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 During
this period Richard formed a second musical outfit with sister Karen, who now
sang with the marvelous voice millions would soon love. John Bettis was one of
its members – as were three more fellow students, Leslie Johnston, Gary Sims and
Danny Woodhams. With Carpenter and Bettis writing the bulk of the group’s
repertoire and Richard crafting the arrangements, they called themselves
Spectrum. This time Richard opted for a vocal approach.
Much of his inspiration came from the harmonies of
Mary Ford, the Beach Boys and the Association, but the arrangements were very
much Richard’s own. It was the new rock bands, however, that were receiving most
of the interest at the time, and Spectrum suffered in consequence. Although they
played support dates at such major venues as The Blue Law and The Whisky
A-Go-Go, the band was short-lived, and Richard and Karen were soon on their own
once more.
It was during this time that Karen saw a doctor
about her weight. From her early years she had been chubby and by seventeen and
weighing 145 pounds (too much for her height of five feet, four inches), she
felt she had endured it long enough. The Stillman diet was prescribed in which
Karen had to drink 8 glasses of water daily, avoid all fatty foods, and take
some vitamins.
She hated the diet but adopted it rigidly. Meeting
Richard and John after their performances at Disneyland, Karen would go on with
them to rehearsals. Following these, the group went to Coco’s coffee shop for
milk shakes, onion rings, and burgers – food she normally ate voraciously. But
she did not sway from her task and lost twenty-five pounds during these six
months in 1967 – and stayed at her new weight of around 120 pounds from then
until 1973.
 The taciturn Joe Osborn was the pivot of the group’s
next move. With Richard now believing that his arranging skills, his sister’s
singing style, and their overdubbed vocals were the three keys to their future,
Joe suggested they return to his studio. There, in mid 1968, recording all the
vocals themselves, they cut three tracks, a new composition by Richard, Don’t
Be Afraid, and Carpenter-Bettis compositions Your Wonderful Parade
and the a cappella Invocation. The results were ‘terrific,’
Richard decided after three sessions. They had hit a winning groove.
“Karen’s sound was there. It was just a matter of
the right song, and we were getting close.” He decided boldly that he and Karen
would form a new sound of their own, and to hell with fancy names. They would be
Carpenters, without the as a prefix, since Richard felt it sounded hipper
and in the same style as Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane.
Although
Karen still considered herself primarily a drummer who sang, Richard sensed
there was a lot more potential in her vocals. There were to be a number of bumps
on their new route to success, but as they now pulled away from the concept of a
band sound, luck was to smile on them.
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