Brief Clip from "World Popular Song Festival," Tokyo 1970

Sabar

Sabar

Well-Known Member
Sorry if this has been posted already. This brief clip of the Bachrach Medley was recently posted on YouTube. It's the first time I've seen anything from this performance. There seems to be some discrepancy about the actual name of this event. The person who uploaded it to YouTube (thanks, JackWilder64a!) says it is from the "World Popular Song Festival," Tokyo 1970. Simon Worsley's terrific FB page refers to this event as the "Tokyo International Music Festival" sponsored by Yamaha, November 18-23.

 
Sabar said:
Sorry if this has been posted already. This brief clip of the Bachrach Medley was recently posted on YouTube. It's the first time I've seen anything from this performance. There seems to be some discrepancy about the actual name of this event. The person who uploaded it to YouTube (thanks, JackWilder64a!) says it is from the "World Popular Song Festival," Tokyo 1970. Simon Worsley's terrific FB page refers to this event as the "Tokyo International Music Festival" sponsored by Yamaha, November 18-23.

Click to expand...


You know, it's interesting...recently, our much-appreciated moderator @Harry suggested that the Carpenters "live" was, in his view, inferior to their recorded music (Harry, if I've misinterpreted your comments please hasten to correct me).

What I took from this video, which I enjoyed very much, was - I think there's a definitive time where the Carpenters were "better" or maybe "more fun" live, and that was in their earlier days, when Karen - like in this video - is playing drums and there's just a sense of excitement and...struggling for the right words...passion...?...anyway, I think it's accurate to say that as the years went by, their live act - while more "professional" in some ways - became somewhat stilted and formulaic.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to keep singing the same songs thousands of times, and try to maintain the same level of passion and intensity.
 
lotus said:
Hello, Greg.
Here's some information for you.

[YAMAHA' page] 第1回東京国際歌謡音楽祭(第2回より「世界歌謡祭」に名称変更) The 1stTokyo International Popular Song Festival - ヤマハ音楽振興会
[Wikipedia] World Popular Song Festival - Wikipedia

Carpenters came to Japan, on 18 November 1970. and left at 23 November 1970.
They came with only a manager and the band members.
The band members were Bob Messenger, Doug Strawn, Danny Woodhams, and Gary Sims.

The press conference was held on 19 November 1970. It took 2 hours long.
And the next day (20 November), They played at the festival as a guest performer.
They were the last performer on that day, and scheduled to start at 9:30 PM.
But, the festival took a long time, and they had to start after 11:00 PM.
"11:00 PM" was a critical time for the audiences came there by train.
If they watched the Carpenters, they had to miss the last train to take them home.
Unfortunately, "Close To You", "We've Only Just Begun" did not hit in Japan.
So, the 70 percents of the 10,000 audiences decided to go home, while Carpenters playing!
Anyway, Richard & Karen played about 20 minutes, seeing so many audiences leaving.
But, the people in music business saw the show and said "Wow, what a great talent appeared!"

The set-list is the following. (page 97 of "Kyodo Magazine Mook21")

1. Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
2. All I Can Do
3. Ticket To Ride
4. Sacre Bleu (I Fell In Love With You)
5. Cinderella Rockefella
6. We've Only Just Begun
7. Bacharach/David Medley (short version, like that on the 3rd album)
8. (They Long To Be) Close To You

The audio of this show may have been recorded, because it was a big festival.
But, the video may not have been shot.
Because the Carpenters were not famous (in Japan) then, and filming costs were very high.
Anyway, I have never seen a bootleg DVD/CD of this show.
But, you can see some photos in the covers of Japanese EP/LP.

(1) EP "Superstar" [King record, AMS-33]
Yuko Ogura said this is the photo at the festival. (page 92 of "Kyodo Magazine Mook21")
You can see Gary Sims stand in very high position (behind Karen).

35954754584_8c1ffab448_n.jpg


[Discogs] Carpenters - Superstar lang_update=1

(2) LP "Golden Double Deluxe" [King record, AMW-31.32]
The front cover photo was probably a shot for a promotional use.
I don't think they used the grand piano on the festival stage.
On the back cover photo, Richard wears T-shirt and gold chain.
But, the curtain is the same one as we can see on the video of 'Hedva & David' (the winner).
So, this might be a rehearsal scene. (That's why Richard wears T-shirt.)

