Karen Carpenter Avenue: Russell Javors

Showing posts with label Russell Javors. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Karen Carpenter: The Unreleased Solo Songs - Truly You

"Truly You"

“Truly You” was written by Russell Javors but has remained unreleased to this day.

Karen was obviously impressed with Russell's talent as a musician, arranger, producer and songwriter as she chose four of his songs to record. "Room At The Top" is one of the four, though it's unsure whether or not she recorded it. She also recorded Javors' songs "All Because of You" and "Still In Love With You," both of which made it on to the album. Javors spent more time in the studio than the other Billy Joel band members. He took the time to help Karen learn her vocal parts on the songs he wrote as well as shaping the musical parts of those songs.

"Truly You"

Truly You (Lyrics)

Love when I'm feeling like this
You make me feel alive
You get that look in your eyes every time
And if you find a better way
Have to say that any way you want to play will be alright

Oh it's truly you
Ooh it's truly you
You for me
And it's me for you

Well I was weak and I lost my patience
I put the love on the line
You've got that love on your mind, so do I
It's to the way it seems
I have to say that you're the same
And if you're looking for a fight

Oh it's truly you
Ooh it's truly you
You for me
And it's me for you

If it's too new
Give it time
Yes, it's too soon
Tell the truth
We've got the rest of our lives

Well, I believe that a star will guide us
But there's a star inside
And I've been looking for a light in my life

If you turned and walked away
I'll have to say that if you stay
I'm gonna make it worth your while

Oh it's truly you
Ooh it's truly you
You for me
And it's me for you

Oh it's truly you
Ooh it's truly you
You for me
And it's me for you

Oh it's truly you
Ooh it's truly you
You for me
And it's me for you

Lyrics written by Russell Javors

If you have not yet purchased Karen's solo album it is well worth it... here's a link to purchase it at amazon. com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008E00706/ref=nosim/populasongsmu-20

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Carpenters Online Interviews Expanded Edition

My dear friends my new book "The Carpenters Online Interviews Expanded Edition" is now in complete release. It is available in both paperback and Kindle e-book formats

Click Here to see The Carpenters Online Interviews

Expanded Edition (Paperback)

This is the link to the Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00SYQIGSK/ref=nosim/populasongsmu-20

The paperback is a bit pricey, though it is a beautifully designed book and it would be all yours in your own hands.

The Carpenters Online is a book of interviews I conducted primarily between 2004 through 2008 with songwriters, musicians, authors, etc that have been in one way or another connected with Carpenters or Karen Carpenter. The expanded edition includes updated interviews with many of these same people as well as newly done interviews with more songwriters, musicians and engineers.

Some of the best new stuff in the book includes an updated interview with Russel Javors, who wrote a few songs on Karen's solo album and was also a musician and arranger on her album. He shared some great insights on Karen and her album as well as sharing a quite truthful insight about the shelving and viewpoint of her album. Russell Javors shares a great never before seen photo of Karen. There's an all new interview with Glenn Berger, an engineer who worked on Karen's albums, he admits he's never been a fan of Carpenters music but was amazed by Karen's voice while working on the album. One of the co-writers of the song "Prime Time Love", Danny Ironstone gave a great and very in-depth interview about this song that until now we knew very little about. Finally, I got an interview with Terry Draper, a founder of the band Klaatu and one of the songwriters of the song "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft," he gives us a never before known fact as to how the song actually made it's way to Carpenters.

Karen Carpenter (solo) Guess I Just Lost My Head

Hope you enjoy the book!!!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Behind The Music: Karen Carpenter (Solo)

Karen Carpenter who rose to fame in 1970 with her brother Richard Carpenter in the band Carpenters decided to record a solo album in 1979 when her brother entered rehab for a prescription drug addiction. She employed famed producer Phil Ramone to produce her album. Many well known musicians at the time contributed to her album including Rod Temperton, Bob James, Russell javors (Billy Joel Band), Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel Band), Louis Johnson (Brother’s Johnson) and several others. Due to differences in viewpoints the album was shelved. For many years Karen Carpenter fans speculated on the album and fially in 1996 it was released to the public. To date the album has sold more than one million copies worldwide and is a favorite amongst Karen Carpenter fans.

Karen Carpenter “Karen Carpenter” (Click Here for purchasing info)

The following article is a brief "behind the music" history of some of the musicians who helped to shape Karen’s solo album.

The Brothers Johnson features bass player Louis Johnson who also played bass on Karen’s album. “All About The Heaven” is featured on the Brothers Johnson’s 1980 album “Light Up The Night” which includes many of the same musicians on KC’s album and was written by Rod Temperton, who was a major contributor to KC’s album. Temperton wrote many of the songs on KC’s album including “If We Try”.
* A little trivia: Louis Johnson developed a crush on Karen while working on her solo album.

Brother’s Johnson “Light Up The Night” (Click Here for purchasing info)

Jazz musician Bob James arranged and orchestrated several of the songs on KC’s album as well as playing keyboards. In 1980 he released his album “H” which includes many of the same musicians that were on KC’s album. Listen to Bob James’ keyboard work on “The Walkman”, it sounds very similar to what we hear on “Remember When Lovin’ Took All Night” and other KC tracks.

Bob James “H” (Click Here for purchasing info)

Producer Phil Ramone was working on Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” album at the same time as he was working with KC on her album. The bulk of Billy Joel’s backing band (Dave Brown, Libery DeVitto, Doug Stegmeyer and Russell Javors) performed on almost all the tracks on Karen’s album. Ruseel Javors also wrote “All Because Of You” and “Still In Love With You”. Engineers Jim Boyer and Bradshaw Leigh worked on both Joel’s and Carpenter’s albums. Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me” contains the same sort of new wave drive as Karen’s “Still In Love With You”.

Billy Joel “Glass Houses” (Click Here for purchasing info)

Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall” was released at the time that Karen was recording her album. Rod Temperton was a major contributor to Jackson’s album having written three of the tracks and also arranging some of the musical and vocal tracks. Louis Johnson played bass on both albums. Karen’s one time boyfriend, Tom Bahler, wrote the song “She’s Out Of My Life”, which was rumored to have been written about his breakup with Karen. Rod Temperton originally wrote the song “Rock With You” for Karen to record on her solo album, but she rejected the song and Jackson recorded it instead and took the song to #1.

Michael Jackson “Off The Wall” (Click Here for purchasing info)

From 1976 to 1977 Heatwave was a hot commodity making hits with the classics “Boogie Nights”, “Always and Forever” and “The Groove Line”. All three hits were written by Heatwave’s main man Rod Temperton. In 1979 Heatwave released their album “Hot Property”, their first and only album produced by Phil Ramone. Engineer Jim Boyer worked on the heatwave album as he did Karen’s. Billy Joel bandmate Doug Stegmeyer’s brother Al Stegmeyer was an assistant engineer on “Hot Property”. Take a listen to the track “Razzle Dazzle”, the vocal arrangement at the end is very similar to the arrangement Rod Temperton arranged for Karen on the song “If I Had You”.

Karen Carpenter Avenue

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