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Friday, August 5, 2016

Karen Carpenter Disco

My friend Jimmy M mixed the entire Karen Carpenter disco album for fun.  He did a great job.  Since the album itself is rare I figured his mixes would be appreciated in a big way here.

JIMMY M.'S TAKE

Jimmy is just one of those people that was born in the wrong era.  Actually only a fetus when Karen was working on this album in 1979.  I don't think I've ever met anyone who has more love for the music of the disco era.  In the 90's he even got an opportunity to spin a retro night at a gay club in Phoenix.

As for the disco album, this was really a controversial release.  Herb Alpert the head of A & M considered it unreleasable.  But you can hear for yourself and I highly doubt you'll agree with him.  I think it was just a matter of the wrong time.  By 1980 the labels didn't know what to do with disco.  Not that a lot of great disco wasn't still being recorded but it was no longer holding 4 out of the Top 5 on the pop charts anymore.  It's kind of like what I would imagine will eventually happen to EDM.

Most of the label heads were rock people anyway so I'm sure they were glad to push music they understood better, I mean even new wave was a type of rock though it was often so danceable that it owed just as much to disco as rock.

Apparently Karen put up $400,000 of her own money for the recording of this album with A & M only contributing $100,000.  Even though it was produced by Phil Ramone the label still wouldn't release it.

Some of the songs in a remixed form appeared on The Carpenters' 1989 album Lovelines, released long after Karen died of anorexia.


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