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SCOTT GRIMES 1989 S/T SEALED VINYL LP RECORD ULTRA RARE Canadian A&M SP 5244 Herb Alpert Richard Carpenter Produced AOR

Scott Grimes is Richard Carpenter's most ambitious production job, in my opinion. It is the farthest from a "Carpenters" sound of any of his post-Carpenters projects, although it remains absolutely identifiable as a Richard Carpenter production, mainly because of his multi-layered backing vocals throughout the album.

Scott Grimes was a child actor who got his start in the mid-1980s as a guest star on shows like "Who's the Boss." He had appeared on Richard Carpenter's first solo album, Time, singing lead vocals on the track "That's What I Believe."

Much of this album is synthesizer-driven pop music, with plenty of drum machines and pre-programmed keyboard tracks. Richard's keyboards are easily identifiable on a few tracks, and Carpenters-era musicians Joe Osborn and Tony Peluso put in appearances on a few tracks.

Scott Grimes sounds vaguely like Michael Jackson, with his well-developed yet thin, high-pitched voice. Between the very contemporary-sound material and the arrangements for a higher voice, I don't find myself wondering what Karen would have sounded like on any of these songs -- I don't think this is the direction the Carpenters would have gone if Karen had lived through the '80s.

Most Carpenters-like on this album are the songs "Show Me the Way to Your Heart" and "What Am I Gonna Say?" (which is the only song on the album actually written by Richard). "Chance in a Million" is my favorite track on the album; it is a lovely ballad with an incredible string arrangement by Richard. "Chance" is unusually spare for a Richard Carpenter track, in that there are no backing vocals and the accompaniment is only strings and piano (with a sax solo).