Doing a promotional tour in support of their wonderful new album Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, beloved artist Richard Carpenter spent some time in Japan and in the U.K.
While in Japan, where he and Karen drew crowds similar to the Beatles when they arrived in 1974, Richard made several television appearances and stops for radio interviews. Here, he is on Japan Radio:
His Japanese television appearances can be found on this thread at the A&M Corner discussion boards.
Karen Carpenter is not only a beloved icon in Japan. On the other side of the world in the U.K., the Carpenters have had Top Ten or Number One selling albums in every decade since their heyday.
Richard sat down with BBC's Top of the Pops and discussed the new project on December 14. Listen here.
The music of the duo had a profound impact on my life! I'll be sharing my own review of this album soon, but in the meantime, here's a few posts where you can read my reviews of each earlier album, and newer reviews taking a fresh look at their music years later. Additionally, if you're a fan of Karen and Richard, there are many, many articles here where I discuss their lives and art, including the time I finally met them in person.
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A very special thanks to those folks who constructed The Complete Carpenters Recording Resource, to "Rick- An Ordinary Fool" for so many rare scans, and all my friends on the A&M Corner boards.
My Original Carpenters album reviews:
My Revisited Fresh Look at the albums:
One of the wonderful things about growing up in the city of Downey, California, was that I would visit Middle Earth Records (a wonderful domestic and import record store), and would often see Richard browsing the music. Thanks for your post and love for two amazing people who brought a lot of joy and happiness to our lives during the 1970's.
ReplyDeleteAlways your pal,
Amazon Belle