Customer Reviews

Carpenters - Interpretations [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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This DVD is a version of the video of the same title, which was longer by a couple of songs and about 7 minutes.

Karen's singing is brilliant as usual and she again demonstrates that she could sing anything put in front of her by her brother, a master in arrangements and production - who could play piano with the absolute best. They were supported by an excellent band of musicians and the sum amounted to a truly fantastic sound.

The Carpenters are my all-time favourites and should have been there for the whole musical journey. However, Karen's untimely death from complications caused by anorexia nervosa which, it seems, resulted in her suffering heart failure, meant that the journey ended all too prematurely.

Karen is the main focus of attention on any Carpenters recording. Here is no different; but the videos stem from the 1970s when the Carpenters, for me, suffered from awkwardness and self-consciousness in front of the camera so, on occasions, the lip-synching doesn't always seem to work and Karen's facial and head movements seem affected and contrived. Strangely, some of the earlier videos look better, probably because she is behind a drum kit or has a microphone in her hand, Also, and the point about some of it being painful to watch, the later videos show Karen looking terribly thin and, particularly, on the penultimate video ("When I Fall In Love"), she reminds me of Nancy Reagan, with gaunt looks and a hair style which is very uncomplimentary - she looks more like 80 than 30!

Having said that, the only other things wrong with this are that there are no extras on this DVD and it is all over in only 37 minutes, which seems to be a desperate waste of disk space.

Onto the good things - it's got all the ingredients that Carpenters fans would expect, but "Reason To Believe" and "Bless The Beasts And The Children" are lovely surprise inclusions and the video of "Calling Occupants...." is better than the version seen on other collections of their videos (except Tony Peluso's DJ piece at the start, which is the same clip).

So should you buy it? Your choice, but you might find other collections of songs which are better. For die-hard Carpenters fans, yes, go and buy it.

1994 marked 25 years, since 1969, when the Carpenters, (Karen and Richard), signed with A & M Records and released their first album for that studio-"Offerings" a.k.a. "Ticket to Ride". (There is no difference between the two albums execpt for the name change due to the minor success of the single-"Ticket to Ride"). In 1994, A & M released the Carpenters album and VHS tape, "Interpretations". The name came from the fact that the Carpenters played songs written by other song writers, not by Richard Carpenter. A collection of songs played by the Carpenters and written by Richard Carpenter is the 2003 cd-"Carpenters Perform Carpenter". (Richard Carpenter wrote the music for the songs while, usually, John Bettis wrote the song's lyrics). "Interpretations" the VHS tape has some songs not included in the 1985 VHS tape "Yesterday Once More", (which was released as a DVD, in 2002, under the title-"Gold"). In cases where the songs in "YOM" and "Interpre." are the same, the video might be different. For example; both "YOM" and "Interpre." have the song-"Calling Occupantants of Interplantary Craft". "YOM" has a music video, while "Interpre." shows the song as performed in an ABC special. The DVD for "Interpretations, like the "Gold" DVD, ("YOM"), has better audio and video than the VHS tape. Like the U.S. release "Gold", "Interpre." has no other differences from the VHS tape, other than "song selection". There are No extras. According to the Grant Gurrererro website, which lists everything released by the Carpenters, the Japanese DVD verision of "Interpre." had no extras either. I do recommend the DVD of "Interpretations". I hope someday there will be other DVD releases of Carpenters music, including a "Live In Concert" for those people who do not have an all region DVD player to see the Japanese only, VHS/DVD, release--"Live at Budokan 1974".

A Retrospective of Richard and Karen Carpenter's career. 11 of them never released on video This particular video offers some rare footage from their TV Specials including a never seen before clip to "From This Moment On" A Great Anniversary Celebration

When I read that the songs were culled from various "performances" spanning 1970-1980 - and that Richard Carpenter himself was involved with the release-that for sure-I would finally get to see some rare live performances from "The Carpenters".I looked so forward to seeing Karen pour her heart out with live,haunting renditions of their popular(and not so popular)hits.The moment I watched/heard the 1st song,I knew right away they were playing the original recorded version-and that Karen wouldn't really be singing.I then figured "OK-we got a whole 10 yrs worth of various appearances-surely a few of them would feature real singing.Well, not a one folks.What a bummer! Richard, what were you thinking? How could you put out such drivel? Is this how you honor your legendary sister? Even televised documentaries on the famous duo don't show Karen actually singing live.They focus more on the sensationalism of Karen's eating disorder and Richard's bout with pills or drugs. When is somebody going to do this group justice and put out a DVD of the real thing? Till then, I'll stick with the CD's, thank you.

Even for a seventies child like me who had this music on the radio while I was finishing breakfast and heading for school on many a morning, this DVD leaves something to be desired.

One reviewer is correct in noting that the great songbird Karen Carpenter looks unsure of herself in most of these clips and that makes it somewhat difficult to watch. Plus, the DVD is way too short. They may have been better off with the excellent live Carpenters' performances from the Ed Sullivan show in 1970 included.

On the other hand, there's of course the beautiful music, which disarms much criticism. This also captures the spirit of many musical variety shows of the early 70s.

This also includes the almost forgotten "Bless the Beasts and the Children" which turns to gold as almost anything the Carpenters' touched. Even a bizarre tune like "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft," in the tradition of bizarre attempts at message songs of the era, sounds like sheer beauty and bliss out of Karen Carpenter's mouth. (The intro with the spooked-out radio DJ is a nice touch).

Watch this and "It's yesterday Once More" (oops! That song isn't included here...oh well).

First issued as a music CD, this DVD is a collection of videos set to the music from the CD. It is an excellent travel through time of Carpenters music and their different looks through a decade. There are performance clips from guest spots on variety shows as well as from their own specials. The thing you come away with is the realization that Karen Carpenter had an effortlessly beautiful voice made all the more evident when you compare her perfect phrasing compared to today's multi-octave shrieking 'singers.' Buy this collection if you have not yet.

This DVD is great! Some nice hits, and also some lesser known songs. Wow!

I enjoyed this collection of songs thoroughly. Each song was very interesting. The most I liked: Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - visually very pleasing- this is the first time I saw the video of this song, (They Long to Be) Close to You - the little drummer girl enjoed herself greatly playing the instruments and singing, and We've Only Just Begun - excellent song for the newlyweds and not only. The last song From This Moment On was especially interesting - Karen was sitting close to her brother playing piano - you could appreciate her clear voice and lyrics - very sensual. Short collection of songs but I enjoyed them greatly and I am going to watch them over and over again. I would like to add that this DVD has excellent picture and audio quality. Overall money well spent. Very good price, too.

Even if, like me, you have an appreciation of the Carpenters that goes beyond their camp appeal, this selection of performances from various TV specials functions only as camp. The hits are familiar and the performances so robotically professional that there's not much to do but gape at the awful 70s sets and Karen's brutally unflattering outfits. There are only a few songs, and the whole thing goes by in a flash. Probably not worth owning unless you're a Carpenters completist.

All of these performances were taken from their television specials which are hard to find. Karen's voice is pure as silk and Richard's arrangements are splendid! Combine teh two together and it's pure genius!

See the amazing performance of CALLING OCCUPANTS. It may just be a songs about communicating with UFO's but you've got to see the performance. How grand can it be?!

This VHS is worth purchasing. Don't think twice. Do it!