Songs Special (NHK Documentary)

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newvillefan

newvillefan

I Know My First Name Is Stephen
I found this documentary posted in a thread over at the Steve Hoffman forum and it's new to me so I thought I'd share it here. This aired in April, 2009 to Japanese audiences.

If you've never seen this, you are in for an amazing treat at 24m55s. The documentary itself is mostly in Japanese but you get to see/hear Richard in some new interview segments (in English obviously). There is one very touching moment where he talks about Karen's passing and how that singlehandedly ended his career. The video should start playing after a brief advertisement.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjE0MzUwMjA0.html
 
Yes, very touching, especially the piano ending with current Richard and videos of Karen. The Japan audience...always so graceful!! I love the ending photo of Karen looking up to the heavens.
 
I wish something like this could have been tacked on to the ending of some official video, the ending of Richard playing Close To You with those slides of Karen is just breathtaking, the stage, the large screen, it was all done so professionally and tasteful. It's stuff like this that should be preserved on DVD forever, instead of watching it on some u tube channel. The quality of this is terrific. The emotion in Richard is so apparent.
 
Chris-An Ordinary Fool said:
I wish something like this could have been tacked on to the ending of some official video, the ending of Richard playing Close To You with those slides of Karen is just breathtaking, the stage, the large screen, it was all done so professionally and tasteful. It's stuff like this that should be preserved on DVD forever, instead of watching it on some u tube channel. The quality of this is terrific. The emotion in Richard is so apparent.
Click to expand...

Totally agree Chris. When they bring the lights up and it's Richard playing and Karen on that huge screen, I don't know...it kinda reinforces her loss all the more. He looks very alone in that big studio. It's beautifully shot and lit though.
 
Absolutely, and the way it was video taped and the use of camera angles really allows the viewer to share in that loss, it gave me goosebumps. This would have been perfect to include on the 40th Japan box set (the DVD disc).
 
Whoa! That was a find, Stephen. In this video I feel like I've seen the "real" Richard for the first time since that great BBC radio interview with him in '93.

The gravitas of her dying hitting him personally really hit home. As a profoundly complex and artistic fellow, he NEEDED her to voice that part of his identity. And she NEEDED him to supply her with THE BEST music to float that voice on.

When Phil Ramone in his 1996 release of KC's album stated the phrase about Karen leaving Richard as being "truly beyond the realm of possibility", I thought, deep down, that Richard, or A&M/Poly. . .whatever owns whatever. . . . may have "asked" Ramone to write such "pro-Richard" dialogue. Now, I think it's true.

Genetically, physiologically, chemically, psychologically. . . .even spiritually, dang nam-it. The two of them really were meant to be a unit. . .

Karen picked Jan '79 as the start of her anorexia.

Richard was in suicide mode and A&M "suggested" Karen leave Richard. . . . he was drugged up and 1978 was a poor sales year. They offered her Ramone if she'd leave Richard. . . . and 6 weeks into his personal hell she accepted their offer - as Coleman mentions - the RED "SOLO ALBUM" confrontation.

Interesting that she focussed her guilt of accepting this offer against Richard as the start of her compulsion - Jan of '79. Her eating disorder seems to have started around the recording of Mr Postman. . . .when RC mentioned it first gave him "pause for thought". . . Oct of '74. . . . .So obviously Karen's anorexia had nothing to do with the Solo project.

Rambled again. Great piece of footage. Richard was real.

Thanks Stephen.
 
ullalume said:
Whoa! That was a find, Stephen. In this video I feel like I've seen the "real" Richard for the first time since that great BBC radio interview with him in '93.

The gravitas of her dying hitting him personally really hit home. As a profoundly complex and artistic fellow, he NEEDED her to voice that part of his identity. And she NEEDED him to supply her with THE BEST music to float that voice on.

When Phil Ramone in his 1996 release of KC's album stated the phrase about Karen leaving Richard as being "truly beyond the realm of possibility", I thought, deep down, that Richard, or A&M/Poly. . .whatever owns whatever. . . . may have "asked" Ramone to write such "pro-Richard" dialogue. Now, I think it's true.

Genetically, physiologically, chemically, psychologically. . . .even spiritually, dang nam-it. The two of them really were meant to be a unit. . .

Karen picked Jan '79 as the start of her anorexia.

Richard was in suicide mode and A&M "suggested" Karen leave Richard. . . . he was drugged up and 1978 was a poor sales year. They offered her Ramone if she'd leave Richard. . . . and 6 weeks into his personal hell she accepted their offer - as Coleman mentions - the RED "SOLO ALBUM" confrontation.

Interesting that she focussed her guilt of accepting this offer against Richard as the start of her compulsion - Jan of '79. Her eating disorder seems to have started around the recording of Mr Postman. . . .when RC mentioned it first gave him "pause for thought". . . Oct of '74. . . . .So obviously Karen's anorexia had nothing to do with the Solo project.

Rambled again. Great piece of footage. Richard was real.

Thanks Stephen.
Click to expand...
Going back to the Coleman book to revisit the RED "SOLO ALBUM" confrontation.
 
Thanks so much Stephen. It is beautifully done--particularly the closing sequence--and reminds us that our collective heartbreak probably doesn't match Richard's.

It also reminds us of just exactly how wonderful "Close to You" was and is--a timeless classic that ruled the airwaves in the summer of 1970 and, on its own merits alone, should put Richard & Karen in the freakin' Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Come on, world, give Richard a break and let him receive (on Karen's behalf) the respect, admiration, and love that the two of them so richly deserve.
 
