Touch Me in Brazil

The video is like a superposition of rare medium images but equally great :):), on YouTube the same is the video clip that was officially broadcast on TV in 1981 and shows Karen and Richard in the Cristo Redentor.
 
Here’s that Sugar Loaf Mountain video in better quality again and widescreen.

I’ve always found this video very sad to watch. Richard looks sad in it, Karen looks terrible and although his wave to Karen as she goes by on the cable car was probably a friendly gesture at the time, it looks incredibly wistful and sad now.

 
Here’s that Sugar Loaf Mountain video in better quality again and widescreen.

I’ve always found this video very sad to watch. Richard looks sad in it, Karen looks terrible and although his wave to Karen as she goes by on the cable car was probably a friendly gesture at the time, it looks incredibly wistful and sad now.



Yes, sad to watch, and yet reminds me that this song is really well done (although I'd prefer to hear Karen more prominent in the chorus). Even at this late time, when Karen sings the words "Oh baby cause it feels so good" and she hits those magic low notes...I get the same chills she gave me 10 years prior.
 
This video is just bizarre in its surreal-ness. I don't know who directed it but it's odd on a conceptual level (those endless shots of Richard with the saddest look on his face juxtaposed with Karen, making it look like she's singing to him...) and it's just plain tragic on a visual level given how rail-thin Karen was. I'll never understand why Richard thought she was well enough to travel instead of being in a hospital. If he really did have control over her that was one time when he truly needed to demonstrate it.

It's so of the early 80s and a snapshot that's compelling in its weirdness. But I can never forgive Karen for choosing that yellow abomination over and over again to wear.
 
Here is a really old thread about the Brazil tour. Itchie Ramone was also with Karen.

Carpenters in Brasil '81. . .new photos to me

The facebook page for Sidney Junior is still active and contains many photos from the Barzil tour. He even did a write up in English of this tour which is really interesting to read.

"Brazilian Carpenters' Friends Club" By: Sydney Junior

DAY BY DAY OF BRAZILIAN CARPENTERS' VISIT (ENGLISH VERSION)
Sunday - November 1st, 1981

"Brazilian Carpenters' Friends Club" By: Sydney Junior

Credit to Sidney Junior for all info above and special thanks for preserving all these memories for us to see.

"Brazilian Carpenters' Friends Club" By: Sydney Junior
 
I found it interesting that in Sidney's English write up he says that most fans were flocking around Karen as if she was the star everyone wanted to talk to and get close to. Although Karen was at her lowest levels in appearance she still exhibited this stardom. I wonder how that made her feel?
 
Ican never forgive Karen for choosing that yellow abomination over and over again to wear.

I always wondered what possessed her to keep wheeling that outfit out, over and over again. It was an ugly colour, ugly design and only serves to accentuate how emaciated she was. Ironically, I thought Cynthia Gib looked great in it when she wore it in the movie.

I’m no expert but I don’t remember yellow EVER being in fashion to the degree that Richard and Karen wore the colour.

Carpenters-Made-In-America-Karen-yellow-sweats-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-inner-sleeve-photo-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-karen-carpenter-yellow-outfit-1981.jpg


There are many more examples from 1970’s This Is Your Life, Make Your Own Kind Of Music, the TV specials, 1972, 1973 and 1975 photoshoots and then again when she was pictured with Miss Piggy. Yellow everywhere!
 
Last edited:
I always wondered what possessed her to keep wheeling that outfit out, over and over again. It was an ugly colour, ugly design and only serves to accentuate how emaciated she was. Ironically, I thought Cynthia Gib looked great in it when she wore it in the movie.

I’m no expert but I don’t remember yellow EVER being in fashion to the degree that Richard and Karen wore the colour.

Carpenters-Made-In-America-Karen-yellow-sweats-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-inner-sleeve-photo-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-karen-carpenter-yellow-outfit-1981.jpg


There are many more examples from 1970’s This Is Your Life, Make Your Own Kind Of Music, the TV specials, 1972, 1973 and 1975 photoshoots and then again when she was pictured with Miss Piggy. Yellow everywhere!

Miss Piggy? Did she take any with Big Bird during the same photo session? That would be something to see!

While we are on the subject, can anything top Richard's canary-yellow suit at the 1974 Boston Pops?!
 
I always wondered what possessed her to keep wheeling that outfit out, over and over again. It was an ugly colour, ugly design and only serves to accentuate how emaciated she was. Ironically, I thought Cynthia Gib looked great in it when she wore it in the movie.

I’m no expert but I don’t remember yellow EVER being in fashion to the degree that Richard and Karen wore the colour.