36650006801_a9f0ba74ba_n.jpg
Front cover

36650006821_a8a5c1682a_n.jpg
Back cover

[Discogs] Carpenters - Golden Double Deluxe

(3) The other photos of the EP/LP covers
EP "Hurting Each Other" [King record, AM-130] (maybe, the cover is also a rehearsal scene)
LP "Golden Prize" [King record, GP-206] (maybe, the liner notes' photo is an off stage shot)
LP "Close To You" [King record, AML-80] (maybe, back cover, and the liner notes' photo)
and so on... (I am not a hard collector, so I don't know about the other compilation LP.)
I think 'King record' was not given so many photos from A&M.
So, they used the photos of 'Japan 1970' for their EP/LP.

Here is a Richard's comment (page 37 of "Kyodo Magazine Mook21")
(The following is my transcription from a Japanese text, not a exact English by Richard.)

"The big hit of 'Close To You' in the UK surprised me very much.
Because I have never thought about the international success.
And then, I was told that an offer has come from Japan.
They offered us a performance at a festival, and doing a promotion in Japan.
What??? Japan??? Karen and I looked at each other.
It was so strange... How did Japanese know us?
Of course, I learned the history, and I knew a country called Japan.
But, I knew nothing about the pop-music scene in Japan.
We were just the kids then..."
Click to expand...

Thank you, Sabar. What a wonderful & amazing find!
And, I totally agree to the opinion of David A.
I love their live performances in the early days, because of their passion & intensity.

I have never seen this video on any TV broadcasting in Japan.
Probably the Japanese youtuber "JackWilder64a" had some connection to YAMAHA or someone (TV crew?) shot this video.
Maybe the full footage still exist in somewhere in Japan (or in the Richard's vault), I don't know...

I have already posted the details about this festival in the other thread (Carpenters first performance in Japan, 1970)

But, after seeing this video, I realized that the photographs I mentioned in my old post were
all taken from the soundchecks or the promotional photo sessions.
And now, I have known that the cover of the EP "Superstar" [King record, AMS-33] was not taken at the festival stage.
That photo must have been taken in Japan at that time, but, the clothes they wear & stage settings were a bit different...

Anyway, the correct name of the event is "The 1st Tokyo International Popular Song Festival".
When the 2nd festival was held in the next year, the name was changed to the "World Popular Song Festival".
 
If that video was from 1970, then I'm sure the duo and their backing group were enjoying the touring and live performing more. My recollections of seeing them live at that time was that the show was more enjoyable to THEM than it became in later years. They were making every attempt to sound like the records they'd made and did the best they could - and their youthful energy aided in that effort.
 
I much prefer the slower-tempo version of this medley that evolved in live versions by 1974-1975. The early versions, like this one, performed at break-neck pace, never sounded right to me. I recall Richard saying he didn't like this fast tempo either, but they had to do it this way in order to fit the track on the album, Carpenters. But that doesn't really explain why they played it so fast live in 1970.
 
@Beto thank you so much for sharing that extra clip. Dare I hope that their complete appearance at the festival is out there somewhere?
 
Billy Rees said:
@Beto thank you so much for sharing that extra clip. Dare I hope that their complete appearance at the festival is out there somewhere?
Click to expand...
Thanks to you for sharing such valuable Carpenters material on your channel. The same day this video was posted I downloaded it for a personal collection, that's how this clip was saved in my PC for more than two years. What I don't understand is why it has been re-posted (on fb I think) and edited to 42 seconds being already 1:25 minutes so short.
 
Beto said:
Thanks to you for sharing such valuable Carpenters material on your channel. The same day this video was posted I downloaded it for a personal collection, that's how this clip was saved in my PC for more than two years. What I don't understand is why it has been re-posted (on fb I think) and edited to 42 seconds being already 1:25 minutes so short.
Click to expand...
Thank you Beto, I'm really glad you downloaded it when you did. I originally saw the shorter one on Facebook too!

Hopefully someday, if it all exists, it might get uploaded somewhere.
 
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