ullalume
Well-Known Member
Wow. The video for Occupants wasn't filmed until Sept/Oct of '77, 5 months after Star Wars came out in US. I guess the film ran for a long time in cinemas.
⭐ Official Review [Album]: "PASSAGE" (SP-4703)
- Thread starter Chris May
- Start date
Wow. The video for Occupants wasn't filmed until Sept/Oct of '77, 5 months after Star Wars came out in US. I guess the film ran for a long time in cinemas.
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Myself...I considered--at the time--Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft,
to be a pop music masterpiece. Still do ! Loved it then, love it now !
I've listened to the song (album version) minimally hundreds of times.
The edited version I am not too happy with.
The artwork for the picture sleeve of the Single (the one with spaceship) was
apparently done by one of the fellows who worked on Star Trek. (Can someone verify this?).
Why not Lou Beach? The creator of the Album Cover artwork.
to be a pop music masterpiece. Still do ! Loved it then, love it now !
I've listened to the song (album version) minimally hundreds of times.
The edited version I am not too happy with.
The artwork for the picture sleeve of the Single (the one with spaceship) was
apparently done by one of the fellows who worked on Star Trek. (Can someone verify this?).
Why not Lou Beach? The creator of the Album Cover artwork.
In 1977, home video was still a toy for the very rich, and there were no movies released to home video. Even cable movie stations like HBO were in their infancy, so popular movies played for long times in theaters, sometimes for a year or more. It's very different today.
tomswift2002
Well-Known Member
It would be interesting to see the Occupants video remastered in 1080p, especially if the video had been produced with the intention of being shown on theatre screens.
Impossible. The video was shot in the NTSC video realm and has only a resolution of 480i. Even if the Carpenters performance was on film (which it wasn't in this case), all of the special effects were done in the NTSC video format and is limited to 480i.
Harry
song4u
Well-Known Member
The town I lived in wasn't exactly on the cutting edge of cinema releases, Lol. I was very surprised to see Carpenters on the big screen though.
Yes, I remember the Rimrock 4 theater in Billings running a big promotion on the day the original Star Wars marked one YEAR in that theater. And it played a couple more weeks beyond that.
dvakman
Well-Known Member
To me, the perfect edit of Occupants would be achieved by simply eliminating the DJ part in the beginning. The single edit cuts out too many other great moments, in my view, so my go-to still has to be the album version. It's too bad they didn't just go for it in all earnestness, rather than including the jokey beginning. It was unnecessary, and it suggests that they were maybe a little unsure of themselves in just putting it out there without a little ironic distance. Listening to it in 2016, that's just about the only part of the song that doesn't quite work, although I can live with it.
Hi
Hats off to Calling Occupants it got to no 1 in Ireland on 12 november 1977. It was their biggest hit there.
Eyewire
Well-Known Member
Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft was actually kind of a hit song in the small hick town I grew up in. It received a lot of airplay and all the kids at school dug it. The Carpenters were definitely considered cool when I was growing up! I was 11 when it came out, and I remember taping it off AM radio with my el cheapo mono portable AM/FM cassette recorder. I didn't hear the DJ-intro album version until many years later. That's why I love my Complete Singles CD set so much, because now I can hear the version I heard on the radio all those years ago.
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song is one of my favorites, and I also love I Just Fall In Love Again. I also love Anne Murray's version and it's the definitive one for me (mainly because it's the only version that got any airplay where I live), but the Carpenters' version is more endearing to me because IMO Karen sings it with a bit more conviction.
I love Passage. I liked it so much that I sought out a copy of the original, brighter sounding CD release in addition to the Remastered Classics edition.
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song is one of my favorites, and I also love I Just Fall In Love Again. I also love Anne Murray's version and it's the definitive one for me (mainly because it's the only version that got any airplay where I live), but the Carpenters' version is more endearing to me because IMO Karen sings it with a bit more conviction.
I love Passage. I liked it so much that I sought out a copy of the original, brighter sounding CD release in addition to the Remastered Classics edition.
LondonRobert
Well-Known Member
I agree, its the one disc that i find is a bit dull on the remastered classics version - I also play the disc from my carpenters collection Uk box set - although that includes the Occupants remix.......
Rick-An Ordinary Fool
Well-Known Member
100% agree, it's great listening to B'wana She No Home from the original 80's cd it's so much brighter/clearer it's almost like a whole new recording. I always found that track so muddy from the remastered classics.
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
I'd love to see B'Wana get a remaster. Am I right in thinking it's one of those rare examples of a Carpenters track that has never been anthologised?
LondonRobert
Well-Known Member
I love that track - it truly is a 'passage' and is possibly my favourite opening track on any Carpenters album, (although A song for You is wonderful too ).
It shows just how versatile Karen was as a vocalist - it's definitely a 'less is more' style track vocally - perfect example of arrangement, music and vocals fitting together seamlessly.
LondonRobert
Well-Known Member
Just realised I actually have on vinyl the edit of 'occupants' without the DJ. It's on an album i bought about 30 years ago - 'The Very Best of the Carpenters', dated 1982. It has the inner sleeve MIA pic as the front cover. Its an A & M release but says 'marketed by festival records retail marketing ltd' with an address in Auckland, New Zealand.