Carpenters-Made-In-America-Karen-yellow-sweats-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-inner-sleeve-photo-1981.jpg


Carpenters-Made-In-America-karen-carpenter-yellow-outfit-1981.jpg


There are many more examples from 1970’s This Is Your Life, Make Your Own Kind Of Music, the TV specials, 1972, 1973 and 1975 photoshoots and then again when she was pictured with Miss Piggy. Yellow everywhere!
Photo two (the insert of MIA) would have made a MUCH better cover for the album!
 
Photo two (the insert of MIA) would have made a MUCH better cover for the album!

Carpenters-Made-In-America-inner-sleeve-photo-1981.jpg


If you zoom in on this high-res photo and look at the whites of Karen’s eyes, you can clearly see they’ve been touched up. This is presumably to cover her bloodshot eyes (as we can see from the other untouched shot of Karen from the same photoshoot - see that pic here The real reason Karen Carpenter was driven to anorexia - Independent.ie ).

Look closely at her right eye (as you look at this photo). The “white” of the eye to the right of the iris “spills” into her lower eyelid, which is the sign of a messy touch up where the size of the touching up nib was too large.
 
Last edited:
Here’s a close up shot - picture brightened to show the error.

2m2xrmp.jpg


Original versus retouched:

2vuwzlk.jpg
28bsne0.jpg
 
Last edited:
The yellow looked good on her in the early 70s when she dressed better and was vibrant and healthy, but the shades/designs of it worn when she got sick where terribly unflattering. I almost think it was a subconscious attempt to appear bright and sunny to distract from her deteriorating body and the darkness that filled those outfits. The whole "laughing on the outside, crying on the inside" metaphor couldn't have been accurate in describing much of her life.
 
Stephen just for the record those 2 photos are not the exact same originals. If you look closely at the one your labeled untouched, the button on her shirt is a complete button and to the left her collar is puffed out more also Karen's head is slightly tilted downward to her right side. The 2nd photo is not the same, look at the button it is not full but partially covered by the white sweatshirt and her lapel is folded more perfectly.

I'm not saying that they didn't touch up the 2nd photo because it's obvious they did, I'm just saying I don't think those 2 photos are the exact same original shot.
 
Stephen just for the record those 2 photos are not the exact same originals. If you look closely at the one your labeled untouched, the button on her shirt is a complete button and to the left her collar is puffed out more also Karen's head is slightly tilted downward to her right side. The 2nd photo is not the same, look at the button it is not full but partially covered by the white sweatshirt and her lapel is folded more perfectly.

I'm not saying that they didn't touch up the 2nd photo because it's obvious they did, I'm just saying I don't think those 2 photos are the exact same original shot.

Thats right, they’re not the same shot. One is Karen with Richard, the other is Karen sitting alone. My point was to show the effect of retouching and how Karen really looked by early-mid 1981. The hollows in Karen’s cheeks are gone and her bloodshot eyes are whiter in the second, retouched image. She’s paler and sick-looking in that first shot.
 
I'm not getting what this photo-retouching is all about. Is anyone surprised that an art department touched up photos for use on an album? That's what they're supposed to do - make the artist look they're best. And it usually involves smoothing out imperfections.
 
I'm not getting what this photo-retouching is all about. Is anyone surprised that an art department touched up photos for use on an album? That's what they're supposed to do - make the artist look they're best. And it usually involves smoothing out imperfections.

I think the point that's being made re these 1981 photos is that it was not just a case of touching up some imperfections in the pictures that were taken (anyone might not look perfect in every shot taken), but an attempt to cover up how unwell Karen was looking at the time, which would go beyond just an innocuous 'making an artist look their best' into more 'problem, what problem? There's no problem' territory.

Of course, this may have happened on other photos in earlier years - although Karen always looked drawn on the awful inner sleeve photo for the A Kind of Hush album to me.
 
I guess I never considered any of the prior album covers or inner photos could be altered. I guess we had no reason to believe they could be. It's clear that the MIA photos of Karen were altered to enhance her look. It's not surprising considering how she really looked. I wonder if they did the same for her solo album not the outtakes but the ones used on her official CD, hard to tell when they used so much of the crayon effect.
 
I wonder if they did the same for her solo album not the outtakes but the ones used on her official CD, hard to tell when they used so much of the crayon effect.

The pictures on the solo album barely look like photos so it would be impossible to tell. Presumably, because the album was mothballed, I'd guess that the photos never got to that stage of processing - and given how half-hearted the 1996 issue of the album was, I'd doubt the record company went to the effort of touching up the few images that were used in the press packs, etc.
 
Back
Top Bottom