Of all of the covers of Karen, I have to put Tori as number 01 so far. Cheers for Tori - and the whole team! - Actually, Paul Williams wrote the song for Crocker Bank in 1970. When I first saw and heard the commercials in 1971 - I liked it. Paul Williams was the singer on the commercial, but when Richard heard it - he was able to get a hold of Paul... and the rest is history!

This song was originally in a wedding-themed television commercial for Crocker National Bank in California in early 1970, with Paul Williams on vocals. It was released in September, 1970. It had Karen Carpenter's lead vocals and overdubbed harmonies by her and his brother Richard Carpenter. "We've Only Just Begun" peaked at #1 on the Cash Box singles chart. It also hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Paul Williams is an 83 year old singer/actor bur mostly songwriter, who has distinctive nasal twang to his voice. He has written more than a dozen timeless classics, and sung several of them. This was originally a jingle for a bank.

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

👍😎

If I’m not mistaken, I believe the writer was the immortal Paul Williams, who was not a sub-standard songwriter he had dozens of hits for other artists. My favorite being the rock opera phantom of the Paradise. He was also a pretty well-known actor in his day. Remember, he was one of the orangutans in the original planet of the apes movies

she is 20 and thats her studio at home

Hi Alan, I’m glad you enjoyed. My only Oh No moment was the video is dynamic and runs full screen (16:9) all the backing vocals were blocked. You had 4 more Tori’s and 4 more James’. But you got it! It was an Homage class recreation. Jim Wilkas was the mastermind on this one. Tori does her own engineering on her collection of short videos and one long video. She has had some audio only songs professionally recorded as far back as 2022. She has 5 songs on iTunes and the big streamers. She has covered many Carpenters songs as Karen and Richard are her heroes. You can see framed pictures signs shirts in her videos and rooms. She used to have a video of her Carpenters memorabilia collection but took it down. It’s huge, BTW. This is her first song totally in collaboration with Jim. I’ll link to the genesis video below. I’ll also link to a demo she made almost two years ago, where she tried for the first time to do a harmony all by herself. It explains a lot. To my knowledge she doesn’t write songs (yet?). Though she is a multi-instrumentalist. Piano, guitar and drums are next. There’s a drum kit next to her in this video. Not for decoration. Here are some links if KZread will let you see this. I’ve had issues with. This is the video that Tori made last October. The Bacharach/David Medley that Carpenters did in 1970 for the Tan Album “Carpenters.” Jim saw it in February and loved it but thought it needed “more Richard.” So he added that with himself. Jim is the gray haired man through this We’ve video. He showed Tori, she loved it an a partnership was born. More songs Carpenters and others are coming. kzread.info/dash/bejne/kaGFpcyBfJbMmbQ.htmlsi=gdOPmcUD--9ta3ID Next we have the video where Tori demonstrates making a Carpenters harmony. She based on Chris May making a demo with original Carpenters audio. He cowrote Carpenters: The Musical Lagacy. She shouts him out. At the end of 2023 Chris produced her cover of Georgia On My Mind, talk about foretelling the future. Wow. She didn’t know him then other than as an author. This will link you to Tori’s own KZread channel too. kzread.info/dash/bejne/qJWlsc6vgbLRqqQ.htmlsi=qQpoGYCPyl4A66pC A couple of short videos on Instagram as they tend to be longer in duration there. So show her instrument chops. Crazy On You by ❤ instagram.com/reel/C2nUEa9uYzG/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== She also be The Beatles together and apart. Here’s Maybe I’m Amazed. instagram.com/reel/C2yAxtiO1zc/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== . I hope this gives you some more about this amazing artist. Joe

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

Hi Joe , thank you so much 😊 I’ve pinned this so others can get the insights and information you have shared and the links 😊👍 capturing her video was hard , I’m not a great editor and I get my videos edited .. I normally avoid videos for that reason 😊 but I really am glad you sent me to this young lady and I’m liking forward to more content. Especially “ maybe I’m amazed “ the original which I’ve just uploaded my video analysis for the 11th April 😊👍

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

@@alan-reacts65I’ll go check that out! She has a treasure trove of short videos. Frustrating but now more full length videos are coming. I forgot to link her most recent single. Something To Believe In. A traditional ballad. As you can imagine with her voice, just so smooth. There’s audio and a video that’s just her singing. Joe kzread.info/dash/bejne/lIWJtMSjmc2nkqw.htmlsi=Kxt2bQ_LObEqhuyG .

This girl did everything herself and produced the overdub backing vocals from scratch. I really like Tori and her version of the Bacharac melody is unreal.. however I would love to hear Harriet do the same.

