Todd Boden It absolutely was a shame. My wife is a drummer and made her living doing it for quite a while. There weren't many woman playing drums back then. And, man Karen really could play. This wasn't a gimmick. Oh and she sang like a friggin angel also. Incredible.
She's always been my favorite. I remember the day she died. I had gone home for the weekend. I was in college. Dan Rather announced it Friday night. I was devastated. She had an incredible voice, warm and pure. I don't see how anyone can play the drums and sing at the same time.
… I second all the love and sorrow for Karen. But I want to also give a shout out to Bob Messenger on the flute solo here. Oh my he was such a triple threat and an OG member from the beginning to the end. Bass, Sax and Flute what an unsung talent. After Karen died it took me decades to listen to them again. My vinyl sat in the shelf, it just hurt so much. I’m making up for lost time now and kinda driving my roommate a little crazy. He’s still a hater. Why, I don’t know. No appreciation of talent and greatness. 🤷🏻♂️ I get special pleasure watching young reactors here discovering Karen and Richard and what music actually sounds like. No auto-tune crap.
Incredible perfomance of this awesome song. Cant believe how incredible Karen sings and plays the drums at the same time...unreall. What a talent, richard harmonises with her so well and the band is incredible, this really sounds so good it trully is hard to believe this is live. The Carpenters where one of the bestt bands to perform on stage.The harmonies are incredibly polished.AWESOME. RIP KAREN my favourite singer of all time...
Mr. Guder Say! Mr. Guder May I have a moment with you For there is something I've got to say And please don't let it scare you away Mr. guder Say! Mr. guder I have seen you go through a day You're everything a robot lives for Walk in at nine and roll out the door at five You reflect the company image You maintain their rules to live by Shine your shoes let's keep a neat haircut Now that you're wearing a coat and tie Mr. Guder Say! Mr. guder Some day soon you may realize You've blown your life just playing a game Where no ones wins but everyone stays the same You reflect the company image You maintain their rules to live by Shine your shoes let's keep a neat haircut Now that you're wearing a coat and tie Mr. Guder Say! Mr. Guder Some day soon you may realize You've blown your life just playing a game Where no ones wins but everyone stays the same The same Please! Play your game! Stay the same!
What I meant is that the album version of this song is different from what they did in live shows and I think in this case I prefer the live version ;)
On the album you can’t see the pure joy on Karen’s face as she plays the drums. I think Hal did the album version, no digs at Hal, he’s a God. But Karen OMG.
Another favorite Carpenter song...Karen looks so happy on the drums, that is where she should have stayed since she really did not want to be a front person.
Amen ... she was great behind the drums ... ABSOLUTELY GREAT!!! That was where she was at home! I'm glad to see her happy here, with all the turmoil that she evidently was going through!
There's that word AGAIN. underrated adjective not rated or valued highly enough. "a very underrated film" Who is underrating The Carpenters? And where? From what I can see, they have won countless awards, had albums go quadruple platinum, and Karen is considered one of the best singers in history. When people say "underrated", they usually mean "underappreciated" but even that's not the case here.
This sounds like progressive, in the begining flutes I remembered Jethro tull or Genesis first years, Karen's (voice) falsetto is so warm like Jon Anderson's voice and in drums, in drums is perfect! she ask nothing to Bruford or Palmer, meanwhile Richard is so good like Emerson or Banks in keyboards, I loved this song and I'm starting to love the carpenters, Richard is a master and Karen, well I miss Karen without having met, nobody have her talent nowadays. Sorry for my english.
@@reved2284 they had a hit with a very proggy kind of song when they did a cover of the klaatu song calling occupants of interplanetary craft, so there were progressive elements to their music and sound.
I know who knows how much time I have spent rewatching all of there videos u notice something every time u watch it... like how she points at herself when she says, "May I have a moment with you." Even though she is singing and playing drums at the same time.... simply amazing.
Pretty biased here but this performance is bloody awesome!!!! Karen's voice is angelic and the harmonies....... nobody in my opinion has come close in the past 30 years. Sheer brilliance!!!!!! To my dying day this act will never be beaten, and I stand by that comment. Paul in England.
@mjimme Hey, I remember that day too!----I was only 15, and was truly crushed beyond belief---I partly didn't understand it. I always knew she played drums, but only through the magic of RU-vid will the world see that she was a stellar talent on drums and percussion. Her vocal abilities---apparently discovered accidentally---was an even more amazing gift! I miss her tremendously (and I'm choking as I write this).
Thanks and excellent quality for a video made in 1974! I know I hear an old ARP String Ensemble in the backround there somewhere. Great musicianship all around and great vocals. Karen looks healthy, happy and beautiful here. This is right before all of all of her problems started piling up. So nice to have a video of this quality with Karen, Richard and the band at their peak.
