Interpretations: 25th Anniversary

Carpenters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 7, 1995)
• Original Release Date: February 7, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000005IL8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,570 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This collection features three previously unreleased tracks, but they're beside the point. More importantly what is here are the sickly sweet vocals of Karen Carpenter, the lush '70s style production that's as hip as a wood-paneled station wagon or a wide-lapel polyester leisure suit, and songs that immediately stir up memories of the dentist office's waiting room. It doesn't feature all the hits, but "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Superstar," "We've Only Just Begun," and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (a bizarre late-take on psychedelia) are illustrative of Richard and Karen's abilities to make substantial pop-lite. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geniuses At Work, January 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Interpretations: 25th Anniversary (Audio CD)

Richard Carpenter is amazing. He took a scratch vocal of Karen trying out "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" and managed to get a totally finished record out of it (did the same earlier on "Now"). And work much other magic in this lush collection, beautifully mastered and sequenced. Richard at this point has remastered virtually every important Carpenters recording (listen to the original version of "Close To You"...it has almost nothing to do with the current version)...the Carpenters is the only act I can think of whose music keeps evolving over new releases with no new music actually being recorded. If you haven't by now been convinced Karen is one of the greatest pop voices of all time and Richard one of the great producers, this one will win you over.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy to be proved wrong, June 23, 2002

By 

Gontroppo "Music and Theology Lover" (Bathurst, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Interpretations: 25th Anniversary (Audio CD)

I have a distrust of remastering and remixing. So often, something is lost in the process. I hesitated to try Richard Carpenter's remixed tracks for years. But, boy, was I wrong! He has done his task professionally, and has done it with subtlety.

I love this album. It includes so many terrific songs that bring back memories. [We started listening to The Carpenters on our honeymoon ...]

Some interesting tracks:
From This Moment On features an interpolation of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier Book 1, Prelude no 2 into Cole Porter!

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft is an excellent version of the Klaatu original. [And some people still think it really is the theme song of World Contact Day!]

The A Cappella version of Without a Song

The songs have been thoughtfully put together to create a great program. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Easy To Miss The Point On This One, February 24, 2004

By 

James Fenos "music freak" (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interpretations: 25th Anniversary (Audio CD)

A lot of casual fans feel this album was an erstaz collection of hits, wrong. The point of this album was to pull the covers together. This is the second version, and better mastered, of this release. The first version of "Interpretations" was released with more tracks and longer liner notes in October of 1994 in England and Canada. "Without A Song" is an edited version, the original features Perry Como, John Davidson, and Ella Fitzgerald taking over the leads after the Carpenters overdubbed intro. Oddly enough, Karen and Richard recorded a version for themselves with their singing all the parts. This long version is available on "As Time Goes By."

The treasure here is "Trying To Get The Feeling Again." This is Karen at her rawest. Her vocal lead is allowed to "dry" giving her an edge not associated with her smooth sound. She could "sight read," the turning of the lyric sheet is a strong indicatior of this. Listing to this track almost makes you feel like you're at the recording session or better, listening to a demo as a friend would, the artist later asking fo an opinion or input on the track before it's finished. How intimate is that?

"From This Moment On" is Karen recorded on a mono audio track, Richard would later re-record his concert grand in stereo. This song is from the soundtrack to the 1980 television special "Music, Music, Music." Prior to this version, the song was performed live on "The Tonight Show" and various concerts.

The import version of "Interpretations" contain remixed album tracks and two ballads from "Lovelines." "Sing," "Desperado," and "Please Mr. Postman" are among the remixes, "You're The One," and "Where Do I Go From Here" are the two ballads from "Lovelines." Interesting to note that while this album was a collection of covers, two excellent tracks, "Baby It's You" and "I Just Fall In Love Again" weren't used. A lot of people feel, that despite Richard's comments in the liner notes abount the late discovery of "Trying To Get The Feeling Again," that this album was created to make that song a centerpiece and to "spoon feed" his audience with unreleased recordings. Whatever the reason, the theme of this album is indeed their cover work, which stands to honor the songwriters by their words being given such a beautiful voice.