a defense for either or....is she. Richard remains to bend the truth and make their history HIS history....right? I remain open minded and somewhat skeptical of the family dynamics in that household. :p/

  • Well, I grow more fond of Richard each day. Put yourself in his place. Here's this beautiful sister who he adores, and then suddenly she's just gone, and he can't just go sit by himself in a corner to recover. No, he's being mobbed by newspaper writers and interviewers and camera flashes are going everywhere. But have you read the Ray Coleman biography on the Carpenters?

  • This is the first time I hear this song. I´m a fan of Karen´s and Richard´s music. Having a new opporutnity of listening to their music is unbelievable.

    Eduardo (from Buenos Aires)

  • yeah but karen was trying to do this a different way and why should'nt she, why does everything have to be richards way . she had a mind of her own. At least she had the talent with her voice, where would richard be without her voice.

  • Yes, but remember that it was Richard's arragements and encouragement that made Karen the singer she became. She didn't want to sing, she actually at one point in the early 60's hated the idea of her singing, she only wanted to play the drums, but Richard saw her a future for her in singing and encouraged her, and so she became a singer. Yes, she had a mind of her own, but she loved Richard dearly, to her he was the Golden Boy, and wanted to do what he said.

  • Richard and Karen were extremely close, like twins, they completed each other. Karen's voice would have definitely carried her on her own and with Richard's blessings.

  • Quite so. Karen and Richard loved each other deeply.

  • After 25 years, I think the general public would wish for the "Carpenters" to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

    Thank you for posting this unreleased song.

  • if it was "unreleased" why is it available on here?

  • Because it is unreleased in the way of it hasn't ever been put on an album and sold in stores. This is a track from Karen's solo recording that wasn't used on the album.

  • oh ok. thanks. in that case i bet were missing out on a lot of really good music

  • Actually, a friend of mine who is friends with Richard asked him about maybe releasing some new CDs, and he said that he check the vault and he's released every song he and Karen recorded.

  • oh ok. thanks. in that case i bet were missing out on a lot of really good music

  • I will retract my statement about this song. I love it. It just took a while to get used to her new sound after listening to the early stuff so much. No wonder A&M rejected it. She was ahead of all of us all along!

  • I heard that she DID record the album while Richard was in rehab, and it broke BOTH their hearts when the record company would not release it. They both wanted it for her, because they knew she deserved it. The record company thought it wouldnt sell well orsomething like that. Which they were ridiculous....

    But anyways, Karen called Richard in rehab to get his blessing for that album. Hr was behind her 100% of the way

  • Really? Wow. I thought the reasons she decided to shelve it was because Richard didn't want her to and also the company didn't want to. But the more I find out about Richard, the more I find how nice he is. Sooo maybe he was behind her all the way. Thanks for sharing. :)

  • Ok so heres waht I gathered from other sources.

    Richard said go ahead Karen. Karen was enjoying herself in New York recording this new album, and seeing all the New York sights. The New York preview was fantabulous. Everyone loved it. But when they previewed it in LA, it didnt get the same responce. Richard was a little shocked by it, but he got around to liking it. The record company said "NO WAY!" because they thought it was nothing like the standards Karem and Richard had already set.

  • not bad. it's up to record buyers instead of music executives to judge on Karen Carpenters unreleased solo album.

  • alguien puede darme la letra de esta cancion por favor es una de mis favoritas/////////// somebody can give me the lycrs please this is one of my favorite songs thanks for the video

  • Sure thing, I'll send them to you.

  • I would like to have it, too.

    My English is not so good for understanding all the phrases of this song.

  • Okay. I'll send them now.

  • Thank you very much LoveHowardBanister for posting this video. I've never heard this song before. It was not on her released solo album. It's a great song. :)

  • You're welcome. And you can call me Judy. I know saying LoveHowardBanister over and over again can get tiring.

  • LOL. Okay. Thanks Judy. You made my day by posting this song and video. I don't know why they didn't initially release Karen's solo album. I heard the record company didn't think her songs were up to par. But that's not true. Most, if not all, of the songs are a lot better than what we hear on the radio these days. And I can tell a good song if I heard it only once and can remember the melody a few days later. "Midnight" is one of those.

  • Karen pretty much had no one backing her up on her solo album, no one wanted it released except for her, to my knowledge, and Richard didn't want it, because he wanted to keep the Carpenters and if KC released a solo it might make a whole new career for her, taking away the Carpenters little by little. Karen would never hurt Rich, she loved him too much, so she shelved it.

