If Paul McCartney sang "Go All The Way" in concert ...

If Paul McCartney sang "Go All The Way" in concert ...would people say - Gee, he sounds like Eric Carmen? I know the first time I heard the song, I thought it was Paul singing??

 

50% of people would think it was his song. 40% would think "Wow, I didn't know he did this song". The others would think it was a pretty strange choice of a cover song.

 

I've never seen that much of a resemblance between the voices of McCartney and Carmen. Sure, Carmen writes McCartneyesque songs, and there is a passing vocal resemblance, but not so much that I can believe anyone would ever confuse the two. Now Pete Ham and the guy from Climax Blues Band, they sound like McCartney to me.

 

I have to say I never, ever, even the slightest bit thought they sounded alike. Gilbert O'Sulliven maybe, but Carmen?

 

Emitt Rhodes yes - Eric Carmen no!

 

I must say the guitar riff is very cool in that song, but I find the verses and chorus are way too schmaltzy.

 

Actually, Scott McCarl, who was Raspberries' bassist for their final album Starting Over, sounds a lot more like Paul that Eric Carmen does. Listen to "Rose Colored Glasses" sometime.

Then, for the ultimate irony, listen to "Play On" and "Cry" -- on those songs, he sounds just like John Lennon! The story goes than Lennon was recording at the same studio at the time Starting Over was being recorded, and there was serious talk of John doubling Scott's voice on "Cry." Alas, it never came to be.

 

It's funny, the differences of opinion here. I think Scott McCarl sounds like John Lennon on all his Raspberries songs, including Rose Colored Glasses. I sure don't hear a resemblance vocally to McCartney.

Supposedly John did assist or at least offer input in the mixing of some of the Starting Over album. It would indeed have been so cool if John had sung on a track with Scott.

 

And I can't imagine John ever singing that "pure and innocent," if you will. I hear the resemblance to Paul most on the last verse. And I also may be influenced by a live version of "Rose Colored Glasses" that I've listened to a lot over the years. There's a moment in that in which Scott's inflection leaves no doubt at all who he was emulating!