Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9034 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-04-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Best of, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 54 minutes

Amazon.com
It's a measure of the ongoing popularity of Karen and Richard Carpenter that the 2002 release of this video collection in DVD format comes nearly 20 years after Karen's death. The duo's heyday mostly preceded the MTV age, so this 15-song, 55-minute anthology is a bit of a visual hodgepodge, composed of still photos, footage from TV shows and concerts, promo clips, fleeting attempts at conceptual videos, and other weirdness (film of Carpenters albums being pressed on the assembly line? Hey, whatever). You'll see an array of bad haircuts and outfits and a whole lot of lip-syncing, but in the end, it's the music that counts. And the Carpenters' signature sound, with its brilliant arrangements, its lush harmonies, and Karen's exquisite alto voice, was easy-listening pop at its finest. If nothing else, Carpenters: Gold offers another chance to hear that music in all its glory. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

To hear and see the Carpenters Masterpieces
This Video is fantastic.Most of the Carpenters hits are in this collection. The sad part is seeing Karen so thin in one video,then looking great in another one.Even Richard looked bad around 1975,singing one of my favorites,"Only Yesterday." The best Karen looked on this tape was in 1977,two years after almost dying singing"All you get from Love is a Love song."I never seen her look so sexy and full of life.She was on her way to a full recovery.This video collection's wonderfull. We get to see the Carpenters from early TV specials,to the last video's the Carpenters recorded for the"Made in America"Album. Karen was in bad shape,and her eyes lost that glow.Its very sad to watch these last video's made by the Carpenters.One Video I would love to have is the Carpenters Christmas Special. I hope this comes out in the near future.I would love to have it along with this great video.

"Yesterday Once More" VHS, (U.S.) on DVD
In 1985, A & M released the first Carpenters all-music video collection: "Yesterday Once More" on VHS tape. Now, 17 years later, Universal has rereleased "YOM" on DVD, but,with the title "Gold". The audio and video parts are excellent! Karen and Richard look and sound awesome! It is a true upgrade to the DVD level. However, apart from 'song selection', there is no difference from the VHS tape! The DVD for "Close to You-Remembering the Carpenters" had a lot more extras than it's VHS release. The Japanese "YOM" DVD has the additional video; "I Need to Be in Love". Universal could have added the 6 extra videos from the 1995 VHS release: "Intrepretations". I do recommend "Gold". It has a much better quality than the "YOM" VHS release, and does not cost as much to buy it as the imports: the Japanese "YOM" DVD, and/or the 2000 Taiwan DVD-"Carpenters, A Video Biography Karaoke", (which doesn't look, or sound, much better than a VHS tape, and it has the words to the songs printed on the screen). Also, on the Taiwan DVD, 4 of the 21 videos have nothing in common with the songs being sung. I am disapointed that Universal named this DVD "Gold", instead of "Yesterday Once More",(which it is), and that it does not contain any more videos than the 1985 VHS release did.

Associate Producer's response
I was the associate producer of the original release of the Carpenters video originally titled "Yesterday Once More" and now "Gold".

It is a very long story how we got to the final release-no budget, we did not get paid for our work, busted are backs trying to locate all the clips and I wasnt even a Carpenters fan! But I immediately loved Karen's voice and it was great working with Richard. Super person and an incredible talent! I shortly thereafter split with my then partner Paul Surratt who was the producer of the video from our company, Research Video. I went back to my first love, bluegrass music and vintage Country-Rock (Gram Parsons, Clarence White). I am still proud of what we did, most of you have no idea the hell we went through with A&M just getting this done back then. Now that MCA/Universal owns it, it probably is even a more distant memory to everyone.

Enjoy anyway!

John M. Delgatto
Sierra Records, Books & Home Video