  • I can't imagine how Karen must have felt, not being able to release her solo album. All that hard work, down the drain she must have thought. Then she died, not knowing that millions of fans loved her work. What a tragedy. Very sad. Poor Karen.

  • Yes, Robs and I believe that she just might have lived longer if she could have released it, it was such a blow to her.

  • Midnight is growing on me big time ;-)

  • well a lead again from Karen and thats what she did and how well she did it!! Try'n different stuff..no one has matched I dont undestand how producers and phil did't take advantage of her lower register within a song thats where Richard won new her range which was great but needed taht right keyx

  • because by this time, Peter Cetera had suggested that she was overweight for 'rock star' status, not mention he was trying to have sex with her, while he was screwing up Chicago.....and......well it's all recordings now....and Cetera's not allowed to perform with Chicago.....why?.....He's a dick.

  • tullyallen, I don't understand why the Carpenters didn't produce and record their own songs. They had the money to have their own recording company. There are many things about their business set up I don't understand. I also think Karen was controlled too much by Richard and her parents. Her solo album should have been released. I've heard five songs from it and think they are great. Anyone know Richard who can tell him to release them?

  • I did a Wikipedia search on Karen and I see her album was released in 1996. Wish it could have been released after she recorded it. I also saw she cried when she was told it wouldn't be released after the tepid response to it from Richard and A&M Records.

  • I've already requested them to be released, but he might not do it, as he wants to keep Karen's legacy as it is today and doesn't want to release any under-rate material. The Carpenters DID record and produce their own music. Richard produced every album, and Karen co-produced many of them.

  • LoveHoward, ok so you say they did produce and record their own music but they were still doing it under the A&M label right? What I meant was them starting their own company so there was no third party like Herb Alpert with A&M that had to give approval of what they did. I just think maybe if Karen was dealing with just Richard that maybe she could have gotten him to release her solo album. It's all in the past anyway, doesn't matter now.

  • Actually, the Carpenters (Richard, especially) DID produce many of their recordings. Karen often played drums, and Richard often wrote songs and played keyboards.

    Karen's solo album wasn't released after it was recorded because it was considered "substandard". Several years after she died, it WAS released, but it received poor reviews.

    Karen was an awesome singer, but The Carpenters needed each other to acheive greatness.

  • That is what I just said. Yeah, and I wish she could have been able to release the album when it first came out.

  • Don't forget that it was when Richard took over production control with "Horizon" that their run of hits started to wane. Also Horizon took too long to record, and contained too many slow tracks.

  • I absolutely disagree with this. It's true that they were "magic" in the early 70's, but it appears that Richard lost his muse and was trying to keep Karen singing standards when what they should have been doing was changing their sound with the times. Disco really killed them because Richard refused to do it, but there are several tunes on Karen's solo disc that would have been hits and seen her through the disco era. Then, as an older star she could have recorded that album of standards.

  • .....and of course *that* duet with 'ol blue eyes! ;>D

  • tully allen .. In fact Richard may have had her TOO low at times. I would have liked to have heard more in the mid register when she was a lot fitter than she was at this time of her life. Sadly.

  • Unfortunately, the accompanyment overpowers the vocal a bit....

  • I love this song! I love it because it was what Karen wanted to do and finding other styles she would like to go towards. She was finding herself. Mona

  • nice f-unky arrangement but not quite right for kc. wrong key. no mix of alto and soprano registers.

  • This was an unreleased and unfinished recording, so if they were going to put it on the album they would have added/taken away from it.

  • I think the vocal is spot on for Karen. she reaches into her deep and dark lower voice and than soars into her higher voice with ease. This is one of her best vocal performances. It is not mixed and mastered properly as it was unreleased... but with a little fine tuning this song is a "smooth jazz" classic.

  • Its a pretty good song, but Karen's voice is magic with richard's arrangements and mixing

  • em why did sehe died?

  • She died in February of 1983. 2008 year will make it 25 years since she has left us.

  • She had anorexia

  • well in a kinda good way... song is ok ;) but i think that she uses a wery hm...how can i say the sane melody...welll not the same but can i speak in my languice? XD Hotla sm reč da full podobn use skupi zveni...štekaš? use je tok podobn... well you didnt undrstand that? sorry but i dont know the right word...sorry but the song is fine, am yes that was slovenian languice Slovenia is in Evrope...XD

  • I understand. =)

  • creepy...

  • In a good way or a bad? When I say creepy when listening to a Carpenters or Karen song I mean it like "haunting".