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

I’m going back to Tori very soon , I’m intrigued 😊👍

@jbs256

2 ай бұрын

For this video it was Jim Wilkas who was the mastermind. Yes, Tori has done some magic on her own. The Bacharach/David Medley was mind blowing.

She is also a recording engineer and has done a good amount of her own work, but this was done by MIDI_Jim, a very talented engineer and musician who also did the male backing vocals. Great comments BTW.

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

Jim actually had a good conversation with me in the comments he was so helpful and complimentary towards Tori .. and thank you for your kindness 😊👍

As I have been going back and listening to many of Karen's vocal performances on both studio and live recordings I can't help but wonder HOW KC learned to sing. There are some signature sounds to her singing, whether the vocal "fry" (slight breaking/croaking (sorry!) sound) or the way she dropped the placement of her lower notes into her chest voice so ably. Karen really knew how to sing, which is interesting to me, given that she thought of herself first as a drummer. I would love to know who, if anyone, she was emulating when she was becoming a lead vocalist. I'd love to hear from anyone who has read or heard about her influences. Naturally, Richard's time with his early band Spectrum would have honed his ear and voice for arranging those lovely harmonies they created. But Karen's voice shines as the lead voice in their work together. That fully developed soloist sound just seems to flow from her, especially starting with their 2nd album, (whereas her vocal sound was more raw on "Offering"). I have no doubt that Tori's voice also has its natural timbre and signatures, which while admittedly similar to KC's need not be merely a close mimic. Tori will do well to just "do Tori" just as her predecessor just "did Karen".

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

I know Karen and Richard had their college teacher Frank Pooler for music and choir. I think it was he that started to bring out Karen’s voice. He also wrote the lyrics to Merry Christmas, Darling in the 1940’s that he showed to his student, Richard. The rest as they say. Frank joined Carpenters on many travels. You can clearly see him in the black and white Australian concert. Conducting the off stage orchestra.

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

I love that I know I have d So much to learn 😊☝️ and better still I can learn from great insights and knowledge like this 😎

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

@@alan-reacts65 I corrected Frank’s name LOL.

Natural voice..👍👍.sounds like Karen ..

Timbre in her voice

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

It’s thier 👍😎

Alan, Paul Williams and Roger Nichols wrote it and it was originally used in a bank commercial, Crocker Bank of California. The video is on KZread with Paul singing. Tell me if you see my other message. I cross-linked and that may not fly. I see it but do you? Joe Edit: I see you saw it. Yay. Now this one is appearing only under newest.

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

I just replied and I’ve no idea what KZread does , comments are often delayed 😊 and yes the song writers , I remember now but didn’t know it was originally a bank commercial !! Anyway it’s late here so I need my beauty sleep 😴 look forward to your thoughts on my next TH reaction 😊👍

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

@@alan-reacts65 I definitely look forward to that and get some good rest! Oh and yeah, KZread is a mystery. Joe Edit: Oh and Tori is 20. Same age as Karen for the song.

Hi Alan - thanks for the positive review on our video! I'm Jim, the male vocalist, pianist, clarinetist, audio engineer and video editor. Tori is proficient at music production, and recorded her own stellar vocal parts, including videos, and sent them to me to include in this production I put together. Again, I thank you for your kind comments! - Jim This video is actually on my KZread page - it's here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/fG1pzsiDodKfhrw.html

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

@jimmididr hi Jim , thank you for taking time to help me fill in the gaps for the questions I had. Apologies for not digging a little deeper before the reaction but I just wanted to go in blind ( so to speak) I’m definitely going to your page and watch again , I guess if you could spare me moment , I’ve got lots of questions , but my main one is , how did the collaboration come about ? Or should I just go dig around 😊👍 again Jim , thank you it really is appreciated 😊

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

@@alan-reacts65I can fill in the public knowledge until Jim fills in the exact experience he lived. Last October, just after I was Algorythm’d (word?) to Tori, she dropped her original full version of The Bacharach/David Medley. That was my genesis of asking for reactions as I saw none and this was crazy good. Jump forward to February this year and Jim was introduced to Tori and this medley. He felt it needed more “Richard.” He added his accompanying vocals in the harmony parts. Showed it to Tori, she loved it, Jim released it. A collaboration partnership was born and We’ve Only… is the first one. I don’t remember if I linked that video. This is the Tori w/Jim Medley. Tori did everything on the right side (with a music backing track) Jim did the left side with the final video assembly. Joe kzread.info/dash/bejne/kaGFpcyBfJbMmbQ.htmlsi=kyr9z5q_wQ6uSUaC .

