Week #27: Video Poll: "Yesterday Once More"

[Chris May]

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of my friends here at A&M Corner!!

To kick off the New Year, the next couple of weeks will feature the (2) popular Carpenters video releases.

This week's video of the week is "Yesterday Once More". Please vote for your favorite Carpenters video from this release and tell us why you picked it.

NOTE: For those of you that own the foreign release of this compilation, "I Need to Be In Love" has been included. -Chris

All images provided by David Grant @ http://www.grantguerrero.com/carpenters/carindex.html

 

[andywithaz]

Only Yesterday.

 

[Murray]

My favorite was always ALL YOU GET FROM LOVE..., until I got a (Hong Kong bootleg) copy of the Japanese DVD a couple of years ago on eBay, and finally saw the video for I NEED TO BE IN LOVE, which became my new favorite.

It's the only Carpenters "promo film" that doesn't show the C's miming to the record. Rather, it tells a story, and allows Karen and Richard to do a little acting. I love to see Karen smile after the guy across the aisle raises his glass (to toast her beauty I suppose). She had a beautiful smile...

I wonder why this gem was left off of the North American version. I was hoping that it would be included when the collection was finally released on DVD as "Gold", and was very disappointed when it wasn't.

Murray

 

[Mark-T]

By and large, most all the video promos are awful. A&M clearly did not know how to present them visually.
Of the lot, my favorite is Superstar.

 

[JohnnyAngel]

My vote went to "Only Yesterday" I love to see Karen at those gardens. Simply beautiful

 

[SillyLoveSongs]

Say Chris, this is kinda neat.

(I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of having helped create this collection).

I voted for "Ticket to Ride" - not just because I am an old Beatles fan but I recall how amazing it was to transfer the original film (from that TV special which escapes me) and have it appear "crisp and clean" enough to look like it was originally shot on video tape. Karen's close-ups are fantastic. I believe it was filmed on her birthday if I am not mistaking.

We of course shot the opening of RC's hands on the keys in the music room at Newville.

Glad the fans are still enjoying this - it was fun making it.

Cheers!

 

[Jeff]

Ticket To Ride. This is the duo at kick-off. RC's snow blindness is kinda funny thru-out.

Jeff

 

[Chris May]

Say Chris, this is kinda neat.

(I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of having helped create this collection).

Hey Mark!! Nice to see you here again!

I wanted to know why "I Need to Be In Love" was not included in the original domestic release, but added on the subsequent foreign releases? -Chris

 

[Harry]

I went with "Ticket To Ride" as well. That any kind of video existed at all of this tune amazed me the first time I saw it when the VHS came out all those years ago.

I've since upgraded this collection of videos a seemingly endless number of times. First I got a VCD from somewhere in Asia, then a Japanese LaserDisc, then that re-sequenced DVD from Brazil, then the GOLD DVD.

I've yet to find the one with "I Need To Be In Love" on it (thought I've seen it on fuzzy tapes). The problem is all of the many titles this collection had, and the fact that region coding might be a factor, and that websites don't always spell out some of these details. I'd like to know of an exact source/link, where I could order the DVD with "I Need To Be In Love" that will definitely play in Region 1/NTSC.

Harry

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

My vote goes for "Only Yesterday".

I cannot help you, Harry.
VHS is still available in Japan.

VHS
I Need To Be In Love-Top Of The World
POVM1019
http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail.asp?sku=691522

DVD(Japanese region)
Yesterday Once More
http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail.asp?sku=747087

I think almost all the DVD "Yesterday Once More" or "Gold" Japanese releases have "I Need To Be In Love". [Gold - Greatest Hits (Dvd + Cd) 2003 Japanese release was Region Free but didn't have the video, because it was made in the E.U.]

I just found another Region Free Gold on the web but it doesn't have this song.
http://www4.cd-wow.us/detail_results_2.php?product_code=14395
I read about someone who bought CD on the site. His CD was shipped from Hong Kong. So someday the site may have Region Free "I Need To Be In Love".

Twenty-two Hits of the Carpenters-Gold CD (CD + DVD)[2003.1] has the video.
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5570769&cart=222417404&style=music&Bab=E

Sakura

 

[Chris May]

His CD was shipped from Hong Kong. So someday the site may have Region Free "I Need To Be In Love".

I bought my DVD from an import dealer a couple of years ago and it was a region-1 disc from Hong Kong and plays in my domestic DVD player just fine. It is definitely an official release. It includes the "I Need to Be In Love" video. I'll keep an eye out for you... -Chris

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Only Yesterday

Love how it starts with Karen in the studio with headphones on, it is yet this very video that I see how Karen would have looked recording all these songs in her portfolio, so serious at her craft and yet so gorgous. Also love the outside gardens too.

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

I love Karen in the studio & in the garden of "Only Yesterday" and "From the Heart Come the Soul" video!


Chris from Palm Springs,

Would you let me know how you distinguish Region 1 from Region Free?

