I Totally Missed the Raspberries

Their singles are all spectacular, but their have some really great deeper tracks as well. LOVE "Hard to Get Over a Heartbreak" from Side 3. Written by Dave Smalley, their bass player.

 

Don't think anyone mentioned "Don't Want To Say Goodbye" from the first album. It's a sort of Bee Gees influenced ballad with a touch of Macca.

 

This was their very first single before GATW, a minor hit in Cleveland. I was in high school when these records came out, the Raspberries even played at some "mixers" back in the day.

A musician friend of mine had a saying about the Raspberries: "The 3 B's: Beatles, Beach Boys, and blatant plagiarism"

 

One of my favorite songs from the 'Fresh' album.
I love how Eric is pleading 'Don't Go' while simutaniously the backing vocals are about a girl changing her mind.


Darryl

 

Nice to see this thread, the new Caroline box set of the four Raspberries CD's is cheap and sounds pretty nice. I want to give a plug for this CD, fans should like it.

 

'Let's Pretend' is another fave track from Fresh.
Didn't Eric say there was a connection between LP & the Beach Boys song 'Would'nt It Be Nice'?

Darryl

 

A great American band...I want to put a kind word in for their drummer. He fit their style perfectly.

 

This is one of my faves. Only thing I didnt like about the Raspberries first singles is that they were compressed to all hell, and you cant get a clean non compressed version of the songs, like Go All The Way and Lets Pretend. But I still dig em.

 

After The Raspberries, guitarist Wally Bryson formed the excellent band Fotomaker with Dino Danelli and Gene Cornish from The Rascals. Now that The Rascals have apparently ended their reunion shows, it would be a great time for Fotomaker to reunite. Frankie Vinci and Lex Marchesi are both still active in music and Lex currently has a band called Nelson Klondike. Frank is a talented singer-songwriter whose songs have been recorded by a wide range of artists. He also wrote an award-winning song for the modern country singer Tim McGraw.

 

Considering making a 3 CD compilation for Raspberries/Eric Carmen.
It would be too easy just to include all the Raspberries tracks, then just add some of Eric's hits.
I want this to be a balanced comp.

Darryl

 

Extacy is a Great record! !!

 

Most people aren't aware of this, but in 1968, Eric Carmen had a slight British accent:

 

Three future Raspberries practice in their hometown of Mentor, Ohio, 20 miles east of Cleveland, 1967.
L to R: David Smalley, Wally Bryson, Jim Bonfanti.

 

Saw these guys opening for the Who, opening for Herman's Hermits in Cleveland in August 1967. Also flew to Cleveland about ten years ago to see a Choir reunion show at the Beachland Ballroom where they played a who's who of Classic 60s covers plus the Hit. Great!

 

Very nice Choir non-hit, 1968. A bit Left Banke-ish?

 

Nice song, but the arranger Hutch Davie assassinated it. Simpler band version on Choir Practice is much better. Wonder what Wally thought of the swirling horns and strings.

 

I honestly love the music of Eric Carmen and I love Frank Sinatra, but the following NEVER should have happened, but it did …

 

Back in the day, you could scratch and sniff the sticker on the cover of their debut album.

Try doing that with a digital download...

 

+1,000,000,000!

 

Wasn't their reunion tour miraculous? They had lost nothing, 30+ years on.

(And btw, how could a band that sounds that good ever fall apart – twice??)

 

From reading admittedly too much about this, I think that it boiled down to dueling egos: Carmen and Bryson. Ironically similar to what sunk the Beach Boys. Sad for us on both counts.