Customer Reviews

Transmissions

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Carpenter's owned the charts in the early 70's. With their soft, melodic sound and soothing harmonies, Karen Carpenter fronted the most popular brother and sister act since Fred & Adele Astaire. The Carpenters paved the way for future brother and sister superstars, Donny & Marie Osmond; however, their music and lasting appeal was unparalleled, no one could come close. This collection of LIVE tracks is basically the 1974 King Records release, "Live In Japan" but the one thing that makes it worth the purchase is that this collection features the alternate concert recorded for "Live In Japan". A few more "mistakes" (if that's even possible with the Carpenter's) are noticeable in this digitally mastered recording. Tony Peluso fumbles in his DJ voice, falling off the BEATEN track from the "scripted" dialog. No doubt, poor Tony most likely got a "BEATEN" from the perfectionist CARPENTERS after that show!!! Although, Karen too screwed up in "Sing", forgetting briefly that she was suppose to sing it in Japanese. Does it really matter though? No. Karen could do what she wanted to...she owned the best voice of the turbulent and crazy nineteen seventies! The sound quality is awesome. I almost like it better than the show that appears on "Live in Japan" lp (also available on CD). There are a few BONUS videos from their 1974 show: Close To You, Jambalaya, and Yesterday Once More (viewable via Quicktime). Not exactly the selling point for me. The BOOK that is attached to the CD casing (which is an actual BOOK)is loaded with RARE photos (yes a couple even moderate fans may not have seen before). All in all, it's worth the $20 bucks it can be found for!

I bought the CD basically because I think I have everything else by the Carpenters. It does have some different things on the CD which makes it well worth the purchase. Being a fan from way back, I love anything different by the Carpenters. Karen's voice, well, it's the best.

I did give the CD a five star. The book part, written by Jeffrey Tobin I believe, was less than I would have hoped for. I found it to be wordy, he gives the writers, producers etc of every song on the CD in such a way that a reader loses the whole thread of the "review". I'm surprised no one edited it, or if they did, they didn't cut a lot.

As I was reading the book, I got the impression that he didn't much care for the Carpenters, that if someone read that before purchasing the CD, they probably wouldn't purchase it. In fact, what I got from the book , is that he only likes about five Carpenters songs.

Why anyone would attach that to a CD is beyond me. I'm all for unbiased opinions, I don't think his "book" is that.

Of course, Karen and Richard could have done "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and I would have bought that as well.

He does criticize some of my favorite songs done by the Carpenters over such things as simple little glitches etc. For instance, the Christmas albums. He doesn't say much about them at all. In my opinion, they are some of the best out there. Karen's voice is great with that type of music. He just glosses over them, saying how they didn't achieve the sales or ratings etc etc. I still hear her Christmas music a lot of places and I live in Mexico!

Anyway, buy it for the CD, definitely NOT for the book part.

Greatly disappointed. Very poor production. In fact it really is more of a cheap bootleg recording. I am sure Richard Carpenter shook his head in disbelief when he found out about this rip off project. Richard only produces the best quality recordings and would have had nothing to do with this release. I am thankful it has been discontinued!

I did not care that much for the music disc. The booklet has information about the Carpenters that the fans already know about them. It seems some of the photos have been previously published elsewhere.It was okay but I probably would not buy the selection after what I know after purchasing it.

Always great to hear our beloved Karen singing live. I especially appreciated how great the audience response was...very lively and appreciative of both Karen and Richard. Similar to the Live at Budokon, but still worth having for the die-hard Carpenters fan!