Thank you for posting that. I hadn't watched that in a while. Very touching to see Richard back at that time. I'm sure filming that was quite an emotional roller coaster for him.

I think Akiko Kobayashi's has a lovely voice too, though I prefer hearing her sing non-Carpenters songs so I don't compare her to Karen. To my ears she has excellent pitch, but I'm no professional.
 
Exceptional posting!

The clip at ONLY YESTERDAY with Karen in sound booth captures the face emoting those lyrics. Wherein OY was formulated for a 'hit', Karen seemingly could not convey a simple jingle but rather would draw on an angst whose natural expression filtered into lyrics and not just Bettis's. The I NEED TO BE IN LOVE performance honors us with a rare glimpse into Karen's psyche almost. The ache portrayed is inescapable. her facial gestures at first verse painful, soulful. Looking into her eyes here I see a hollowness that transcends the anorexia onset. There's a depth caught on this camera that with revelation causes pause, consideration and kudos.

I agree that the loss of a loved one is catastrophic at best. I empathize with Richard and scores of others faced with similar fate. However, and this is just an observation...but it struck me the way Richard articulated Karen's loss as 'ONE of his best friends, his sister and MOST IMPORTANTLY my professional partner'. Just an observation folks.
 
djn said:
I agree that the loss of a loved one is catastrophic at best. I empathize with Richard and scores of others faced with similar fate. However, and this is just an observation...but it struck me the way Richard articulated Karen's loss as 'ONE of his best friends, his sister and MOST IMPORTANTLY my professional partner'. Just an observation folks.
Click to expand...

Spot on, you're not the only one that picked that up Jeff. To rate a sibling as your 'professional partner' above being your flesh and blood sister explains to me why many of my (non Carpenters' fans) friends think of him as just weird (their words). All these years later, despite his obvious loss, it speaks volumes about how he valued Karen in the whole Carpenter machine. She was the voice of his career and when she died...? Well, he admits that in this special.
 
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Richard in this instance is a product of HIS own words. Just curious wording considering. Poor guy nonetheless.
 
Perceptive members, all!
Jeff, you certainly "hit the nail on the head" !
I had (until now) refrained from commenting on Richard Carpenter's "curious choice of words".
This documentary is not the first instance wherein Karen's loss is couched in those terms.
I have always felt alone in the observation: until, now.
But, after all these years, I still do not understand--with an individual as meticulous as Richard
Carpenter---his articulation when describing Karen's loss.
Also, I am quite unable to ascertain the full extent of the emotions which must envelope him,
when he is asked about Karen Carpenter.
Thus, my heretofore,silence on this point.
 
I hesitate to say this here, but in my opinion, what Richard is saying by his words is what some artists would say with the words:
"I've lost my muse. Forever." Not that he believes in such things, but the concept of what makes an artist a great artist is often referred to as their muse.

Not meaning to enflame anyone here. :hide:
 
Chris-An Ordinary Fool said:
Muse? I know Olivia was a Muse....:love:
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea"
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I should have known you'd think of Olivia and Xanadu, Chris.:laugh:

I really think in some ways that when Karen was gone, a part of Ricard went with her. John Bettis went on to other song writing success. Richard clearly had the talent to write songs and possibly score films. Being a recovering addict also may have played a role in how much emotional stress he could take. And he obviously didn't have to work for a living. But I think if his heart was still in it we would have heard more of him.
 
song4u said:
I should have known you'd think of Olivia and Xanadu, Chris.:laugh:

I really think in some ways that when Karen was gone, a part of Richard went with her. John Bettis went on to other song writing success. Richard clearly had the talent to write songs and possibly score films. Being a recovering addict also may have played a role in how much emotional stress he could take. And he obviously didn't have to work for a living. But I think if his heart was still in it we would have heard more of him.
Click to expand...

I think you're spot on with this. Richard and Karen had all the "frenzy of renown" they could handle, plus a lot of backlash to boot. It's regrettable, but not particularly surprising, that with such double-edged success that both of them, over time, would exhibit "adjustment issues," particularly when the hits slowed to a trickle. Their relationship was always close, often too close for comfort, but the bonds--both despite and because of all that transpired--had to be both deep and complex.

While Richard is a great musician/composer/arranger/producer, he's never been a great public speaker--at least not extemporaneously. Some of these oddly phrased statements clearly come from that "unease" that he has in front of camera when he's not seated at a piano. And the magnitude of his personal loss is, I think, brought into focus when we see that even decades after Karen's passing, Richard is still unable to speak easily about it.
 
Don Malcolm said:
I think you're spot on with this. Richard and Karen had all the "frenzy of renown" they could handle, plus a lot of backlash to boot. It's regrettable, but not particularly surprising, that with such double-edged success that both of them, over time, would exhibit "adjustment issues," particularly when the hits slowed to a trickle. Their relationship was always close, often too close for comfort, but the bonds--both despite and because of all that transpired--had to be both deep and complex.

While Richard is a great musician/composer/arranger/producer, he's never been a great public speaker--at least not extemporaneously. Some of these oddly phrased statements clearly come from that "unease" that he has in front of camera when he's not seated at a piano. And the magnitude of his personal loss is, I think, brought into focus when we see that even decades after Karen's passing, Richard is still unable to speak easily about it.
Click to expand...
I like the clips of him taken while in his home with his family. He seems content and happy and more 'real' in his speech. I'm glad he found happiness.
 
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