I read on a message board that Mr. Guder was a much loved band director at an Orlando High School and took the songs criticism of him a bit hard. Fellow musicians can be so sensitive. In an interview years later, when asked about Mt. Guder, Richard kind of smiled and said that they were pretty bad employees (retrospect, after probably having to manage other creative musicians).
@PullSomeTuber Karen was a drummer first. She wasn't interested in singing; it just "happened." They moved to California for Richard, Karen was told repeatedly that her function was to make sure that Richard became the star. It was a fluke that Karen became the star. I think that it was believed that Richard would become a famous jazz or classical pianist: Karen was not in the picture until 1966 or so.
Thanks for posting this and for the stereo sound. I don't know a whole lot about drumming, but I was surprised to see Karen striking her high-hat underneath some of the time; I didn't know drummers ever did that. Richard has said he regrets writing this song.
Yep. She's an outstanding drummer, professionally taught by the jazz drummer Bill Douglass. She's playing some awesome jazz licks in this video, and yep, they sometimes play the lower, bottom cymbal on a high-hat. She probably has two different cymbals making up her high-hat assembly, one higher pitched and one lower pitched, different thicknesses and etc., to create a different sound when she wants it.
This tune is the closest to prog they ever got, which is why it is my favourite of theirs. Though I love Karen's voice, I usually dislike the elevator Muzak that goes along with it.
@PullSomeTuber You're welcome. I know that it's an unpopular position to take but after finding out how Karen was groomed all of her life to make sure that Richard became the star but didn't, I think it makes sense. Remember that Agnes Carpenter manipulated both of her children and played them off each other. She could well have planted the seeds of jealousy herself.
@PullSomeTuber Richard has only said kind things about Karen since her death; nothing but disdain during her life time. He never appreciated her. Agnes Carpenter ran that family: she didn't see them as a team and neither did he. He was always in competition with her. Sorry, but he WAS jealous. But now he feels guilty so he's "Mr. Nice Guy." Karen's happiness should have come first. She didn't drum at all after 1975, except for her one solo in concerts. And she got thinner. No coincidence.
@PullSomeTuber Sorry for the extra message. I didn't mean to indicate that Richard said disdainful things of Karen publicly. I mean that he said nothing at all. Karen was always praising him : "Genius," "Brains," etc. She knit him a pillow: "There's no KC without RC." Only since her passing has Richard complimented her. He wasn't jealous of her in 1970-71. It occurred later as he was reduced to being called "the piano player for the Carpenters." That's in "Carpenters The Untold Story."
A level of cool-ness is achieved by one not actually TRYING to be cool... Karen is COOL all through this cool track... along with her expressions and emphasis on certain words,,, she is especially COOL while throwing her hair back at 1:18 :-)
@PullSomeTuber Never said he didn't want her to sing. Of course he did. It was business decision. He and Agnes never thought that Karen would become the star that she did. "Little Girl Blue": Richard calls Karen's album "s$#t" Rolling Stone interview, 1974 (July). Richard laughs at Karen, shuts down her fun. I phrased things wrong. I meant to say that he never said a kind word to or about Karen when she was with us. Teams work together. Richard made 90% of the decisions. Nobody liked him.
@improvguru hmmm....let's weigh this, shall we? karen's voice: sends pleasant shivers up your spine; richard's: makes your skin crawl! tough decision to make there! unbelievable!
@xbjllb First off, I wish that you wouldn't use disrespectful language on a Karen Carpenter vid. I don't know where you got your information, but Richard Carpenter is on record stating that he wanted Karen out front and off the drums as early as 1972/73. Yes, he was jealous. Karen stole the thunder which was supposed to be his. Not a nice person, not a good brother.
To find out who pulled Karen from the drums, look no further than the guy at the piano to Karen's left. Richard Carpenter was so jealous of Karen's greatness in everything she did that he had to take from her the one thing that made her happier than anything else.
Dear Karen, your mother, your brother and Tom Burris killed you. They killed an angel. I hope they burn in the hell for ever !!! - /// Please, rest in peace my sweet Karen, . . . my love !
@PullSomeTuber No, but Agnes did. She always resented Karen's fame, never called her a good singer. I would bet that she fed the fire of Richard's jealousy. This is the same woman who supplied him with Quaaludes and told Karen that she was not cancelling her wedding even though Tom Burris lied to her. Some mother, huh? Apparently on their first two albums, they had not yet decided who was going to be the lead singer. A and M said that Richard's voice wasn't going to be commercially successful.
@improvguru Sorry, but that's a bunch of crap. It was A&M, and all you need for proof is the group that replaced the Carpenters there... Captain and Tenille. They did the same exact thing to her and got her out from the keyboards to front and emcee, which she did brilliantly. That was the end of the Carpenters at A&M. Richard, jealous of Karen? In what crack universe? Richard had his problems, to be sure, but none of them was ever jealousy of his little sister.