The spine has catalogue number of RML 52017.
Interesting as I've never played it before.
It was REALLY good not to have the DJ intro - but I wish they had JUST removed that and left the rest of the track , rather than cutting it off.
P.S. I just did a search and found this on WIKI - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Best_of_the_Carpenters
Interesting release ............
The spine has catalogue number of RML 52017.
Interesting as I've never played it before.
It was REALLY good not to have the DJ intro - but I wish they had JUST removed that and left the rest of the track , rather than cutting it off.
P.S. I just did a search and found this on WIKI - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Best_of_the_Carpenters
Interesting release ............
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Am I reading this correctly?
Three Singles culled from
Passage:
two of those three singles have the same Carpenter/Bettis ( I Have You)
song as the Flip Side.
And, all three flips are off of the Kind Of Hush LP.
Places an interesting spin to the word for 'profitable' !
Oh, I'm all for Capitalism, Richard and John should enjoy the fruits of their endeavors,
but I Have You , good as it is (and, I do love the song) need not be on two of three flip sides .
(Why not simply write a new song for the other flip side?--
Of course, that would entail spending money in order to record a new song, whereas the others were
already finished, from the Hush LP.)
And, yet....
Three Singles culled from
Passage:
two of those three singles have the same Carpenter/Bettis ( I Have You)
song as the Flip Side.
And, all three flips are off of the Kind Of Hush LP.
Places an interesting spin to the word for 'profitable' !
Oh, I'm all for Capitalism, Richard and John should enjoy the fruits of their endeavors,
but I Have You , good as it is (and, I do love the song) need not be on two of three flip sides .
(Why not simply write a new song for the other flip side?--
Of course, that would entail spending money in order to record a new song, whereas the others were
already finished, from the Hush LP.)
And, yet....
Toolman
Simple Man, Simple Dream
I thought that was odd at the time, too.
I'd guess it was rationalized by noting that the "All You Get..." single with "I Have You" didn't sell very well, and there weren't enough tracks (and enough tracks of single length) on "Passage" to be scavenging it for B-sides while it was still their current product. By the time "Sweet Sweet Smile" came out, eight cuts from "Hush" had already been on singles.
Weren't many cuts on ABBA's "The Album" but they came up with an interesting alternative by using a live version of "I Wonder (Departure)" as a "B" side. Great idea for their fans. I found that I liked the live version even better than the album track.
Surely there were enough unreleased tracks laying around that Carpenters could have avoided using "I Have You" twice, but I suppose it was an easy and economical move.
Another factor might be how well the "A" and "B" sides complement each other, but based on singles I bought, that doesn't seem to have been much of a consideration for anybody back in the singles era.
If you count "I Have You" twice. Really, 7 of the 10 HUSH tracks were on singles. The three that DIDN'T appear on singles probably should have:
You
One More Time
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
dvakman
Well-Known Member
Don't forget that "Breaking Up" was even released in Japan as a single.... with the B side...... drumroll please...... you guessed it.... "I Have You"!!!
Toolman
Simple Man, Simple Dream
Really? Didn't know that.
Carpenter/Bettis got their money's worth out of that one for sure.
tomswift2002
Well-Known Member
Considering the time period, the Carpenters could've even put a Christmas song on the "B" side (I've got a Corey Hart 45 where the A side is a non-seasonal song, but the B side is a LIVE recording of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer) from their recent Christmas Special.
GaryAlan
Well-Known Member
Just a reminder of Ray Coleman and his assessment of this album, in Melody Maker, 1977:
"Karen's vocals ....are lost when tackling material such as Man Smart,Woman Smarter and Don't Cry For Me Argentina.
It's a tragic comment on such talent, but Carpenters' fans can safely ignore this release."
With all due respect, I am glad I purchased this album in 1977 !
Another instance where one person (Ray Coleman) was expecting a certain type of 'material' to come out of Karen's mouth,
and, when it didn't he was disappointed.
(Apparently, he also felt Horizon was inferior,also !......Compared to what?).
I was not disappointed for the purchase.
(That is , purchase of the LP, Cassette, CD, Promo Thermal Cup, Promo Poster, Promo Shirt, Japanese SHM Disc.....
.......you get the picture !)
"Karen's vocals ....are lost when tackling material such as Man Smart,Woman Smarter and Don't Cry For Me Argentina.
It's a tragic comment on such talent, but Carpenters' fans can safely ignore this release."
With all due respect, I am glad I purchased this album in 1977 !
Another instance where one person (Ray Coleman) was expecting a certain type of 'material' to come out of Karen's mouth,
and, when it didn't he was disappointed.
(Apparently, he also felt Horizon was inferior,also !......Compared to what?).
I was not disappointed for the purchase.
(That is , purchase of the LP, Cassette, CD, Promo Thermal Cup, Promo Poster, Promo Shirt, Japanese SHM Disc.....
.......you get the picture !)