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

@@jbs256 cheers Joe 😊👍

@jimmididr

3 ай бұрын

​@@alan-reacts65 Hey Alan - Joe pretty much told the story of how I came across Tori's amazing voice! Part of the story is that I have been searching for a voice that could comfortable cover a Carpenters song for about 6 years. Since Tori had mostly short clips of several Carpenters songs on her pages, I offered to her to record an entire song. Having been a member of the now defunct BANDHUB Internet music recording platform, I had put together a few Carpenters songs with myself and some International musicians including a dear friend from the Netherlands who sadly passed away. Being the digital pack-rat that I am, I had saved all of the production audio and video to that performance. I generally used that with a few tweaks to produce a new version. After a few message exchanges with Tori, we planned out her recordings and videos to incorporate into my existing project. With careful audio mixing and tedious video editing, our project came to fruition. I knew without a doubt that the addition of Tori's beautiful voice would make for a fantastic recording. Neither of us ever imagined it would gain the popularity it has!! We are both very grateful!

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

@@jimmididr Hey Jim , so kind of you to fill in the gaps , given the internet’s obvious role in like meets ! Then all I can say is thank you , I’ve subscribed to your channel , I’m nosey and love to look around and enjoy learning .. I’ve already found some bits I want to react to so I’m looking forward to that .. just so you know I used to co- own a small uk independent record label, and we had a couple of bands that we signed and they outgrew us ( which is what we wanted ) we got them touring recording and their own talent got them the next stage .. so I’m always keen to learn about how artists get to that point of being able to make music for us.. thank you Jim 😊👍

Alan! It's my understanding that Tori has a long history of setting up audio-related presentations at her high school. The video you saw is a relatively recent collaboration with Jim Wilkas. Before this, she's been doing covers on her own on her sites, not just of Karen Carpenter, but other vocalists; and she has some of her own music. She has a fabulous ear. On her site is a video of her demonstrating how the Carpenters overdubbed their voices. In the video, she does all the voices and records them on a TASCAM (the professional division of TEAC) multitrack recorder. She plays the various parts singly then plays them all at the same time. In the video she mentions she also uses Pro Tools, which is a high-end professional sequencer that allows a user to record voices and instruments into a computer. Unlike a lot of cover artists, she doesn't just do the covers. She loves and reveres the Carpenters; in one video she shows the enormous amount of media about them. Regarding this video, I believe Jim Wilkas arranged all the parts and added his voice on Richard Carpenter's parts, so he knows what he's doing. In a video previous to this one, he supplements Tori on a video she'd previously done by herself. So I think he's a fan of Tori too. The neat thing is that he's obviously very knowledgeable about not only scoring, but playing various instruments.

@jbs256

3 ай бұрын

I couldn’t say it better myself, Christopher! Thanks for the added info. Alan this is more for the data files! Christopher has been following Tori, too! I was introduced to her last October. It’s been a ride. I hope you are well Christopher and I know more is coming. When and what, we shall find out. Joe

@christopheryochum3602

3 ай бұрын

@@jbs256 Hi Joe! :)

@alan-reacts65

3 ай бұрын

Christopher , Hello and thank you ☺️

Different tonality. I've heard better and near perfect

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

All opinions welcome 👍

@jbs256

2 ай бұрын

@@alan-reacts65 hi again Alan! Last week I attended the Carpenters 55th Anniversary Celebration. Tori was there and an invited singer. She sang 2 songs. Something In You Eyes (the song Karen died before being able to sing it) and the classic, Yesterday Once More. It’s just Tori and a pianist for Acoustic Night. I recorded it on my iPhone in 4K HDR so beware of stutter. I don’t know if it’s pro quality but I’ve gotten praise. I got it posted as the guy who recorded the entire show has an editing nightmare ahead of him. I felt it was good enough to post and I think I’m right. Of special note is the thumbnail. To all the critics there’s one person who likes what Tori is doing. He came to be the surprise closing guest and meet her. The Wizard came to Dorothy. Hope this is useful or just a little bit of history. Joe kzread.info/dash/bejne/p3dh0tV9l6vSYMY.htmlsi=d6EXnVYvWkxKjhae .

How are you relevant enough to react to any artist? The only part of this I liked was her video and singing. Do better Alan. Get a following

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

Hmm, maybe reactions and honest thoughts aren’t for you ? Maybe I’m not for you , but , it’s a free world , so feel free to dislike 👍

@alan-reacts65

2 ай бұрын

Btw , pinned your comment so it’s not hidden , you are entitled to an opinion 👍

@briank10101

2 ай бұрын

@KimO² just needs some oxygen, is all