Where did you get your avatar, Ticket to Ride/All I Can Do, Japanese release?

Sakura

 

[JohnnyAngel]

Hey Sakura!:


I think he found it on the following link:

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ap5k-ymd/45-1970.htm


Regards

Jorge

 

[Chris May]

Chris from Palm Springs,

Would you let me know how you distinguish Region 1 from Region Free?

Where did you get your avatar, Ticket to Ride/All I Can Do, Japanese release?

Sakura

Hi Sakura--

Region-free DVD's have a "0" on them. They are multi-region. DVD's that are coded are also marked with the number that corresponds with their coding. As far as the region goes, my DVD player reads both region-1 (U.S. or Canada) and of course region free DVDs, which are coded for all regions. To the best of my recollection, the Hong Kong release of "Yesterday Once More" was a region-1 only, but I may be mistaken as it has been filed away for a couple of years now. It seems it would make more sense to be region-free, but I can't remember. What I DO know is that it can be played on domestic DVD players here in the U.S. with no problem.

As far as the avatar goes, I did not get it from the site that JohnnyAngel mentions, however that site does have a lot of the Japanese 45 covers. I actually took a full size shot of that cover and condensed it down to show here. I haven't seen others with that avatar, so I thought it would be something a little different. -Chris

 

[SakuraSYayoi]

Thank you, Chris. Yes, I see the cover for avatar for the first time.


Jorge,

On A&M Records.com also has the cover.


Has anyone heard Raspberries' or Eric Carmen's "Ticket To Ride"?

Sakura

 

[close2u]

My pick is "Ticket To Ride" -- when I first purchased the video (back in 1990) it was my LEAST favorite... I don't know why... but it has really grown on me over the years. Karen was so beautiful and there's something so innocent and youthful. She comes across so very honest. She always did, I guess, but this is a very special video.

Randy

 

[Chris May]

I too purchased this release for the first time on VHS in 1990.

My vote went for "We've Only Just Begun" because it was the very first time I had actually seen the "real" Richard and Karen on the screen. Until then, it was Mitchell Anderson and Cynthia Gibb in "The Karen Carpenter Story".

I was only about 13 at the time, so watching that opening, with the aerial shot of the A&M lot on La Brea, with the huge "Carpenters" billboard, leading into Richard's hands on the keyboard, I was stoked! I've always valued it as the first real glimpse at this brother/sister duo in performance. -Chris

 

[davidgra]

I have to go with "Please Mr. Postman" on this one. Definitely not my favorite Carpenters song, but without a doubt the video I watch most often.

What can I say? I'm a true Disneyland addict. Karen and Richard at "The Happiest Place on Earth" is as good as anything could possibly get.

David

 

[enigma]

I went with Only Yesterday as well. Not only do I love this song but I also like the location and though its just R&K walking through the gardens I love the nice scenery and someday I woulde like to visit the place they shot the video it looks like a nice place.

 

[SillyLoveSongs]

Hey Mark!! Nice to see you here again!

I wanted to know why "I Need to Be In Love" was not included in the original domestic release, but added on the subsequent foreign releases? -Chris

Nice to be here every "Now and Then" Chris - Thanks.

Hmmm. To be honest, I think it was our limitation to keep the video to under 1 hour in length. A&M and their, er, wisdom.

You may know that originally, "Calling Occupants" was to be on the U.K. release and not on the domestic but they chose to keep the collection the same all around. Initially anyways. (I would sure like to have a detailed history of ALL the world-wide releases).

I'm wondering now if "INTBIL" wasn't considered a "hit" as the others may have been but I recall we did consider it and of course, we had fun razzing Mary and her acting debut.

Hope I can provide additional info in the near future.

Cheers!

 

[350hunny]

This is my very first vote here and it is for I Need To Be In Love.
I like it because it is the only clip where Karen and Richard appealed to the audience not by singing the song during the few minutes but by playing a role that reflected their self-image and their lifestyle.

This video has a few interesting things to find:Richard's wife to be, Mary appears (she told me that she reviewed the clip before its release on video), Richard smokes!, single version and what's not.

I wish they had made story-telling promo vidz like this. I guess Jerry Weintraub could have encouraged the two to do so.

 

[aaflyer98]

I voted for "Touch Me When We're Dancing"...my all time favorite Carpenters song for many reasons! After a long hiatus, our duo had returned in 1981 and this was a Top 20 hit (#16 Top 40 #1 AC) and it was the year I graduated high school. I was so thrilled to have them back...even more so now, knowing about what they were going through then.

 

[PJ]

There are several fav video films here -Hurting Each Other (studio footage) , Only Yesterday , Please Mister Postman , All You Get ...., Calling Occupants ....

Overall my fav is I Need To Be In Love ....a mini film in it's own right ...Carpenters were progressing with this release & really more footage of this quality was needed on later videos ...probably due to time & effort required ....mainly studio videos were shot 1977 > 1981 period ...I Need stands as a great film & record of a Carpenters classic

Peter